This day in history: Refugee family settled into life in Spokane. Broadway start returned for show in hometown

From 1976: The Spokane Chronicle recounted the success story of Vietnamese refugee Nguyen Van Bay and his family.

Six months previously, Bay had just escaped the horrors of war-torn Vietnam and was afraid that Americans did not want him here.

Now, he had a job as a computer operator at Old National Bank. His family was in a home that they were buying on the North Side, and his family had their own car.

His kids were in school and he said “we just care about my children and that they become good people.”

From 1926: Barbara Meikle, Spokane’s own Broadway star who used the stage name Barbara Bronell, was returning to her home stage as the lead performer in “China Doll,” a musical written especially for her.

“China Doll” was booked into the Masonic Temple for a two night run.

The Spokesman-Review noted that other local performers had made it on Broadway and vaudeville, but “few of them have ever been seen professionally on the home stage since they ‘arrived’ elsewhere.”

The S-R called her a “premier danseuse.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1521: Martin Luther is excommunicated for refusing to recant parts of his Ninety-Five Theses, which started the Protestant Reformation.

1777: George Washington’s Revolutionary Army defeats British forces at the Battle of Princeton.

1870: Construction begins on the Brooklyn Bridge.

1925: Benito Mussolini dissolves Italian Parliament and proclaims himself dictator of Italy.