Stories from Sunday, February 28, 1999

A night of severe weather on May 15, 1986, ravaged Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties and claimed the lives of five people. Up to 10 inches of rain fell in some areas, with Cape Girardeau receiving 6.64 inches in a 24-hour period. Most of that rain fell late May 15...

Trooper James M. Froemsdorf stopped the car driven by Jerome Mallett for speeding at mile marker 134 north of Perryville on Interstate 55. The traffic stop came about 6 o'clock on a Saturday night, March 2, 1985. A check revealed that Mallett, of St. Louis and Dallas, Texas, was wanted in Texas. Mallett was handcuffed and placed in the front seat of the patrol car...

Trucks loaded with furniture and household goods traveled the flooded Route FF southeast of East Prairie on March 27, 1973. The rising Mississippi River chased many people from their homes. In 1973, the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau crested at 45.6 feet on May 1, obliterating a record that had stood since 1844...

Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting both have rich traditions in Cape Girardeau, with units organized here being among the first formed in the country. Although Boy Scouting was incorporated in the United States in 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916, records reveal that a "troop" was formed in Cape Girardeau in 1908 by Coach Frank Schulte, a member of the Normal Schoool faculty...

The date, June 7, 1993, was a crucial one for Boyd Gaming Corp., and its efforts to bring a $50 million-plus gambling operation to downtown Cape Girardeau. On that day, the city's voters rejected riverboat gambling, by a 53-47 percent vote. In another city, about 85 miles to the south, Caruthersville voters approved riverboat gambling by a 67-33 percent margin...

"A room without books is like a body without a soul," the Roman statesman Cicero said. By that standard, Cape Girardeau's Carnegie Library building, opened in 1922, clearly had a soul. The brick building at Common Pleas Courthouse Park served as the city's public library until 1980 when a new facility opened on Clark Street. The old library was converted into government office space...

The Sept. 3, 1996 planned starting date for construction of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge was heralded by federal, state and local officials who gathered to celebrate the transportation improvement and its impact on the region. "A lot of people are helping to make a dream come true," said Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater. "This bridge will connect two great states divided by a river."...

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has had its share of success stories in the last 50 years. Game species virtually extinct in the state - the white tail deer, the Canada goose and the wild turkey - have made incredible comebacks...

Jack Stapleton, chairman of the Highway Commission in 1972, praised Gov. Warren Hearnes at the dedication of the next to last link of Interstate 55 in Missouri. It was a hot, in the 90s, day Aug. 31, 1972, when the ribbon was cut near Perryville, opening the last leg of the interstate in this area...

From its beginning as a 12-bed infirmary, St. Francis Hospital grew as the community grew. It began in 1875 when three nuns -- Sisters Philomena, Engelberta, and Felicitas -- came to the city from Carondolet near St. Louis. They set up shop in a rented two-story frame house on Themis Street that would accommodate 12 patients...

On Jan. 9, 1928, a blustery winter day, more than 5,000 people turned out on "hospital hill" to dedicate the community's newest health care institution, Southeast Missouri Hospital. The hospital was built on a shoestring budget, struggled through the Great Depression, and at one time had a chicken coop and a vegetable garden...

To the editor: On the behalf of students at St. Paul Lutheran School, I would like to thank the YELL Foundation for the generous grant we recently received. This grant will be used to expand the computerized accelerated reading program that has been implemented in all our classrooms...

On Nov. 4, 1980, Bill Emerson did the unthinkable. The Republican candidate defeated longtime U.S. Rep. Bill D. Burlison in what was then the predominately Democratic 10th Congressional District of Southeast Missouri. Emerson's victory marked the first time since 1928 that a Republican had won a congressional seat in Southeast Missouri...

A simple majority wasn't enough. Cape Girardeau voters on Nov. 3, 1998, failed to give a two-thirds majority to a proposed bond issue to help finance Southeast Missouri State University's proposed River Campus. Voters approved a measure increasing the city's hotel-motel tax and extending the restaurant and motel taxes to 2030...

When firefighters found 7-year-old Dejan Kocevski locked in the basement of his Cape Girardeau burning home in April 1982, the boy was unconscious and barely breathing. His lungs were filling with smoke, and firefighters said he was within minutes of death when they discovered him lying at the bottom of the stairs. He was taken to the pediatric special care unit of Southeast Missouri Hospital where he required several weeks of hospitalization...

