La Cañada History: Pastor’s van crushed during December 1967 windstorm

Ten Years Ago

Having decided against seeking reelection, Virginia “Jinny” Dalbeck stepped down after early 14 years of service on the La Cañada school board. Dalbeck, who spearheaded the Five Star Coalition of area school districts, said during her final board meeting that she was contemplating what her next steps might be.

Twenty Years Ago

The first officially recognized El Niño storm of the 1997-98 season hit La Cañada on Dec. 5, forcing the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce Assn. to move its annual Festival in Lights celebration from Memorial Park to the auditorium at La Cañada High School.

Thirty Years Ago

In a unanimous vote, the La Cañada Flintridge City Council approved the expenditure of $213,500 out of the city’s reserve fund for a seven-block median landscape renovation project on Foothill Boulevard, stretching east from Angeles Crest Highway to Georgian Road.

Forty Years Ago

La Cañada High School captured its second-ever girls’ CIF championship when its varsity tennis team, coached by Sue Skalla, distinguished itself on the courts. The first LCHS girls’ team to win the CIF crown was a volleyball team coached by Helen Smith.

Fifty Years Ago

A deodar cedar tree in front of the St. George’s Episcopal Church parish house fell victim to high winds, as did the 1965 Ford van belonging to the Rev. John Lathrop that had been parked underneath it. Lost during the same windstorm were pine trees clustered in front of the old La Cañada Elementary School (which then faced Foothill Boulevard where Memorial Park is today) as well as a window at La Cañada Country Club.

Sixty Years Ago

Three Flintridge girls, ages 9-11, were invited to travel to the Hawaiian Islands during December 1957 to stage an ice-skating exhibition for the patients at Children’s Hospital in Honolulu. The local girls, all students of Erika Pfeufer at Pasadena’s Winter Garden ice rink, set sail to the islands on the President Cleveland and returned aboard the President Wilson.

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci.