71 years ago, 1948: The home ecdonomics class at Wilton High School submitted an article explaining the importance of the course, saying it was to educate for personal and family living and to help people achieve better health through good nutrition, and better appearance through careful grooming, good posture, selection of appropriate and attractive clothes, and wiser use of the family money so that greater satisfaction could be attained from its expenditure.

Ralph S. Blanchard was opening a grocery stor on Middle Street in Amherst in a building owned by Philip Holmes.

The White Horse Grill on Route 101A in Milford was expanding and installing what an advertisement called “some new cookin’ tools,” so it changed its opening hour to 4 p.m. with dinner served from 5:30. The ad told readers, “better come up and try those fried scallop dinners at 65 cents; they’re on hand every day now.”

Miss Agnes Curtis and Miss Barbara Wilson of Jamaica Plain spent a week at their Birchwood Cottage in Lyndeborough.

30 years ago, 1989

Milford Boy Scout Chris Brody was organizing a bike-a-thon through Amherst, Milford and Mont Vernon to raise money for the Souhegan Valley Association for the Handicapped, for his Eagle Scout service project.

Local school districts were considering testing for radon in the schools following the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendation that all the nation’s schools be tested for the colorless, odorless gas. The EPA found high levels of radon in more than half of the schools tested nationwide.

The Town Hall Theatre in Wilton was showing “Gone With the Wind” and “Dangerous Liaisons.”

Derryfield Academy, fielding four players from Amherst, swept the doubles and defeated Concord, ending the Crimson Tide’s 88-game home winning streak. The four Amherst tennis players were Ray Hindle, Dave Hindle, Paul Hindle, and Jamie Ashworth.

20 years ago, 1999

Jeanne O’Brien, physical education teachter at Milford High School, was named High School Physical Educator of the Year by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education at the association’s national convention in Boston.

Richard Tortorelli retired as Milford’s fire chief, to be suceeded by Richard Pauley.

The Amherst PTSA was to host a parent coffee in the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, to discuss how to recognize troubled children and how prepared Souhegan High School was to handle a similar crisis.

Jesse Baver, an eighth grader at Amherst Middle School, won the state Georgraphy Bee and was preparing to go to Washington, D.C., for the national contest.

15 years ago, 2004

Carol Carter, who owned a shop next to Milford Antiques, used the antique store’s kitchen to make a cup of tea but when she looked at the shelf next to the sink, she discovered a python curled in an oversized teacup. Her mother, Mary Dugan, who owned the antiques shop with her husband, Frank, also saw the snake but thought someone was trying to scare her with a rubber one. Realizing it was alive, they called police who brought along Tammy Landry, manager of the Fish Bowl, who identified the snake as a young Burmese python. She took it away.

Lynne Cox, author of the book “Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer,” was to speak at the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford.

Making his first varsity start, Eric Rizzi pitched the Souhegan High School baseball team to an 11-1 victory over Bishop Brady.