Rush H. Limbaugh award goes to former state representative

When former state representative Mary Kasten stepped to the microphone after hearing praised heaped on her for a lifetime of public service, she wasn't at a loss for words.

"I feel like a pancake that has had too much syrup poured over it," she said.

Kasten on Friday evening was named the recipient of the Rush H. Limbaugh Award by the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce. A state legislator from 1977 to 1995, Kasten has also served as a member of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents, the Missouri Children's Services Commission and the Missouri Supreme Court's Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Kasten was also president of the Missouri State Board of Education.

But in his speech of praise, David Limbaugh also lauded Kasten for the more personal touch she has brought to public service -- creating a preschool program at the Cape Civic Center in the 1960s along with a well-baby clinic that provided needed vaccines.

"Anyone in an unfortunate circumstance, large and overwhelming or seemingly insignificant, was a target for interest, compassion and a call for action," Limbaugh said.

Those words led to Kasten's joke at her own expense, which was greeted by applause and chuckles in the gathering of business and professional people at the Show Me Center.

"I am so grateful and appreciative," Kasten told the assembly. "I have had the greatest honor in my life to live in Cape Girardeau."

After leaving the stage, Kasten was joined by son Mike Kasten, daughter-in-law Priscilla Kasten and granddaughters Caroline and Drew Anna Kasten. She said she had to be urged to attend the dinner. Rep. Nathan Cooper, R-Cape Girardeau, who boarded at her home as a Southeast Missouri State University student, had insisted she accompany him, she said.

"It just touches my heart," Kasten said.

The award presented to Kasten was named for the late Rush H. Limbaugh Sr., a lawyer in Cape Girardeau for more than 75 years and the award's first recipient. The chamber established the award in 1989 to recognize exceptional effort on behalf of the community over an extended time.

The chamber delivered two other awards Friday evening, naming Automation Services Co. Inc. as Small Business of the Year and Kimberly Kelley of Kelley Transportation Co. Inc. as Go-Getter of the Year for chamber volunteer work and recruitment.

Automation Services was founded in the basement of owner Mike Buchanan's home, Buz Sutherland said as he introduced the award. Sutherland is director of the Small Business Development Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Today, Automation Services occupies 3,600 square feet, had sales in 2005 in excess of $3 million with a work force of 25 and a payroll of $1.2 million, Sutherland said.

A 2004 survey of Automation Services customers by Microsoft found 90 percent saying they were "very satisfied," Sutherland said. And the company wrote the software to combine Global Positioning System data with fertilizer spreaders for a precision farming program that won a Smithsonian Institution award for product innovation.

The mainstay of Automation Services business is network support for banks and other financial institutions, helping with security and regulatory compliance, Buchanan said.

But the most important part of the business, Buchanan said, is the people he's recruited. "In a service business, you are only as good as the people who provide the service," he said.

During her speech accepting the Go-Getter Award, Kelley thanked the employees of her family firm who have kept it running while she volunteers to help the chamber.

During the past year, Kelley attended 23 of the 60 events sponsored by the chamber to recognize new business growth, Cathy Schlosser said as she introduced Kelley. And she recruited 22 new chamber members as well as helping out in numerous other chamber functions.

The award was gratifying, Kelley said, because she believes the chamber has "a vision and passion for Cape Girardeau."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126