Mrs. McNabb left her son at the Crystal Lake Bible camp to play with his cousin and the other children while she went to see a doctor in Sioux City. The camp was operated by Mrs. McNabb’s brother, Charles Stevens.

Marilyn Stevens said they had been wading hand-inhand in the shallow end of the lake when Loy Gene suddenly let go of her hand and fell face down in the water. She said she screamed to her father who was standing on the shore and he waded out and carried the boy in.

The camp’s assistant director and a swimming instructor performed artificial respiration while waiting for an inhalator squad from Sioux City. Squad members worked for an hour but were unable to restore breathing. As very little water was extracted from the child’s lungs, drowning was ruled out. Although no autopsy was performed, the cause of death was thought to be a sudden heart attack.

Loy Gene was born in Orchard on Christmas Day 1937. He came to Laurel with his parents when he was only eight days old. He was the McNabb’s only child. Had he survived, he would be 89 years old this Christmas.

Longtime Laurel businessman, Alfred D. Felber, passed away on Aug. 6 at the age of 63. Felber came to Laurel with his parents in 1898 and entered the drugstore business with his father in 1905. Felber served as Laurel‘s mayor for 14 years and also helped organize the Laurel Ice Co., the Laurel Building and Loan Assn., and the Loval Lake project. Felber was joined in the drugstore by his son Neal in 1946.

Located about three miles north of Laurel, Loval Lake was created in 1924 when an earthen dam was built downstream from a small flowing spring. When the lake filled it was stocked with fish. LoVal became a popular spot for swimming, fishing, and other recreation for a number of years.

By 1947, however, the lake had deteriorated. On Aug. 21, 12 men met in Dave Curtiss‘ office and talked about rehabilitating it. To raise money for the project, the group decided to sell memberships in the “Loval Sportsman’s’ Club” for $25. A new pump would be installed in the old pump house, and when the lake refilled, it would be restocked with fish.

Everett C. Huddleston was the first student pilot to solo at the Laurel airport. On Aug. 12, he flew to Pender to pick up a new Piper J-3 Cub he had purchased. He was accompanied by Max Lamson and a flying instructor from Randolph. Huddleston and Lamson flew the Cub back to Laurel and the instructor flew the other plane to Allen to take up passengers during the town’s celebration.

Ronald G. Frans was the first veteran to solo at the airport under the new G.I. Bill. Frans was allowed to solo after only eight hours of flying accompanied by an instructor. Learning to fly a small plane like a Piper Cub wasn’t much harder than learning how to drive a car. And a new Cub could be purchased for about the same price as a new car.

Laurel had a new private garbage collection service in late August. Raymond Simpson, a local drayman, said he would pick up garbage and trash twice a week for anyone willing to pay a dollar a month. Simpson said he would like to have garbage and trash in separate bags. “This is a service well worth the effort to get it started in Laurel,“ said the Advocate.

The Arrow Stage Line of Norfolk applied to the Nebraska Railway Commission for a permit to operate a bus line between Wayne and Hartington. The proposed route would run from Wayne to Laurel to Coleridge to Hartington and back.

According to one of the x-ray machine operators, 628 people took advantage of the free x-rays offered the last few days in July. It was the best turnout so far in the county.

But x-rays could not find all of the problems, however. Cliff Templeman, 22, suffered internal severe injuries while dragging some late-planted corn. As he turned around at the end of the field, the rear wheel caught the drag and three sections flew up on the tractor. Templeman said he tried to stop the tractor but he was unable to release the clutch. He jumped off and the rear wheel of the tractor passed over his abdomen.

Templeman walked a half mile to a neighbor’s farm. He was taken to Dr. Bray in Ponca and immediately sent to a Sioux City hospital where x-rays showed no damage. The next morning the doctors operated and found his liver was split wide open. Templeman recovered and lived to the age of 84.

Approximately 8000 acres of crop and pasture land in Cedar County had been sprayed with the new “wonder weed killer” 2-4D. About 2000 acres were sprayed by Pete Stewart. Stewart had a Jeep mounted with a 24-foot spraying boom which could cover a lot of ground in one day. Much of the spraying was concentrated on cockleburs which had gotten out of hand during the war when help was scarce. (During the time this writer lived on Bud Lorang’s farm north of Laurel, cockleburs were cut by hand with a corn knife).

On Aug. 31, 1947, a decision was made that has affected the world to this day.

A United Nations special committee recommended partitioning Palestine into two separate states. One Arab; the other Jewish. Jews were elated. Arabs, who had lived in Palestine for thousands of years, were not.

An enclave containing Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other nearby Holy Land towns would be independently administered by the United Nations. The commission’s report also recommended increasing Jewish immigration into Palestine. We all know how that worked out.