Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Little Leona Levy, 9, left for school at 9 a.m. When she failed to return home after school, her parents became worried.

They called the school and discovered she had never gone to school at all.

Neighbors immediately launched a search for the girl, which spread all through Peaceful Valley and beyond. Later that evening, police were called and brought into the search.

Yet when Leona finally strolled into the family home at 1 a.m., she seemed quite unperturbed.

“I’ve been walking around and around,” she told her parents. “I was seeing the pretties in the store windows and once I got a sleigh ride. A policeman brought me to within a block of our house.”

The paper noted that it was “believed that she is mistaken about her escort being a policeman, since any officer would have reported finding her.”

In any case, Leona seemed healthy, unharmed and in good spirits. The paper reported that she “had the time of her life.”

Also on this date

From the Associated Press

1954: Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were married at San Francisco City Hall. The marriage lasted about nine months.