FORMER CAPE GIRARDEAU CLERK VERNA LANDIS TO TURN 100

Verna Landis in her younger days.

Verna Landis spends most of her days nestled in a velvet chair at Chatau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau, claiming she possesses no secrets or strategies for her long life.

On June 12, the former Cape Girardeau city clerk of 56 years, will turn 100.

"I've had a good life," Landis said on Thursday. "I've enjoyed my work."

To know Miss Landis is to know that work was pretty much her entire life. She served as Cape Girardeau city clerk from 1929 to 1985.

She was a clenched fist and a saint all at once in the new Lorimier school building when it was converted into City Hall, said Betty Campbell, who worked with Landis for more than 30 years. She was someone who "ruled the roost, handled everything, was strict with her work but was truly a wonderful person," said Campbell, a former assistant city clerk and collector.

Landis offered this explanation of why she lasted so long in the business: "I liked people. I enjoyed meeting them. I liked to help."

"When she first started, she was a clerk and collector," Campbell said. But as Cape Girardeau took shape and grew each year, the job became too big for her to handle. "Then she just became a clerk," Campbell said.

She went to an innumerable number of council meetings, kept book upon book of records, and collected and sent out stacks of tax bills. She didn't want excuses. She wanted everything "to be correct and on time."

She has outlived her three sisters, Bernice, Maude and Marie, and her only brother, John. She has outlived cousins, uncles and aunts, and that leads 84-year-old Wilma Neal, one of two second cousins Landis has remaining, to believe she'll even outlive her.

Neal helps take care of Landis along with Chateau caregiver Leona Scherer during the week. However, it is Landis who is concerned with her second cousin. "Who's going to take care of you?" she has asked Neal.

"She used to help volunteer at Southeast Missouri Hospital, she was involved in the Executive Club and was a member of the Centenary Methodist Church. She means a lot to a lot of people," Neal said.

Although Landis has trouble hearing and recalling the past, those who have been associated with her over the years, like former Southeast Missourian managing editor and city hall writer John Blue, can recall plenty of tales about Landis' heyday.

"She served with distinction," Blue said. "She was always courteous, kind, helpful. Everyone knew her and liked her. She was able to help carry the office for years and years."

Blue remembers the early days, when Landis was just opening the door and peeking in at a half-century of work.

"Bill Kaempfer was the city clerk back in 1948," Blue said. "But he died. 'Sis,' which is what we called her for a nickname, was the assistant clerk. She basically knew very little about the office. John Walther was city engineer at the time, and his office was also located in the courthouse. He knew all about the inner workings of the place and helped Sis become a clerk. After that she was always prompt with agendas and up on her minutes. She never faltered in serving the city of Cape. She was a lady all the way through."