The Stanley Area Historical Society opens this coming weekend for the summer season. It will be open Saturdays and Sundays 1- 4 p. m. through the weekend of September 2526. You are invited to visit and see a great deal of Stanley area history on display. And why not bring any house guests you have this summer for a visit? There is no admission charge. Voluntary donations are accepted. If you have never been at the museum a nice surprise awaits you!

*** Stanley Republican Reporter Joe Back is doing a nice job of periodically writing some historical stories related to Stanley’s past. He did it again with his “Stanley Fire,” story in the May 29 edition. Like the story he wrote on the Culbertson’s, he awoke in me a story on the Stanley Fire, that was related to me by my grandmother, Grace Gruber Jankoski. Grandma Jankoski was oldest Stanley born resident living in Stanley at the time of the Stanley Centennial in 1981. Grandmother told me that the day of the fire she and the other members of her family, who lived on the

land now occupied by the Stanley-Boyd Schools, watched all day as horse drawn wagons carried furniture and other possessions

from the houses that were in the path of the fire. Back then the

land was all being farmed in that area. By night fall, grandma said there were 68 piles of furnishings from the homes destroyed

by that fire. The large Gruber farmhouse stood in about the area

where the Stanley-Boyd Schools sign is located today, just off First Avenue. In my day as a young person, the house was said to be haunted and kids dared each other to enter. I don’t remembers when the house was removed, but it must have been in the late 1950s, or early 1960s, when the high school was built.

*** I have recently learned that even Stanley has bidding wars for some of our better housing units. In the past year housing prices increased for a variety of reasons. According to the Wisconsin Realtor’s Association, prices in the 12 counties that make up Western Wisconsin have increased year to date (March 2020 to the end of February 2021) 8 percent. The Eau Claire area market is especially hot, with the median price of a home being $213,500 — which means half the housing units sold went for less and half for more than $213,500. As the circle around the greater Eau Claire area expands, Boyd/Stanley is getting closer and closer to that outer edge, if we haven’t been encompassed by it already.

*** I was recently blown away by an ad for workers in one of The Stanley Republicans sister newspapers. It was the wages being offered by people looking for help in the Twin Cities Metro. The ad I am referring to was from a firm called FRANA Companies.

The ad read, “We are looking for wall plant production line help.

Pay is $26.63-$34.43/hr including benefits. Job duties include assembly of wall and floor panels. Steady year round indoor

work.” The other half of the ad read, “We are hiring carpenters.

Pay $36.10-$55.81/hour plus benefits. We are Union, but you

don’t need to be to apply, we can get you signed up. Previous, carpentry experience preferred.” It was noted that the jobs are

located in Rosemount, MN for the factory jobs and throughout

the Twin Cities Metro for the carpenter jobs. And both require drug screening and physical testing. For an old guy, those are wages I could have never dreamed of earning?

*** Depending on one’s age, the following statistics could be a little scary: According to the Social Security Administration, a 65-year-old can expect to live another 19 to 21.5 years on average. What’s more, one third of 65-year-old’s will hit age 90 and 1 in 7 will live beyond age 95. The dice are rolling for many of us!!

*** I get E-mails from Culver’s regularly, pushing one or another of their menu items, or offering something free or at a reduced price. Recently, one of them drew me to their menu button.

With June being Dairy Month, I decided to check out what they were saying about their cheese curds. Here’s what I found: “Our cheese curds are a dairyland delicacy. Made using the freshest, un-aged yellow and white Wisconsin cheddar cheese, deep fried golden brown for a warm buttery crunch. Provided exclusively to Culver’s by La Grander Hillside Dairy in Stanley, Wisconsin.”

We are so fortunate to be able to have La Grander’s so close and be able to make purchases direct from their cheese factory store.

*** Look for a new sign on the old IGA store building soon.

The sign will be featuring Chapman Park, the Rodeo and the Watermelon Festival. The sign is being produced in cooperation with the Stanley-Boyd High School Art Department. It is going to be very nice from the picture I have seen.

*** A couple of Graduation Motto’s that I really liked: “The pen is in your hand, the rest is unwritten.” Also this one, “Chase your dreams, but always know the road that’ll lead you back home.”

by Tim McGraw.

*** Did you know? Stanley native Brett Chwala, a police officer for the City of Neillsville has resigned to take a job with the Clark County Sheriff’s Department. +++ According to the Federal Trade Commission they received 4.7 million fraud and other complaints in 2020. Fraud losses were reported to be $3.3 billion. The most complaints came from the state of Nevada and

the least number from the state of South Dakota. Be alert as the age group 80+ had the highest amount of fraud losses, with the median loss for the those over 80 being $1,300. The median loss for the age group 70-79 was $635. +++ According to AARP, 95% of COVID related deaths in the U. S. were Americans 50 and

older and 34% were residents or staff at nursing homes or long term care facilities.

*** Smile time. Success may require many steps. But progress only requires one. +++ If you can’t do great things do small things in a great way. +++ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. +++ To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved. +++ A man ran into an old maid in the drugstore and said, “Emily, I hear you’re getting married.” The old maid said, “It’s not true, but thank God for the rumor!” +++ Two old maids, inmates in a mental institution, were sitting on the lawn. One of them said, “I’d love to have a man throw his arms around me right now and hug me and kiss me and make love to me.” The other old maid said, “You’ll be out of here soon!” +++ Two old maids were reading the paper when one of them spied an article of special interest. In the obituary column was a notice that a woman’s third husband had died and would be cremated in the morning. One of the old maids said, “It’s not fair. We can’t get one, and some women have husbands to burn!” +++ “Caddy, why do you keep looking at your watch?”

asked the curious golfer. “It’s not a watch, sir. It’s a compass.”