Echoes from the past: Sniper shot up town 50 years ago
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50 Years Ago, 1959
A sniper shot at a youth in his bed at Katz, barely missing him, and the bullet lodged in the mattress. Then he shot at a passing westbound CPR Budd car, breaking the glass, cutting several passengers. The train took the wounded passengers to Mission where they were treated in hospital.
The rifleman then took a taxi from Hope to Chilliwack after the shooting, leaving his rifle with the taxi driver as collateral for the fare. There he boarded a bus to the Vancouver area. The alleged perpetrator, Marvin Dewey Willowby, was believed to have lived at Harrison Mills at one time.
Phyllis Johnson was to be crowned Regatta Queen by outgoing queen Doris Pickard at the Regatta dance. The Regatta was scheduled for Harrison Hot Springs on August 23 and 30th. Buoys for the races were being set up by Ed North and Lorne Lees, on a course set out by Hal Rhodes.
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Carson were surprised on their a sixteenth wedding anniversary when they arrived home to find their living room full of guests and a wedding cake centering the table. This was their first wedding cake, as they were married in England during the war, and with no food coupons to spare for an authentic cake, they had to be satisfied with a cardboard replica at their wedding.
Shirley Anderson represented Agassiz at a meeting of young people at UN headquarters in New York.
The local Oddfellows and Rebekahs made the trip possible. Shirley traveled by bus, visiting Ottawa and Quebec City en route to New York.
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