Browse through some of the photos taken by The World-Herald's Rudy Smith during his 45-year career.
Readers, we heard you loud and clear.
Starting today, the “Commuter Crossword” puzzle is returning to the Omaha World-Herald. We’re happy to bring back this popular crossword, Monday through Saturday.
And in another move, we’ll resume printing the bridge column on Sundays, starting this week.
Both of these changes are based on listening to your reactions to our new lineup of comics, puzzles and other features.
Nearly three weeks ago, The World-Herald launched a streamlined set of those features — using the same lineup offered at each of the 75-plus newspapers owned by Lee Enterprises. For Omaha readers, that meant just one crossword puzzle a day instead of the two we had been publishing. The L.A. Times puzzle remained in the lineup; the Commuter Crossword (which our readers knew by the name “Daily Crossword”) did not.
People are also reading…
Since the change, I’ve spoken with dozens of you and exchanged emails with many more. So have others at The World-Herald. As with any issue, opinions vary widely about what people like and don’t like.
But a couple things stood out. And based on that reader feedback, we’re bringing some things back.
First, lots of you enjoy the Commuter Crossword. People who reached out to me said they liked how they can do it fairly quickly, often over a single cup of coffee. Some find it to be generally easier than the L.A. Times crossword, which gets harder during the week. An easier, faster puzzle fits better with some people’s interests and daily routines.
So we’re going to add it back here in Omaha, while the L.A. Times puzzle remains in the standard lineup. We’ll publish the Commuter Crossword with our classified ads. That’s where we used to run the L.A. Times crossword; basically, the two puzzles will have switched places in the paper. As before, readers will have a choice of crosswords — or, for the most dedicated crossword fans, an opportunity to do both!
(Side note: the Commuter Crossword solution for the same day’s puzzle will be nearby in the classified ads. That should please some readers who prefer same-day answers. Other puzzles in the paper, however, will continue to have solutions printed the following day.)
Second, a large group of readers asked about the bridge strategy column we used to publish. Omaha has a thriving bridge community, and some of you were unhappy that this feature had been left out of the new lineup.
So we’ve figured out a way to bring the bridge column back once a week on Sundays. Look for it in the Sunday Living section.
As I said last month in a column — and as I’ve told some of you individually in recent weeks — we know that some changes in the new features lineup may disappoint you. But the money saved helps preserve and strengthen our ability to cover local news and sports here in Omaha. Overall, I think that’s a good thing for Omaha World-Herald readers.
And I hope you are as pleased as I am that we also can restore these popular features for our local readers.
Thank you for reading and supporting your hometown paper.
From the archives: Scroll through some of our neatest old photos – 1950-1969
In November 1950, Richard Walters, left, warms up Council Bluffs Civic Music singers before a rehearsal of the operetta “Bloomer Girl.” Babette Bronson, Luanne Bisbee, Nancy Ogren and Janet Hicks sing to the music of pianist Frank Fariday.
Staff from Tech High School rehearse for the show “TECHnicalities of 1950.” Taking part in the November rehearsal are, from left, Joe Kucerick, Fred Hawkins, wrestling coach Bob Anderson, Bill (Kewpie) Moore, Norman Rosenquist, journalism teacher Lloyd Berg and principal Carl Palmquist.
Four pupils at Windsor School, members of a student committee to carry books from the school library to kindergarten and first-grade classes, constructed their own version of a “bookmobile”: a partitioned orange crate that they painted, lettered and attached handles to (with a little help from the school custodian). The students, from left, are Terry Holmes, 9, Susan Farris, 10, George Wilson, 10, and Patricia Holmes, 10. In this Sept. 17, 1950 photo, the students brought out their bookmobile to compare to the City Library’s much-larger one, staffed by Elizabeth Latta and John J. Weber.
Three local groups — the Omaha Women’s Club, and the North and South Side Women’s Clubs — bought this renovated bus to help take area youths from city parks to a day camp at Hummel Park. In this photo that ran May 22, 1951, shop foreman Ray Lee puts finishing touches on the exterior of the bus, which was designed to hold up to 50 children.
