KEENE RECEIVES PRESERVATION AWARD

Jackson was a much smaller town when Mysie Keene and her husband, the late F.E. Keene, moved here in 1954. During the intervening 47 years, Mysie Keene served the community in virtually every imaginable capacity.

She was recognized for her many years of service Saturday night at the Jackson Heritage Association's 24th annual meeting and awards banquet. Keene was the 2001 winner of the Jackson Heritage Association Heritage Award, unofficially known as the Joyce Peerman Award.

The meeting also saw E.P. "Pug" Kurre, Vicki Abernathy, Jerry Seabaugh, Bob Cranmer and David Bloom receive the Heritage Association's Unsung Hero Award. Additionally, Marsha Vangilder and Kevin and Debbie Schearf were named to the association board of directors and the 2001 slate of officers. President Pat Fosse, Vice President Vicki Abernathy, Secretary Bonnie Macke and Treasurer Carlton "Cotton" Meyer were re-elected to another term.

Peerman presented the Heritage Award to Keene, after listing many of her past accomplishments and duties. She served as president of the Jackson Parent, Teachers Association, was a Girl Scout leader, a member of the Community Chest Board, the Southeast Missouri Medical Center Board, the town's first Community Betterment Board in 1964, the original Oliver House Committee, the SEMO Port Authority Board, the Jackson City Park Board and the Jackson Chamber of Commerce boards. She was the first female to be a chamber board member or chamber president. She was also co-chair of Jackson's 1965 Sesquicentennial and was later president of the SEMO Port Authority Board.

Past year's achievements

Fosse looked back at the organization's accomplishments during 2000 and toward its goals for 2001.

"I'm proud to be a member. I hear people say the Oliver House is the nicest historic site in the area," he said. "It's a very nice addition to our historic community."

Fosse said, "In the past year we added Justin Gibbs as youth representative. I think it's very important for our youths to be more involved. We're redesigning our brochure and working to make the Oliver House more known to surrounding schools. We want to get our youths exposed to historic preservation."

The publication of a book on the history of Jackson has also been a project that has taken off during the past year. Doug Sykes of Turner Publishing Co. in Paducah, Ky., the company that will publish the book, also spoke briefly.

"We just compiled one for Farmington," Sykes said, after noting that the company has done some 200 to 250 county or city history books in the Mississippi and Ohio Valley regions. "We decided Jackson had all the ingredients to make a good coffeetable book."

Sykes said the large format book would be "very elegant" and would be on acid-free paper and sewed together, rather than glued.

Sykes reflected on Jackson's regional importance, noting that "so many people have come through here in the last 200 years."

People are being encouraged to submit 500-word (or shorter) family, business or church histories. A 500-word article, edited by the association for grammar and clarity, and a photo may be submitted free of charge. Sykes said he wants it to be "a community project, with 1,000 authors."

"Will Durant wrote that history is the story of dead kings and their wars.' It's actually the story of people like you and I getting by, day to day," Sykes said. "We want to make sure our heritage stays alive. We need everyone to participate."

Fosse also addressed specific 2001 goals. One is beefing up the endowment fund so it will support the operation and maintenance of the Oliver House without holding fund-raising activities.

"It's very important that the endowment fund have sufficient money to support the house," he said. "People just don't have time for moneymaking activities."

Fostering greater awareness of the house and the association in area schools is also a goal, as is finishing the new brochure and revamping the association's newsletter. In another change, the association is also dropping its annual historical calendar.

"I personally enjoyed the calendars very much," Fosse said. "I want to thank the calendar committee members both past and present for their hard work."

Gibbs, who became the first youth to hold a seat on the Heritage Association board in 2000, also spoke briefly.

"The Jackson Heritage Association recognizes the importance of youth in Jackson," said Gibbs, a ninth-grader at R.O. Hawkins Junior High. "The youth of today are the heritage of tomorrow. It's essential that we get the youth of Jackson involved today or there will be no heritage to preserve tomorrow. I don't want the entire town of Jackson to be one big parking lot."

Gibbs noted that youths can play important roles in helping the association grow, including spring cleanups and manning concession stands for fund raisers.

The Rev. Grant Gillard installed the officers and board members. He reminded them that "every good idea needs a champion" and that each of them should find a particular preservation issue to champion.

The board consists of Phyllis Seabaugh, Barbara Lohr, Gene "Rusty" Cracraft, Cathi Stoverink, Grace Wille, Vicki Lane, Terri Tomlin, Carl Talley, Vangilder, the Schearfs and Gibbs.