AWARDS/TRAINING

HALLMARK AWARD: Frank Klueppel and Marsha Hinton of Plaza Gifts and Office Supplies are shown with a plaque received from Hallmark Marketing Corporation honoring the firm headquartered in Cape Girardeau as a Hallmark Gold Crown store.

Frank and Carolyn Klueppel of Plaza Gifts and Office Supplies recently received a plaque in recognition of the store's high level of retailing as a Hallmark Gold Crown Store.

The local company has locations at Town Plaza Shopping Center and West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau; at Carbondale, Ill., and Sikeston, Mo.

Each of the four locations received the award.

Hallmark Gold Crown stores are evaluated annually. This marks the sixth year that Plaza Gifts has received a Gold Crown status since the program started in 1986.

Awards are presented by the Hallmark Marketing Corporation, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City. The award indicates exclusive products, superior store environment and outstanding services.

About half of the 11,000 Hallmark specialty stores across the U.S. have achieved Gold Crown Status.

Plaza Gifts and Office Supply was founded in Cape Girardeau in 1965.

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Allen Clark, district representative for Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), has been recognized for outstanding sales and service to AAL members.

Clark, of Route 3, Cape Girardeau, joined AAL's field staff in 1988 and has been honored twice for outstanding sales and service to AAL members. Clark, who has also received recognition from the National Association of Life Underwriters, is an associate of the Jack Hollingsworth Agency of AAL, of Independence.

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George B. Jewell, former Cape Girardeau pastor and attorney, has been selected for inclusion in the 1992-93 edition of "Who's Who in American Law."

Jewell, director of Gift Planning at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., is a graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin. He received his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Divinty degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Mass.

While in Cape Girardeau from 1981 to 1989, he was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, and later the Evangelical Free Church. He also served as an instructor of business law at Southeast Missouri State University.

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Leon Laurentius, parts manager at Schneider Equipment Co., Inc., 401 S. Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, recently completed a week's course on parts management.

The course, sponsored by Case IH Company, was held at Racine, Wis. Topics included sales and merchandising of parts.

Laurentius was also named a big winner in a "Coming On Strong" parts programs for parts sales. He will receive a four-day, three-night trip to Las Vegas.

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KENNETT Shirley Smith of Kennett has been recognized by the Visiting Nurse Association of Southeast Missouri as 1991 recipient of the Jackson L. Burke Award for excellence in home care.

Smith has been an employee of the VNA family of services since 1984.

In 1985, she became director of VNA Community Services, VNA's program of providing homemaker and personal care services in Southeast Missouri. Under Smith's leadership, the program has grown to employ more than 300 homemakers who care for more than 1,300 clients in 10 Bootheel counties.

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PERRYVILLE Vernon E. Heck has earned the "Accredited Personal Financial Specialist" (APFS) designation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Heck, of Vernon E. Heck, CPA, with offices in Perryville and Crystal City, passed a technical examination for the new designation.

The AICPA is a national professional organization of CPAs with about 300,000 members.

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Ron L. Gray of Cape Girardeau will receive his National Counselor's license from Missouri in the near future.

Gray, who is serving as assistant superintendent of Joppa-Maple Grove School District at Joppa, recently received notification from the Division of Professional Registration in Jefferson City that his licensure as a professional counselor in Missouri had been approved.

Gray, who received his doctorate in 1990 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and his wife, Esther, live in Cape Girardeau.

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Bob Etherton of Cape Girardeau, representative for Edward D. Jones & Co., recently attended an advanced business management seminar sponsored by the Jones firm in St. Louis.

The seminar is designed to help brokers develop their business management skills. Sessions were conducted on the firm's products, and on diversifying customer holdings.

Jones, an investment firm, offers stocks, mutual funds, tax-free bonds and other investments.

Etherton operates one of the more than 1,700 Jones offices. His office is at 211 N. Sprigg.

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Wilma Dooley of Jackson recently attended the annual Mary Kay Cosmetics Inc. directors conference in San Jose, Calif.

Directors from 50 states and Canada attended the session.

Dooley, who has been affiliated with Mary Kay Cosmetics for 12 years, has held the position of sales director 10 years.

Dooley also attended a special Circle of Achievement banquet honoring directors who have sold over a quarter of a million dollars in products during the past six months.

Mary Kay Cosmetics manufactures and distributes skin care, glamour, body care and fragrance products.

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Angela Beck has been promoted to assistant vice president and human resource officer at Boatmen's National Bank of Cape Girardeau.

Beck is responsible for the administration and implementation of human resource polices and programs, including employee benefits, payroll and the interview and selection process of personnel.

Beck, who attended Southeast Missouri State University, started her career with Boatmen's in 1976 as a new-accounts representative and safe-deposit clerk. In 1984 she was promoted to executive secretary and a year later was promoted to human resource representative.

Beck is a member of Cape Area Personnel Association of which she is past treasurer. She is a member of the Gordonville and West Lane Parent Teachers Organization and First Christian Church of Cape Girardeau.

Beck and her husband, Ralph Beck Jr., have two children.