It was Memorial Day 1996 and patriotism filled the air. Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville were chosen as part of the route for the Olympic torch as it made its way across the country to Atlanta, Ga. The idea of the cross-country trek was to bring it within a two-hour distance of 90 percent of the U.S. population...

All five subsidiary banks owned by First Exchange Corp., a bank holding company headquartered in Cape Girardeau, were sold Thursday, May 7, 1992, following a yearlong investigation by federal bank regulators. The failure of the bank, considered at that time as the biggest bank failure in Missouri's history, stunned the Cape Girardeau area. The collapse resulted in:...

Procter & Gamble Co. announced April 16, 1997, it will build a $350 million addition to its Cape Girardeau County plant to enable an increase in production of tissues and towels. The expansion, which will be among the top-three industrial projects in Missouri over the past decade, will result in 350 more jobs...

Cape Girardeau is a great place for a home for veterans, agree Missouri Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson and Missouri Veterans Commission Chairman Jack Matthews. Wilson and Matthews, who attended the annual Veterans Home Flag Day Benefit Golf Tournament last summer, say the area has been a big supporter of the Missouri Veterans Home since it opened at Interstate 55 and U.S. 61 in 1990...

Three days of celebration surrounded the dedication of the new County Court House in Jackson in September 1908, but the celebration came after years of controversy in the construction of the building. The courthouse stands in the center of Jackson's square and houses the county's circuit courts...

In 1878, Edwin Branch Deane began building a house on South Spanish Street that his daughter, Lula, and her husband-to-be, David A. Glenn, would occupy. Deane was Cape Girardeau's first architect, a man who built many of the city's landmark homes, including the Reynolds House at 623 N. Main St...

Nearly twenty-two years after he was shot down while taking part in a reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam, the remains of Lt. Col. Robert R. Gregory were finally laid to rest at Memorial Park Cemetery. Gregory was 34 at the time he was declared missing on Dec. 2, 1966, and was pronounced dead by military officials in 1973. Gregory's RF-4C Phantom II reconnaissance jet was shot down on its 66th mission...

It took prayers and petitions from parishioners to save the Old St. Vincent's Church, a downtown landmark in Cape Girardeau. During the mid-1970s, the Catholic Church considered closing the historic church after a new building was constructed on the city's west end...

When the Roman Catholic Church announced it would create new dioceses within Missouri, many area Catholics weren't surprised. The announcement came from Vatican City Aug. 29, 1956. The church combined the Kansas City-St. Joseph area into one diocese and created two new ones: Jefferson City and the Springfield-Cape Girardeau dioceses...

I WOULD like to thank the very kind person that turned my billfold in at Wal-Mart. I left in the shopping cart, and someone was kind enough to turn it in for me. I would just like to say thank you and God bless you. WHOOPEE. WITH the university's power plant expected to save $300,000 per year, that means that at least three new administrators can be hired. Wonderful!...

Well, well, well. So the big guns -- pardon the pun -- are against your right to carry a concealed weapon which, properly and fully understood, is a healthy and natural extension of your right to self-defense. Missouri voters are set to decide the issue April 6...

Like Dorothy, traveling on a dusty road in Kansas headed for the Land of Oz, Americans today seem as bewildered as the young lady who found herself in strange company as she sought out the Wizard's wisdom. Poll after poll shows that, except in rare instances, Americans have lost their way toward achieving an effective, functioning democracy, something that our second president, John Adams, said was not only impossible but was doomed to failure...

The fortunes of America's political parties wax and wane, with periods of prosperity for either of them followed by long periods in the wilderness. This truism is seen most acutely when a party loses successive presidential elections. The 20th Century has seen growth, perhaps unhealthy growth, in the power and prestige of the position of chief executive. ...

It has happened yet again: A federal judge in Colorado has struck down a federal law limiting expenditures of so-called soft money in political campaigns. Soft money is distinguished from hard money in that the latter is money donated directly to candidates for expenditure on their campaigns. ...

