Remember When?
1973: Appreciative Crowds Turn Out for 46th Fayette County Fair Parade
Sept. 4-7, 1973
An even 100 entries made up the roster for the Fayette County Fair parade in downtown La Grange on Saturday afternoon. It took 45 minutes for the more than one mile long procession to wind through the city where rounds of applause greeted almost every entry. Mueller’s of La Grange was judged the best hometown float. Riding on it were Melody Mueller and Becky Wood. The second place hometown float was entered by the Classic Beauty Shoppe. Aboard were: Tina Jecmenek, Christie Warschak, Kevin Bayless, Cary Coppedge, Craig Bauer and Jennifer Stueber. The best decorated entry was awarded to Hartfield & Son Upholstery. Hot Wheels, a miniature car driven by little Phillip Ebel was the runner-up, followed by Frisch Auf! golf carts in third place. The First Baptist Church of La Grange had the parade’s most original entry.
The Civil War, complete with booming artillery, was refought in some detail at the 46th annual Fayette County Fair, courtesy of the Austin Reenactment Society.
Although Delia, the tropical storm that never quite reached hurricane force, flooded many coastal areas, the highest rainfall amount measured in Fayette County was 2.9 inches at Rutersville.
The 1974 feed grain program was expected to provide producers with the opportunity to expand production, according to Johnny S. Petter, Chair of the Fayette CountyAgricultural Stabilization and Conservation and Service Committee. Highlights of the program included no setaside requirement, no restrictions on planting the 1974 crop and no conserving base requirement for the 1974 through 1977 crop years.
On the honor roll for the spring semester of the University of Texas College of Business Administration were: Russell A. Friemel and Dennis Eugene Rainosek of La Grange; and Melvin James Barta, Ernest Andrew Bosl, Norbert Daniel Dittrich, Roy Allen Kalich and James Edward Schundler of Schulenburg.
La Grange school children would be paying 15¢, an increase of 50%, for a half pint of milk at the school cafeteria. The federal government no longer subsidized the price of milk.
A young Houston man was critically injured in a one-car mishap just south of La Grange on Hwy. 77 early Sunday morning. Driving south in a 1971 Cadillac, the 20-year-old apparently dozed at the wheel and his car veered off the pavement at the first curve. A 60-foot section of guardrail pierced the car on the left side pinning down the driver. He lost his left leg and part of his left hip in the accident.
The La Grange Leopards would be sporting a brand new backfield when they blasted the lid off the 1973 season Friday night. The ‘man under’ would be Neal Miller, a 165-pound junior from the previous year’s junior varsity team. Johnny Johnson, a 155-pound sophomore also from the jayvees, would be halfback and senior Daniel Cernoch, another jayvee scaling 145 pounds, was to man the slot back post. Robert Poole, the fleet one-letter junior, weighing in at 181 pounds, was named fullback.
St. Paul Lutheran Church of Serbin was honoring Eldon Heintze on his 40th anniversary in the teaching ministry. He moved to Serbin in 1971 where he taught grades five to eight and served as principal. In addition, he also served as organist and secretary of the congregation.
Angela Wallace was crowned queen of the 1973 youth rodeo during the 46th annual Fayette County Fair. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Mueller of Fayetteville, Angela was active in the 4-H Horse Club and a member of the La Grange High School Band.
At commencement ceremonies at Sam Houston State University, Alfred John Ermis of Ellinger received a Master of Arts degree and Marcus Lee Boresche of Ledbetter was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Teaching.
The Warda Aces eased past the Noack Bears, 4-2, on Sunday to gain a spot in the Community Baseball League finals. Gus Schramm Jr. and Jerry Tallus opposed each other on the mound with Schramm getting credit for the win.
La Grange native James Wessels, who had recently received his Master’s degree at Texas A&M University, was named assistant principal at Dayton High School. Mr. Wessels had been teaching in Navasota for the previous two years. He and his wife, the former Diane Hanacek of La Grange, and their two children, were getting settled in Dayton.
A funeral service was held for Fritz F. Koopmann, 82, of La Grange.
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