Out of the past 3/28/06

25 years ago: March 28, 1981

Helen D. Bedford, a member of the Southeast Missouri State University Art Department 48 years, died yesterday at her home in Cape Girardeau at age 76; Bedford began her career at the university in 1925, when the art department consisted of four walls, wobbly chairs and tables and drawing desks in a corner of the Art and Home Economics Building, then known as the Agriculture Building.

Rust and Martin home furnishings store on Kingshighway recently celebrated its 48th year in business.

50 years ago: March 28, 1956

Petitions requesting the Cape Girardeau County Court to call an election to issue county bonds in the amount of $150,000 to acquire 3,000 acres of scenic county land along the Mississippi River as a state park are being drafted and will be placed in circulation immediately.

John C. Hobeck filed yesterday on the Democratic ticket as candidate for Cape Girardeau County sheriff in the August primary; Hobeck, 24, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Troy Hobeck of Daisy; he is a Korean War veteran and an employee of Pipkin-Boyd-Neal Packing Co. of Cape Girardeau.

75 years ago: March 28, 1931

Mrs. Ella Dempsey, widow of Patrick Dempsey and widely known civic and church worker, died yesterday at St. Petersburg, Fla., where she was spending the winter; she was 85 years old; her only living child is Magnus Dempsey; funeral services will likely be held at St. Vincent's Catholic Church, with burial in Old Lorimier Cemetery.

T.E. Statler, Cape Girardeau contractor, has been awarded a contract for the construction of a building at the northwest corner of Perry Avenue and West Broadway; it will house a motor service unit and gasoline filling station; the project, located on a lot owned by John Wescoat, has been leased by Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp.

100 years ago: March 28, 1906

Passenger and mail service on the Frisco Railroad between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis is re-established, when the first train to make the run since the landslide arrives in the evening; the track is cleared at about noon, after being closed for two days.

Jackson residents are embroiled in a bitter fight over the location of the waterworks and light plant; the whole affair is centered upon whether the plant shall be located on the west side or on the east side of the city; both sides want it and are fighting hard to get it.

-- Sharon K. Sanders