From The Clarkston News archives

25 years ago – 1999
A grand opening: A festive atmosphere surrounded the opening of Independence Elementary School on Monday morning. After greeting the crowd, Principal Chris Turner led a countdown, a ceremonial cutting of the strings to three balloons, then opened the doors. Within minutes, the 544 students were quietly on their way to classrooms.
Clarkston pathologist gets the facts about death: Yung Chung knew she wanted to do “something special,” but when she was young, performing autopsies wasn’t at the top of her list. Born in South Korea, Chung decided she would become one of a small number of women working as forensic pathologists in the country. By 1999, Chung has worked at the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office performing autopsies on those people who have died in a range of different cases. “Anyone that has died of unnatural causes, or to rule out unnatural death,” she said.
Boys take a proud fourth place at the state meet: They came together as freshmen, just looking for a little respect. They left as seniors, making their place in Clarkston cross country history unmatched. The boys cross country team finished a remarkable run at the Class A State Meet with a fourth-place finish with 133 points in the first time the Wolves qualified for the meet. David Sage was the top finisher in 13th place in the time of 16:04.8. Matt Haver finished 20th overall in 16:11.5.

50 years ago – 1974
Vandermark, Rogers wins: Township incumbents easily returned to office in a vote Tuesday which topped the 50 percent mark, according to unofficial results. Fred Ritter became the new township trustee defeating Robert Kraud by a vote 2,782 to 2,457. John Harding became the new constable defeating Tommie Fiorini, Jr, 2,844 to 2,051.
Girls’ teams add two to win column: With decisive victories over Rochester Adams and Milford, the Clarkston Girls Varsity Basketball team moved its season record to 11-1, remaining undefeated in Wayne-Oakland League competition with a mark of 5-0 and was on its way to a fourth league championship. The junior varsity girls followed suit with two more wins to bring their season record up to 8-3.
The mill stream: Kirk Lavigne, a first year student at John Wesley College in Owosso, was spending November traveling through Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland with fellow students. Lavigne, a 1974 graduate of Clarkston High School, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Lavigne of Bluegrass.

75 years ago – 1949
Fire completely destroys dairy barn Wednesday: About nine o’clock on Wednesday morning, a large dairy barn on what was known as the Renick farm, about 3.5 miles north of Clarkston on the east side of M-15, was found on fire. The Clarkston Fire Department was called out, but they were too late to be able to do much more than keep the fire from spreading to other buildings. The building was modern throughout and contained the latest conveniences for caring for a large herd of cattle. It was understood that the loss was over $10,000.
Clarkston locals: Mrs. May Hall of Seaholm Acres, Maybee Road honored her mother, Mrs. Della Huntoon of Clarkston, by entertaining a party on Sunday. Halloween favors marked the places for 26 guests.
The Hilltopper: The junior class had been very active the past two months planning for a hayride and dance of modern and old-time styles.

  A Look Back, Peek in the Past