Stories from Friday, July 3, 1992

A private grave-side service for Leonard O. Griffin was held Saturday at Shiloh Cemetery near Payson, Ill. Griffin, 70, of 3019 Aspen, died June 18, 1992, at his home. He was born June 12, 1922, at Payson, the son of Willard E. and Ferne Finchum Griffin...

BURFORDVILLE -- To commemorate the 75th anniversary of Missouri State Parks and the 25th anniversary of the addition of Bollinger Mill State Historic Site, the Burfordville Post Office will offer a pictorial cancellation July 11-13. Postmaster Erma A. Nunn said the cancellations will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day...

Kimberly Ruess, daughter of Dr. Robert W. Ruess and Joan Ruess of Cape Girardeau, is among the 59 students who are in the 1992 graduating class of the Professional Children's School in New York City. The school, which has been in existence since 1914, provides a college preparatory education for young professional performing artists...

Sarah Lah, 1991 Miss Missouri Coed Hostess in the American Coed Pageants, will be "visiting royalty" at this year's state pageant. The pageant will be held Saturday and Sunday in Kansas City. The hostess title is given to the state finalist with the most outstanding pageant participation. Lah earned enough in ad sales to receive the title. The pageant paid for her trip to the Miss American Coed Pageant which is held in Hawaii each year...

Texas Christian University and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation have named Kate Ford a National Merit Scholar. She has been selected to receive two merit-based scholarships at TCU, located in Fort Worth, Texas. She is a TCU Distinguished Scholar and winner of the M.E. Sadler Merit Scholarship...

Nicole Hosler of Cape Girardeau completed her first year of college at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. with a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the second semester. Hosler is also a member of the Alpha Lambda Delta Honorary Sorority. She is the daughter of Mark and Paula Hosler of Cape Girardeau...

Christine Hoffman of Cape Girardeau has been named to the spring chancellor's list at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo. She is the daughter of Dr. James and Linda Hoffman. A 1988 graduate of Central High School, Hoffman is an elementary education major at SBU...

Lisa Marie Millburg of Cape Girardeau has been named to the Eastern Kentucky University dean's list for the spring semester. To achieve dean's list honors, student taking 14 or more credit hours must earn a 3.5 grade point average. Students taking 13 hours must earn a 3.65 GPA and those taking 12 hours must earn a 3.75 GPA...

The Cape Girardeau Duplicate Bridge Club held its regular open game June 26. Overall winners were Paul Gilbert and Tom Wood. Second place winners were Peggy and Milton Sadler; third place, Norma and Ed Stoever; fourth place tie, and Janis Gilbert and Mary O'Neil and Marie and Norman McElreath...

Kelly O'Neil of Cape Girardeau has been awarded the May Department Stores Company Scholarship of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The four-year scholarship offers up to $2,000 per year for college study. O'Neil recently graduated from Central High School. A member of the National Honor society, she made the A-honor roll every quarter of her high school career...

Three area students have been named to the president's list at Patricia Stevens College in St. Louis for the spring semester. Earning this honor are Melissa Zimmer and Christina Riley, both of Cape Girardeau, and Rebecca Sebaugh of Jackson. Students are named to the list for maintaining a 3.65 grade point average with perfect attendance...

ORAN -- Piano students of Donna Taylor in Oran recently received Gold Cup awards for achievement in the National Federal of Music Clubs music festival. The district festival was held in Sikeston. More than 500 students from Southeast Missouri participated...

PERRYVILLE -- The Dreyer family reunion was held June 27 at Perryville Park. Relatives attended from the states of Missouri, Illinois, Washington, Louisiana, and Frankfort, Germany. Harold and Doris Gerecke of Frankfort traveled the farthest; the oldest were Dorothy Doerner of St. Louis and Natalie Dreyer of Frohna, and the youngest was Meagan Roth, daughter of Joan Roth of Frohna...

GORDONVILLE -- The 12th reunion of the August and Wilhelmine Eickemeier Brennecke family will be held July 12 at Zion United Methodist Church in Gordonville. All descendants are invited. A basket dinner begins at 12:30 p.m. Those attending should bring their own table service. Drinks will be provided...

Vandivort Properties, a Missouri corporation which owns and operates more than 3,000 acres of farm land in Southeast Missouri and Northern Arkansas, has helped keep the Cape Girardeau family a close-knit one. In fact, their annual family reunion is really a gathering of the shareholders...

JACKSON -- Jarrett C. Benton, 17, of Jackson, is one of 38 high school students who participated in a 22nd Annual Missouri Cadet Patrol Academy. The week-long academy is sponsored by the American Legion and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The program includes classroom instruction in the history of law enforcement, defensive driving, radar, motor vehicle laws, physical fitness, first aid, drug abuse and use of alcohol...

POPLAR BLUFF -- A Poplar Bluff man was killed Thursday afternoon in a single-vehicle accident south of Poplar Bluff. The Missouri Highway Patrol said Johnny Thomas, 38, was westbound on Butler County Route M, 8 miles south of Poplar Bluff, when a trailer he was towing began to weave, forcing him to lose control of his pickup truck, run off the road and overturn in the ditch...

