Time Machine Trip to January 1979

By Lyle Hansen

January 3, 1979

Number eight is number one – Joyce and Peter Mischler looked over Christopher John Mischler, Kaukauna’s first baby of 1979 who arrived Wednesday. At 8 lb. 13 ounces, he made his appearance at Kaukauna Community Hospital but soon will be joining his seven brothers and sisters at home. The family now have four boys and four girls.  

By and large, Kaukauna merchants reported a good holiday shopping season. Electronics is big, one retailer reported a run on color televisions with stereo equipment as another big seller.

January 5, 1979

Mediation before a Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission has been asked to attempt to resolve a contract between city firefighters and the city. Firemen have been offered the same wage increased as members of the policemen’s association, a raise of 9 per cent in 1979 and 7.5 per cent in 1980. The police have a higher base rate than the firemen as a result the gap widens each year. Mayor Robert LaPlante said that the resulting increases are more than the city can afford.   

January 9, 1979

David L. Foxgrover, formally of Kaukauna and a chaplain at Rockford College in Rockford, Illinois, has received his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Religion from Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.

Linda DeBruin scored all 14 points for the Ghosts in the fourth quarter but were not enough to defeat East as the Ghosts lost the game 53 – 33.

January 11, 1979

Color Day Princesses – One girl from each class was chosen as a color day princess for the per assembly last Friday at the high school. Front row: Julie Hartzheim (freshman), Terry Marx (sophomore) Back row: Claire Vande Yacht (junior) and Cindy Kandler (senior).

January 16, 1979

Barreling his way to the hoop is Mike Terry for a fourth quarter basket. Terry paced the Ghosts long awaited victory over the Rockets with 21 points.

Kaukauna 67, Neenah 53. For 15 years, basketball fans have waited for a chance to say they had beaten the Neenah Rockets. A packed KHS gym crowd screamed to its heart’s content because the day of reckoning had finally arrived.

A furious rally staged by the KHS basketball team came up short Tuesday night as Appleton West held off the surging Ghosts for a 60-54 victory. In just four minutes the Ghosts cut a 17-point deficit to four points behind the inspired play of Mike Terry.

Funeral services for August Wachel, 76, owner and operator of the Nu-way cleaners here for more than 20 years, were held Wednesday morning at Holy Cross Catholic church. He and his wife Olive, who died in 1974, had operated the Nu-way cleaners from 1948 to 1972 when they retired. He is survived by a son Leigh.

Former Outagamie County Sheriff Calvin Spice got an interesting 55^th birthday present back on December 31. He got out, and with a week of retirement under his belt. Spice commented, “It’s nice to get out of the pressure pot.” He started as a traffic officer in Kaukauna in 1953.  

January 18, 1979

Bert Lopas, Kaukauna Chief of Police, announced that parking fines are going to rise in Kaukauna. If you over stay your 90-minute limit the fine will now be $2.00 rather than the $1.00 fee of the past.

January 25, 1979

Outagamie County ground to a halt yesterday as the Midwest weather received another nine inches of snow. Kaukauna schools remained closed as did Appleton, Kimberly and Freedom schools. Winds up to 30 mph caused drifting and a number of vehicles entered the ditches.

Anton P. Berkers, 77, who owned and operated Berker’s Insurance here for more than 30 years died January 18 at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He and his wife Cecilia had move to Florida in 1970 after his retirement. He was community minded and was responsible for the formation of the Kaukauna Youth Center.

January 30, 1979

The KHS junior varsity wrestling team produce one individual champion at the Oshkosh invitational. Tom Viaene went through the pairing unscathed on his way to a gold medal and the heavyweight championship. Viaene raised his season record to 21-1.