'Living history' on display: Lorimier family legacy, memories return to Missouri

When Grace Jueneman and her daughter, Rodney Jueneman Arbeiter, walked into the Cape Girardeau County History Center on the evening of Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, living history arrived.

In 1965, Grace married her husband, Donald Frederick Jueneman, who was a direct descendant of Cape Girardeau founder Louis Lorimier.

The founding families of Cape Girardeau had an extensive collection of family belongings including documents, photographs and other artifacts, which Grace has kept safely in a private collection at her home in Texas.

Grace and Donald spent around 40 years living in St. Louis, raising their two children and enjoying their marriage together. When Donald died in 2012, Grace moved to Texas. So did the family's collection.

With the desire to keep the family's history and stories together, Grace recently donated the extensive collection to the Cape Girardeau County History Center, and the exhibit was unveiled on Monday.

Grace Jueneman, left, visits her husband's grave with her daughter Rodney Jueneman Arbeiter at New Lorimier Cemetery.

Leading up to the unveiling of what archivists at the history center say is the most extensive collection to arrive at the center to date, Grace and her daughter, Rodney, spent the weekend in Cape Girardeau, visiting for the first time together since Donald's burial in 2012.

"One of the first things we did was go to my husband's grave that I hadn't seen in years," Grace said, reflecting on the flowers and decorations that adorned the site. "It was beautiful. That was one of the special things for me."

Rodney, Grace and Donald's daughter, who now lives in southern Florida, said the trip to Cape Girardeau was very humbling and the exhibit is one of the greatest gifts her family could have received.

"It's the protection of this knowledge of the legacy of my family for my children," Rodney said. "So for me, this is all of a sudden the excitement that my children have this opportunity -- this beautiful gift -- to have that preservation, to get to still know all of these things about their ancestry. It's not being lost. And not only is it there for my children, it's there for my children's children, and to go on."

Rodney said the exhibit represented memories, especially those from her grandmother's home.

Grace Jueneman listens as Mary Jo Shelton (not pictured) details information on the Lorimier family sites of Cape Girardeau.

"She didn't keep things hidden away in a closet," Rodney said. "She had everything up and out and on display. All of the photographs and things like that, it was a lot of looking back on her because it felt like being back in her home."

She said growing up she was fortunate to hear her family's stories from her grandmother and her father, but her children weren't able to have those same experiences.

"Gratitude isn't even a strong enough word to say. They are doing all the work to preserve this legacy, this family and giving this gift to my children, to my family," Rodney said. "And it was the height of hospitality and everybody was amazing. I couldn't say enough wonderful things about everybody there."

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Rodney Jueneman Arbeiter, center, sees the new "Founders Collection: The Legacy of the Lorimier, Rodney, Whitelaw, Carmack and Jueneman Families in Cape Girardeau County" exhibit at the Cape Girardeau County History Center for the first time Nov. 2 in Jackson. Rodney is a direct descendent of Louis Lorimier, founder of Cape Girardeau.