Stories from Sunday, June 18, 1995

When I was thinking of Father's Day, the image of Papaw, my maternal grandfather, popped into my mind as the most gentle man I ever knew. Papaw would not be considered a success by today's standards. He earned no college degrees, but he knew much about life...

The Cape River Heritage Museum is seeking new members. Memberships are available in prices ranging from $10 to $1,000. A Single Membership is $10, while a Family Membership is $15 and comes with a historical Cape Girardeau map. Other memberships and their bonuses are: Steamboat, $25, a choice of historical cookbooks; Houck, $50, a numbered limited edition Mark Farmer print of the Old Firehouse; Lorimier, $100, a firehouse print and a print of Longview; Marie Oliver, $500, a Jake Wells painting of the Bicentennial mural; and Girardot, $1,000, all of the above.. ...

The Annual Installation Banquet will be held on Monday, June 26 at Bent Creek Golf Club. The evening will begin with a social time beginning at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will be served at 7. There will be a cash bar available during the social period. The Holiday Inn will be catering the evening's dinner at a cost of $15.00 per person...

JACKSON -- Peter Myers, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, will be guest speaker at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce Banquet June 26. New chamber officers will be installed during the banquet, to be held at the Bent Creek Golf Club, starting with a social hour at 6:30 p.m. New officers are Larry Hall, president; Jeff Moore, vice president; and Brent Wills, secretary-treasurer...

A rarely used library at the Missouri Veterans Home here will be transformed into a chapel, thanks to persistence ofm American Legion Post 63. Three years ago, residents at the Veterans Home told fellow veterans with the American Legion they would like a chapel...

Today is Father's Day and Bob Beussink has done his share of fathering. "We were very fortunate," said Beussink, who has is the father of eight children, who's ages range from 43 all the way down to 19. "They were all healthy and they were all good kids."...

Esther and Martha Wagner devoted much of their lives to the Wagner Bakery which operated in Jackson from 1888 until it closed its doors in 1970. The bakery is has a long and rich history. (Photo by Scott Moyers) Many adults from Jackson can probably remember going to the old Wagner Bakery on a Sunday morning before church to pick up a dozen of their favorite doughnuts. ...

Miss Jackson Kim Massaro was named the fourth runner up in the Miss Missouri Pageant which was held June 4-10 at the Mexico Military Academy in Mexico, Mo. Massaro, a St. Louis native, has been Miss Jackson since November and is an elementary special education major at the University of Missouri at St. Louis, with an emphasis in learning and behavior disorders...

Mud will be the order of the day as the Jackson Jaycees host their annual mud volleyball tournament in conjunction with the Fourth of July Celebration in the City Park. Play is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 4, in the park. Teams are limited to the first 48 that have paid. Teams are limited to eight players, six on the field and two alternates. One female must be on the playing field at all times. The entry fee will be $50 and must be paid upon registration...

Southeast Missouri State University has named its Dean's List for academic achievement during the spring 1995 semester. Students named to the list earned at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and completed at least 12 degree credit hours during the spring session...

The Heartland Writers Guild would like to announce the 1995 Heartland Writers Conference being conducted Aug. 3,4 and 5. This is a popular fiction/nonfiction conference which allows published and unpublished authors to communicate with others in their field...

Leonard Kuehnert, president of the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society, points to photos of some of the founding fathers of the log cabin college, or seminary, which was built in 1839 upon arrival of the Saxons in Altenburg. Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg on June 3 marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the first church building that served the Altenburg congregation from 1845 to 1867...

I was outraged as I read Cal Thomas' column that referred to a school in Salt Lake City that omitted any song at graduation with references to "Lord" or "God." This prompted me to dig up a poem I wrote 10 years ago : Oh, beautiful America! What have we done to thee? That which is conceived in liberty is dying a painful death.This nation under God has forsaken his good name. ...