Gary Grahn, 2, and his dog Pepper in March 1952. When Gary got lost, Pepper protected him until the police found him.
A view looking east down Douglas Street near 18th after it was resurfaced in August 1953. Among the nearby businesses were the Hotel Fontenelle, World Insurance, Penneys, Brandeis, Guarantee Mutual, Herzberg’s and the Omaha theater.
Some small turtles painted with the slogan “Omaha Zoo — 1953” were used in a March 1953 fundraiser. That’s painter Ben Braasch painting the slogan on a china turtle and a real turtle. Some china turtles and three real turtles were given as prizes by the Omaha Zoological Society at an event it held March 16 to begin a $15,000 fundraising drive. The society had been organized in 1952 to help improve the Riverview Park Zoo, and things worked out pretty well. Today, of course, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best.
It was hot enough outside to buckle the pavement on June 19, 1953. With highs reaching 105 degrees, Lon Duel of Omaha quaffed a traditional heat remedy.
Mrs. Bryce Miller purchases yellow oleo margarine in Hamburg, Iowa, in this World-Herald photo taken July 6, 1953. Newly passed legislation removed tax restrictions on oleo sold in Iowa and permitted stores to sell it with a yellow color. Before the law, grocers in Hamburg had to compete with Nebraska and Missouri stores, where customers could buy colored margarine. “I’ve always used oleo,” Miller said, “and now I think it’s wonderful that I can buy it — like I want it — right here in Hamburg.”
Emmy Gifford and actresses Alison Teal, Ann Kennedy and Mary Campbell in costume for the Omaha Junior League’s production of “Grandmother’s Magic Clock” at the Joslyn Concert Hall. This photo of the performers ran April 18, 1954. Written by Omahan Val Teal, the play for youths delved into the city’s history through a family’s covered-wagon trip west.
C.J. Sparks holds up a copy of the Cherry County Republican that was unearthed from the walls of a doctor’s office being torn down in Valentine, Nebraska. The newspaper is dated April 22, 1886, only a couple of years after Valentine was founded. The eight-page section, which gave no writers or editors, mostly read as laudatory promotion of Cherry County, describing it as a Garden of Eden without the serpent. “They must have been trying to get some city slickers to come out from the East,” said Sparks, a lumberman whose relatives were pioneers in the area. “Talk about press agentry. This was it.” This photo ran with a story on April 23, 1954.
Elsa Lundgren, a librarian at the Council Bluffs Public Library. An Oct. 19, 1954, story talks about the thousands of questions that pour into the library each year and the pace Lundgren must keep to find the books to answer them. Among the inquiries: How do you cook a raccoon? How do you cut down an upright piano? Where do holes in cheese come from?
Douglas County’s biggest polio vaccination program began on May 2, 1955, with no difficulties as teams of doctors, nurses and PTA volunteers set up production lines at schools to vaccinate children. This one was at Dundee School, and that’s Dr. Lynn MacQuiddy administering the shots. According to The World-Herald’s account of the effort, some parents were reluctant to have their kids vaccinated because of reports that some children had developed polio after getting a vaccination. But Dr. J. Harry Murphy, a Creighton University Medical School professor and polio researcher, said those cases appeared to have been developing before the shots were given. “I have been advising my patients to go ahead with the shots,” he said. “I’ll stand behind that.” Other doctors also spoke in favor of having children vaccinated. And Dr. MacQuiddy gave a shot to his 8-year-old daughter, Mary, that day at Dundee School.
Little 6-year-old Stanley Kiser has a tough time choosing a pumpkin as he prepares for the hobgoblin parade for Halloween in 1955.
The West Lanes Bowlatorium at 151 N. 72nd St. in Omaha in 1955. Crossroads Mall had not been built across the street at that time.
Some things never change: Rush-hour traffic crowds Dodge Street in Omaha in June 1955.
