1927: Birth of Erma Bombeck
There was no birth announcement for the birth of Erma Fiste on Feb. 21, but she would go on to become one of the world’s most prolific comedic writers in the decades with her name appearing countless times in print as Erma Bombeck. She wrote her syndicated newspaper column from 1965 to 1996 and published 15 books.
She was a staff writer for the Journal Herald in Dayton, where her first story appeared on Nov. 19, 1949.
1949: Woody Hayes gets Miami coaching job
One of the most celebrated football coaches ever, Hayes was hired to succeed George Blackburn as the Miami University head coach on Feb. 22. He coached Miami for two seasons after coming from Denison University, and he was 14-5 in Oxford before taking the Ohio State job in 1951.
1957: $250,000 holdup wave suspect seized here
A man named Benjamin Lett was arrested by Montgomery County officials on Feb. 22 and accused of being part of a theft ring that stole from banks, markets and other stores as far back as 1954. Police had been investigating the crimes for multiple years, and they said Lett worked with other men who were in prison for other crimes, who identified Lett.
1975: $1.5 million project scheduled for ‘75 in Oregon
Officials told the Dayton Daily News that a commercial restoration of the area at East Sixth Street and Patterson Boulevard would be coming in the next year with “a major seafood restaurant, several cocktail lounges, office and retail space.” The space was being worked on Haverstick Builders Inc. in space vacated by Dimco-Gray Co., which moved to Centerville.
The brother of the construction firm’s leader, Jay Haverstick, would operate the restaurant, the story noted. That restaurant became Jay’s Seafood, 225 E. Sixth St.
1986: Helen Hooven Santmyer dead at 90
Santmyer gained national fame in 1984 when she published “…And Ladies of the Club,” a novel on which she had been working for more than 50 years. She was living in a nursing home when the book, which she wrote longhand, was published and shocked the literary world. She died in Xenia on Feb. 21.
1995: Cult band GBV poised to go big time
The Dayton Daily News published a feature on Feb. 24 about Guided by Voices, the Dayton band that was formed in 1983 in Dayton and was poised to release a box set of previous titles and a new album the next month. Dayton knew the band well, and it would go on to become internationally known as the next in a series of music groups come from southwest Ohio.
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