This Week in History: 1962
Published 6:00 pm Monday, May 5, 2025
Mrs. B. E. Williams (left) and Mrs. W.R Davis (right) stand beside their winning entries in the Luverne Spring Flower Show Artistic Division.
Mr. and Mrs. F. T. Horn receive the Award of Merit for their German Bearded Iris.
Mrs. S. J. Morris win the Sweepstakes Award in the Luverne Flower Show Horticulture Division.
Judges for the Luverne Garden Club Flower Show are pictured (left to right) Mrs. Lewis Riley, Mrs. James Durden, Mrs. Fred Denman, Mrs. W. R. McNeill, Mrs. Fredrick Larsen and Mrs. Stanley Nash.
During this week in history, The Luverne Journal was packed with articles covering local elections, shows and federal loans. Here is what happened in the May 2, 1962 issue of The Luverne Journal.
State and Local elections
In Crenshaw County, voters cast their ballots in national, state-wide and local elections.
For Governor, almost 5,000 citizens cast ballots in favor of George C. Wallace in a two-to-one majority. At the time of publication, Wallace was leading state-wide with 182,391 votes, followed by senator Ryan DeGraffenried and then James Folsom.
Locally, incumbent Sheriff Ray Horn of Luverne won the election for Sheriff with a seven-to-one margin over his opponent Billey Gibson, with around 3,400 votes in his favor.
The House of Representatives election between Senator Alton Turner and Guy Owens was a closer campaign. Turner won with almost 3,000 votes to Owens’ 1,897.
Hundreds visit flower show
The Spring Flower Show, presented by the Luverne Garden Club, had a record turnout of visitors for their show on April 28 and 29 of 1962.
The show was reported to be highly successful by the Luverne Journal, despite the inclement weather during one of the show days.
Flowers were judged by individuals from the Montgomery Flower Show Judges Council.
The winners were listed as follows:
* Tri-color award, Artistic Division: Mrs. W. R. Davis with an artistic arrangement of branches and blossoms with an accessory;
* Sweepstakes Award, Artistic Division: Mrs. B. E. Williams with her blue ribbon arrangements;
* Sweepstakes Award, Horticulture Division: Mrs. S. J. Morris; and
* Award of Merit: Mrs. F. T. Horn for her German Bearded Iris, Anthem.
Town of Glenwood approved for Federal Loan
A public facilities loan of $82,000 was approved for the town of Glenwood, as announced by senators Lister Hill and John Sparkman and Congressman George Grant. The loan was to be used for construction of a new water system including fire hydrants, a well, chlorinator, water tank and distribution facilities.
The loan was approved after a statement by the group Hill, Sparkman and Grant stating that Glenwood officials deemed the private wells in use at the time unsafe.
