OPTISMISM: BLECHLE REFUSED TO LET PERRYVILLE BECOME GHOST TOWN

PERRYVILLE -- When the first shoe factory closed at Perryville in 1964, the "gloom-and-doom" brigade predicted Perryville would become a ghost town in six months.

Viola Blechle refused to believe that.

"That was my first year with the Perryville Chamber of Commerce," said Blechle, who had been optimistic about Perryville for a long time before she was named executive director of its chamber.

"When the shoe factory closed, it put more than 700 people out of work," she said. "We knew we'd have to do something to attract new industry to town. We started working. Through the years, we have passed a lot of bond issues, we have a good economic director, and we've attracted a number of new industries."

Perryville, of course, didn't become a ghost town; in fact, 27 years later this community, the Perry County seat, is about 1,000 people larger and has many more industries.

"Our 1960 population was 5,117," said Blechle. "Right now we have a population of about 6,243, and we have enough jobs that most people don't have to commute somewhere else."

Industries like Gilster-Mary Lee, TG-USA, Sabreliner, Solar Press and others are providing jobs that help keep Perryville residents at home.

"We have people in the office every day picking up lists of industries to make job applications," she said. "Right now TG-USA and Solar Press are hiring."

Blechle said she would like to see the time come when all Perryville people are working in the immediate Perryville area.

Blechle, who has completed her 27th year as executive director of the Perryville Chamber of Commerce, is the city's biggest booster. She is proud of her town and doesn't mind saying so; she promotes Perryville at every opportunity.

"I've lived here most of my life," said Blechle, who attended Perryville High School and then went to St. Louis to attend Rubicon Business College.

"I worked in St. Louis a while," she said. "But my parents, who owned Vince's Place, needed help running the restaurant, and we returned to Perryville."

That was in 1930. Her husband went to work at the shoe factory here, and she remained in the family business until her parents died. She then started working for the Perry County Republic Newspaper. Two years later the chamber job opened up.

Blechle recalled: "I really wanted the job, but I didn't apply for it because a good friend wanted the same job. Then, when she interviewed and discovered there would be a couple of night meetings a month, she decided she didn't want the position. I let the board know I was interested."

Blechle was hired Jan. 21, 1964.

One of the first things Blechle did was conduct a community survey to see what people in Perryville wanted and how they could make the town attractive not only to people but to new industry.

"I remember that of 1,496 surveys sent out, a total of 1,106 were returned. We have continued those surveys every couple of years for feedback from people," she said.

Early on in her job, she became community betterment chairman, and Blechle helped put her city in the spotlight. "Community betterment has been a big program here," she said. "We won our first Missouri Community Betterment Award in 1965."

Perryville also claimed first place in its category in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1977, 1982, 1986 and 1988, and the community has won the state's Community Betterment Grand Prize twice: in 1968 and 1982.

Along the way, Blechle won the Governor's Leadership Award over a period of several years, including 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1970, and was appointed as an ambassador for Missouri Community Development in 1977.

Next on the improvement list for Perryville is a downtown revitalization project, an undertaking which Blechle enthusiastically supports. "We already have a lot of people on the committee for this downtown project," said Blechle. "Improvements will get under way this spring."

Blechle has had several opportunities to take over other jobs over the past two-plus decades, but the chamber has remained her home. "I love my job with the chamber," she said. "I like talking to people, working with City Hall and businesses."

Blechle, who plans to retire this year, said she has no doubts about how she'll occupy her time: "I'll work part-time at the Chamber of Commerce. What else?