Compiled by Nick Sestanovich

75 years ago

Clyne, Simon Lost Strayed or Stolen (Sept. 10, 1942)

Lost, strayed or stolen: one perfectly good mayor, and one excellent city attorney. Finder please notify Benicia City Hall.
Mayor Charles G. Clyne and City Attorney Harold Simon left for Washington two weeks ago Wednesday on city business. No word has been received from them at City Hall.
Mr. Simon telephoned his wife last Friday night that they had found it necessary to stay in Washington over Labor Day, that they had made progress, but had encountered unexpected delays in getting to see federal officials. It is now thought they will get home before the end of the week.

50 years ago

Year Book Is Honored (Sept. 7, 1967)

The 1967 Panther has been named for an Award of Merit by the School Photographers Digest it was learned this week.
According to Don Victor, editor of School Photographers Digest the Benicia High yearbook won the award for…”Outstanding activities, senior portraits and student photo supervision.”
The Benicia yearbook was entered in the competition by Mr. Richard Woolstrum, manager of Crete Studios of Lodi, who have provided yearbook and senior portraits for the local high school for years.
Mrs. Marge Price, yearbook advisor at Benicia High School, said, “we knew we had an outstanding book in 1967 and we are very happy to receive this recognition. Now we will have to do an even better job on the 1968 Panther.”

25 years ago

Teacher recalls hubby’s escape from Iraq (Sept. 6, 1992)

By Tim Hearden

Two years ago, Jeannette Burrell left a teaching position at St. Dominic’s School to live overseas with her husband and accept a teaching position– only to experience the scare of her life.
She left St. Dominic’s when her husband, Peter, was sent by his company to install fire alarm equipment for the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
About a month after Peter went to Iraq, as Jeannette was back in the Bay Area making final arrangements to join him, Saddam Hussein’s tanks rolled into Kuwait.
Peter was one of the lucky ones, taking an 18-hour journey from Baghdad to the Jordanian border and escaping from the country. One of his three American co-workers wasn’t as lucky, however. He was used by Hussein as a human shield. He died not long after returning to the United States.
This week, Jeannette returned to St. Dominic’s as a third-grade teacher and vice principal. She’s glad to be back, and the ordeal– and the ensuing media barrage the couple endured– is behind them.
“It was terrible,” Jeannette said. “I never left my TV from the time they announced (the invasion). People would come in with food and sit with me. We have wonderful friends.”
Jeannette, a long-time teacher at Catholic schools, had been at St. Dominic’s for three years when her husband was transferred to Iraq. A teacher of sixth, seventh and eighth grades, she turned in her resignation in the spring of 1990, and took a teaching position for the fall at the University of Baghdad.

The full articles of these and other stories are available on microfilm at the Benicia Public Library.

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