A crowd of 17,991 watch as Bienville, Sure Time and Brown Miracle lead the fourth horse race at Ak-Sar-Ben on May 31, 1956.
Norbert Steinauer stands at the door of the hundred-year-old cabin his grandfather Joseph built. Joseph was one of the tree Steinauer brothers who came from Switzerland in 1852 and established the town of Steinauer, Nebraska. This photo ran in the newspaper on Oct. 15, 1956.
Nine-year-old John Mefford blows a bubble while coach Leonard Hawkins laces his glove for a bout with Dennis Miller. Hawkins and Paul Jefferson opened a junior boxing organization at the City Mission Gym in Omaha in the fall of 1956.
Flagpole painter Edgar Russell of Chester, Illinois, had a bird’s-eye view of downtown Omaha while he worked in 1957.
In December 1957, Ralston’s 85-foot water tower – a landmark for nearly half a century – was toppled to make way for progress.
The historic Bank of Florence, 8502 N. 30th St., is seen in February 1957. The building was built in 1855. Here it is being used as "Fashion Cleaners."
Judy Priborsky and David Dickinson, both 17, at the Benson High School’s ROTC military ball on Feb. 8, 1957 at Peony Park. Dickinson was named cadet lieutenant colonel of Benson’s ROTC Battalion, and Priborsky was named honorary lieutenant colonel. Priborsky had another honor: one of the biggest hoop skirts at the dance. The hemline’s diameter was nearly 8 feet, and it included 100 yards of sequins, rhinestones and pearls. The dress took her mother about 200 hours to make it.
The Omaha Benson bench explodes on March 7, 1957, when a victory over Fremont in the North Omaha Class AA Regional Basketball Tournament was cemented. The Bunnies, who had won two of 16 games going into the matchup, won 53-40 over Fremont, which was No. 1 in the state. “Benson’s crafty coach” Scotty Orcutt is at right. THE WORLD-HERALD
The Northwestern Bell Telephone Company buildings side by side in Omaha in 1957. The old is on the left and the new is on the right. The company served 2,130,000 telephones in five states at the time.
To call Helen Worley a do-gooder wouldn’t be doing her justice. In November 1958, she was awarded the Omaha Exchange Club’s third annual Golden Deed Award. The following February, she received an Omaha Good Neighbor Award. Among her works: She collected furniture and clothing for those in need; she helped an Omaha soldier overseas break through the red tape and return home to his dying mother; and while working as a matron in the city and county jails, she arranged medical aid and help for the women prisoners.
To the glee of a few boys, two “mermaids” were on hand for the March 1958 groundbreaking of the Ralston Recreation Association swimming pool. The girls are Alice Miller, left, and Gloria Schomer, and the bulldozer operator is Gifford Grabe.
Surprisingly, in this photo that ran June 20, 1958, Martin Luther King Jr., just right of center, wasn’t the focus. Dr. O. Clay Maxwell, a 73-year-old New York City pastor, center, had just been elected president of the National Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Congress in an election at the Civic Auditorium. King, who was 29 at the time, had taken over leadership of the congress when the previous president died a few months earlier. King gave the seconding speech for Maxwell at the election. The newspaper caption referencing the two men read, “Age and youth combine.”
My, don’t they grow up so quickly. Members of Mrs. Margaret Olsen’s preschool class don caps and gowns at the end of their school year in May 1958. They are, from left, Patty Lee, Richie Moore, Lindy Willson and Mike O’Brien.
Mr. and Mrs. W.G. (Bill) Clayton of Grand Island, Nebraska, with 10 feet of tickets after they traveled around the world in 79 days in 1958.
In December 1958, the second annual “Operation Santa Claus” of the Nebraska Civil Air Patrol was ready to take flight. Before the flight, Santa (Maj. Harry A. Wakefield, Air Force Liaison Officer) was handed a bag of candy by two sprightly elves, Michele Jones, left, and Pat Limas. Santa was to use the candy to barter for old toys with children in several small Nebraska towns. The toys were to be used for charity.
