Iowa
Old Press
The Sioux City Journal, Saturday, December 17, 1921
HONOR HEROES ON SUNDAY.
MEDALS WILL BE PRESENTED AT HOMER, NEB.
NEBRASKA GOVERNOR TO TALK.
Mrs. Mildred Lothrop, Telephone Operator, to Receive Gold Medal and $1,000 Award, and Frank Forrest, Lineman, Silver Medal.
The heroic service which Frank Forrest and Mrs. Mildred Lothrop performed a year ago last spring at Homer, Neb., in warning residents of that vicinity of an impending flood from Omaha creek, will be revived in a special program Sunday afternoon in the Farmers Exchange Hall at Homer.
The feature of the ceremonies will be the presentation of medals to Mr. Forrest and Mrs. Lothrop. Mr. Forrest will receive the Theodore N. Vail silver medal and Mrs. Lothrop will be presented with a gold medal. The former will receive $250 in cash and the latter $1,000.
The presentation will be made in behalf of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company by W. B. T. Belt, president of the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, and personal representative of H. B. Thayer, President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, of New York.
Kept Wires Working.
Mr. Forrest and Mrs. Lothrop were employees of the Bell Telephone Company, May 31, 1920, when Homer became endangered by a flood from Omaha creek. Mrs. Lothrop, who was the telephone operator at Homer, remained at her post until she warned all telephone subscribers in that vicinity of the flood, thus enabling them to prepare for it. Mr. Forrest, who was a lineman, hastened from Dakota City to Homer and kept the telephone wires working until Mrs. Lothrop completed her task.
Another feature of the ceremonies Sunday will be an address by Gov. Samuel R. McKelvie, of Nebraska, on the subject, “Nebraska’s Heroic Citizenship.” Other speeches also are announced.
The program will be open at 1:30 o’clock with music by the Brown family orchestra and the invocation pronounced by Rev. O. L. Lowe, pastor of the English Lutheran Church. Mayor Thomas Ashford will give the address of welcome, and the Homer male quartet, consisting of Frank M. Church, Fred E. Brassfield, Dr. S.J. Daily and Judge S.W. McKinley, will sing.
Reception After Ceremony.
H.G. Taylor, chairman of the Nebraska State railway commission, will give the first address on “The Human Element in Public Utility Service.”
Gov. McKelvie will follow with his address. Mrs. I.J. Davis will sing a solo. Guy H. Pratt, vice president of the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, will give an address on “The Significance of the Theodore N. Vail Memorial Fund and Awards,” after which the presentation of money and medals will take place.
The program will close with the singing of “America” by the audience, after which an informal reception will be held.
Thirty telephone officials will arrive in Sioux City Sunday morning from Omaha in a special car. They will motor to Homer for the ceremonies.
A game dinner will be given by James Rae, of Sioux City, to visiting officials, at the Martin Hotel, at 6 o’clock Sunday evening.
[transcribed by L.Z. Oct 2020]