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Historical Bluffton

Remembering past Bluffton High School graduations

With the Bluffton University commencement of 2022 celebrated on May 7 and the Bluffton High School ceremonies in our sights on May 28, you may be preoccupied with what the future will bring for these young people.

In a hundred year's time will Blufftonites be reading about them?

In a series of blogs for www.BlufftonForever.com, Fred Steiner provides us with lists of and information about Bluffton High School graduates beginning in 1881.

Photo-story: Bread baking in the Swiss Settlement

Demonstration for Senior Center members

Members of the Bluffton Senior Citizens Center recently enjoyed an outdoor bread baking demonstration at the Schumacher Homestead, 8350 Bixel Rd. It was a damp and chilly week, but the group brought blankets and chairs, and made themselves comfortable.

Ivan Friesen provided the bread baking expertise, while Swiss Community Historical Society curator Keith Sommers filled in the guests on the history of bread ovens in the area known as The Settlement.

Pirate who loved Bluffton football the most?

By Bill Herr, Bluffton Icon Columnist

In all the years of Bluffton Pirate football, which person loved it the most? Was it a player? Was it a coach? Was it an administrator or teacher? 

My choice is Curtis Habegger, one of my former students. Curtis graduated from Bluffton High School in 1976. One of his classmates, Bob Herr, told me "Curtis was a great guy, had an outstanding personality." After graduation, Curtis worked for Lugibihl Spray. David Lugibihl said that Curtis was very quiet, didn't say much until you got to know him. He had a good personality. He was slow, but a good worker, very particular. Curtis told David he wanted to clean out his barn floor. He insisted on doing it by hand with a pitchfork rather than using an available tractor loader. David said it took him three days, and afterward, the barn was so clean You could have eaten a meal on it."

Was Wilford Geiger your teacher?

By Fred Steiner, BlufftonForever.com

If you attended Bluffton High School in the late 1950s or 1960s and took chemistry or driver’s education, Wilford Geiger was your teacher.

And, here’s an opportunity to see Mr. Geiger as a toddler.

With every hair in place, these three Geiger children pose for a portrait in 1912.

The three, from left, are Beulah Geiger Gooding, Wilford O. Geiger and Estella Geiger Pugh.

What's the story of our post office mural?

By Fred Steiner, www.blufftonforever.com

Have you ever stood in line for stamps at the Bluffton post office and wondered why there is a mural on the lobby’s north wall?

Who was the artist and what does the mural portray?

And, who paid for the mural?

Here’s the answer:

May snowfalls in 1923 and 1883

Two hours spent on a snowy I-75 had the Icon editor feeling pretty sorry for herself on April 18, 2022. But this Bluffton News excerpt from Fred Steiner at www.BlufftonForever.com is a topper's club story to beat our 1.3 inches of snow that quickly melted. 

May snow storm

Wednesday morning

A winter snowstorm on a small scale swept over town for several hours Wednesday morning. The snow flurries were accompanied by rain and colder weather.

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