In his column published alongside here today, former Sen. Tom Eagleton writes of the travails of Missouri's inner-city public schools. Sen. Eagleton comes right out and says that, because of urban troubles, dwindling tax base and rampant crime, our state's two largest cities can't properly fund their own local public schools and are highly dependent on state taxpayers to keep their doors open. ...

We know when school desegregation was born and now we know when school desegregation began to die. It began with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. It probably started to die last week with Missouri v. Jenkins -- the Kansas City school case. A federal judge in Kansas City felt he could integrate the inner city schools by making the facilities and programs so attractive that white kids from the suburbs would voluntarily flock in to participate. ...

A respected nonpartisan policy survey recently provided these disturbing findings about the level of the public's comprehension of national affairs: -- Only four in 10 Americans are familiar with even a single segment of the Republicans' "Contract with America" that has received widespread publicity since last fall...

Gov. Mel Carnahan announced a few days ago that the state owes refunds to Missouri taxpayers. Specifically, the governor says his administration will be issuing the first-ever refunds under the Missouri Tax Limitation provision, commonly known as the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution and adopted by Missouri voters in 1980...

Gov. Mel Carnahan this week signed into law the state's first overhaul of the juvenile code since the 1950s. The measure contains many laudable features. The age at which a juvenile can be certified to stand trial as an adult is lowered to 12, and such certification may occur at any age for the so-called seven deadly sins: first- and second-degree murder, first-degree assault, forcible rape, forcible sodomy, first-degree robbery and distribution of drugs. ...

The Historical Society of Greater Cape Girardeau will present at program from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, July 2, at the Glenn House, 325 Spanish St. A dogwood tree will be planted in the memory of the late Paul Griffith, a member who recently died. Staff members dressed in costumes of the Glenn House era will serve ice cream, hot dogs and lemonade, and games of horseshoes and croquet will be available...

The Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation has invited the public to tour the property it plans to transform into a Civil War museum and cultural arts center. The open house will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday at St. Vincent's Seminary, 201 Morgan Oak. Visitors will be free to roam the grounds and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions...

Lura M. Rohlfs, 75, died Saturday, June 17, 1995, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was born May 2, 1920, in Neelyville. She was a member of the Neelyville United Methodist Church where she served as communion steward, treasurer and Sunday School teacher. She was also a member of the choir...

POPLAR BLUFF -- Earl Franklin Anthony, 89, of Poplar Bluff died Friday, June 16, 1995, at Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff. He was the son of the late Frank and Nellie Hartle Anthony, a successful farmer and member of the Baptist Church...

WHITEWATER -- Anna W. Lange, 93, of Whitewater died June 16, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born Oct. 24, 1901, at Jackson to Herman and Minnie Sternberg Meier. On Nov. 11, 1923, she married Louis Lange. He preceded her in death on Feb. 23, 1956...

Dan Wade Dunlap, 29, died June 16, 1995, at 2:21 a.m. at Southeast Hospital. He was born Nov. 29, 1965, in Cape Girardeau, the son of Geneva Gilles and Jesse Dunlap. Geneva Gilles preceded him in death. Dunlap was a millworker for seven years at Havco Wood Products in Cape Girardeau...

PERRYVILLE -- Anna C. Ernst, 94, of Perryville died June 15, 1995, at the Perry County Nursing Home in Perryville. She was born Aug. 30, 1900, at Millheim, the daughter of Joseph J. Zoellner and Susanna Buerck. She married Joseph L. Ernst on Feb. 26, 1924. He preceded her in death...

Marilyn Sue Allen, 39, died Friday, June 16, 1995, in Ozark. She was born in Cape Girardeau March 12, 1956, the daughter of Clifford and Geneva Allen. She was a member of the Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Oran. She is survived by two brothers, Lanny Allen of Sikeston and Gene Allen of Highlandville; three sisters, Aleda Joan Allen of St. Louis, Veronica Kirk of Cape Girardeau and Lendre Allen of Denver...

