TBY: The Best Years

Jayne Ervin, owner of Jayson Jewelers, grew up in Cape Girardeau with a city grandmother and a country grandmother. She says her city grandmother, Grace Erlbacher Dace, was a classy lady, always well-dressed, with hair and nails to match. As a young girl, Ervin remembers being attracted to her “costume jewelry and pretty rings.” Her country grandmother, Helen Blattner, was more of the outdoorsy type, and a good businesswoman. ...

As summer comes to an end, we are looking at our new routines of school drop-offs, watching the grandchildren play in their favorite sports and saying goodbye to our RiverWalking exercise at Cape Splash. As if time doesn’t move fast enough, it may seem like it is on double speed during these busy times, which is why I want to talk to you more about how we can still eat healthy on the go...

Get ready for family fun that brings the region together in Cape Girardeau at the 168th-annual SEMO District Fair, Sept. 7-14 at Arena Park. This year, the SEMO District Fair Board’s main focus is safety. To enhance security, they have added a six-foot fence around the perimeter of the fairgrounds, as well as walk-through metal detectors each attendee will enter through...

1974 50 YEARS AGO In September 1974, President Gerald Ford was of a very forgiving mind. On Sept. 8, he pardoned former President Richard Nixon of all federal crimes committed during and after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex. ...

The assignment: 500 words about a billboard, which is about a meme, which a TikTok video was about before it made it into a meme I was on the road again, in the middle of the 3,000 miles I would drive this past May. I’d been put there by a life-loss as indelible as it was inevitable, given the eventual mortality of one’s mother. I felt like I imagined a pinball would feel, if it had to burn gas to roll...

I have been fortunate in different ways. One way is having experienced photography as it has developed and evolved throughout the past few decades from film photography and darkroom printing to digital imaging, iPhone cameras and generative artificial intelligence. Along the way, I have been able to embrace these changes...

I’ve long known I’m a bit of an oddball. I could fill a column with proof of that assessment, but I’ll focus on just one for now. Studies show the vast majority of people anticipate a fresh start with new opportunities and goals as December draws to a close each year. On the contrary, for more than 45 years, as a student and then as an educator, my internal calendar caused me to become giddy — really! — with New Year anticipation as July drew to a close and a new school year drew near...

Violet “Val” Grant grew up in a large family in Sikeston, Mo. Her mother, Hattie, birthed 18 children, with Grant coming close to the end at No. 16. Her dad farmed while her mother worked at home. From a young age, Grant had a fascination with watching her mama make up all kinds of recipes in the kitchen. ...

I found a crawdad in the pool and thought I knew what I should do. I fished him out and took him down across the street to a little pond. The pond seemed like the perfect place for a lonely crawdad to spend his days. But what if this was a spot he hated,...

Leopold has been my home for my entire life. While I have moved once, both of houses I’ve lived in have been in this little town. And of course, that begs the question: What is your definition of small? My definition is a graduating class of 15 kids, which was once 13 tiny kindergartners. ...

Dr. Jim Hoffman is a retired pediatrician and medical missionary. Originally from York, Pa., he became interested in medicine after taking a health course in school. An aptitude test pointed him in the same direction. Hoffman spent four years at Elizabethtown College before attending medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college...

Demonstrations, classes, workshops, interactive experiences and vendors offering health screenings are just a few of the activities planned for The Best Years Active Living Expo, presented by Saint Francis Healthcare System on Aug. 21 at Century Casino in Cape Girardeau...

Theresa Taylor’s experiences with food insecurity started at a young age. Growing up in Bernie, Mo., she remembers her family getting assistance from local food banks and churches. Her dad was on Social Security, and her mom worked part-time as a waitress. Their combined income for a family of six wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Taylor married at 18, but after her husband Michael lost his job, they moved to Tennessee to stay with family. Within two years, they were living out of their car...

1974 50 years ago On Aug. 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States. Faced with the inevitability of his impeachment and removal from office due to the Watergate scandal and with public opinion having turned decisively against him, Nixon decided to resign. ...

“You must have hooked a snapper!” I remember my grandfather shouting as we jumped into a small row-boat on the edge of the pond. “Keep that line tight!” he said, as my Donald Duck fishing pole bent under the strain of hooking the bottom-dwelling leviathan...

My name is Shandy Elfrink, and I am a 17-year-old senior at Leopold High School. Yet, this summer, I had the excellent opportunity to live on a college campus and earn college credits, all while meeting new people and earning a full-tuition scholarship to Murray State University in Murray, Ky., through a program known as CHA...