To the editor: Thanks to the Southeast Missourian for the donation of tickets to the Missouri Veterans Home for the recent Wild Blue Country concert. The 146 men and four women veterans here represent nearly 2,000 years of military service and participation in nearly 1,000 land, sea and air battles from World War I through Vietnam. Some are here as a result of wounds suffered in those battles protecting America from her enemies...

25 years ago: 1974 Cape Girardeau County Disaster Planning and Operations Unit, formerly Civil Defense, will become Cape Girardeau County Rescue Unit and receive its orders through County Sheriff Ivan E. McLain as result of County Court action Thursday; unit will be different from sheriff's auxiliary patrol, and will be strictly responsible for rescue and communications, including tornado watches...

Bill Mathews of the Stars & Stripes Museum and Library in Bloomfield was guest speaker at the February meeting of the American Legion Post # 158. Mathews, who has spent the past five or six years on the project, told the history of the military newspaper, first printed Nov. ...

The question often arises, "Why is it important to attend church?" I sometimes have to answer that question at 8:15 a.m. each Sunday morning in our household. While I'm prone to admit my vocation mandates my attendance, I still attend church when out of town on vacation. I need the spiritual refueling and I enjoy the fellowship...

Snow removal became a major problem after the 1979 blizzard. The last major area of Cape Girardeau to be cleared was along Good Hope. This photo was taken Feb. 28 in the 600 block of Good Hope. Cape Girardeau was virtually paralyzed after the 24-inch snowfall in 1979. Police, fire and ambulance vehicles were trapped inside their buildings. Cars parked along city streets were buried under the white stuff...

His career covered teaching, administration and the longest tenure of any superintendent in the city's history. And one of Cape Girardeau's oldest school building bears his name. Louis J. Schultz served 38 years as an educator in Cape Girardeau, 27 of them as superintendent. He died Feb. 24, 1968, at age 71...

Fisticuffs took place during opening night events at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. A crowd of some 1,100 people attended the second Golden Gloves boxing tournament Jan. 22, 1940. Boxers from Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois competed in the event, which was sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees...

Some 190 participants from sixth grade through college age took part in Jackson First Baptist Church's annual Disciple Now weekend Feb. 19-21. Eighteen church families opened their homes to groups of about 10 students apiece, as well as a group leader. The theme of the weekend was "rock the planet," based on Psalms 18:2, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge." (NIV)...

Shauna and Sherry Cook are leaving the Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball program in much the same condition they left the Jackson High School girls program. When the twin sisters left Jackson in 1995, after helping the Lady Indians post a 100-9 record, the program continued to gain momentum. Now as their collegiate careers close, they have seen the Otahkians post their best-ever Division I season. The Southeast program also appears ready to continue climbing...

Already making great strides, the city of Jackson received a boost in 1998 from a Chamber of Commerce that greatly expanded its role in the community. Paramount among the Chamber's 1998 accomplishments was hiring Ken Parrett as executive Chamber director/economic development director. He became the first executive director for the Chamber in 20 years. The position was funded by a cooperative arrangement with the city...

Since some time in 1995 or so, my gas gauge has only occasionally functioned. It will surprise me by coming to life for maybe one day a month. Otherwise I'm on my own. Instead of marking my calendar year from Jan. 1 to Jan. 1, I mark it from one running out of gas episode to the next. It happens just about once a year...

Dear Grandpa: Most kids I know have tried smoking. Many who are 16 like me, smoke a few cigarettes every day. Why are grown-ups so against smoking? Sam, San Antonio. Dear Sam: Good question. I thought the same as you do when I was 16. We would smoke behind our high school during breaks. It was the "in thing" to do. It made me feel grown up, like I felt when I got my driver's license. I and most of my friends did sneak a smoke away from our parents...

In 1990, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education decided it was time for a change in leadership. Then superintendent Dr. Arthur Turner was dismissed, and the board spent $9,000 to hire a consultant to conduct a search for a superintendent. Dr. Neyland Clark from Bullitt County in Kentucky was hired...

During the first two decades of the 1900s, Cape Girardeau and environs were undergoing monumental changes. In 1904, a motorized auto called "Red Devil" began running between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, heralding the demise of the stagecoach. The Little River Drainage District was established in 1912, leading to the reclamation of the vast swamplands southwest of the city. And in 1919, the Normal School became a Teachers College...

