50 years ago in Expo history: ‘Company’s Coming’ course prepares locals to be good hosts

People in Spokane were expecting plenty of visits by family and friends for Expo ’74 – but were they prepared to be good hosts?

An educational course titled “Company’s Coming” was there to help.

This was a joint effort by Spokane’s community colleges and the Spokane Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. It was geared toward strategies to make guests feel comfortable and welcome.

The course would formally launch later, but it had already produced a “Company’s Coming” brochure of “hospitality awareness.” It contained listings and advice for many attractions that hosts and visitors might find useful, such as restaurants and hotels.

It was also aimed at employees of businesses with contact with the public.

“It is never too early to plan for important guests, as every skillful host and hostess knows,” Harriet J. Connor said in the Spokane Chronicle. “There is no time to procrastinate. The time is now.”

From 100 years ago: Rudolph Schmid, 33, a Peaceful Valley grocer, was shot and killed by a robber during a holdup.

He was preparing to close his store when two men entered, drew guns and ordered him to put up hit hands.

“Almost without warning, and when Schmid had his hands above his head, the younger and nervous robber shot,” the Chronicle wrote. “The bullet struck Schmid in the abdomen, punctured his spleen and he died after an operation in which an attempt was made to stop an internal hemorrhage.”

Two men, one of them an ex-con, were arrested later that night on suspicion of being the robbers.