Have you ever gazed into the evening sky? Or seen the morning fog nestled in the hills? Have you ever seen a majestic eagle fly?Mbr> Or a monarch butterfly dressed in all its frills? Have you ever heard the gurgle of the mountain stream?...

Transcription is vital to archival work. Archivists fight a continual battle against deterioration, and the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center is no exception. Paper and electronic records alike will slowly degrade, and information loss can happen, which is very bad...

Jackson Family Barber Shop has been operating in uptown Jackson for 128 years, making it the oldest barber shop in Cape Girardeau County. Throughout the years, the name, ownership and even location have changed, but the top-quality service and barbershop feel remain the same. According to current owner and master barber Matt Sullivan, “It’s more than just a haircut. It’s family.”...

Ted Haertling, born and raised in Perryville, Mo., says he grew up in a tight-knit family. The middle child of three, he remembers cooking with his mom in the kitchen and helping his dad smoke hogs for the whole neighborhood. Whether it was a graduation party, fundraiser or something at church, the events always centered around the food being served. ...

I’m going to share a little secret with you: Don’t tell anyone, but a few months ago, I realized I had — gasp! — lost my love for reading. Shocking, isn’t it? I mean, reading had always been my favorite hobby. I’d been happily reading four to seven books a week for more decades than I care to admit, I chose to major in English as an undergraduate and to earn a Master’s degree in English, I spent several decades trying to persuade students in my English classes to love reading as much as I did, and I write a column based on reading books. ...

What does it look like to be an older American? Too often in our youth-obsessed American society, we don’t get to know, or we see a stereotypical version of the experience, or others speak for people who are in the retired demographic. But we want to learn directly from the people who are a part of this group. ...

Nancy Bishop was born and raised in Galesburg, Ill., during the 1950s, a time when life felt simple. Her mother made their food from scratch, and many of their dresses were home-sewn. Between growing up in 4-H and helping her mother in the kitchen, Bishop learned to cook homemade chicken and noodles and every kind of dessert. If her mom worked in the evenings, Bishop prepared the meals for her dad and brothers...

For the past 104 years since its formation in 1920, the Jackson Municipal Band has been a summer tradition for the people of Jackson and surrounding areas. Yet, the music they play is new every week: Director Scott Vangilder selects a variety of music for each concert, ranging from Broadway tunes to John Philip Sousa marches to chart-topping pop and rock ‘n’ roll hits, so there’s something for everyone...

Georgia and Todd Lowman, owners of Water & William Olive Oil Co., believe you are what you eat. That’s why they opened Water & William Olive Oil Co. in the historic River & Rails building in downtown Cape Girardeau in December 2022, to bring the health benefits of quality olive oils and balsamic vinegars to Southeast Missouri...

July from 50, 40 and 25 years ago saw Cardinals rise and fall, the first female VP candidate, and another Kennedy tragedy. 1974 50 years ago July 1974 was a big month of records and record breakers for the St. Louis Cardinals. On July 17, Bob Gibson became the second Major League Baseball pitcher to throw 3,000 career strikeouts. ...

Get ready for The Pickleball Factory, the go-to pickleball place opening in Cape Girardeau in late summer to early fall. The name gives a nod to the fact the Thorngate building where it will be housed used to be a factory. The 34,000-square-foot facility dedicated solely to pickleball will have 14 climate-controlled, fenced-in, USA Pickleball-approved cushion courts made from 10 layers of acrylic and cushioned technology to best support players’ backs, hips and knees. ...

A beautiful outdoor area for personal enjoyment and entertaining that requires less work and money to establish and maintain while being safe for humans, pets and plants may sound like the stuff dreams are made of. Yet all of that and more is possible when an outdoor area is created with the goal of attracting and protecting pollinators such as ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, flies, hummingbirds, moths and wasps...

In true family business fashion, Patrick Furniture has offered hometown service to the Southeast Missouri region since Peyton “Pat” Patrick founded the business in Cape Girardeau in 1946. “We have a huge connection going back four generations to this community, from our Grandpa Pat, then to our parents Tim and Carolyn,” says Patrick Furniture Owner Mike Young...

Living outside of city limits, Charles and Judy Wiles had a lot of property to maintain. As the owners and developers of acreage including a tree farm and three ponds, they were responsible for the roads and landscaping. And they no longer wanted to spend their time taking care of it...

