Out of the past: Jan. 4

1998

New McKendree United Methodist Church honors LeRoy and Velma McNeely as Christian role models during worship services; the two have been members of New McKendree for many years; LeRoy is a lifetime member, while Velma has been a member since 1936.

Hundreds of soccer moms and dads have converged on the Show Me Center this weekend to cheer, and chauffeur, their sons and daughters during the Saint Francis Indoor Soccer Invitational; nearly 100 teams from several states are participating in the three-day tournament with total attendance estimated at 10,000.

1973

Cape Girardeau Civic Center recreational and educational programs will continue at various locations as the board of directors grapples with the problems created by the destruction by fire Tuesday night of the center's building at 1232 S. Ranney St.; meanwhile, police probing the ruins of the center say it was definitely an arson fire, with gasoline, rather than kerosene, used to ignite it.

Beginning tomorrow, Ozark Air Lines Inc. at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport will provide greater protection for its passengers and flights by employing security guards to check passengers and their luggage in an attempt to guard against hijackings; Bob Hansen, Ozark resident manager here, says the new security is the result of the rash of recent hijackings nationwide and a new federal regulation.

1948

Workers have completed accommodations for a nursery at Christ Episcopal Church by removing church supplies from the sacristy and making minor repairs to the room; the sacristy, a 7-by-15-foot room in the northwest corner of the church building, gives more meeting space for the nursery department.

The work of installing a new heating system in the St. James A.M.E. Church was completed Friday, and the system is in use for Sunday services; the new unit, a hot air coal-burning type furnace with automatic stoker, replaces an older model of the same type, which didn't heat the building sufficiently.

1923

The annual election of officers of the medical staff of Saint Francis Hospital was held last night at the hospital; Dr. W.E. Yount was named president; Dr. J.D. Porterfield, vice president; Dr. E.H.G. Wilson, secretary; Dr. J.W. Berry and Dr. O.L. Seabaugh, record committee.

Henry Baden, who lives on North Sprigg Street Road and who has large land holdings in New Madrid County, recently wrote to George Ivins of the Joint Stock and Bank of the people flocking to the cotton district; in part, he wrote, "It is a sight here in Lilbourn to see the cotton growers come from the South. Last Friday I counted 52 wagons and three trucks all right close together... All the immigration is scattered from Morley and Vanduser south. Yesterday a total of 62 persons, including children, moved to Lilbourn. Last Saturday the main street of Lilbourn looked like Broadway at Cape."

-- Sharon K. Sanders