"Do the math." There isn't a federal budget surplus, says U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson. President Clinton and many in Congress talk about a $70 billion budget surplus, but Emerson says the "surplus" is largely accounting fiction, generated by a federal government that is siphoning off Social Security money to cover its expenses...

During the 20th century, Cape Girardeau and its environs evolved from a river port on the edge of a vast swamp into a regional transportation, education and commercial center. At the beginning, horse-drawn wagons brought goods to and from the steamboats that docked at the riverfront. At the end, the region is lobbying for a second interstate highway...

While participation in Cape Girardeau's recycling program is growing, other cities in Southeast Missouri are trying to get their programs started. Cape Girardeau has operated a citywide recycling program since 1991. After a hiatus, Scott City's recycling program is available again, but on a limited basis...

Bill Logan and Dr. Mark Hosler feel bad to the bone. The two men are recuperating today after spending 24 straight hours exercising Friday and Saturday at Universal Health and Fitness as part of a fund raiser. The event, aptly named the Bad-to-the-Bone-a-thon, was sponsored by St. Francis Medical Center to bring attention to osteoporosis...

Hundreds of thousands of satellite dish owners may have to go back to using rooftop antennas for local stations -- CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC. Satellite customers nationwide will no longer be able to watch "Ally McBeal," "60 Minutes" and other Fox and CBS shows on their satellite systems after Sunday...

A disastrous fire on the night of April 7, 1902, changed the Southeast Missouri State University landscape forever. The fire of undetermined origin destroyed the ornate normal school building, erected in 1875. The building was the college at the time, housing all the offices and classrooms of the Third District Normal School...

A mysterious benefactor brought the culture and mystique of the 1904 World's Fair to Cape Girardeau. A collection of 58 statute reproductions exhibited by a German artist at the St. Louis World's Fair were donated in 1904 to the Third District Normal School. Today, the school is known as Southeast Missouri State University...

The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918 swept the globe and left 15 million to 20 million people dead, including 548,000 Americans and hundreds in Southeast Missouri. In Cape Girardeau, Hazel Painton was the first victim of the Spanish influenza. She died at her home on North Middle Street Oct. 10, 1918...

Misspelled words are taboo when it comes to tattoos. Lee Williams knows all about that. Williams, a student at Wayne State University in Michigan, was left with "villian" tattooed on his right forearm instead of "villain." English, clearly, isn't his best subject...

The city received its $40,000 for bonds to buy what is now Capaha Park on Feb. 4, 1916. The money was to buy the land where the city's fair was held and to continue the city's fair. The purchase ended a bitter struggle over the land with the Cape Fair and Park Association...

It's difficult today to imagine getting a high school and college education at the same time. However, in the early part of the 20th century, prospective teachers and high school students in Cape Girardeau did just that. Until 1904, there was no public high school in Cape Girardeau. ...

A Kansas woman, known nationally for her sometimes violent involvement in the temperance movement at the turn of the century, stirred the crowds when she brought her anti-alcohol crusade to Southeast Missouri. Carry Amelia Moore Nation visited Cape Girardeau for two days in April 1907 as a part of a temperance tour that had taken her throughout the southern states. She also lectured for two days at Poplar Bluff and a day in Jackson during her time in Southeast Missouri...

The Cape Girardeau Brewing Co. is a familiar name to Cape Girardeau. The company name first surfaced more than 120 years ago when George Henninger established Cape Girardeau Brewery Co. at Morgan Oak and Middle streets in 1876. The company eventually became Cape Brewing and Ice Co., but following 14 years of national prohibition, Henry H. Vogelsang reorganized Cape Girardeau Brewing Co. and operated a brewery until it closed operations in 1939...

The precursor of today's technologically equipped emergency medical response vehicles appeared for the first time in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 20, 1911. On that day, the Southeast Missouri Undertaking Co. unveiled its new, horse-drawn ambulance. The company also got a new hearse that day...

Few events in the city have had more advance preparation than a visit by President William Howard Taft on Oct. 26, 1909. Taft's visit created quite a stir in town, as the president arrived at dawn aboard the flagship of a 16-ship flotilla moving down the Mississippi River. Taft was making an inspection tour of the river, examining whether to deepen the channel...