In 1958, Omaha earned the title of “All-America City.” Leo A. Daly Jr. was appointed general chairman of the committee to commemorate the honor. He practices hanging a flag on the roof of the electric building prior to a flag-raising ceremony on Jan. 10, 1958.
For four days, “Mom” Gebbie, 38, of Bellevue got a real taste of life as a soldier by joining the Iowa-Nebraska National Guard at Camp Ripley in Minnesota. Described in the Aug. 5, 1958, story as “a blonde, willowy mother of five,” Gebbie wanted to get a “mother’s-eye look” at Army field training to see if it was good for their sons. After swapping her dress for pants and boots, eating from a mess kit and sweating it out in a hot tank turret, she said, “It definitely is. I’m really impressed.”
Omaha Central High School students were all smiles on March 14, 1958, as they boarded buses headed for Lincoln to watch the basketball team in the state tournament — Central’s first appearance there since 1941. About 500 students took the 12 special buses chaperoned by the PTA and faculty, while hundreds others traveled by car and train.
Employees Wesley Laugel and Glen Brooks at the message service center of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in Red Oak, Iowa, in 1958.
This road resurfacing crew found an oasis on Sept. 8, 1959, when three young girls began giving away coffee and soft drinks. Cynthia, 8, Kathleen Tollander, 7, and Linda Spain, 8, set up shop on the 6100 block of North 24th Street. Among their customers: Russ Fisher, left, laydown foreman, and Paul Craig, city inspector. “This type of thing doesn’t happen often,” Craig said, “but it certainly makes you feel good, and it’s appreciated.”
A roller coaster from Playland Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is reflected in a water hole at Dodge Park in October 1959.
Lake Street? More like River Street. A water main break near 22nd and Lake Streets on March 8, 1959, left the streets drenched in up to 4 feet of water. The break in the 36-inch feeder main sent water high into the air, tossing a car parked at the curb. “I saw this spout just bust out of the ground,” said one man. “The car was sitting right on top of it, way up in the air.” Witnesses said the car was tossed around a couple more times before disappearing into a 12-foot hole dug by the geyser. (The geyser can still be seen in the background of this photo.) The Metropolitan Utilities District estimated that 10 million gallons of water escaped. Officials at the (very wet) scene said that it might be the most extensive flooding of its kind up until that point.
For the second year in a row, Judy Stork, second from left, was the district winner of the Make-It-Yourself-With-Wool Contest in October 1959. Winners and runners-up from the district competition, who moved on to the state contest in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, included, from left, Frances Nelson, senior division runner-up; Stork, senior division winner; Jo Ann Peters, junior division runner-up; and Ruth Mencke, junior division winner.
A new type of roof was demonstrated at Behlen Manufacturing Co. in Columbus, Nebraska, on Oct. 15, 1959. To illustrate its strength, 279 Behlen employees stand on a test section. In the foreground are, from left, Walter Behlen, president; his father, Fred E. Behlen; and brothers Gilbert E. Behlen and H.P. “Mike” Behlen.
Folks loved their java jive in this Nov. 17, 1959, photo as a cold wave set a new low mark for the Omaha area. The mercury reached three above zero at 8:30 p.m. the night earlier, beating the previous record low for Nov. 16 of 5 above, set in 1955. The phrase “near zero” was used again and again as shoppers and others prepared to brave the cold.
Ethel Kennedy, wife of Robert Kennedy, receives a lamb from 5-year-old Terry Wear and 3-year-old Julie Wear. Kennedy was campaigning in Nebraska in April 1960 on behalf of her brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy, for the presidential election. The animal was later kept at the Kennedy family zoo in Virginia.
The Burlington Railroad bridge a few miles east of Columbus, Nebraska, collapsed into the Loup River in March 1960. Rain fell on top of heavy snow run-off to cause flooding across eastern Nebraska.
A fireworks stand in Waterloo, Nebraska, gets spruced up in 1960. Omaha didn’t legalize the sale of fireworks until 2011.