Moving fast through the garage in one of the frenzies of our whole-house remodel, I thought, “I really ought to either slow down or force better order on my workspace,” just before I whacked the top of one foot against the lower jaw of Great-Grandpa Fulford’s blacksmith vise. “Ah-ha-ha,” I moaned and laughed at the same time, because it felt just like hitting my elbow’s funny bone. I didn’t know I had a funny bone in my foot!...

As a recent transplant to Missouri, I can say this: Y’all do fireworks big here! My first year living in Jackson, we walked approximately 12 blocks from our home to the park to watch the main show. Little did we know the revelry of color we would witness in every driveway along that mile stroll. What a sight!...

For our July book club selection, I wanted something light, but not too light. Or, as I tend to think of it, “light with depth.” Several people suggested “The Lonely Hearts Book Club” (2023); intrigued, I checked it out at the library. The cover looks light, the title sounds light, and the first chapter or so was somewhat light. But unlike the proverbial duck, the novel isn’t light. Not at first glance, at least...

Did you know 75% of Americans are walking around chronically dehydrated at any given moment? A large population of Americans are only drinking two and a half cups of water each day. Wow! We often encourage individuals to drink half of their weight in ounces of water, but a good rule of thumb is 15.5 cups of water per day for men and 11.5 cups of water per day for women...

If I would have guessed how this year was going to play out, I would have most likely come up with a million possibilities and hopes for what could have happened. Never in a million years, though, would I have been able to come close to imagining all of the things I’ve experienced and learned. The funny thing about life is that hopes and dreams are meant to be guidelines, and it’s our job to fill in the content. This year has exceeded any expectations I have ever had...

Before Karla Kiefner saw the advance digital copy of the Quiltmaker March/April May/June 2024 double issue her quilt is featured in, she didn’t know what to expect. When she opened the file, she felt shocked. “[My quilt] was on the cover. And I'm sitting there looking at it going, ‘Wait a minute,’” Kiefner says. “It really took a while for me to go,‘I think I know that [quilt].’”...

Vivian Selby of Cape Girardeau recently wrote and published a book about growing up in Saginaw, Mich., as a middle child from a single-parent family in the early 1960s. Her book, “The Invisible Girl on Ames Street: A child’s search for God, Walt Disney, Communists and food” is a collection of personal memories from that time. ...

Kilja Israel grew up in the southern part of South Korea, in a town similar to Cape Girardeau, where she currently lives. As a young girl, she knew the expectation: Learn to cook and sew, get a minimum education and marry. She wouldn’t go to college, because that privilege was reserved for her brothers. ...

None of the president’s men could put Nixon together again, the streams of pop culture got crossed creating a monster mash of ‘80s hits, and the King of Terror lived through his own horror story. 1974 50 years ago On June 15, 1974, “All the President's Men,” by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, published. ...

Something funny happens every time I drive across a bridge over a creek, a reflex I can’t control: For a split-second at highway speed, my neck snaps sideways, eager to catch a fleeting glimpse of the water below. Why? Who knows. Maybe the busy traffic and beating highway heat makes me long to sit under shady trees with my toes playing amongst the cool water and minnows. ...

You couldn’t escape the recent solar eclipse even if you tried. In the weeks leading up to the event, local shops showcased commemorative T-shirts and memorabilia, businesses offered special promotions, and media outlets bombarded us with tips about where and how to safely watch the show in the sky. And on the big day, social media feeds were filled with pictures of backyard watch parties, people wearing funny cardboard sunglasses and the eclipse itself...

JUNE IS ALZHEIMER'S AND BRAIN AWARENESS MONTH. Doctors diagnosed Ada Jones with Alzheimer’s disease in May 2021. She had previously been having difficulty remembering things while driving, forgetting to take her medications and experiencing frustration when she couldn’t remember things. Her mother had also had the disease approximately a decade before, so she and her husband Willie Jones, who have been married for 52 years, were familiar with it...

You know, there’s just something about a boy That makes his father wonder Why do they ask, why does it rain, Or Dad, what makes it thunder? Why does the sun rise in the east And always goes down in the west And is it true of all the girls...

In 1891, a cemetery was deeded to three trustees at the junction of two of the largest slaveholding estates in Cape Girardeau County, near present-day Dutchtown. Here, much of Cape Girardeau County’s Black population took control of their burial rituals and their children’s education in post-Civil War Missouri. That place still exists: Shady Grove...

When a student first enters the hallways of high school, there is always one thought that lingers. It’s not “I am nervous about schoolwork” or “What is for lunch.” The thought that completely consumes every high school student until the very last day is that they are ready to graduate...