Cape Girardeau residents developed a great sales pitch for when a St. Louis shoe factory began looking to expand into Southeast Missouri in the early 1900s. Members of the city's Commercial Club developed a plan that allowed city residents to match a portion of the funding for construction of a new factory. Residents paid $300 for a random drawing of lots in the Red Star and Robertson and Gale additions of the city, an area that had yet to be developed...

Workers' camps like these were scattered around Southeast Missouri's swamps during construction of the Little River drainage project. There is a reason Southeast Missouri sometimes is referred to as Swampeast Missouri. The name comes from a massive swamp that once spread from the hills of Southeast Missouri across the Bootheel and into northeastern Arkansas. It was fed by the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and a number of Ozark streams, most notably the Castor and St. Francis rivers...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- All season long, Southeast Missouri State University basketball fans have been able to see just how solid a team the Indians are. Today, the entire nation will get that opportunity. The Indians set up a nationally televised showdown rematch with Murray State and put themselves on the brink of their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament berth by winning an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinal game Saturday night...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- No matter what happens today, it's been a glorious season for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians. And a victory this afternoon in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game would elevate the campaign yet another notch -- perhaps even to the absolutely unbelievable stage...

Riverboats regularly docked at Cape Girardeau in the 1920s and 1930s. It was the age of "Big Band" music, and radio ruled the airwaves. Television was just being invented. Street cars operated in Cape Girardeau through 1934. Southeast Missouri State University was a small teachers college. During the 1920s and until the late 1930s, fewer than 1,000 students attended the school...

Southeast guard Rusty Sowers made a pass behind the back of Tennessee Tech's Diane Seng during Saturday's OVC Tournament semifinal game. NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University's women's basketball team won the battle but lost the war Saturday...

JACKSON -- The tornado struck with little warning about 6:30 on an unseasonably warm Sunday night in March 1923. When it was gone only seconds later, some of the most important buildings in Jackson's business section had been destroyed. They included the Episcopal Church at First East and First North streets, the Masonic Hall at High and First South streets, the Corinthian Baptist Church immediately south of the Masonic Hall and a number of residences, mostly in the business section of the city. ...

BLOOMFIELD -- Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim summed up his team's Class 2A, District 2 tournament opener thusly: "East Prairie was just a little overmatched." To the tune of a 68-5 drubbing. Notre Dame (14-12), the top seed, will meet No. 4 Greenville Tuesday at 6:30 in a semifinal game in Bloomfield. At 8, No. 2 Kelly will battle No. 3 Scott City. It will be the team's fifth clash this season; Kelly leads the series 3-1...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Duane Virgil scored a game-high 23 points and Isaac Spencer added 20 as Murray State beat Morehead State 91-69 Saturday to advance to the finals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the 10th straight year. Spencer added 12 rebounds for the top-seeded Racers (26-5), who had to overcome a slow start to reach the finals of the tourney they have won seven of the last 11 seasons...

The tallest man who ever lived visited Cape Girardeau three times during the 1930s as the guest of local shoe stores for whom he was doing promotional work. Robert Pershing Wadlow, known to many as the Alton Giant, visited Cape Girardeau in 1932, 1936 and 1939, as a part of nationwide promotional tours for shoe companies...

The Roaring '20s were a time of flappers, bathtub gin and evangelist Billy Sunday. Amid the free-wheeling lifestyle of that decade, many townspeople cried out for a religious reawakening. The Cape Girardeau Ministerial Alliance, in league with the Southeast Missourian, invited Billy Sunday to the city to help set things straight...

The gray skies and cold rain which postponed Southeast Missouri State's doubleheader nightcap with Northern Iowa on Saturday, ironically personified the Indians' demeanor following a 13-12 loss in the opener. Trailing by four runs going into the top of the ninth inning, the visiting Panthers rallied to pull out an unlikely win, leaving the Indians (2-4) gloomy and saturated in disbelief...

The opening of Cape Girardeau's Mississippi River Bridge 70 years ago was cause for celebration. Thousands of area residents attended the dedication on Sept. 3, 1928. Missouri Gov. Sam A. Baker and Illinois Gov. Len Small were among the dignitaries who spoke at the dedication, held at the west approach to the bridge...

