15 YEARS AGO

auG. 6, 2008

Winners determined Tuesday in three hard-fought Republican primary races were candidates Robert Brookens, for District 70 state representative; Robert Craft, county sheriff; and Randy Dallke, District 3 county commissioner.

Michael Martin Murphy, “the best-selling cowboy music singer of our time,” will perform Aug. 31 in Florence during the city’s 71st annual Labor Day celebration.

Family gatherings reported in this issue included the seventh reunion of the Reznicek-Pallas family, the 80th J.D. and Lucinda Riggs family gathering, the 48th Gottfried Bernhardt family reunion, and the 78th reunion of the Heller-Higgins family.

Pictured is Lori Chaput Smith of rural Lincolnville, former national guardsman who recently joined the Marion American Legion post, becoming the first female soldier from the Iraq war to join.

Former Marion resident Amanda Steiner recently competed in the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant at Rockville, Missouri. She competed in Topeka in March and was chosen to represent Kansas in the national pageant. Her parents are Perry and Barb Steiner of Marion.

A goal of $45,000 in donations was surpassed by more than $5,000 in the annual Marion County Relay for Life. More than 1,500 luminaries were purchased in memory or honor of cancer victims.