St. John Valley area From our Files – Week of December 20, 2023

LOOKING BACK: St. Agatha, 1950s – The building that housed the former Naborhood Store, in this photo taken in the 1950s, is now owned by David and Peggy Weyeneth. The store belonged to Terry Ouellette’s parents Fred and Mary Jane Marin and was established in 1845, Ouellette said. “My father used to say, “If we don’t sell it, you don’t need it,” said Ouellette. (File photo 2013)

50 Years Ago — Dec. 19, 1973

  Newberry stores distribute bonus checks – T.G. Tompkins, manager of the Newberry Variety Store in Madawaska, recently distributed Christmas bonus checks to his employees. “The Christmas bonus is one of the ways we reward our employees for all their hard work and dedication during the year,” said Tompkins. The store is one of 1,100 stores of the G. McNew Division of McCrory Corp. This year McNew expects to distribute to its employees more than $480,000 in Christmas bonuses. The company has been in effect since the early 1930s. 

25 Years Ago — Dec. 23, 1998

Holiday spirit – The Madawaska Knights of Columbus performed the annual ritual of installing the Creche. This year, it was a newer and much stronger model built by Rudy Daigle and Roland Pelletier. Assisting Pelletier in adding on the final trimmings were fellow Knights Phil Nadeau, Jim Cyr, Henry Michaud, Robert Sirois, Ron Pelletier, Eddie Plourde, Claude Dufour and Joe Dionne.

10 Years Ago — Dec. 18, 2013 

Storm delivers white Christmas — The National Weather Service reported 10-15 inches of snow across St. John Valley towns through Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013, and overnight into Monday. As of Monday afternoon, the weather service reported 26.5 inches of total accumulated snowfall since the beginning of November, measured in Van Buren, according to meteorologist Rich Okulski. That compares to 20.6 total inches of snow from the same time period in 2012, he said.