Cape Girardeans have long been proud of their city's prominence as a hub of transportation. For many years the city was represented by steamboats plying the muddy waters of the Mississippi River and bearing the name "Cape Girardeau." The Eagle Packet Co., a St. Louis firm, had three boats named for the city. The first was the former Bald Eagle. It became the Cape Girardeau in 1901. For nine years she served the trade between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis, but in 1910 she sank off Turkey Island...

JEFFERSON CITY -- Walleyes are prized by anglers, ranking near the top of the list of sport fish. They take lures and bait with gusto, fight hard when hooked and are delectable eating. Being cool-water fish, they aren't as common in Missouri, however, as in some northern states...

FREDERICKTOWN -- Kayakers and canoeists can compete for ribbons and glory at the Missouri Whitewater Championships. The event, which tests boaters' ability to operate their craft for speed and precision, will take place March 20 and 21 on the St. Francis River at Millstream Gardens Conservation Area...

New rules, permit year take effect Monday. If you hunt or fish in Missouri, then today is a sort of "new year's eve" for you. That's because tomorrow, March 1, marks the beginning of the new permit year. Monday, March 1, is also the day that the 1999 edition of the "Wildlife Code of Missouri" goes into effect...

Sign-ups for the Jackson Girls Softball League will be held on two upcoming dates at Main Street Fitness in Jackson. Registration dates and times: March 5, 6-9 p.m.; and March 20, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Girls ages 6 to 18 are eligible to play. For more information, contact Ken Hotop at 243-1000...

The Jackson Boys Baseball League will hold two more registration dates. Registration, for ages 6 to 18, will be held at the following dates and times in the Jackson City Hall Community Room: Feb. 28 (1-4 p.m.) and March 4 (6-9 p.m.). For more information, contact Rich Gross at 243-8895...

Officially Cape Girardeau became the "City of Roses" by a decree of the City Council in 1937, but the tradition of roses in the city dates back much farther. In 1904, a group of Cape Girardeau women, disturbed by unsightly conditions in the burgeoning city, established the Civic Improvement Association...

MORLEY -- Eva Doreta Shuffit, 79, of Morley died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. She was born June 26, 1919, at Leachville, Ark., daughter of Charles Allen and Mary Francis Hause Woods. She worked at International Hat factory in Oran for 15 years. She was a member of Morley Baptist Church...

CANALOU -- Marion Fowler, 81, of Canalou died Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, at his home. He was born March 31, 1917, in Waynesboro, Tenn., son of Joseph H. and Missy Brewer Fowler. He and Lurlyne Goad were married. She died Jan. 17, 1986. He then married Dorotha Hewitt Naney Oct. 29, 1986, in Florida...

One night in 1940, at a dinner party in Cape Girardeau, guests recalled an automobile trip they made 25 years earlier to St. Louis. They reminisced that since roads were so much rougher in 1914 than in 1940, the trip took 10 hours of hard driving to cover 170 miles. Also, the road was a circuitous path that hit Ste. Genevieve, Farmington and Desloge...

LICKING -- Donald Jauch, 62, of Licking died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital in Columbia. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Chapel.

Graveside service for Elton E. Hunt will be at 1 p.m. today at Lorimier Cemetery. The Rev. S.S. Borum will officiate. Hunt, 95, of Cape Girardeau died Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, at his home. He was born June 27, 1903, at Malden, son of Albert S. and Laura L. Goodwin Hunt...

World renowned bandleader John Philip Sousa drew nearly 11,000 people in two concerts given in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 14, 1929. Sousa and his 85-piece band arrived in the city promptly at noon aboard a special Frisco train. He was greeted by a large group of citizens, including three bands -- the American Legion drum and bugle corps known as the Golden Troopers, the Municipal Band, and a junior band from Ste. Genevieve, which was highly acclaimed in the area...

DEXTER -- Coy Gaines, 86, died Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, at the Beverly Health & Rehabilitation Center in Dexter. He was born near Dexter on June 12, 1912, son of the late Fount and Sadie Gordon Gaines. On Feb. 13, 1937, he married Owetta Rogers in Bloomfield. She died Aug. 13, 1988. On Feb. 16, 1989, he was married to Elmyra Steinbeck...

