Twenty years ago — 1999

The annual Fredonia Middle School spelling bee was held in the district auditorium. Twenty-two finalists who had previously made it through the challenging first round competed for more than an hour in front of a large audience before the winner emerged. Eighth-grader Jennifer LaBarbera correctly spelled “mayonnaise” and then “gourmet” to edge out the runner-up, fellow eighth-grader Jeb Bobseine. Jennifer received the traditional dictionary from the sponsor and will compete in the county championship round.

Thirty years ago — 1989

A registered nurse at Brooks Hospital for 37 continuous years, Mrs. Jayne Potter of Arkwright was honored recently when 65 family members, co-workers and friends gathered for a dinner in her honor. The dinner party was held at the Vineyard Restaurant with Rita Cieslewicz, Ann Budniewski and Linda Mikula, committee members. At the time of her retirement, Mrs. Potter was assistant head nurse on 3B (11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift).

Forty years ago — 1979

Today the Displaced Homemaker Center in Fredonia closed its doors as a result of the withholding of state funds allocated for Displaced Homemaker Centers in the Western New York area. The Fredonia Displaced Homemaker Center is one of five such centers opened in Western New York with the main office in Buffalo. Since their opening in May 1978, the other four centers have closed because of funds being withheld. The Fredonia center has remained open only because the staff has worked without any salaries.

Fifty years ago — 1969

Kyle Morse, coordinator of the new Youthpower Program, announced that Randall Brown, a sophomore attending Fredonia High School, is the winner of the written contest in the Youthpower ’69 Chautauqua County competition. Randall’s subject was “Beef Cattle.” Winner of the ora contest was Michael Harrington, a sophomore at Mayville Central School, whose subject was “The Challenge of Feeding the World.”