This day in history: Hillyard Junior High student won Spokane County spelling bee. 80K spectators watched Lilac parade

Fri., May 16, 2025

By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: An estimated 80,000 spectators – and 6,000 participants – “swept through downtown Spokane” in the Lilac Festival’s Torchlight Parade.

The “weather was perfect” for the event, which featured 34 floats and 51 marching bands. The Tri-Cities Water Follies Association Float won the Grand Sweepstakes Award.

The fun was dampened a bit by the news that a woman, 21, was seriously injured when she fell from a retaining wall while watching the parade.

She was sitting on the retaining wall when she fell into the courtyard of the Farm Credit Bank, 705 W. First, “more than one story below street level.”

She was treated for a concussion and possible broken bones.

Miss Doris Stough of Hillyard Junior High School was crowned the eighth grade spelling champion of Spokane County, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 16, 1925. The newspaper also reported that Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone would represent John Snopes who was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which outlawed the teaching of evolution in public schools. The frontpage include a picture of M.C. Whaley and Russell Lee Braden. Whaley was Braden's great grandfather and went on a walk with Braden everyday along Knox Avenue for many years, starting when Braden was in a stroller. And the winner of the 1925 Kentucky Derby was Flying Ebony. (Spokesman-Review archives) — Miss Doris Stough of Hillyard Junior High School was crowned the eighth grade spelling champion of Spokane County, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 16, 1925. The newspaper also reported that Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone would represent John Snopes who was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which outlawed the teaching of evolution in public schools. The frontpage include a picture of M.C. Whaley and Russell Lee Braden. Whaley was Braden’s great grandfather and went on a walk with Braden everyday along Knox Avenue for many years, starting when Braden was in a stroller. And the winner of the 1925 Kentucky Derby was Flying Ebony. (Spokesman-Review archives)

From 1925: Miss Doris Stough of Hillyard Junior High School was crowned the eighth-grade spelling champion of Spokane County during the finals at the Spokane Armory.

Doris bested her competition by two words. The final round included some real “jawbreakers,” including icosahedron, khedive, and galvanometry.

Doris was scheduled to represent Spokane County at the state finals in Olympia.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1568: Defeated at the Battle of Langside, Mary Queen of Scots flees to England in the hope her cousin Elizabeth I would help her regain her throne. Elizabeth instead detains Mary at Carlisle Castle and has her beheaded nearly two decades later.

1920: French heroine Joan of Arc is canonized as a saint.

2013: Bill Gates regains his position as the world’s richest man with $72.7 billion after losing the position in 2008. Elon Musk currently holds the title.