Out of the past: Feb. 27

1999

Sister Mary Ann Fischer, who has served 11 years as principal at Notre Dame Regional High School, says the time is right for her to leave the high school she helped bring into its prime; Fischer is leaving here to pursue another career that allows her to use her master’s degree in religious education; but first, she will participate in a summer program with the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Japan, where she will work with the international order and perform some Third World outreach activities.

With more than 100 programs being offered by University of Missouri Outreach and Extension in the Cape Girardeau County area, space is at a premium at its leased office off Highway 25 south of Jackson; because of the need for more space, an official fund-raising kickoff for a new building was held yesterday; a $350,000, 7,000-square-foot education and extension center is proposed.

1974

East-bound-only traffic in the 1900 block of Broadway may exit for six to seven weeks while a 48-inch drain pipe is being laid beneath the street; it is hoped the pipe will alleviate flooding in the Caruthers-Broadway area; it will be connected to an existing pipe at McDonald’s.

Cape Girardeau will be the location of one of five community centers to be set up by the state to aid released prisoners in their return to society; a $2.2 million federal grant will be used to establish the centers in Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Kansas City or St. Joseph and either Columbia or Jefferson City; the centers will be staffed from five to eight persons, including some of the 1,500 inmates released yearly from the state corrections system; counselors will be available to aid inmates in finding jobs, resuming their education and finding homes; the centers won’t be used as residences for former inmates.

1949

Rear Admiral Herbert S. Duckworth spent a few hours in Cape Girardeau yesterday on his return from St. Louis, where he had visited his mother, Mrs. A.S. Duckworth, 914 College Hill, who is recovering at Deaconess Hospital following an operation; he arrived at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport shortly before noon, flying a Navy C-45 and accompanied by Aviation Machinist Mate J. Bailey; before flying out to Montgomery, Alabama, in the afternoon, Duckworth toured naval facilities here.

Merryl L. McCarthy, 51, a building contractor of St. Louis, dies of a heart ailment there; McCarthy supervised the construction of the annex to Saint Francis Hospital and built Kent Library; the McCarthy company also built the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

1924

ST. LOUIS — The approximately 300,000 votes cast statewide in yesterday’s election on 21 proposed constitutional amendments are still being tabulated, but it appears the only one to get a favorable majority was Amendment 4, authorizing money to pay a state soldier bonus; in Cape Girardeau County, 11 of the 21 carried, Amendment 4 getting the heaviest majority.

Nora Davenport Wilson Doyle, 63, 1107 Broadway, died Tuesday at midnight of heart trouble, from which she had suffered for years; she was one of the best known and loved women in Southeast Missouri, having mothered hundreds of students of the Teachers College in the 20 years she conducted boarding houses in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.