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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1958)
53rd Year MEDFORD Price 10 Cents TRIBUNE 2nd SECTION MEDFORD, OREGON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1958 Pages 1 to 10 Girl Who Wrote To Santa 61 Years Ago Soon To Retire as School Teacher News York - (LTD - Sixty-one years ago Virginia O'Hanlon wrote one of the world's most famous letters. In it she asked the question-is there a Santa Claus? "I am ready to retire," said the gentle, blue-yed lady today. She spoke with only the slightest quaver, in sure, cultured cadences. "Next July, I will be 70 years old, and I've been teach ing in the New York public schools roughly 43 years. I intend to finish out the spring term. Retirement is manda tory at 70." One short half-term as a junior principal and then re tirement in a quiet apartment in Manhattan, the island that has always been home for Mrs. Laura Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas. She was born, in Manhattan July 20, 1889, not far from the spot where Cle ment Clarke Moore wrote the verse that begins " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Her father,' Dr. Philip F. O'Hanlon, a physician and surgeon, later moved his fam ily uptown into a four-story brick house with brownstone trimming at the front. Her room had a fireplace where she always hung a stocking on Christmas Eve. The tree was in the parlor downstairs. Uses Old Ornaments "One of my earliest memo ries is of the sound of the bells on the sleighs outside-a love ly sound in winter-I'm sorry children don't hear now," she said. "And I still have the old-fashioned orna ments we used on our Christ mas tree. They are used to help decorate the tree of my seven grandchildren every year." One day, when Virginia O'Hanlon was eight, she came home from Public School 93 with word that some of her little friends were saying there Is no Santa Claus. She put it squarely up to her father. "My dear father was always a great' pal of mine. I felt he was being equivocal in the way he was answering-he wasn't saying yes with con viction, and he wasn't saying no. I told him I was going to ask our family newspaper, the Sun. Papa was delighted it was an out for him." Virginia got a sheet of the family's best heavy writing paper. She went to her fa- Man Hit in Leg Target Shooting Frank Burwell, 21, of 903 Lawnsdale st., Medford, acci dentally shot himself in the lower right leg while practic ing target shoting near the Old Stage rd., state police re ported. Officers said the bullet en tered the leg just below the knee and traveled 10 inches down his leg. He was treated by a local physician and re- themleased. ther's second-floor office, took a stub pen, and wrote a letter starting "dear editor" and ending: "Please tell me. the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Editorial Widely Used The answer, an editorial written by Francis B. Church in the Sun, has been repro duced all over the world and is held to be the most famous editorial article ever written. "My family used to write the Sun about such things as pronunciation of words," she said, "and when I wrote my letter I never expected there'd be anything but a yes or no answer. "Our first word of the edi torial came when a lovely gentleman, Mr. Matthews, an officer of the Astor's Fund, met my father and said: 'Did you see today's answer to Vir ginia's letter?' " The famous answer assured Virginia, that there is indeed a Santa Claus-"he exists as certainly as love and gener osity and devotion exist . . . thank God he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood." Mrs. Douglas smiled when asked if she ever met the au thor: "No, we never knew him, although he was a neigh bor of ours in the summer. You see, it wasn't known un til he died that he wrote it. Everybody thought Mr. Dana, the editor, wrote it." if ; 1 ; SEEKING information on American production, Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas Mi koyan plans to visit United States in January. Excessive Speed Blamed for Crash Belle Glade, Fla.- (UPD -Excessive speed at a dangerous curve has been blamed for a two-car collision which killed nine persons and hospitalized another. . . The Highway Patrol said a car containing nine Puerto Rican laborers was going 85 to 95 miles an hour early Sun day when it spun out of con trol and slammed into a car driven by an off-duty police man. Eight of the Puerto Ricans and the policemanlwerelkilled. Aliens Must Report Addresses Portland James L. Turner, district director of the immi gration and naturalization service, has estimated that 20,000 aliens will report their address in the state of Oregon in January under the federal alien address program. Turner said that 19,583 aliens reported their address during January, 1958. The law requires all aliens in the United States, with few ex ceptions, to report their ad dress during each January. Throughout the United States almost 30 per cent more appli cations for naturalization are received during January, February and March than are received during other months. The immigration official attri butes this sudden rise to the alien address program. Aliens not required to make this report are diplomats, those accredited to certain in ternational organizations and those who have entered tem porarily as agricultural laborers. Forms for making the re ports will be available to aliens at all post offices and offices of the immigration and naturalization service at Port land during January. Accident Results In Traffic Citation Harold Champy McCollum, 764 West McAndrews rd., Medford, was cited for fail ure to stop and yield the right of way on a private drive Sat urday night following an ac cident, state police said.- McCollum backed out on Mc Andrews rd. in front of a car driven by Ralph Black, route 1, box 2 A, Jacksonville, state police said. The Black car hit the McCollum car in the right rear fender and the front end of the Black car was demol ished, officers said. ARRIVING IN SAN FRANCISCO with rare deep sea animal life, Soviet marine research shin Vitia of scientific interest. From left: Captain Igor Sergeev, Dr. Nikolai Sysoev, top scientist aboard, and Mrs. A. a! Pavlova, interpreter. Marine research in Pacific Ocean was conducted under International Geophysical Year program. Mexican Bus Crash Kills 72 Oaxaca, Mexico-(UPD-A bus loaded with Christmas shop pers overturned on the Pan- American highway 40 miles southeast of here Sunday, killing 72 persons and injur ing two in the worst traffic accident in Mexico's history. All of the victims were be lieved to be Mexicans. The speeding bus over turned and Dluneed over a six-foot bank paralleling the roaa when the driver swerved in an effort to avoid two per sons walking down the high way. The two pedestrians and 70 of the 72 persons aboard the bus were killed. The only survivors, the con ductor of the bus and a 15- year-old Indian girl passen ger, were seriously injured. i HITLER CRITIC DIES ' . Lios Areies-tUPD-A uthor Lion Feuchtwanger, 74, a merciless critic of Hitler and the Nazi government, died at Mt. 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