Out of the past: June 22

1997

It's a special day of celebration at St. John's United Church of Christ on Highway FF, three miles west of Fruitland; celebrations include the 120th anniversary of the congregation, 75th anniversary of the sanctuary, 50th anniversary of the parsonage and the meeting of the Cemetery Association; guest speaker at the morning worship service is Dr. Lowell Zuck, professor of church history at Eden Theological Seminary.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Bishop John J. Leibrecht has been elected to serve a three-year term on the board of trustees of the Catholic Health Association of the United States; the bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was installed during the association's 82nd Annual Catholic Health Assembly in Chicago.

1972

A Cape Girardeau businessman and former Cape Girardeau County judge would offer acreage in a proposed city park or County Farm as a site for the new Missouri Highway Patrol Troop E headquarters; Arnold Roth last night encouraged the City Council to at least invite patrol superintendent Col. E.I. Hockaday to view those and other locations.

The Cape Girardeau City Council last night voted for city participation in a project to install a new decorative white way lighting system in the downtown business section; the project was proposed by the Cape Girardeau Metro Merchants Association; total installation cost is $139,234; property owners and merchants are to pay $99,607.65, the city $5,006.35 and Missouri Utilities Co., $34,620, which is to be in the form of a credit for existing lighting equipment.

1947

The Rev. Ivan Nothdurft, a missionary to South America the past two years, is honored with an all-day observance at Grace Methodist Church, styled "Ivan Nothdurft Day"; Nothdurft, a native of Cape Girardeau, and his wife and daughter are unable to attend; speakers include Bishop Ivan Lee Holt of St. Louis and the Rev. R.C. Holliday, superintendent of the Southeast Missouri district of the Methodist Church; following a basket dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel W. Siurua of Hays, Kansas, violinist and vocalist respectively, perform.

Approximately 1,400 persons attend an all-day mission festival at Trinity Lutheran Church; there are two services before noon in the church and one in the afternoon on the school grounds; speakers are the Rev. A.C. Meyer of Egypt Mills and the Rev. Paul List of St. Louis.

1922

Ensign Herbert S. Duckworth, son of Mr. and Mrs. A.S. Duckworth, 915 College Hill, who graduated and was commissioned from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in June, has been retained as an instructor in rifle practice at the academy until October; Duckworth ranked among the first three in the graduating class and was given a commission; only half of the class was commissioned, owing to the proposed naval reduction.

A worldwide four-month search for William Sample, heir to a fortune estimated at $2,250,000, ended recently when Sample was found aboard a steamship in the harbor at Bangkok, Siam, ready to sail for America, according to word received in Cape Girardeau by George Pind, who was in charge of the search in this area; dozens of men from this section applied to Pind, claiming to be the correct Sample; a William Sample living at Lutesville, Missouri, answered the description given for the missing man, except for a scar on his right cheek.

-- Sharon K. Sanders