Clinton L. "Slim" Mansker, 64, died Friday, June 16, 1995, in Bernie. He was born April 11, 1931, son of the late Herman Walter and Daisy Lou Rambo Mansker. He lived in Southeast Missouri most of his life and spent the last several years in Bernie. He was a member of the Pentecost Church...

Eleanor Hearnes Hequembourg, 80, the sister of former Missouri Gov. Warren E. Hearnes, died Saturday, June 17, 1995, at 7:30 a.m. at the Bertrand Retirement Facility. She was a resident of Bertrand and also lived in Charleston. She was born Nov. 29, 1914, in Anniston to the late Earle Boyd and Edna May Eastman Hearnes...

MARBLE HILL -- Robert V. Hahs, 74, of Marble Hill died Friday, June 16, 1995, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau. He was born Sept. 20, 1920, at Lutesville, the son of Oscar B. and Odetta M. Ricketts Hahs. He and Helen Binford were married in June 1948...

CAIRO, Ill. -- Althea "Snookie" Willis, 78, of Miller City, Ill., died Saturday, June 17, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. She was born in Miller City on Oct. 13, 1916, the daughter of Americus and Fleecy Bowers Stevens. Both preceded her in death...

SCOTT CITY -- Robert A. Neville, 90, of Scott City died Saturday, June 17, 1995, at St. Francis Medical Center. He was born April 24, 1905, at Sims, Ill. He was the son of Emory Neville and Elizabeth Finley, both of whom preceded him in death. He married Viola Catherine Niemeyer in 1930. She preceded him in death May 3, 1991...

Infant Mary Lisa Schafer was stillborn June 13, 1995, at Perry County Memorial Hospital. She was the daughter of Frank and Mary Lisa Schafer of Perryville. Her parents and a sister, Julie M. Schafer, survive. Friends may call after 9 a.m. on Monday at Young & Sons Funeral Home in Perryville until 9:45 a.m. She will be taken to St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church for mass at 10 a.m., with the Rev. Philip Floersh officiating. Burial will be at Mount Hope Cemetery in Perryville...

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Ruth L. Worstman, 102, died at 2:05 p.m. Saturday, June 17, 1995, at the Hillside Terrace Nursing Home in Cobden, Ill. She was born Feb. 3, 1893, at Balcom, the daughter of John A. and Sarah Hinkle Leyerle, both of whom preceded her in death...

PARMA -- Welta Magaline Meier, 89, died in Parma Saturday, June 17, 1995. She was the daughter of the late Wilbur Andrew and Roxie Ann Sheppard Lewis. She was born in New Harmony, Ind., Aug. 31, 1905. She was a resident of Parma where she was active in several community activities, such as the Home Extension Club. She was a 4-H leader and worked as a substitute teacher. She was a member of the Grace Lutheran Church in Malden...

Lori Anne Niswonger, 16, died Friday, June 16, 1995, following an asthmatic attack at the Jackson Swimming Pool. She was born Nov. 4, 1978, in Cape Girardeau, the daughter of Debbie Sue Bolen Niswonger and Roger Dean Niswonger. She was a junior at Jackson High School where she was active in track, the swim team and marching band. She was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was also a member of New Life World Outreach Center in Cape Girardeau...

Son to Ronald J. and Terri Dobey Jr. of Columbia, University of Missouri-Columbia Hospital and Clinics, 4:25 p.m. Sunday, June 4, 1995. Name, John Starzinger. Weight, 6 pounds. Mrs. Dobey is the former Terri Starzinger, daughter of Don and Judy Starzinger of Jackson. ...

Cape Girardeau Board of Education President Bob Fox said the needs of the school district haven't changed much since he was chairman of a Project Partnership long-range planning committee three years ago. But the school district has taken a detour around addressing those needs...