Bill O’Hearn, a former Omaha swimming instructor, and several of his old students at a 10-year reunion of the Peony Park Swim Club, then known as the Fehrs Swim Club. About a dozen former star pupils on July 3, 1960, met O’Hearn, who had since moved to Houston, where he sold swimming pools and continued coaching swimming. Among those attending was Judy Macy Bendorf, who finished fifth in the 1957 world amateur standings for the 100-yard butterfly.
Models wore about $2 million worth of Harry Wintson jewels at a Clarkson Hospital fashion production at the Music Hall on Oct. 6, 1960. Both a special Harry Winston guard and the Omaha Police were on hand to guard the ladies and the jewels. Here, the wife of Byrne Swanson holds diamonds worth $400,000 at a production dress rehearsal. Omaha police Sgt. John Friend helps guard the precious gems.
On April 17, 1961, the elder citizens (issei) of the Japanese-American community were honored by their children (nisei) at a banquet at the A-Ri-Rang Club. Here, honored guest Joe Okuda, 67, dines with 3-year-old Pamela and 4-year-old Terry, the children of Harry Watanabe, another of the honored guests. Said Robert Nakadoi, chairman of the Omaha chapter of the Japanese-American Citizens League: “We do not forget their effort or what they have done.”
Flying Officer Branz Oliver, 28, center, rests after surviving a crash of a Royal Air Force jet bomber at Offutt Air Force Base on Nov. 3, 1961. According to the story at the time, the aircraft dropped almost immediately after takeoff, bounced off a grassy embankment and skidded across a busy highway without hitting any vehicles. The plane exploded in flames, but all six aboard made it out safely. Here, Oliver is surrounded by four others who were aboard. They are, from left, Chief Technician Peter Benson, Flying Officers William Yates and Richard MacLachlan, and Squadron Leader Clifford Hardman.
June 1961: Donald Peterson doing a push button check at the control board for power in the boiler room at the Crossroads Mall.
Crossroads in 1961 at Thanksgiving time.
Traffic waits on 72nd Street for the lights to change at L Street. In November 1961, the Omaha City Council discussed a plan to make L and Q Streets one-way roads between 16th Street and 72nd Street to ease congestion on the route to the Omaha Stockyards. L Street would be for eastbound vehicles and Q Street for westbound.
Mr. and Mrs. Pat Davis with Susan, 4 months, and Kelly, 17 months, shopping at the new Crossroads Mall in June 1961.
Landscaping at Crossroads Mall in June 1961.
Northbound traffic on 17th Street between Farnam and Douglas Streets flowed freely under the construction of the new Brandeis parking garage on Jan. 4, 1961.
June 1961: Crossroads Mall at 72nd and Dodge has a pedestrian boulevard, complete with benches and landscaped parking.
The Sears store at Crossroads Mall in 1961.
June 1961: Shoppers at the Crossroads arcade, where 24 stores lined the air-conditioned mall anchored by Brandeis and Sears, Roebuck and Company. The mall, on 72nd and Dodge Streets, opened in 1960 by Brandeis Department Store.
The original Florence School held classes in the land office building. This building was built in 1889 at 8516 N. 31st St. Kids used to come to school in a farm wagon with straw for the seat. This school was razed in 1961 and a new building at 7902 N. 36th St. replaced it.
A smiling Superman, a skeleton and even a masked fairy princess are among the goblins from Hillside School visiting Crossroads Mall in 1962.
The University of Nebraska had a very good day April 23, 1963, in a track meet against Houston. Six records were broken by Nebraska athletes as the Cornhuskers “walloped” the Texans. Here, Gil Gebo cracks the tape of the 440 in 48 seconds, one of the records set that day. In the background checking his stopwatch is Husker coach Frank Sevigne.
Barbara (Bobbi) Ohlhoff, a 24-year-old nurse from New York, gets a boost onto a horse from an 8-year-old cowboy, David. Bobbi and her sister, Anita, were venturing across the country to San Francisco in March 1963. While in Nebraska, they stopped at Y Lazy Y Ranch in Box Elder Canyon, where the pair saw their first cows, steers and calves. “This has just been perfect,” Bobbi said. “We just can’t get over how friendly and concerned everybody is in Nebraska to perfect strangers.”
