A Look Back: July 20

50 Years Ago

■Six Northampton young women and their leader will leave this city Aug. 6 for a month of living with Mexican families as part of an Experiment in International Living program. The students are all graduates or current students at Northampton High School, and their leader, Carol Lee Badilla, a Northampton language teacher, will tour Mexico City at the end of their trip.

■The first shop to open its doors at the new Florence Mini-Mall is the Open Pantry Food Mart. Ribbon-cutting took place this morning. The shop is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Harry S. Chapman Jr., and will have a delicatessen section, as well as canned and frozen foods and a newsstand.

25 Years Ago

■Thomas C. Mendenhall, 88, former president of Smith College, died July 18 on Martha’s Vineyard after a long illness. He was remembered today as a man whose traditional academic background did not prepare him for what it would be like to head a college during the 1960s, but who rose to the challenge admirably.

■Northampton police are looking for two people believed to be part of an aggressive scheme to steal shrimp from grocery stores and resell it to a dealer. An attempt to steal six bags of frozen shrimp with a retail value of $155.94 was thwarted by a security guard at Stop & Shop Supermarket Saturday. It was the second such attempt in the last week.

10 Years Ago

■After serving as a therapeutic college preparatory facility for teens since 1997, the Academy at Swift River will soon close. The 636-acre co-educational campus houses 55 to 65 students in Grades 9 through 12. The school offers academics, clinical services, experiential and adventure activities, arts and athletics.

■A proposal to modernize the state’s Registry of Motor Vehicles suggests consolidating 30 branch offices into 16 — with the Easthampton bureau on the conceptual chopping block. A spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation said the idea is just a suggestion that Registrar of Motor Vehicles Rachel Kaprielian presented to the department’s board of directors July 17.

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