Out of the past: Feb. 10

2000

Ruth Burchyett celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday by doing what she does best: going to work; Burchyett, a cafeteria worker at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School, has been the cafeteria “tray lady” since she retired 65 years ago as a production worker at Superior Electric.

The Jackson Board of Education has hired Rita Fischer as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, succeeding Fred Jones, who announced his retirement last month; Fischer, who supervises state and federal grant programs within the district, may be the first female to hold a lead administrative position in the district.

1975

Appointment of two new members of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents – Elvis A. Mooney of Bloomfield and Edmund G. Statz Jr. of St. Louis – is announced by Gov. Christopher S. Bond; Statz will succeed Lindsay W. Simmons of Cape Girardeau, longtime president of the board; this means a new board president will be elected and that Cape Girardeau will lose its majority membership on the board.

With Cape Girardeau Mayor Howard C. Tooke snipping the ribbon, the Maranatha Christian Center opens its doors in the very cold morning; the center is dedicated to spreading the word of Christ and counseling troubled youth; the center will feature a 24-hour manned “hotline” to help individuals – young and old – with particular problems they may have; director of the center is Alan Tomlin.

1950

Conversion of the Broadway School building into a recreation center for young people has the support of the Optimist Club, which went on record at last night’s meeting favoring use of the centrally-located property under supervision of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education or the city.

A high school building containing 39 classrooms, separate gymnasium and auditorium and accommodating at least 1,000 students is envisioned by the building and grounds committee of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, which has submitted its report on the proposed $800,000 structure; these aren’t all the features outlined by the committee in its 12-page report, but they give an idea of the scope of the plans now being made for the school which will serve future generations; the report also proposes to remodel the old Haas dwelling on the high school tract into an administrative building.

1925

For the first time in history, a woman has been appointed to the Cape Girardeau State Teachers College Board of Regents; Elizabeth S. Pruitt, a teacher in the schools at Bloomfield and a leading woman educator, was named by Gov. Sam A. Baker late yesterday to the board, succeeding Dr. T.S. Allen of Bernie; Baker also named Louis Houck of Cape Girardeau for another six-year term to succeed himself.

Sixteen Cape Girardeau Boy Scouts, representing the various troops throughout the city, appear before the Rotary Club at its noon luncheon and demonstrate first aid treatment, give bits of history of the Scouting movement and show their expert knowledge of Scout craft; Scouts participating are Payne Rose, Loe Mueller, Alvin Cope, Robert Bock, Jay Ligon, Billy Harrison, Robert Jamison, Walter Post, Weston Tuttle, Walter Bock, Paul Anderson, George Hawley, Estes Proffer, William Meyer, Joe Lesem and Carl Caruthers.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.