Stories from Monday, December 28, 1992

It's estimated 2,000 people die every year waiting for organ transplants. To eliminate these deaths, a social ethics organization is proposing that a law be passed to require all Americans to donate their organs at death, unless the person or relative objects in advance. While the aim of saving lives is honorable, this approach is fundamentally flawed. Organ donation is a personal choice, and it should not become mandatory. Education, and not law, should drive increased donations...

ADVANCE -- Leslie E. Jones, 81, of Advance died Dec. 26, 1992 at the Advance Nursing Care Center. He was born March 25, 1911, at Arbor, Mo., the son of the late Franklin Jones and Mary Ann Reynolds. He was a member of the Dongola Missionary Baptist Church in Dongola...

MARBLE HILL -- Joseph G. VanGennip, 80, of Marble Hill died Saturday, Dec. 26, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born June 13, 1912, the son of Robert J. and Frances Holzum VanGennip. On May 1, 1937, he married Bertie Mansker, who preceded him in death Oct. 21, 1977...

CHAFFEE -- Helen Patricia Cunningham, 85, of Chaffee died Sunday, Dec. 27, 1992, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. She was born Aug. 6, 1907, at St. Louis, the daughter of Peter and Blanch Green McLoon. On Feb. 14, 1931, she married William Paul Cunningham, who preceded her in death March 7, 1978...

Visitation for Eugenia E. Dreyer, who died Friday, Dec. 25, will be from 4-9 p.m. today and 6:30-8 a.m. Tuesday at Young and Sons East Perry Funeral Chapel in Altenburg.

DEXTER -- Ather Pruett, 81, of Dexter died Dec. 26, 1992, at Southeast Missouri Hospital. The daughter of the late John Wesley and Nettie Kelso Henson, she was born March 31, 1911, at Bloomfield. She was of the Baptist faith, and had spent most of her life in the Dexter and Bloomfield communities. She resided in Dexter at the time of her death...

ANNA, Ill. -- James Thomas Todd, 63, died Dec. 26, 1992, at his home. An Army veteran of the Korean Conflict, he was employed at Florsheim Shoe Co., in Anna and was retired from the railroad. He was a member of the Anna Moose Lodge and of the American Association of Retired Persons...

Floyd J. Moore, 90, of 436 S. Spring St., died Dec. 27, 1992, at the Lutheran Home. He moved to Cape Girardeau from Wolf Lake, Ill., in 1956. He was employed by Morton & Standard Oil and United Oil companies. He was born Sept. 25, 1902, in Daisy, Mo., to Jacob and Martha Friese Moore. He married Wanda Morton July 9, 1945, in Jonesboro, Ark. She survives...