Out of the past 3/31/10

25 years ago: March 31, 1985

Bishop W.T. Handy Jr., presiding bishop of the Missouri Area of the United Methodist Church, delivers the dedication sermon and participates in special ceremonies at Centenary United Methodist Church; the church is celebrating payment of all its debt.

Initiating the Holy Week observances at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, "Hosanna" by Christian Gregor is sung at the morning services by the children and adult choirs, under the direction of Dr. Charles Smith.

50 years ago: March 31, 1960

The two Main Street Levee District pumping stations are energized and the Merriwether one is put into operation as the Mississippi River, fed by melting snow from upstream, continues to rise; transmission lines to the stations are put into use to test motors and to make other checks required before the pumps go into operation; use of the stations will be the first since they were completed a year or more ago.

Charles E. Stiver is the sixth candidate for the two Cape Girardeau School Board positions to be filled at the election next Tuesday.

75 years ago: March 31, 1935

Christ Evangelical Church celebrates the fifth anniversary of the construction of its new building; the congregation was organized in 1894, and from 1900 to 1929 worshiped in a frame building on the site of the new structure.

In a striking turnout -- a fitting tribute to a vessel which has borne the name of the community and to the man who has commanded it since its christening here -- Girardeans line the Mississippi riverfront in the evening to say farewell to the former steamer Cape Girardeau and to its master, Capt. William H. "Buck" Leyhe; Leyhe is taking the boat -- now the Gordon C. Greene -- to its new home in Cincinnati.

100 years ago: March 31, 1910

The Rev. Frederick A.J. Klein, 56, the beloved parish priest at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Kelso, Mo., died March 21 at a St. Louis hospital; shortly after his ordination in 1879, Klein was sent to Charleston, Mo.; he served there and at other small missions until 1882, when he became rector of the church at Kelso.

Marvin O. Sansbury of Neosho, Mo., arrives in Cape Girardeau to take part in the revival at the First Christian Church, where he will have charge of the music service.

-- Sharon K. Sanders