JUDGE GIVES EARLBACHERS TRIBUTE AT GLENN HOUSE

In the years before his death five years ago at age 104, well-known attorney Rush Limbaugh Sr. was working on a tribute to the generosity of Mabel and Robert W. Erlbacher, who donated the Victorian mansion that became Cape Girardeau's historic showplace, the Glenn House. Seeing he no longer could complete the tribute, Limbaugh asked his son, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, to finish the task.

Admitting to a bit of procrastination, Limbaugh on Friday presented a scrapbook containing the 18-page tribute to Dr. Patrick Ruopp, president of the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau.

"This was done so people who come to this fine establishment could know something about the people who generously gave it to the historical association," Limbaugh said.

Fifteen people attended the ceremony at the Glenn House, 325 S. Spanish St. Among those present were the Erlbachers' children, Robert W. Erlbacher II and Elizabeth Ann Erlbacher Dombrowski. Ruopp presented them with a plaque of appreciation for the Erlbachers" gift.

"It is a great pleasure to come here and be able to honor my father again," Dombrowski said.

The tribute consists of a biography of the family along with photographs of boats they built and of employees. The scrapbook also includes family portraits of the Erlbachers, including one of Dombrowski as a young girl.

At one time, Robert W. Erlbacher envisioned using the Glenn House as an office for his businesses, Missouri Barge Lines and Missouri Dry Dock and Repair. When that didn't prove feasible, the Erlbachers decided to donate the Victorian mansion to the newly formed Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau. Rush Limbaugh Sr. sat on the association's board of directors.

Robert Erlbacher died before the transfer could be completed. His wife, now also deceased, signed the deed over to the historical group the following month, December 1968.

The Limbaughs and the Erlbachers lived across the street from each other on West End Boulevard in the 1950s and 1960s. Limbaugh said he watched Rob and Elizabeth Ann grow up. "I feel a kinship with them."

Erlbacher and Dombrowski continued running the businesses their father founded though they were very young adults when he died. Erlbacher said Rush Limbaugh Sr. was one of the major influences in his life. "There were some times after dad died that were pretty doggone tough," he said. "He took me by the hand."

The scrapbook and tribute to the Erlbachers will be kept in the River Room, a bedroom in the Glenn House with maps of the Mississippi River on the wall and a model of a riverboat.