Three well-lived lives

Southeast Missouri is mourning and celebrating. It is mourning the deaths of three individuals while celebrating their many contributions that have brightened and improved the lives of so many others.

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Mildred Wallhausen: Millie ran the weekly newspaper in Charleston, Mo., the Enterprise-Courier, for 40 years after the death of her husband, Art Wallhausen Sr. They had purchased the paper in 1935. For more than 60 years the Enterprise-Courier under the Wallhausen influence has chronicled the comings and goings -- literally -- of Charlestonians: their births, their marriages, their children's graduations, their anniversaries and their deaths.

Many in the Cape Girardeau area know Millie or know her son, Art Wallhausen Jr., who retired last year as assistant to the president at Southeast Missouri State University.

Since 1970, Millie had minced few words in her column, "Millie's Soapbox." Readers could agree or disagree, but they were seldom left wondering what Millie thought about anything important to Charleston.

Millie had been such an active participant in the area press association for so many years that a special award was named in her honor a few years back. She, of course, was the first recipient. The award recognizes those who have devoted their lives to the best interests of journalism in this part of the state.

As the press association's historian, Millie each year prepared a necrology for the annual meeting. It was always a somber few minutes as she read the names of those with Southeast Missouri ties in our profession who had died in the past year and listed a few of their journalistic accomplishments. At this spring's meeting, Millie will be on that list. It will be a sad moment -- and a happy one, too, if we remember how vibrant Millie was even in her 10th decade.

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Vida Keys: Vi Keys was a musician whose career ranged from the circus to mood music for Sunday brunches to nightclubs. Her keyboard expertise, particularly with an electronic organ, was legendary hereabouts and appealed to grandparents as well as their grandchildren.

For years Vi raised money for the Arthritis Foundation with her hat auctions, popular events long after fashions changed and women stopped wearing hats to church or social events.

With so many good memories about Vi's music, I had to smile when I read in her obituary that she was a Baptist who "often played at the Purple Crackle." You can't get much more ecumenical than that.

Sharon Sanders, Southeast Missourian librarian, recalls how Vi knew everyone's favorite song, and when she saw you she would start playing your song. That's special.

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Larry Loos: When the Internet was still in its infancy, Larry Loos saw the potential for local schools, churches, libraries and organizations to reach those early Web surfers. He started a community information network called the Show-Me Net based in Jackson and serving several counties in Southeast Missouri.

Larry had a doctorate in physics from Purdue University and had taught computer science for a while. He also had owned a computer-technology business for several years and helped find programming solutions for countless computer and network users.

And still the Cape Girardeau native found time for the fund-raising activities of the Evening Optimist Club, which each year is one of the community's most generous benefactors of youth programs.

Larry's legacy will long remain in the ether of the Internet, especially for anyone using a showme.net address.

jsullivan@semissourian.com