Buena Vista, left, gets left at the gate during a race at Ak-Sar-ben in June 1964. Buena Vista had a reputation. "I call him Bennie the Clown," said James Moss, the horse's trainer, "because you just can't predict what he's going to do."
A British double-decker bus has to squeeze itself over the Ak-Sar-Ben bridge on a promotional tour of the United States in this October 1964 photo. The bus swung through Omaha for a Brandeis store-sponsored event called Hail Britannia Far.
A car is submerged on 84th Street near Interstate 80 after 7 to 8 inches of rain fell on Omaha on June 16 and 17, 1964. The Army Corps of Engineers labeled it a “100-year storm,” meaning a storm that size has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. North of Dodge Street, more than 4,500 acres of farmland near the Big Papillion Creek was flooded. South of Dodge, the Big Papillion flooded 108 homes and 34 businesses. Seven people were killed in the Papillion Creek watershed, eventually leading the Corps to build reservoirs, including Cunningham, Wehrspann and Zorinsky Lakes.
In the summer of 1964, John Wrich was 73 years old. He was still farming the way he had 62 years before, using a team of mules and manure for fertilizer. His Washington County farm was one mile west of Blair.
Downtown traffic on Dodge Street, January 1964.
Guide Rock fans during the first-round game of the 1965 Class D State Basketball Tournament at Lincoln High. Guide Rock beat Halsey-Dunning 58-55. Although Halsey-Dunning scored first, Guide Rock never trailed after the first quarter.
Shoppers at Crossroads Mall in January 1965.
July 1965: Concrete breaking for new Brandeis Tire Center at Crossroads Mall. Bill Mager, Omaha area manager for Abel Corp.; S.J. Marchese, manager of Brandeis Crossroads; and John Diesing, VP of Brandeis.
Shoppers at Crossroads Mall in January 1965.
Shoppers at Crossroads Mall in July 1966.
Officer Hap Bolan dusting for fingerprints after a robbery at Crossroads Mall November 1966.
To say Dick and Sue Stork were active is an understatement. The couple, in this Feb. 25, 1966 photo, attended ballet lessons twice a week. Said Dick, “When we got too old to sing, we took up dancing. I had my first ballet lesson on my 49th birthday.” They were also expert ballroom dancers, excelling at the waltz, foxtrot, tango and quickstep. If they were to volunteer with a play, opera or ballet performance, they would also inevitably wind up helping with makeup, costumes and sets. Dick, the vice president of a realty firm, and Sue, a former teacher, always worked a show as a team, saying “birds of a feather flock together.”
In this photo that ran Oct. 30, 1966, cowpoke Newton Gearhart sits in an Omaha bus station. The cowpoke of 46 years had returned from Ely, Nevada, ostensibly to lay down roots here. The 61-year-old said he was drawn to Omaha because its winters aren’t too tough — though the last time he had an extensive stay was 30 years earlier. During his rodeoing career, Gearhart specialized in bulldogging, saddle bronc and bull riding. “I was never a champion rider in any rodeo,” he said,” but I’ve ridden horses that bucked champions.” THE WORLD-HERALD
Smoke pours from the old Omaha City Hall building at 18th and Farnam Streets after it caught fire during its demolition on March 2, 1966. The demolition had been plagued with several problems, including a broken crane and a wrecking ball that came loose. The fire was “probably started from a spark when the crane bucket hit metal in the building,” said Fred Segal, vice president of American Wrecking.
Smoke from dozens of stacks clouds downtown Omaha in this photo that ran in the February 16, 1967, edition of The World-Herald. It was shot Feb. 2 about 8 a.m. from the fifteenth floor of the Northern Natural Gas building, looking southeast. A photo caption at the time indicated that local officials were studying air pollution from industry, dumps and automobiles.
