This day in history: Clarkston teen won national Junior Miss Pageant. Condition of bank president shot in assassination attempt improved
From 1976: “Scores of excited Clarkston residents” turned out at Spokane International Airport to greet their new local celebrity: Lenne Jo Hallgren, America’s Junior Miss.
Hallgren, 18, won the Junior Miss Pageant in Mobile, Alabama, several days earlier.
“I’ve landed now,” Hallgren said. “But I still feel up in the air.”
The celebration was just beginning. The Clarkston mayor declared the next Monday to be “Lenne Day,” a city and county holiday. A parade was planned.
She was scheduled to attend her graduation from Clarkston High School in a week and then was headed to Hollywood for an appearance with actor Michal Landon.
She said she liked the Junior Miss program because “it doesn’t stress good looks,” instead focusing on scholarship, performing arts and physical fitness.
From 1926: R. Lewis Rutter’s chances of recovery had improved significantly, said his physician.
“He is getting along nicely despite the fact he had some restlessness last night,” said the doctor. “There is still some abdominal distress. His pulse, however, is beating in the 90s and his temperature is generally around normal.”
Rutter, a prominent Spokane banker and philanthropist, was shot twice in the back by Phineus Saffron, who held a grudge against Rutter after the bank foreclosed on his pawnshop.
Charges were pending against Saffron, the nature of which depended on whether Rutter recovered.
Also on this day
(From onthisday.com)
1841: First emigrant wagon train to reach California leaves Independence, Missouri, on a 1,730-mile journey over the Sierra Nevada.