A look back
May 13, 1960-Members of the senior class at Falkville High are currently enjoying a time in Daytona Beach, Fla., prior to their graduation. They are being chaperoned by school principal W. C. Payne and Mrs. J. P. Eden, the class sponsor.
May 14, 1960-Old age pensions averaged $53.21 in Alabama last month. This was a record high.
May 15, 1960-Ten high schools in Morgan County will be holding graduation exercises in the next few days. The senior classes range in size from seven at Ryan to 220 in Decatur. MCHS will have 93 members in its 1960 graduating class.
May 15, 1960-According to preliminary census figures there are approximately 60,000 people living in Morgan County (59,904). The growth rate since the last census is about 13 percent. Hartselle is expected to show a population of about 1,000 more than its 1950 population of 3,429.
May 15, 1960—Mr. and Mrs. Owen G. Lambert announce the engagement of their daughter, Patsy Anne, to Bobby Dean Hargett, son of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Hargett, all Hartselle residents. Patsy is a senior at MCHS. Bobby Dean is a 1957 MCHS graduate and currently works at Wolverine.
May 15, 1960-The James Ratliff home on Upper River Road in east Morgan County has been identified as the second oldest residence in the county (the first being the Leroy McEntire home in Decatur). Construction of the Ratliff place goes back to 1847 when it was built on land which had been purchased by ancestors of the current residents in 1820.
May 15, 1960-John Ingouf, the pastor, preached at the regular morning and evening worship services at West Hartselle Baptist today.
May 16, 1960-The Morgan County Board of Education met tonight. Among other actions, the board decided that classes for the 1960-61 school year would start on September 2.
May 17, 1960-Barbara Young, a MCHS graduate and now a student at Snead Junior College, is currently running for vice president of the student council at that institution. Barbara was also recently selected for membership in the Phi Theta Kappa honor society.
May 18, 1960-Barbara Ann Jones, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.Doc Jones, and Roy Gene Barnett, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Eugene Barnett of Cullman, were married tonight at Hartselle First Methodist Church.
May 18, 1960-The recently launched Soviet satellite was visible without a telescope to Hartselle early risers this morning.
May 18, 1960-Rumors are circulating widely that Morgan County Probate Judge T. C. “Cliff” Almon may be selected to chair Alabama’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention this summer. Almon was recently one of the highest vote-getters in races for delegate positions. Almon first served as a delegate to a Democratic convention back in 1936.
May 19, 1960-Hartselle industrialist Hubert R. Mitchell has announced plans for a new recreation and amusement center that will be built on Cherokee Indian lands in North Carolina. Mitchell is working with the U.S. Department of the Interior in connection with this project, which has an ultimate estimated cost of approximately $10 million.
May 19, 1960-The Tennessee Valley State Vocational Technical School, where many young Hartselle men and women go following high school to learn a trade, has received a $20 million state grant to upgrade its facilities.
May 19,1960-Mark Grubbs, an employee of the Hartselle ASC office, sustained a heart attack as he was traveling to his office this morning. When his car wrecked, a Peck ambulance was summoned to take Mr. Grubbs to Hartselle Hospital. Tragically, Mr. Grubbs had already expired by the time the ambulance reached its destination.
