LETTERS: EMEMBERING MIZ NONNY: REBA WEAVER HARMON

To the editor:

Of late I've been taking sentimental journeys in thought back to Cape Girardeau where I once lived and worked at the paper, remembering Miz Nonny, short for Anonymous. She was my closest friend and confidante in the wonderfully for-real personality of Reba Weaver Harmon, or "Honey" to family and friends.

She owned a large, two-story brick house across from Capaha Park where, fittingly as matriarch of a large family, she held court for them especially at sumptuous holiday dinners. Among those who counted hers a second home was a niece who couldn't have attended college without Honey's open-hearted hospitality.

She carried a lot of responsibility at Southeast Hospital as medical records librarian during its growth as the major medical center between Memphis and St. Louis, continuing her tenure long past retirement. She sewed beautifully for her daughters and grandchildren and traveled a lot. Her vigor was summed up, for me, by the way she had no household help but always ironed her sheets. Whatever else was going on would cease for broadcasts of Cardinals games. She wouldn't so much as answer the phone during games.

She was an unabashed patriot and, had she been married to Hitler, the Allies wouldn't have stood a chance. I wonder if Missourian readers know what a strong influence she wielded at the paper as mother-in-law of its former owner and publisher, Harry Naeter, especially important during the Truman years. They had a special relationship of mutual love and high regard, and he respected her razor-sharp perceptions and sound judgment.

When I learned she had suffered a fall and was bedridden, I waited for a break in the weather to visit her, but I didn't get to tell her before her death on March 20 what a truly extraordinary example she will always be to me and mine. And how dearly I loved her anonymous self.

EMILY HUGHES

Nashville