2010 December Newsletter

November’s Event:

  What a wonderful evening we had, as nearly 70 people gathered at the American Legion Hall, post 100, to commemorate some of the exciting history between the Hurricane South, and the Hurricane North wards. Floyd Wilkinson led off this evening with a rather funny recount of events in the past, as certain south ward boys would dream up pranks, and pretend they were north ward boys. He told of the annual 24^th of July tug of wars that had one ward or the other being pulled through the mud. It appears, according to Floyd, that the south ward always won this event, until one year, pulling with all of their might, they pulled until their energy was spent, at which time the north ward pulled the south ward through the mud. Upon closer examination, they found that a certain someone (who happened to be in attendance that night) had tied the north ward’s end of the rope around a pole, and just waited until the south ward was tired. Some would cry foul, but others would say, “How smart those North Warders were!”

It has been said that some, if not all of this rivalry  was born because of the “gerrymandering” that was done to make the two ward boundaries. According to Mack Sanders, it was because of two men, James Jepson and John Sanders.  Others say it was because the south ward had to meet in the old school house, and the north warders got the benefit of the brand new building to meet in.

Dell Stout told the story about a group of north and south ward boys who had formed two gangs, and met one night to determine once and for all who had bragging rights. It was stopped however by two men, the bishop from the north ward, and the bishop from the south ward who stepped in and told the young gang members that if they were going to fight, they had to fight the bishops. The story was interesting, and we then learned that it was just that, a “story”. Victor Hall said that he was unaware of such rivalry. All in all, the evening was wonderful, the food great, and the company incomparable. That night, we had Jack Lemmon and Dell Stout, the only living bishops of the south and north wards, and they were seated side by side. They appear to be great friends, so I guess the rivalry is over.

Also with us on this night was our National President, Dil Strausser. He spoke to us about ideas for the future of the SUP, to help us grow into that future with promise and style. He loved being with us, and especially loved the topic of discussion, and the wonder pot-luck meal that was served.

Upcoming events:

December 4^th:

Christmas Dinner will be at the Hurricane Intermediate School. The meal will be served by Danny Beardall’s catering company and will be $10.00 per plate.

There will be dinner music, and after dinner, there will be some entertainment by a number of our youth. Please come and join us. We will also be installing the new president, president-elect and board for 2011.

Some Interesting Facts of Early Hurricane:

Did you know that the first mercantile store came to town in 1908, just two years after Hurricane City’s birth?

Did you now that in 1912, three hotels were constructed in Hurricane, to house the sheep shearers and weary travelers?

Did you know that in 1913, the first doctor moved to town? Dr. Wilkinson

Did you know that in 1914 the first movie theater was built with a gas powered projector?

Did you know that 1917 was the year that filling the barrels with drinking water from the ditch came to an end?

Did you know that until 1937 Hurricane was known as “the Dead End Town” because the only way in and out was through Anderson’s Junction?