Freedom. It is the foundation on which our nation was founded. It is the lifeblood that regenerates the land. Freedom. The oppressed have longed to embrace it. Americans have died to achieve it. Too often we take it for granted. Tomorrow, Americans celebrate our nation's 216th birthday. Families and friends will gather for picnics and revelry. The evening skies will be ablaze with red, white and blue fireworks. We will bask in the glow of more than two centuries of independence...

GARY, Ind. Kenneth P. Rodgers, 55, of Gary died Wednesday, July 1, 1992, at St. Margaret's Hospital in Hammond, Ind. He was born in New Madrid, the son of Beatrice Haynes Rodgers of Poplar Bluff and the late Thurman L. Rodgers. Other survivors include his wife, Wilma of Gary; two sons, Kevin and Steven Rodgers of Illinois; three brothers, John W. ...

JACKSON -- Mae Keisker of Jackson died Thursday, July 2, 1992, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. She was the wife of the Rev. W. Walter Keisker of Jackson. Friends may call from 5-7 p.m. Saturday at the Cracraft-Miller Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Jackson...

GRAND TOWER, Ill. -- Helen Koch Wilson, 79, of Grand Tower, died Tuesday, June 30, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau. Wilson was born in Dudley, Mo., on June 7, 1913, to John Theodore and Rebecca Emma Grey Koch. She was a homemaker, as well as a member of the First Baptist Church and the Order of Eastern Star Chapter 999...

Elizabeth E. Kiefner, 88, of Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 2, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

Dorothy M. Lewis, 79, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, July 2, 1992, at St. Francis Medical Center. She was born May 15, 1913, in Marshfield, the daughter of Robert and Emma Moore Robertson. On May 22, 1939, she married Roscoe Lewis, who survives. Other survivors include a son, John Robert Lewis of St. Louis and a grandson...

BLOOMFIELD -- Maud L. Magee, 92, of Bloomfield died Thursday, July 2. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later by the Chiles-Cooper Funeral Home in Bloomfield.

ANNA, Ill. -- William J. "Bud" Prewitt, 65, of Venice Fla., formerly of Union County and Davenport, Iowa, died June 14, 1992, at his home. He was born May 29, 1927, in Alto Pass, the son of William Delbert and Ethel Barker Prewitt. He was the former owner of Prescon Motor Co. and Volkswagen Blackhawk in Davenport, Iowa...

SIKESTON -- Doris P. DeJournett, 64, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, July 1, 1992 at Dexter Memorial Hospital. She was born May 30, 1928 in Sikeston to William and Ethel Ozie Wilson. She was a cook for Kellett's Restaurant, Southside Cafe, and Two Tony's...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Five students representing the Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative on the 1992 Youth to Washington Tour witnessed firsthand their government in action recently. The students were part of a contingent of 62 outstanding rural youth leaders from downstate Illinois who participated in the annual tour of Washington...

An official with the Missouri Highway Department said Thursday the department won't attempt to plant trees at Wedekind Roadside Park until next year. "There's no way to put back what was there, but we'll be trying to put back as much as we can," said Mike Perry, maintenance and traffic engineer with the department...

Organizers of the "Citizens Action Group for Responsive Government" said Thursday that the group's priority is converting from at-large to ward-style elections for the Cape Girardeau City Council. About 30 people attended the group's first meeting Thursday, held at the Cape Civic Center. ...

A team of mural artists will converge on Cape Girardeau later this month to transfer artist Jake Wells' Bicentennial Mural design to a wall at Broadway and Fountain. Preparation work is under way now and the mural is expected to be finished by the end of the month...

Five educators from Cape Girardeau public schools participated in the 1992 Economic Studytour. The eight day program, co-sponsored by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, ran June 18-26. Participating were Ann Freeman, third grade teacher; Judy Peetz, fourth grade teacher; Margaret Little and Janet Meyer, both fifth grade teachers; and Julie Wilson, librarian...

In an effort to allay traffic congestion near the intersection of Route K and Mt. Auburn Road, the traffic division of the Cape Girardeau Police Department suggests motorists use an alternate route. Sgt. Al Moore said Thursday motorists might avoid delays due to construction on the Mt. Auburn-Route K intersection by taking a different road...

The Missouri Sheriff's Association spends a lot of cash trying to raise money, a situation that Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Norman Copeland said Thursday needs to be changed. The association, which asks the public for donations, spent 46 percent, or $157,917 of its contributions last fiscal year, on fund raising, the Better Business Bureau reported...

The Rev. Jimmie R. Dace is a native of Sullivan. He received his undergraduate education at Southwest Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-Rolla. He graduated from St. Paul School of Theology in Kansas City in 1977 with a master of divinity degree. ...

SCOTT CITY -- Citizens have donated $4,000 toward the purchase of new lights at the Scott City ball park, but more money is needed, said Phyllis Spinks, city park director. "This is going to have to come out of the goodness of people's hearts," Spinks said. "It's something the city just couldn't pay for."...