1988

A crowd of about 300 turns out for the annual Memorial Days service at North Cape County Park; music by the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band and the Avenue of Flags display, featured for the second year, enhance the late morning ceremony near the park's war memorial; during the ceremony, a plaque honoring Pfc. Richard Wilson, encased in stone, is rededicated in front of the memorial.

Sheriff Norman Copeland isn't sure why, but the population at the county jail has been on the decline in recent months; on Friday, it stood at 28, the lowest number since the jail opened in 1979.

1963

Cape Girardeau Attorney Stephen N. Limbaugh is the main speaker at the Knights of Columbus Memorial Day observance at Cape Rock; the highlight of the observance is the dropping of a memorial wreath from an airplane into a boat formation on the river.

Retired business man and civic leader Al Brinkopf, 81, dies at a Cape Girardeau hospital; the first licensed embalmer in Cape Girardeau, Brinkopf was owner of the Brinkopf Furniture & Undertaking business and later established and operated Brinkopf Funeral Home.

1938

Mother M. Coelestine, superior of Saint Francis Hospital, turned the first spade of earth on May 30, 1938, marking the start of construction of a 5-story, $175,000 addition to the institution. Anton Haas, a member of the hospital extension committee and who has the sub-contract for excavation, is shown directing her in use of the spade. (Missourian archive photo by G.D. Fronabarger)

The McCarthy Bros. Construction Co. of St. Louisa is awarded the general contract to build the five-story addition to Saint Francis Hospital; a ground-breaking ceremony for the $175,000 addition is in the afternoon.

Mr. and Mrs. L.K. Schoenning have purchased a two-story brick dwelling from Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Harris at 1211 Highland Place; Schoenning is office manager for the Superior Electric Products Corp.

1913

While Decoration Day passes relatively unobserved in Jackson, in Cape Girardeau, the day is marked with solemn ceremonies by members of various patriotic societies; these groups, along with the public, gather at the Common Pleas Courthouse at 2 p.m., form a parade and march to Lorimier Cemetery, where patriotic songs are sung and addresses are given; hundreds of school children march in the parade with flags in hand.

U.S. Marshal Edward F. Regenhardt comes from St. Louis in the afternoon to visit friends and relatives; Mrs. Regenhardt and the children came a few days ago.

-- Sharon K. Sanders