Gas War Ends and Tiny Tots Lost

September 7, 1963, Appleton Post-Crescent

In our "things you'd never see today" department...on the day in 1963 comes news of the end of the local gas war in the Twin Cities, but our attention is also drawn to the story of the lost Kimberly boys locked in the gas station bathroom.  What is so shocking to today's sensibilities is not that such a thing happened but that the kids were three years old and left pretty much on their own to make their way to a day camp at a local junior high school.  Today, the parents would be charged with child abuse and the kids taken away for a very long time.  But this is 1963 and we're a long ways from the present day.  So, it ends with a happy ending- reunited families, a heavy sigh of relief, and many thanks to the neighbors who helped in the search for the kids.  What a change.