Out of the past: June 25

1992

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ban on prayer at public high-school graduations hits close to home; almost every public school in the Cape Girardeau area includes prayer as part of its commencement ceremony.

Eleven young people, ages 16 to 21, are getting firsthand experience in job and daily living skills by participating in the Missouri Youth Services Conservation Corps; the participants are helping out at Trail of Tears State Park, most recently helping to construct a free-standing rock wall in back of the park's visitors center.

1967

The Sanctuary Choir of Red Star Baptist Church performs the anthem "Let the People Praise Thee, O God," written by the minister of music at the church, Carl M. Sewald; this is the first time the anthem has been sung in public, and Sewald dedicates it to the church; this is also the last service for Sewald here, as he terminates his ministry at Red Star to enter Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Rev. Leo F. Hotze, SVD, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard L. Hotze of Leopold, Missouri, has been appointed national director of vocations for the Society of the Divine Word with headquarters in Techny, Illinois.

1942

Colby L. Cherry, a retail florist of Cape Girardeau, receives word through clerk Allen Reed of the county draft board he has been accepted for entrance to an Army officers' training school; he is to report July 7 at Jefferson Barracks for assignment.

The public relations office at Eglin Field, Florida, reports Seth J. McKee of Illmo, formerly a student at Teachers College, has been promoted to the rank of major in the Army Air Forces; McKee is on duty at the Army Air Forces Proving Ground at Eglin Field, where he is assistant operations officer and test pilot.

1917

Another victim, a baby, has fallen low before death's hand in the scourge that has taken 12 babies in Oran, Missouri, the past two weeks and has claimed several others in nearby towns; Henry Francis Molenhaur, the 2-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Molenhaur of Sikeston, Missouri, dies early in the morning at the home of his aunt, Mrs. Joe Schwab, in Cape Girardeau, following an illness of about 10 days. It is understood the little one was another victim of the strange malady that has claimed so many children in Scott County.

The New Rigdon Laundry on Sprigg Street begins testing its machinery to determine when it will open to the public. J.A. Rigdon is the proprietor of a magnificent building with its $10,000 worth of modern machinery.

-- Sharon K. Sanders