Clark Daniels is doing his best to make sure his sons and stepsons never know the void he experienced while playing sports as a child in Scott City. "My dad was a good father, but he never really got that excited about sports, so we didn't have that kind of connection," Daniels said after his son, Matt, and stepson, Darrin Teague, helped the White Sox post a 14-9 Little League victory over the Orioles at Capaha Park Saturday afternoon...

CHAFFEE -- Jerry Wolsey's security agency has been so busy of late, he plans to add six more guards to the staff as soon as they clear background checks. This will enable him to take several of his full-time employees off an overtime schedule. Wolsey, owner of Wolsey Investigative Service Inc. in Chaffee, can pinpoint the date when business began to blossom like never before...

JACKSON -- A 16-year-old Jackson High School student died Friday after suffering an asthma attack at the city pool. Lori Anne Niswonger of rural Cape Girardeau was a member of the Jackson Swim Team. She was practicing with the team when the attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. Friday...

SENATH -- The Senath-Hornersville School System has hired Randy Rose of Leachville, Ark., to teach social studies at the middle school and Sarah Bibbs of Hornersville to teach social studies at the high school. Galon Orf, hired last month to teach social studies, was reassigned to teach physical education at the middle school and be the head coach of basketball and baseball...

The Felker family is headed to New York for breakfast on the FX channel's "Breakfast Time" program. "We're the family!" said Susie Felker of Cape Girardeau. Felker, her husband, Russ, and three of their four children will appear on the program June 27. The unconventional morning news program is broadcast live from a studio resembling an apartment...

The upper balcony at the A.C. Brase Arena Building resembled a beauty shop for dogs Saturday as owners combed, clipped and fussed over their pets. Standing on waist-high tables, the dogs calmly took the grooming in stride. Penny Duffee gently guided the electric razor over KO's neck, giving her standard schnauzer's wiry coat a pre-show trim. She hoped her dog would be true to his "knockout" nickname when it came time to take him into the ring...

Beth Schmucker likes to tell one of her favorite fish stories when she explains what the Missouri Mentoring Program is all about. "You can give someone fish so they don't go hungry that day or you can show them how to catch fish so they can have something to eat for the rest of their lives," Schmucker said. The Missouri Mentoring Partnership coordinator for Southeast Missouri, she, of course, prefers the latter...

RIVERS Black (above Clearwater): Clear, 4 1/2' above normal and falling; bass and goggle-eye good on worms; all other species slow. Castor (above Zalmar): Clear, normal; bass fair on live bait and topwater lures; sunfish good on small minnows, crickets and worms; all other fishing slow...

In nature, a gain for some comes as a drain on others. Wildlife has its own method of checks and balances. When one group of critters benefits from something, it often spells misfortune for another. Mankind figures into the equation because humans are another animal sharing the same resources. In fact, no critter has impact on the habitat and those in it to the extent of Homo sapien...

The movie "Pocahontas" is more fiction than fact, a Southeast Missouri State University history professor says. "Disney plays fast and loose with history to weave a good story," B. Gene Ramsey said. The animated movie deals with the Indian princess, who allegedly saved the life of Jamestown settler John Smith in 1607...

Someone, somewhere, sometime, created a little 8-by-10-inch optical illusion that has been dittoed by many needleworkers. It is done in large-stitch needlepoint. The background is usually white or light colored with a centered word done in a dark color. ...

POCAHONTAS -- John Smith doesn't live here. Disney's animated feature "Pocahontas" can't be shown here. The town doesn't have a movie theater. But the Disney movie, with its cast of characters from Indian heroine Pocahontas to Jamestown, Va., settler John Smith, will be seen almost everywhere else. The movie opened in six cities, including St. Louis this weekend and will be in movie theaters nationwide in the coming week...

Cape Girardeau residents will have a chance to say goodbye to Salvation Army Capt. Elmer Trapp and his wife, Sandra, at a farewell meeting June 25. The Trapps will serve in Jefferson City beginning June 27. The Salvation Army is planning a farewell potluck dinner at 11 a.m. after the meeting...