La Cañada History: Dodger pitcher attends local banquet, man receives medal of valor

Ten Years Ago

The La Cañada High School girls’ varsity basketball team broke open a close game in an overtime period to defeat host Monrovia in Rio Hondo League play and improve to 16-4 overall and to 5-1 in league. The leading scorers were Emmilee Ringelberg, Emily Ballard and Mary Kate Hurlbutt.

Twenty Years Ago

Fifth-grade classes at Palm Crest Elementary School welcomed two visiting students from Peru. Alvaro Serkovic and Diego Acosta learned about United States schools by spending several days in the local classrooms. “The kids learned from each other,” said then-Palm Crest principal Brent Noyes.

Thirty Years Ago

A 25-year-old La Cañada man, Chip Smith, was recognized as a hero when he was awarded the first medal of valor presented by the city of Glendale. Smith was honored for rescuing Francina Veidt, 76, from her burning home. He had been working on a painting crew at a nearby property when the fire broke out in Veidt’s Mill Street home. He pulled security bars off a window of the house, climbed in, crawled through the rooms, found the woman in a bathroom and escorted her to safety.

Forty Years Ago

A five-year conditional use permit for a heliport at Verdugo Hills Hospital was approved by the city of Glendale following a public hearing. It would be located on the second parking level on the west side of the hospital. Up until then, the sheriff’s department helicopter was making its landings in an east parking lot, close to homes on neighboring Wishing Hill Drive and a spur of Lanterman Lane.

Fifty Years Ago

Dodger pitcher Claude Osteen, whose skills on the mound helped the team capture the 1965 World Series, was a featured guest at the February 1966 banquet launching the La Cañada Junior Baseball Assn. season. Joining Osteen at the podium during the event at the La Cañada Country Club were Dodger General Manager Buzzie Bavasi and Manager Walt Alston. At the time, LCJBA was still an all-male organization and the banquet was a stag affair. President of the group that year was La Cañada resident Bill Latta.

Sixty Years Ago

Someone forgot to lock the front door of Verny’s Hobby Shop at 839 Foothill Blvd., at closing time on a Saturday evening. A visitor who was described cheekily in the newspaper as an “after hours customer” took advantage of the situation, scooping up $80 in cash and $130 in personal checks from the store’s cash drawer. But an honest patron left 40 cents on the counter with a note saying, “No one here, this is for the yo-yo.”

Compiled from the Valley Sun archives by Carol Cormaci