Out of the past: Feb. 25

1998

Cape Girardeau writer Aileen Lorberg, 88, died yesterday at a local hospital; Lorberg had written a language column -- Lend Me Your Ear -- since 1982; the column appeared in the Southeast Missourian; based on a similar affection for the English language, Lorberg and nationally-syndicated column James J. Kilpatrick became friends years ago; his second book on writing is dedicated to her.

More than 100 families from across the nation and Canada will visit Cape Girardeau County over the next month; Procter & Gamble Paper Products, which announced a $350 million expansion project in April, is bringing approximately 119 P&G employees and their families to Cape Girardeau from other areas; they will be offered positions at the new paper plant here.

1973

Jack V. Lawrence, son of Mrs. J.F. Lawrence, 914 S. Sprigg St., has been granted denominational endorsement and has been recommended for appointment as a hospital chaplain; he is now serving as chaplain intern at Bethany Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

A congregation of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Church has been organized in Cape Girardeau and is holding services each Sunday morning at 421a Broadway; for the time being, the Rev. Roger Zahms of St. Louis is conducting services.

1948

The heaviest vote in the election in Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1948, was cast in Ward 4, at the Fairground Park voting precinct, where the facilities were the poorest in town. The polling place was located in the swimming pool dressing room quarters, heated only with a stove which "burned up" those nearest it and left the others freezing. Due to cold weather troubles, there are no sanitary facilities in the place, and the concrete floor is cold and damp. The job of staying for more than 13 hours in the place and looking after the votes of the 632 people who balloted there was that of those shown in the picture. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

The heaviest vote in the election in Cape Girardeau Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1948, was cast in Ward 4, at the Fairground Park voting precinct, where the facilities were the poorest in town. The polling place was located in the swimming pool dressing room quarters, heated only with a stove which "burned up" those nearest it and left the others freezing. Due to cold weather troubles, there are no sanitary facilities in the place, and the concrete floor is cold and damp. The job of staying for more than 13 hours in the place and looking after the votes of the 632 people who balloted there was that of those shown in the picture. (G.D. Fronabarger ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

By a majority of slightly less than 2 to 1, Cape Girardeau voters at a special election yesterday turned down a proposal to substitute the city manager plan for the present 30-year-old commission form of government; the vote was 2,349 against the proposition to 1,301 in favor of the switch, with only Ward 11 voicing approval; opposition to the proposal sprang from several sources, including city officials, who actively worked against it; downtown property owners and officers of some labor unions also organized against it, as did operators of beer taverns.

Workers are fast reducing another landmark of Cape Girardeau, the 103-year-old dwelling at 37 S. Sprigg St.; the house, owned by Mr. and Mrs. O.C. Smude, Mrs. Smude being a member of the family which erected it, is being torn down to make room for the construction of garages on the lot; the house was built before the Civil War by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Look, grandparents of Mrs. Smude.

1923

ORAN, Mo. -- The new Methodist church at Oran will be dedicated Easter Sunday by Bishop W.E. McMurry, according to the pastor, the Rev. J.R.A. Vaughan; appropriate ceremonies are being arranged for the dedication.

Luther Little, Cape Girardeau man sentenced to 25 years in state prison for the murder of night patrolman Willis Martin on Feb. 26, 1921, must serve his full term; the state Supreme Court, in a decision handed down yesterday at Jefferson City, affirmed the verdict of the circuit court jury in Jackson, refusing an appeal for a new trial for Little.

-- Sharon K. Sanders