PERRYVILLE -- Pearl H. Buchheit of Perryville died Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, at Perry Oaks Healthcare. She was 84. She was born June 28, 1914, in Perry County, daughter of the late Ed and May Ragsdale Nations. She married Alvis Buchheit on June 14, 1934. He died April 21, 1981...

COBDEN Ill. -- Roy C. Basler, 87, of Cobden died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at his home. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Lutz & Rendleman Funeral Home in Cobden.

CHAFFEE -- Ruth Holman, 55, of Chaffee died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at her home. Arrangements are incomplete at Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel in Chaffee.

DEXTER -- Jasper Dovers Jr. died Friday, Feb. 26, 1999, at the Sikeston Health Care Center near Morehouse. He was 93. He was born in Matthews Jan. 9, 1906, son of the late Jasper Sr. and Minnie Goins Dovers. In 1940 he married to Florence Woods. She died in 1966. On Jan. 12, 1974, he married Hettie Martin at East Prairie. She died March 2, 1992...

ANNA, Ill. -- Alvin W. "Pop" Boone of Anna died Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, at Memorial Hospital in Carbondale. He was 85. He was born June 20, 1913, at Clarksville, Tenn., son of Rhey and Emma Wofford Boone. He married Cleo Neighbors July 4, 1936, at Murphysboro. She died Aug. 12, 1998...

"Books are less obstreperous than girls." With that statement in 1910, Sadie Kent left her position as Dean of Women and assistant librarian at the Normal School, now Southeast Missouri State University, and became the college's full-time head librarian...

Two former circus lions were released into the wilds of a Mississippi River island near Commerce in 1932, so they could be hunted down by a St. Louis sportsman. The tiny town of Commerce became the site for one of America's strangest safaris. In October 1932, big game hunter and industrialist Denver Wright of St. Louis proposed to bring two African lions to Southeast Missouri and shoot them as part of a lion hunt...

As they were for the most of the rest of the country, the years between 1940 and 1959 were a time of adjustment as Cape Girardeau made the transition from wartime life to a period of post-war growth. The 1940s began on a positive note with the opening of the Arena Building on Jan. 22, 1940. The first event was a Golden Gloves boxing tournament. The facility was officially dedicated May. 14...

Below: The Robert Barber home on Highway D near Seventy Six Conservation Area in Perry County was owned by descendants of Brazeau's founding families. Despite its vacancy, the house retains some of its Victorian charm. Tower Rock Nature Area makes a great stopover for a view of the Mississippi River. It sits across from Grand Tower Chute...

A devastating tornado tore through Cape Girardeau on May 21, 1949. It struck the city at 6:56 p.m., a Saturday, and cut a path from Gordonville Road to the Mississippi River, just south of Cape Rock. Hardest hit were the Marble City Heights and Red Star subdivisions. (SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN ARCHIVES)...

The arm of liberty was symbolically strengthened on Nov. 5, 1950, when a replica of the Statue of Liberty was presented to Cape Girardeau by local Scouts. Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts presented a bronze replica of the statue during a well-attended ceremony at the southeast corner of Capaha Park. The statue was one of many replicas presented by Scouts throughout the country "to strengthen the arm of liberty."...

Cape Girardeau citizens celebrated the "freeing" of the Mississippi River Bridge on June 29, 1957, ending a system of toll charges that had been in place since the opening of the span in 1928. The "Big Bridge Freeing Celebration" included a parade, crowning of a queen and a contest in which contestants guessed the number of cars that crossed the two-lane span during a 12-hour period...

Almost a year to the day after recording his first hit song but a few months before he became an international sensation, Elvis Presley came to Cape Girardeau. On July 20, 1955, Presley performed at the A.C. Brase Arena building in Cape Girardeau as a part of a "dance and stage show," a benefit sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Chapter of United Cerebral Palsy...

As a senator from California, well known for his anti-communism efforts, Richard Nixon made a whistle stop campaign swing through Cape Girardeau on Oct. 21, 1952, as the vice presidential running mate of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. Forty Republicans from the 10th Congressional District, headed by Cape County Republican Chairman Rush H. ...

From the start, Houck Field House was more than a sports arena. If there was a large regional gathering, Houck was the place to be. Great political meetings, religious services, automobile shows, cooking schools, scouting events, civic celebrations -- the list of activities held in Houck Field House go on and on...