Looking back: New school year gets underway, woman falls from apple tree and wife faces murder charge

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Sept. 12 to Sept. 18 in east Idaho history.

1900-1925

RIGBY — Rigby public schools opened for the 1909 school-year “in (the) most excellent shape,” The Rigby Star wrote on Sept. 16, 1909.

“It was a pleasing sight … to see the school wagons coming into town once more,” the local paper wrote. “Nearly every one (was) loaded to their capacity with nicely dressed and scrupulously clean pupils, who on arriving at the school grounds were filled with enthusiasm for the work of the school year.”

There were 152 boys and 148 girls enrolled in beginners (the grade before first grade) to eighth grade. The high school’s total enrollment was 45 students, which was “somewhat larger than had been anticipated.” There were two high school teachers and a principal.

“It is believed the enrollment in the high school will reach 80 by the first of November, which will be something of a high school,” The Rigby Star added.

1926-1950

LORENZO — A local woman was picking apples from a tree when a tree limb broke, causing a ladder to fall and sending her to the ground.

The Rigby Star reported the accident on Sept. 15, 1949. The paper said the woman, Ernest Harrop, was picking apples at the Erastus Walker Ranch, west of Lorenzo, when she fell.

No doctors were available in Rigby to care for Harrop, so the sheriff’s office sent a deputy and traffic officer to the scene.

“Communication with Idaho Falls was immediately established over the police radio and a highway patrolman bought a physician from Idaho Falls to the Walker home in record time,” the article reads.

Harrop was eventually taken to the hospital in Idaho Falls. She was in shock, had “severe bruises” and her right leg above the knee was broken in three places.

1951-1975

ARIMO — Classes at Marsh Valley High School were canceled for the day after an early morning burglary, the Idaho State Journal reported on Sept. 15, 1967.

The break-in happened on Sept. 14, 1967, after 10 p.m. and was discovered by a janitor the next morning around 7:45 a.m.

The burglary left the main office and the principal’s office in “shambles.” Someone broke open the safe in the office and stole about $100 in cash, five cameras and a projector. It was estimated it would cost at least $1,000 to repair the safe.

“Considerable damage was done to the two offices,” Jack Vorwaller, a Bannock County sheriff’s deputy, told the paper. “They were ransacked. A window and three doors were broken. The door was pried off the pop machine in the hall. The damage will take all day to clean up. That’s why school was called off today.”

It was unclear at the time of publication how many people were involved in the burglary.

1976-2000

POCATELLO — A 31-year-old Pocatello woman was set to “face trial” on a murder charge, the Idaho State Journal said on Sept. 15, 1976.

Gerrylynn Thomas was being held at the Bannock County Jail on a $10,000 bond in connection with the death of her husband, Larry Alan Thomas, 34. He was shot in the chest just above the heart.

“The two Thomas children, ages two and 11, were sleeping when police arrived at the house to investigate the shooting,” a police officer told the court.

Gary Stone, the officer who arrested Gerrylyn on the morning of the shooting, told the court he found Gerrylyn sitting on the floor of a friend’s home “crying and rocking back and forth.” She told Stone her husband was shot at their home.

Another police detective, Lee Winegar, told the court that Gerrylynn said on the night her husband was shot, he did not return home after work. She went “bar hopping” looking for him and came home because the bars were closing.

Larry was allegedly shot as he stood near the front door of the house. A police investigator said the shot was fired from a hallway inside the home.