Marquette Hotel picture sparks memories of visits

After reading a recent Missourian feature about Cape Girardeau new Bingo World, 18-year-old Dave e-mailed the Missourian, noting: "Bingo sounds like a lot of fun, but I don't know if I'm of age to play."

Pick your dauber, Dave. Ronald J. Pleaus said 16-year-olds can play bingo for prizes.

"The bingo laws in Missouri were written in 1980," explained Pleaus, supervisor of the Bingo Division of the Missouri Gaming Commission. "Bingo is not considered gambling."

Marquette memories

Virginia Heckrotte of Cape Girardeau had no difficulty identifying the "Where Is It?" photo as the lobby of the Marquette Hotel on last week's "Faces and Places" page.

"I used to work on the switchboard at the hotel around 1943," Heckrotte said in an e-mail to the Missourian. "I hooked up all of the outgoing and incoming calls on the old-fashioned telephone switchboard and made morning wake up calls for guests at the hotel. I thought the Marquette was then and still is a beautiful building."

Heckrotte said she thought of the hotel as "almost a magical place." When visiting musicians stayed at the hotel, "we would play and sing songs together at the piano during their off times," she recalled.

Bob Mitten of Jackson, Mo., also recalls working at the Marquette Hotel.

"As a youngster, I washed the windows," he said, adding the he "had to study the photo a while" before deciding it was the Marquette lobby. Mitten said it has been 50 years since he was inside the Marquette, and at first he thought the photo might have been inside the Southeast Missourian because of its Spanish design.

"The photo brought back memories," said Mitten. And no, Mitten didn't have to hang from the windows to wash the outside. The design of the windows allowed both sides to be cleaned from inside the hotel.

Case of the missing coat

Dan B. Cotner of Cape Girardeau remembers solving the case of a missing coat from the Marquette Hotel lobby.

"The coat-hanging area was to the left of the elevated entrance to the main dining room," said Cotner, who identified last week's mystery photo. The Cape Girardeau Rotary Club met in the dining room each Monday, and coats were hung in the outer area.

On one occasion, following the lunch program, Cotner found that his black top-coat was missing, but another of similar size remained. The remaining coat smelled strongly of tobacco odor, particularly of cigar smoke, recalled Cotner.

"Rotarian Bern Walther of Walther Furniture Store, Broadway and Middle, was known as a cigar smoker," said Cotner.

A telephone call to the furniture store confirmed that Bern had the wrong coat.

Cotner also recalled of hearing about a surprise visit to the Marquette Hotel by Paul Harris, founder of Rotary International.

Harris' train arrived in Cape Girardeau about noon on a day in the early 1950s, and Harris "walked the Broadway Hill to the Marquette Hotel," arriving in time for the program.

Harris would not interrupt the program, but did say a few remarks following the scheduled speaker's program. "This story was related to me by the late John Blue, past Rotary International district governor," said Cotner.

Also correctly identifying the hotel lobby photo were Dolly Dambach, Jewell Eggle, Charles Hopkins, Rex Nations and Ruth Evans.

To the rescue

Dessie Reed of Jackson has a big "thank you" to three men who came to her aid on a grocery store parking lot. "It was cold, and I couldn't get my car door shut," she said. Three men stopped to help Reed.

One of the men checked the latch on the door and discovered the problem. "It didn't take them long to get the door shut and get me on my way. I didn't get their names, but I sure want to thank them."

A gathering of penguins

They've warmed up by now, but on New Year's Day it was plenty chilly for Penguin Club members who took a dip in the Castor River near Greenbriar in 30-degree weather.

The 2002 swim marked the second year for the Penguin Club Fest. At their Penguin best were Liam Costello, Derek Jackson, Josh Breeze, Daniel Turner, Andy Griffith, Jason Kennedy, Neeley Bollinger, Shanna Winchester and Chad Johnson.

Club members say they'll be on the riverbank again Jan. 1, 2003.