SENIORS TOLD TO SEEK OPEN DOOR

Kathleen Brown entered college in the 1970s intending to become a physical therapist but couldn't get into the physical therapy college right away, so she tried some classes in a subject then unusual for a woman -- engineering.

"Things will happen to you that you don't control," Brown told an audience Monday night that included the cream of Cape Girardeau's graduating seniors. "They just mean one door has closed and another has opened."

Those who succeed are those "who walk through doors into the unknown," Brown said.

Brown is plant manager at Procter & Gamble in Cape Girardeau.

She was the keynote speaker at the John L. Blue Academic Excellence Banquet sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club at the University Center. The banquet, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, annually honors the top 10 percent of the city's graduating high school students. (See related story)

The honored students were introduced by Central High School principal Randy Fidler and Notre Dame High School principal Sister Mary Ann Fischer.

Blue, who worked for the Southeast Missourian for 40 years and was its editor for 19 before retiring in 1980, also was honored by the club.

He is a former president of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club and along with his wife, Mary, is a Paul Harris Fellow. Being designated a Paul Harris Fellow is the highest honor a Rotary Club member can achieve.

He has been a Rotarian for 50 years, joining the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club July 1, 1949. He originated the Academic Excellence Banquet 40 years ago.

In a speech titled "The Road to Success is Always Under Construction," Brown urged the high school students to knock hard on the doors they want to open, but if a door is really closed, "look for the open door and walk through it and don't forget to admire the scenery along the path."

Brown is in charge of a plant that began a $350 million expansion early in 1998. The 850,000-square-foot building will house two giant paper machines to produce Bounty paper towels and Charmin tissue.

Described as ahead of schedule last fall, construction has slowed but still is on schedule, Brown said in an interview before the banquet. "We still should meet our contractual agreements," she said.

The first line that converts big rolls into paper towels is up and running, and the first of the big machines should be operational by the end of the year, she said.

The expansion will place the Cape Girardeau plant among the company's top four or five in terms of paper towel and tissue production. It is the company's largest maker of disposable diapers.

The new plant will provide an additional 400 jobs. About 100 workers have been brought in from other plants. Brown said other hires are being made from people returning to the area and from Southeast's industrial technology program. Others are ex-military.