Out of the past: May 9

1998

The Cape Girardeau AmeriCorps office will close Aug. 31, ending the organization's four-year involvement in the community; the organization is closing because the Community Service Commission which administers the program in the state wanted it to move to the Bootheel, the administrator says; Bill Thompson, director of the program, said the commission placed restrictions on the program that made it impossible to continue.

Russia's Mir space station smells like it has been in space awhile, astronaut Linda Godwin said yesterday; "It definitely smells differently, not really bad but maybe a little stale," Godwin told an audience of about 80 people at a lecture at Southeast Missouri State University; Godwin lectured and showed slides of her space shuttle flights for more than an hour in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium; she grew up in Cape Girardeau County and graduated from Jackson High School in 1970; she attended Southeast Missouri State University, graduating in 1974 with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and physics; she has made three space shuttle flights.

1973

The Most Rev. William W. Baum, bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, February 1973.(Southeast Missourian archive)

The Most Rev. William W. Baum, bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese, February 1973.(Southeast Missourian archive)

WASHINGTON -- In an age-old ceremony, a Southern Missouri bishop is installed in St. Matthew's Cathedral as archbishop of Washington by his predecessor; the Most Rev. William Wakefield Baum, 46, who had been bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese since 1970, becomes the spiritual leader to 400,000 Roman Catholics in the District of Columbia and five neighboring counties in Maryland.

The extent of flood damage to public facilities in Cape Girardeau is unknown and won't really come to light until the record-setting floodwaters recede; the City Council is expected to apply in the near future for federal assistance in repairing streets, bridges and the sewage disposal system damaged by the flood, says City Manager W.G. Lawley.

1948

Mother's Day. In a specially arranged service in the morning at Christian Church, honor is paid to mothers, living and dead; the pastor, the Rev. Vernon A. Hammond, speaks on the subject, "The Fruitful Mother"; a quartet sings "You Taught Me How to Pray".

Solemn rites of installation for the Rev. Theon A. Schoen, V.F., as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, are held in the evening at the church; succeeding Monsignor John S. Moser, who was assigned to the Loose Creek, Missouri, parish in Osage County, Schoen was transferred here from Loose Creek two weeks ago by Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter of St. Louis; representing the archbishop, the Rev. Herman Macke, pastor of Guardian Angel Church in Oran, Missouri, preaches the installation sermon.

1923

Committees from the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce greet vice-president J.P. Koontz and other Frisco Railroad officials upon their arrival in the morning and, after a short conference, take them on a sightseeing tour of Cape Girardeau; at noon, the delegation goes to the International Shoe factory, where the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band, under the direction of H.L. Albert, gives a short program; dinner is served at 12:45 p.m. to a party of 40 men at the Chamber of Commerce rooms, where views of the development of Southeast Missouri are exchanged.

THEBES, Ill. -- Nora H. Gammon is the "boss" of Thebes, and committees named by a council controlled by women chosen at a recent election are in charge, following the installation of city officers Monday night; the women control all the committees by appointment of Mayor Gammon, and they have a majority on all committees with the exception of the fire department; one trustee -- Jeff Neff, a drayman -- resigned at Monday's meeting, a move that was expected after he publicly announced, "I won't serve with those women."

-- Sharon K. Sanders