Out of the past: June 2

1999

Herb Nance understands how storms that ripped through Cape Rock Park last month uprooted trees and broke limbs, but he doesn’t understand how vandals could pillage the park’s flower beds; Nance and members of the American Legion help maintain the park; over the long Memorial Day weekend, probably on Saturday, miscreants ripped out and broke off plants and trampled through flower beds at the park.

Two of Cape Girardeau’s most active civil rights advocates have stepped down from local and regional positions to pursue opportunities in another state; Michael Sterling and his wife, Dr. Bernice Coar-Cobb, resigned positions as president and vice president of the Cape Girardeau chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last week; they leave today for their new home in Birmingham, Alabama.

1974

Approximately 280 days following ground-breaking ceremonies, the educational and recreational annex of Evangelical United Church of Christ, 33 S. Ellis St., is dedicated; the day’s activities commences at 10 a.m., when Dr. Robert T. Fauth, president of Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, speaks on “Building for Christian Nurture”; he and Dr. Charles C. Hoskinson, conference minister of the Missouri United Church of Christ Conference, assist the pastor, the Rev. Ernest L. Jordan, during Holy Communion; a carry-in dinner precedes the service of dedication; the day concludes with an open house and reception.

After 39 years of teaching, including 28 in Lutheran schools, Walter O. Seibel, former principal and current fourth-grade teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church, is retiring; his dedication to the teaching field is recognized at the morning worship service at Trinity Lutheran Church; a reception is held in the afternoon at the church.

1949

Cape Girardeau banks and other agencies which served as issuing centers for War Bonds stand ready to perform the tedious task of aiding those persons who lost the securities in the May 21 tornado in securing duplicates from the Treasury Department; there is no way of telling how many of the bonds were blown away by the storm, but it appears the number was great; some go back to prewar days.

A strong windstorm yesterday morning blew the front out of the partially completed cinder-block Anniston High School gymnasium, but did no other damage; G.R. Melton of the Melton-Merrick Store said the storm hit the north archway of the structure and blew it into the inside of the building; the building was only partially completed and construction had been halted, awaiting roofing material.

1924

Dozens of persons, many from outlying sections of Cape Girardeau County, are examined at the free trachoma clinic being held under the direction of the State Department of Health; the special railroad car, fitted up by the Frisco, is on the siding at the foot of Broadway, where a large crowd gathers at an early hour in the morning; the examinations are being made by Dr. E.R.L. Russell, director of the communicable disease division of the state health department.

A system of organized recreation for all school-age children of Cape Girardeau is outlined at a conference at Central High School by Hap Bernard, athletic instructor of the schools and supervisor of recreation activities this summer; it is likely baseball leagues will be formed for the older boys, while there will be various competitive games for younger boys at various parks of the city and school grounds; girls will play “indoor baseball”, although it is played in the open.

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 semissourian.com/history.