LETTERS: RIVER CAMPUS HOLDS MUCH PROMISE

To the editor:

As a local girl growing up in Jackson, I always appreciated the opportunities that Southeast Missouri State University provided for me and my brothers to have sustained contact with the fine arts during our growing-up years. I cannot describe the joy or pride that my husband and I felt when we opened the Missourian to discover that the university was purchasing the former St. Vincent's Seminary and was proposing that the city of Cape Girardeau enter into a cooperative arrangement to provide a fine arts center for the greater Cape Girardeau-Jackson areas as well as the surrounding region that we serve.

As children, my mother (Bernice Heyde) would delight us with ther story of the opening of the bridge and the celebration which the women of the community -- including my grandmother, Adelaide Wilson Fitzpatrick -- planned on the seminary lawn. She herself participated in a dance performance, I believe. More importantly, she and my father shared with each of us their love of "the college" and the opportunity it provided them for an education and access to the arts during the Depression. Each musical concert, each theater performance and each art show was an event that we were encouraged to attend either with them or as young adults on our own. Band camps and spring concert band festivals would not have been available to my brothers and me if it had not been for Southeast Missouri State University. In fact, my mother and her friends purchased tickets to the Theater Series at the college for several years after they retired from teaching.

Since our return to the region 15 years ago, my husband and I have attended arts shows at the university museum and concerts performed by the university orchestra, the choral union or guest performances. We have participated in an occasional contra dance experience and have enjoyed the theater performances. Having enjoyed similar activities at universities in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Athens, Ohio, we are acutely aware of the need for improved facilities for all areas of the fine arts in Cape Girardeau.

Robert and I support the vision of Dr. Dale Nitzschke, the university and the community in providing us with the opportunity to develop the River Campus. Quality facilities for educational purposes, preservation of an important part of Cape Girardeau's history and a center to promote fine arts in our region are only a few of the key reasons that we encourage others to back this initiative. We are proud to be part of a community and a university that challenges its citizens to enrich their lives through opportunities associated with the fine arts. The River Campus promises to transform our experiences with music, dance, the arts and regional history in a positive manner.

ADELAIDE HEYDE PARSONS

Cape Girardeau