Out of the past: Aug. 7

1999

Maria Reed will be listening to President Bill Clinton’s every word tomorrow in St. Louis; the 40-year-old Marble Hill woman will be one of two interpreters on stage when the president speaks to the nation’s governors at the Adam’s Mark Hotel; he’s speaking at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association; Reed, who grew up in the deaf world, works as an interpreter at Southeast Missouri State University.

A crowd of between 1,000 and 3,000 gather at Gordonville to watch trucks, dune buggies and ATVs drive down a 200-foot-long swampy track at the annual Gordonville Fire Department picnic mud races; after the races, many people go home to clean up so they can return in the evening to dance.

1974

Only 13% of Cape Girardeau County’s registered voters turned out at yesterday’s primary election, in which Clarence C. Schade soundly defeated Gerald L. Ainsworth in the lone contested race on the county level; the Schade-Ainsworth race on the Republican ticket drew more votes than the other two races on the GOP ballot: a three-way contest for U.S. senator and a two-way race for 10th District congressman; Schade will face County Clerk Rusby C. Crites, a Democrat, in the November general election.

Singer-actor Pat Boone, speaking at a news conference in the evening at the Ramada Inn in Sikeston, says he believes President Nixon will have “a real tough time” serving as a leader from now on, and that he’s confident the president will make the right decision concerning resignation; Boone and his family — daughters Laury, 16, Debby, 17, Lindy, 18, and Cherry, 19, and wife Shirley — are appearing at the annual Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo.

1949

The bell at the Church of God in Marble City Heights, silent since the church was destroyed by the May 21 tornado, rings again; the undamaged bell was installed last week in the church belfry; re-construction work on the church is far enough along that services are held in both the basement and in the main auditorium; the exterior portion of the stone edifice has been rebuilt, leaving just interior work to be done.

The Rev. William Wittrock, pastor of Hanover Lutheran Church, who will mark his 50th anniversary in the ministry Sept. 10, received an invitation from a former seminary classmate in Elgin, Minnesota, to attend his 50th anniversary today; he is the Rev. C.A. Affeldt, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church at Elgin, who was graduated from Concordia Seminary at Springfield, Illinois, the same year Wittrock was, 1899; unfortunately, Wittrock is unable to attend the service.

1924

A request that the city revoke the license of Polack Hide and Fur Co., 518 Independence St., is contained in a petition to be filed with the City Council, in which residents of that section of town complain of the unpleasant odor wafting from the hide house; particularly at this hot time of the year, the odor is unusually unpleasant and is detrimental to the health, the petition declares.

The large brick home at 325 N. Pacific St., built and formerly occupied by ex-congressman E.B. Hays, has been sold to W.H. Bohnsack Jr., for $12,500; the residence is of dark mat brick, contains nine rooms and is modern in every respect; situated on a high terrace overlooking Pacific Street, the house commands a beautiful view from the east and west elevations and is surrounded by a number of other fine homes; it was built about eight years ago.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.