Winchester High School

The annual summer pow wow for former Winchester High School students will be Saturday, July 18, at the Winchester Country Club, 410 Boone Ave. A social hour is planned at 6:30 p.m. with dinner to be served at 7:30 p.m. The pow wow is open to anyone associated with Winchester High School and their guests. A special invitation is issued to all former personnel of the high school. The cost is $25 per person for dinner and checks should be made out to Peggy D. Gibson and mailed to her at 27 Seneca Drive, Winchester, KY 40391.

May 23, 1959 Whitesburg, Ky. (AP) - Violence continues in Eastern Kentucky's coal fields as the 11th week of the United Mine Workers Strike draws to a close. Charles Hughes "Chuck" Epperson of Winchester will be among 62 candidates receiving degrees at the spring commencement at the Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro. A graduate of Winchester High School and the son of Mrs. J.B. Epperson and the late Mr. Epperson, he will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree. Mr. and Mrs. Max Schnittker and son, Reed, of Burnside, are the weekend guests of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Haggard, South Maple Street.

July 7, 1986 A former Montgomery County High School principal who recently received his doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky has been named principal of George Rogers Clark High School. The Clark County Board of Education Thursday unanimously approved Supt. Don Pace’s recommendation to hire Dr. Richard Hughes, 39, of Mount Sterling, for the position recently vacated by the board’s promotion of Claude Sallee. William I. Bond, owner of Court View Flowers, was guest speaker at the July 1 meeting of the Little Garden Club at the home of Mrs. John Codell, Combs Ferry Road.

The current furor over the naming (renaming?) of the new high school for Clark County would be humorous were it not so pathetic. Rarely does an issue in this county generate a large outpouring of letters to the editor and, like the issue of a school name, many of those other issues are equally frivolous. Of course, letters are occasionally generated over local taxes or political races and, on a related issue, the school facilities plan which proposed this new school. And it’s good to see so much interest generated in the community on virtually any issue since so many things which affect us are passed over with alacrity.

Geraldine Wells, 78, of Raleigh, N.C., passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, at the Sunrise of Raleigh Nursing Home. She was born in Powell County on Jan. 22, 1935, to the late Lloyd and Mabel Martin Wells; however, she grew up in Winchester. She was a graduate of Georgetown College and Winchester High School. She worked for many years at IBM and retired from there in Raleigh. She was a longtime member of Hayes-Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh. Survivors include three brothers, Jack Wells and James Donald Wells of Winchester, and Harold Wells of Maryland; a sister, Norma Bailey of Iowa; a number of nieces and nephews; and special friends, Nancy and John Stainback and family of North Carolina.

Geraldine Wells, 78, of Raleigh, N.C., passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, at the Sunrise of Raleigh Nursing Home. She was born in Powell County on Jan. 22, 1935, to the late Lloyd and Mabel Martin Wells; however, she grew up in Winchester. She was a graduate of Georgetown College and Winchester High School. She worked for many years at IBM and retired from there in Raleigh. She was a longtime member of Hayes-Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh. Survivors include three brothers, Jack Wells and James Donald Wells of Winchester, and Harold Wells of Maryland; a sister, Norma Bailey of Iowa; a number of nieces and nephews; and special friends, Nancy and John Stainback and family of North Carolina.

Marie Cook, 92, widow of Nelson Cook, passed away at 2:13 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013, at Fountain Circle. A native of Clark County, she was the daughter of the late Joseph S. and Georgia Gravett Burton. Marie was a graduate of Winchester High School and the Fugazzi College of Business, a former City of Winchester tax collector, a Clark Regional Medical Center volunteer and a long-time member of the First Baptist Church. Survivors include her daughter, Suzanne Cook Gallaher; a grandson, Grant Nelson Gallaher; and several nieces and nephews.

In 1964, Philip Myers and Bonnie Bedford were voted “cutest couple” by their fellow classmates at George Rogers Clark High School. That spring, they danced together at the first GRC prom, held in the foyer of what was then a new school, and lined up in Letcher Norton Gymnasium with the first group of students to graduate from the school. Forty-eight years later, the now-married “cutest couple” is eagerly anticipating the graduation of two of their granddaughters, Cassie Kissick and Kendra Wilson-Milliner.

Aileen Craig Andrews Snowden, 91, left this earth on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012 to join her beloved husband, James Edward Snowden. She was born in Sweetwater, Tenn. on July 18, 1921 to the late Frank Aileen Hicks and Jack Prichard Andrews. She grew up in Winchester, where she graduated from Winchester High School and attended Kentucky Wesleyan. Aileen was a lifelong supporter and graduate of the University of Kentucky.  She was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church in Winchester and an active volunteer for various community services.

Donna Allen Miller, 72, of Winchester, died peacefully at her home May 17, 2012. Donna was born April 23, 1940, in Jeffersontown, Ky. She lived in Winchester most of her life. She established a home accessory shop “It's A Keeper” in downtown Winchester in 1991, which she operated until her retirement in 2003.  She worked as social editor of the Winchester Sun, served as executive assistant of the Winchester Chamber of Commerce and director of High Hope Steeple Chase.  She was preceded in death by her parents James Bradley Allen and Emory Dale Inman Allen.  She is survived by her spouse of 25 years George Bruce Taylor Miller and six children; Annie (D.J.)

William Maurice Taylor, 88, of Winchester, widower of the love of his life, Elizabeth “Betty” McLendon Taylor, passed away peacefully on Thursday at the Clark Regional Medical Center after a short illness. A native of Clark County, he was born May 28, 1923, to the late Claude Thurman Taylor and Jessie Tucker Hampton Taylor. He attended Bean Elementary School, St. Agatha Academy, and graduated from Winchester High School in 1942. He then attended Kentucky Wesleyan College in Winchester so he could be close to his future wife.

Water bill was not fair Dear Editor, There has been a lot of talk about the running of Winchester. I agree. We need new people who care about the people of Winchester. Not all are made of money. Also, I received my water bill in January for the period Nov. 14-Dec. 14. The reading date was Dec. 14, but I was billed in January. The increase went into affect on Jan. 1. They increased the bill for the Nov. 14-Dec. 14 period because it was not billed until after Jan 1. Talk about cheating the people, that's Winchester for you. We are losing all of our plants, and now stores.

During the past week, I found that several of you do read my column and I sincerely appreciate it. Also by several of you I was reminded that I had forgotten a few things about early Winchester. One was the ice house, another was the incinerator that left a low, stinky, smoky look over our town. Yes, I remember those things well. I never did tour the ice house but I remember my family getting ice from a horse-drawn wagon. We had a big, red square piece of cardboard that we put in the window, with the sign turned to the requested size of ice ... 25, 50, 75 or 100 pounds of ice. The ice man would chisel off the size ice that we wanted, making the chips fly where they may. As I got older I thought that he really chipped a little faster than needed, but it gave the kids on the block the opportunity to pick up ice chips.

July 7, 1986 A former Montgomery County High School principal who recently received his doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky has been named principal of George Rogers Clark High School. The Clark County Board of Education Thursday unanimously approved Supt. Don Pace’s recommendation to hire Dr. Richard Hughes, 39, of Mount Sterling, for the position recently vacated by the board’s promotion of Claude Sallee. William I. Bond, owner of Court View Flowers, was guest speaker at the July 1 meeting of the Little Garden Club at the home of Mrs. John Codell, Combs Ferry Road.