10 Years Ago Three groups from the Lee Anne Stewart Dance Schools competed at the 2003 Dance Makers Inc. Star Makers competition in Chicago in November, each receiving first-place awards and qualifying for the Dance Makers national competition at Myrtle Beach, S. C., in June. Stewart choreographed the award-winning routines: Junior Jazz Line category, routine to “Mickey”; Junior Tap Category, routine to “You’re the One that I Want” from Grease; Senior Tap Line Category, routine to “Smooth Criminal.” Traveling to Chicago were 31 students, three instructors, three assistant teachers and a number of parent chaperones. Stewart continues her 31st year of teaching dance. 25 Years Ago On Jan. 28 the Warsaw Community High School choral department was well-represented at the district solo and ensemble contest at Elkhart Memorial High School with 29 students. Five events qualified to continue on to state competition Feb. 25 at Southport High School, Indianapolis: Amy Miller, Dawn Dilling, both piano; Drew Skinner, vocal solo; Leah Hoffer, Heather Kenney, Tricia McVay, Ann DuPont, vocal quartet; WCHS Select Chorale. 50 Years Ago Major Howard C. Hoppus, son of Mrs. Alma Hoppus, 311 S. Union St., has returned to Warsaw after retiring from the U.S. Army Dec. 31 after 23 years of service split between the U.S. Marine Corps. and the Army. He joined the Marines in September 1940 and was discharged as a sergeant in 1945 after service at Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal and Okinawa. Major Hoppus came back to the military in 1949 as a private and as a military policeman in the 101st Airborne (“Screaming Eagles”) division at Camp Breckenridge, Ky., until it was closed. In 1950 he received his commission after graduating at Fort Riley, Kan. He joined the Korean conflict with the 728th Military Police Battalion. In 1961 Major Hoppus came to Fort Harrison as provost marshal. Major Hoppus lives in Warsaw with his wife, Betty, and two children, 15-year-old Jon and 10-year-old Marilyn. 75 Years Ago Bleached white by the years, a large skeleton of a human being was unearthed Saturday on the banks of the Tippecanoe River, four miles west of Warsaw, by Cary and Walter Groninger while excavating for a basement under Cary’s cottage. Buried nearly six feet deep, the skeleton was in an excellent state of preservation and had undoubtedly been the frame of some person of large stature, six feet in height or greater. The skull is of a white man, an early settler. It is thought to have been there some 80 or 100 years ago. The Groninger brothers found several small buttons, old-fashioned nails that were nearly turned to stone and broke easily and fragments of decayed wood. He was probably buried on the river bank. The brothers have offered to give the skeleton to Warsaw city schools for educational purposes.
