Out of the past: April 18

1993

The Rev. Richard Tragasz is installed as pastor of Scriptural Lutheran Church in an afternoon service; the installation sermon is delivered by the Rev. Klebe Brumble of Richardson, Texas, circuit visitor for churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod in this area.

Monsignor Joseph Henry Huels, 83, pastor of St. Mary's Cathedral for 10 years and associated with the cathedral parish almost 26 years, died Friday at a Cape Girardeau hospital; Huels was ordained in 1934 at Kenrick Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri, as a diocesan priest in the Archdiocese of St. Louis; his association with the Cape Girardeau cathedral began in 1967; he retired in 1988, but continued to serve the local parish as senior priest in residence.

1968

Two men suffer first- and second-degree burns shortly before noon, when gasoline from a truck's fuel pump explodes at Swan and Son's Garage, 430 William St.; injured are C. Elwood Swan of Cape Girardeau and Earl Dyer of Thebes, Illinois.

A review of Missourian records reveals at least 57 Southeast Missouri or nearby Southern Illinois men, including those with a local connection, have lost their lives in the nearly three years of hard fighting in southeast Asia; the war death toll, which overall has topped the 20,000 mark, includes three Cape Girardeau men, four from elsewhere in Cape Girardeau County and seven more with former Cape Girardeau connections.

1943

The 1943 confirmation class at Grace Methodist Church is received in the morning when the pastor, the Rev. Miles H. Stotts, speaks on "The Lord Needs You"; the class is composed of Kenneth Hargens, Gordon McBride, Howard Busche, Patsy Koeppel, Joan Sachse, David Childs, Jack Sheper, R.J. Tomlinson, Mildred Wilde, Dorothy Sachse and Wilma Frenzel.

A class of 12 is confirmed in the morning at Trinity Lutheran Church: Leonard Heise, Dewey Sullenger, Norman Tucker, William Schlegel, Richard Eggimann, Leon Lewis, Kenneth Vogelsang, Julia Huters, Betty Birk, Jo Ann Burton, Georgia Buelow and Nelda Baker.

1918

Marine Lt. F. Turin has secured a room in the H.-H. Building and will open a recruiting station there for the Marine Corps.

Lt. Arthur Fuerth of the U.S. Medical Corps arrives in Cape Girardeau in the morning from New York to spend a furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Fuerth, and other relatives and friends; Fuerth entered the service last summer and will probably be sent to France in the near future; he recently was recommended for promotion to the rank of captain.

-- Sharon K. Sanders