"Storz Planning to Be First With Transparent Package": Kleer Pak cartons transport beer cans in a packaging system designed by the Reynolds Metal Co. Shown here are Frank Basilevac, packaging foreman, left, and Storz president Norman Thomas in 1967.
Gale Sayers signs autographs at Crossroads Mall in Omaha on April 22, 1967.
Navy corpsman Bob Wunnenberg of Beatrice, Nebraska, got to spend December 1967 at home with family, including his mother, Mrs. Clarence Wunnenberg. The Vietnam veteran received a Bronze Star and was a patient at the Oak Knoll hospital in Oakland, California.
A combination cafe, old-fashioned country store, garage, library and museum also served as the headquarters of the Pleasant Valley Cultural Society back in 1967. Here are a few of the members studying the key issues of the day facing Nebraska. Don’t confuse this Pleasant Valley with the one in Dodge County. These society members were gathered at their headquarters in Cedar County at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 and Nebraska Highway 84. That’s about 20 miles south of Yankton, South Dakota.
Brutus is Santa at the Companion Dog Club’s annual Christmas party at the Nebraska Humane Society in 1968. Owners dressed their dogs in various costumes, including Santa Claus, Rudolph, an elf and even a dinner table with two dogs supporting it and a parrot perching on the top. Brutus was owned by Mrs. Joseph Pletka.
On Jan. 24, 1968, Foster-Smetana Co. workmen install precast sections to the pedestrian overpass on Dodge Street west of Happy Hollow Boulevard. In the background is the bell tower of St. Margaret Mary’s Church.
Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller was in Omaha on June 12, 1968, to conduct youth baseball clinics. He’s shown here at Christie Heights with, from left, Tom Bojanski, Jerry Jacobsen, Mark Kleine, Dan Salem and Tim Wagman. The clinics were sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department, the American Baseball Coaches Association and The World-Herald.
Edna Hawkins dabs theatrical blood on the stump of the pike-mounted “head” of decapitated Macbeth at the Omaha Playhouse in February 1968.
Ten Benson athletes performed the ballet spoof “Dying Swan” at the International Fair at Benson High School in March 1968. The fair was sponsored by the American Field Service Club to raise money for exchange students. Posing in front of track practice are, from left, Joe Nebbia, Tom Steppat, Steve Bross, Tom Antisdale and Tom O’Brien.
Royal Grove construction of a larger stage in front of the Peony Park band shell for the start of Omaha Symphony's Starlight Pops concert series in 1969.
The Storz Brewery plant in January 1969.
Children at Karen Western School in Ralston prepared for their Thanksgiving feast in November 1969. Marc Heiser was the head pilgrim for the occasion, which gave him the honor of basting the turkey. Classmates who helped prepare other dishes are, clockwise from lower left, Scott Thomas, Terri Ann McNerney and Deborah Pond.
This 1969 Omaha Central High School mathematics class featured a teletypewriter linked by telephone cable to the computer services division at UNO. Seen here are Stephanie Kutler and Fred Ware.
Nebraska coach Bob Devaney, left, gave many of his offensive duties to assistant Tom Osborne, right, in 1969. The Huskers entered the season with sophomore Van Brownson, center, as their starting quarterback.
When Penelope, a hefty pink Yorkshire hog, takes a dip in the water tank on a hot summer day at the Henry Doorly Zoo, the other animals don’t stand a chance. In this photo, which ran Aug. 26, 1969, under the headline “How to Get a Goat’s Goat,” Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Paulsen of Omaha and their 1½-year-old daughter, Jenifer, watch as Rasputin the goat politely urges Penelope to hurry it up a bit.
1969 PHOTO: Johnny Carson is the center of attention at the Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack on June 7, 1969. From left are Marion Van Berg; Carson’s father, Homer “Kit” Carson; Johnny Carson; and Stan Bowker of Ak-Sar-Ben. Van Berg’s horse Tuffit Out won the $7,500 Johnny Carson purse that day. Carson was in Omaha for the weekend.
