20 years ago in the Homer News

A Homer girl used cardiopulmonary resuscitation training learned at Homer Middle School to help save her father’s life. When Eric Benson collapsed in full cardiac and respiratory arrest from complications of asthma, his daughter Heidi and son Brandon responded quickly.

First they called 911 and then Heidi began giving chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Medics arrived within four minutes, took over CPR and then got Benson’s heart started with a defibrillator. Homer Volunteer Fire Department Chief Robert Purcell said Heidi had a crucial role in a chain of links that saved her father’s life.

“His daughter had the presence of mind and skill to initiate CPR, and the courage to do it,” Purcell said.

— From the issue of March 4, 1999

30 years ago in the Homer News

Two Nikolaevsk girls, Olempiada Kalugin and Antonina Fefelov, served as Russian translators for Russian girls visiting from the Soviet Union. The girls were part of a delegation from Magadan visiting the Kenai Peninsula. The Soviets visited Nikolaevsk, where the Old Believer girls showed the Soviet girls their town.

“By the end of the day they didn’t seem so different,” Kalugin said. “… They play of lot of the same games and sports that we do after school. They laugh at the same silly jokes. They were very funny.”

— From the issue of March 2, 1989

50 years ago in the Homer News

The March 6, 1969, issue is missing from the Homer News archives.