Out of the past 1/31/12

25 years ago: Jan. 31, 1987

Britt Airlines, one of three commuter airlines operating out of the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport, has suspended flights here temporarily; earlier in the week, the FFA grounded 12 of Britt's twin-engine Beechcraft 99 aircraft, about a fourth of the airline's total fleet.

Cardiologist Dr. Allen L. Spitler has assumed duties as president of the medical staff at Southeast Hospital, succeeding Dr. Riley R. Adams in the post.

50 years ago: Jan. 31, 1962

Bishop Charles H. Helmsing, 1961. (Missourian archive photo by G.D. "Frony" Fronabarger)

The transfer of Bishop Charles H. Helmsing from the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese to the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese is announced in Vatican City; he will assume the post recently vacated by the Rev. John P. Cody, who has been named archbishop co-adjutor of New Orleans; Helmsing's replacement in the southern Missouri diocese isn't announced.

Bill D. Burlison files on the Democratic ticket for the office of prosecuting attorney of Cape Girardeau County.

75 years ago: Jan. 31, 1937

Spiritual needs of the flood refugees housed in Cape Girardeau are being considered along with their physical requirements; Dr. Dawson C. Bryan, presiding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has arranged for a religious service to be held in the morning at the Hecht building.

BENTON, Mo. -- Establishment of an overflow refugee station at the Community House in Benton is completed, the first meal being served in the afternoon; the station is housing 325 refugees, taken from Sikeston, Mo., to relieve congestion.

100 years ago: Jan. 31, 1912

Edward Hely receives a telegram announcing the sudden death of his wife in St. Louis; he had no idea she was in a serious condition when he left her early this week, and the news comes as a great shock to him.

Some of the teachers and senior class of the Cape Girardeau high school are preparing to issue the first annual yearbook of the public school; most every high school in the state issues an annual.

-- Sharon K. Sanders