SEMO ELDERHOSTEL PROGRAM FOCUSES ON OLD MAN RIVER

Old Man River has rolled through Leslie Goeldner's mind in years past. Now he's learning about the Mississippi River up close at a weeklong Elderhostel at Southeast Missouri State University.

Mark Twain's novels intrigued him. "When I was a kid we read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and "Life on the Mississippi," recalled Goeldner, 90.

"I always thought it would be fun to stay on the Mississippi River, but I lived inland."

Goeldner and his 63-year-old daughter Marilyn are among 36 senior citizens from a number of states who are participating in the Elderhostel program.

Participants have to be 60 or older or be the spouse of a participant who meets the age requirement.

Both father and daughter live near Des Moines, Iowa. Leslie Goeldner lives in Earlham, which is in Madison County -- the county made famous by the bestseller, "The Bridges of Madison County."

Marilyn Goeldner lives in Boone, Iowa, a town named for Daniel Boone's son Nathan, and the birthplace of Mamie Eisenhower.

This is Leslie Goeldner's 16th Elderhostel. Before his wife died they traveled together.

"We started out when Elderhostels first started 20 to 22 years ago," he recalled Tuesday.

Goeldner had sought to attend Southeast's Elderhostel about 15 years ago, but his application was turned down because the slots were already filled.

This is Marilyn Goeldner's second Elderhostel. Her first trip was last fall with her father.

"My brothers and I gave Dad one for his 90th birthday," she explained. The Elderhostel was held in the vicinity of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.

She said she has been intrigued by Elderhostels for years. "I'd see him (Leslie) go off to Elderhostels and they sounded like such neat things."

A retired public-school music teacher, Marilyn Goeldner said she wants to participate in an Elderhostel that focuses on the fall foliage.

"I couldn't wait to retire so I could go out East and see the leaves," she said. "I haven't made it yet," she added with a smile.

A former school teacher himself, Leslie Goeldner and a friend abandoned teaching in the heart of the Depression in 1932 to buy a weekly newspaper and print shop in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Two years later he sold his interest in the paper and moved to Earlham, where he purchased the Earlham Echo and a related print shop. He published the newspaper for more than three decades before retiring 24 years ago.

An experienced traveler, he said he enjoys Elderhostels, having attended them in a number of states from Pennsylvania to Texas.

Many of them are hands-on affairs. He's carved wood in Oklahoma and polished semi-precious stones in North Dakota.

"I like to be entertained and learn something and meet interesting people at the same time," said Goeldner, whose view is shared by his daughter.

"A lot of people go to three or four a year," he said.

This week's Elderhostel, which began Sunday and runs through Saturday, focuses on a stretch of the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau northward, said Southeast's Shelba Branscum, who coordinates the program.

Elderhostel participants spend their mornings in class with history professor Frank Nickell and participate in field trips in the afternoons.

Today they'll be taking a trip up to Altenburg and Ste. Genevieve in Missouri and Kaskaskia, Ill.

"It's all focused on the river, but we do have fun," said Branscum, a human environmental studies professor.

Centered generally around colleges and universities, Elderhostels are held throughout the country. Southeast started its program 15 years ago. "We are the oldest Elderhostel program in Missouri," said Branscum.

Out-of-town participants in this week's Elderhostel are being housed in Myers Hall on the Southeast campus. Five of the participants are from Cape Girardeau, and they can go home at night.

Susan Swartz of Cape Girardeau said she's learning all about the river. "I've lived here just a year and a half," explained Swartz, who moved here from eastern Kansas.

Dorothy Penzel of Cape Girardeau said she's enjoying the program. "I always kind of wanted to attend an Elderhostel," she explained.

For Helen Miller it's the third Elderhostel program she's attended at Southeast, dating back to 1991.

Miller said she's participated in programs that focused on the Mississippi River from Cape Girardeau southward and on the Trail of Tears. Now she's learning about the northern stretch of the river.

Miller, who has lived in Cape Girardeau all her life, admitted she already knows a lot about the river. Miller's late husband Ernest was a riverboat captain. She said she accompanied her husband on several boat trips.

Even so, Miller said she's still learning about the mighty Mississippi.