The Nisqually Valley News
Putting Yelm over the War Chest Fund, O. L. Montgomery has announced that a total of $175.07 in cash and $35 in pledges have been received at the Yelm High School office. In addition there is an unsummarized amount collected in the outlying districts.
Donations have been made this past week to the chest by:
Crawford Williams…………………………………………………………… $5.00
W. C. Ettinger………………………………………………………………… 4.00
Mrs. Archie Thompson……………………………………………………….. 2.00
Gas Rationing Set Back “A” Week By Defense Group
The Office of Defense Transportation has postponed the registration for gas rationing originally scheduled for this week. New dates have not been definitely set as yet. According to O. L. Montgomery, local chairman, the probable dates will be, however, November 19, 20 and 21. The hours will be the same as published for the postponed registration, and are as follows: November 19, 2:30 p. m. to 8:00 p. m.; November 20, 2:30 p. m. to 8:00 p. m.; and November 21, 9:00 a. m. to 1:00 p. m.
Owners of cars may bring their application blanks, secured at any service station, with them when they register at the Yelm High School.
Who’s Who in Yelm
R. B. Patterson
Starting this week the News will publish a series of short sketches of Yelm business men. The first of these articles is on R. B. Patterson, who was Yelm’s first mayor. Others will follows from week to week.
By Louise Hastle
Yelm’s first mayor, R. B. Patterson, local pharmacist, is the first to be interviewed in a series of sketches of Yelm’s business men who will be separately biographed in this paper each week.
Born in Yamhill, Oregon, in 1890. Mr. Patterson attended college at Oregon State College in Corvallis, where he met and married Pansy Patterson in 1913. After a short residence in Eastern Oregon. Mr. Patterson moved to Yelm where he opened his drug store on the location now occupied by the office of Brown Bros. Garage, later buying the property where the store is now located he built a frame building which served as a residence as well as a place of business. Following the _______ in 1924 he erected the building he now occupies.
“The section of town where I now live had only one house in comparison to the thirty houses now in this neighborhood. We had board walks and dirt streets through all of Yelm at that time.”
In 1924 Mr. Patterson was elected as Yelm’s first mayor and served three terms. His two daughters, Shirley and Jean, attended high school here and later the University of Washington and are now married. In fact, the druggist became a grandfather a short time ago.
“I’ve noticed a slight change in Yelm in the last year.” Mr. Patterson stated, “I think we’ve become a little lax about keeping up lawns and the paint on our homes. I’d like to see every citizen take more care of his home’s appearance, so that Yelm may remain as neat and clean a town as it has always been.”
Silk Hose Needed By U. S. Army For Powder Bags
Starting November 16th, Washington women will start sending their old silk and nylon hosiery to war. The stores which sell hose are asked to provide a “Bank” where these may be deposited. Women are asked to wash and take the nearest store all hose,no longer usable, which contain nylon or silk. H. L. Wolf & Company has provided a box near the hosiery counter of their store where these may be deposited. When an economical shipment has been collected it will be sent to the Defense _________ Corporation in New York.
Save your Junk—-Save Fats—-and now save old Hose. We can do it and we will. We are being asked to do so little in proportion to what we wish we could do for the War effort. Let’s do quickly and thoroughly everything asked of us.
The Nisqually Valley News
Thursday, November 19, 1942
Who’s Who in Yelm
Mrs. Katie Pollman
In the spotlight for this week’s “Who’s Who in Yelm” is Mrs. Katie Pollman, wife of Ray Pollman, local plumber and half owner and proprietor of “The Green Lantern”, one of this town’s most popular eating spots.
Mrs. Pollman was born and raised in Minnesota, but moved to Bellingham, Washington, in 1907, where she and Mr. Pollman met and were married. After living several years in Chehalis and Tenino, where Mr. Pollman was in the blacksmith business, the couple moved to this community in 1918, at which time they resided at “Glenloch Farms” on Lawrence Lake.
“We didn’t move into town until 1936 and it was shortly after that that Mrs. Dain and I, at Mrs. Dain’s suggestion, opened up The Green Lanter in the spot now occupied by Joe’s Place,” Mrs. Pollman stated.
It wasn’t long before their business became too large for the quarters which they occupied at that time and the firm was compelled to move to its present site in the same block.
“I can remember when it was necessary for us to do business with a dust cloth in one hand with which to constantly clean the counters, before the main street was paved,” reminisced Mrs. Pollman.
New streets and houses aren’t the only change which this business woman has noticed in Yelm, for she mentioned the fact that the populace has been eternally changing ever since The Green Lantern first opened its doors, because due to the central location of their shop, all newcomers seem to drop in to ask for information and directions from Mrs. Pollman, who can proudly claim an acquaintanceship with everyone in town.
Proclamation Asks For Share The Meat Program Here
Thanksgiving season this year finds our country, and our community, already embarked on a deliberate and planned program of sacrificing out land-of-plenty ideas as a necessary part of winning this war. One thing we are about to share with our Armed Forces and our Allies is our gigantic reserve of meats.
In the week starting November 30, volunteers enlisted by the Defense Council and the extension Service will call on all homes to explain the necessity for conserving meat and using alternative foods and to obtain every family’s promise of cooperation in this nation-wide program.
More volunteers are needed to register for the Share the Meat campaign and the other wartime tasks which will fall to neighborhood leaders as time goes on. I call upon all patriotic men and women who are not already in civilian service, to register with the Hefens Council at once so the ever neighborhood will be represented.
I ask all citizens to receive these visitors courteously when they arrive on their helpful, neighborly calls. Let us make the Share-the-Meat Campaign a living example of Democracy at work.