Out of the past: Oct. 16

1999

The new Midtown Family Medical Center, which will serve members of the Craftsman Independent Union and benefit residents near the clinic, will be dedicated Monday to Velma M. Kelley; Kelley, the mother of Craftsman Union president Fred D. Kelley, was always there for needy people in South Cape Girardeau, her son says.

The Jackson Board of Education signed a contract to purchase property near its high school campus Friday; the board will complete the agreement to purchase the property at 418 W. Monroe for $58,000 later this year, says superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson; the property is adjacent to the high school campus near the maintenance facility.

1974

Picketing of Naeter Brothers Publishing Co., publishers of The Southeast Missourian, is in its second day as members of Local 647, International Printing and Graphic Communications Union, continue their strike; the walkout began about noon yesterday, less than an hour before edition time, forcing the newspaper to miss a day of publication; today’s and Tuesday’s editions are delivered together.

It looks like Truman Farrow of Jackson, the Republican candidate for Congress from Southeast Missouri, won’t get help from Atty. Gen. John C. Danforth in his attempt to unseat 10th District Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau; a spokesman for the attorney general’s office says it won’t issue an opinion to Farrow on whether Burlison is legally serving in Congress.

1949

Maj. Henry F. Gerecke, Protestant chaplain at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been ordered to report for duty to the Office of Reserve Chaplains, Headquarters Fifth Army, Chicago; he will assume his new duty status Oct. 24; a native of Cape Girardeau County, Gerecke has served as spiritual adviser and counselor to the men confined at the Army installation for violation of Army regulations the past 34 months; in November 1945, he was ordered to Nuremberg, Germany, and was spiritual adviser to the high Nazis then on trial.

The 38th yacht to pass down the Mississippi River this fall and stop over at Cape Girardeau for fuel and supplies puts in at the K.A. “Kenny” Head river dock in the evening; it will depart tomorrow morning for Miami Beach, Florida, with a crew of four; it is the palatial 80-foot, twin screw diesel engined yacht of C.I. Gibson of Greenville, Michigan, president of Gibson Refrigerator Co.

1924

David Hunter Miller of Pennsylvania, a speaker of national reputation and a close friend of the late former president, Woodrow Wilson, is the principal speaker in the evening at a Democratic mass meeting at Common Pleas Courthouse; Miller is being sent to the “doubtful” states by the speakers’ bureau of the party to discuss national issues.

Many people are touring the model home that is being exhibited in the block of Benton Street north of Independence by the Senior Ladies Aid of Trinity Lutheran Church; the house, of the California bungalow type, was furnished by various local merchants; the church society is charging 10 cents admission.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.