February 2014

February 19, 2014

Girardot Poster Party

Nancy Jenkins (left), Ron Marshall and Marcia Maupin work on posters to help sell the 1965 Girardot in this much-scratched negative.

Nancy was Editor in Chief, Ron was Art and Literary Editor, and Marcia was on the Art Staff. The Marshall coat of arms on the wall leads me to believe the art extravaganza was taking place in Ron’s basement.

Teem bottle

There’s a Teem soda bottle on the table. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw one of those, so I turned to our old friend Google: Teem is a lemon-lime-flavored soft drink produced by The Pepsi-Cola Company. It was introduced in 1964 as Pepsi’s answer to 7 Up and Coca-Cola’s Sprite.

Teem was sold in the United States and Canada until 1984, when Lemon-Lime Slice was introduced, though it was still available at some soda fountains into the 1990s. Sierra Mist has since taken over the Teem role in the US.

Teem remains on sale today in Brazil, Uruguay, Honduras, South Africa and Pakistan; it survived into the 1990s in other markets too, before Pepsi authorized vendors to replace it with 7 Up.

Teem’s TV ad campaign in the early 1980s challenged viewers to “go ahead… build up that thirst until you can’t stand it any more…” (showing, for example, a disheveled old guy eating “two plain dry tacos” bought from a street vendor in the Southwest) “…then BLOW IT AWAY with TEEM.”

February 19, 2014

20 Cases of Bean Dip

I don’t know if I’d call it the Class of 1965’s finest hour, but what happened during a Christmas food drive stuck out in some students’ memories 10 and 20 years later.

When it came to for people to come up with their memories of Central High School for the 10th reunion, Lee Dahringer listed “20 cases of bean dip.” Louie Ervin also listed the canned food drive (along with Twirp Week, baseball, football, student council and Tiger Den).

Treasure trove of 65 students

I’m assuming this is the infamous food drive because I don’t see anyone from the Class of 64, but there’s a smattering of the Class of ’66 lurking around.

I’m pretty sure that’s Joni Tickel in the dark sweater in the foregound (Wife Lila wasn’t quite as sure), with Carole Rapp behind her. I see Louie Ervin, Lonnie Blackwood, David Hahs, Betsy Ringland, Charlie Baldwin and Jackie Knehans among the group.

What was the story of the bean dip?

I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the whole story, but as I recall, there was a contest to see which class could bring in the most canned goods to distribute to the needy. Whoever set up the contest must have not thought about the devious devils in the Class of ’65 because the rules (if there were any) were extremely lax.

At the last minute, some folks showed up with 20 cases – 20 cases, not cans – of bean dip they had purchased cheaply. (Or knowing these guys, the cases may have fallen off a truck.)

That was more than enough to seal the deal for the Class of ’65. It wasn’t what I would consider a classy move since bean dip may not have been the highest priority for hungry families, but it won the contest.

I see Charlie Duncan, Jim Feldmier, Brad Wilson, Ron Marshall, Jim Lorberg, Walter Stafford and Tom Holt in the mix.

Halls were packed

The halls were packed. Faithful Reader Terry Hopkins, ’66, is more or less in the middle of the melee.

Ranked right up the with The Hearse

For the 20th reunion, Pat Sommers listed his CHS memories: “The Dances, Senior Skip Day, Wimpy’s, school plays, canned food drives, Debate trips, Mr. Chapman, Kennedy’s death, and the dress-up day when Randy, Mike, Paul David, Phil and I brought the Hearse to school!!”

I think I can pull Ken Trowbridge and Steven Crowe out of this crowd, along with Craig Brinkman.

Click on the photos to make them larger and add your own IDs, plus correct my errors.

February 17, 2014

Damsels in Distress

The July 7, 1966, Missourian reported that one of the most damaging storms in several years passed through Cape Girardeau in three main sweeps Wednesday afternoon. Several blocks near Broadway and Caruthers and Independence and Pacific became flooded, power lines were downed and trees uprooted.

These Good Samaritans are helping some damsels in distress in front of the Cape Girardeau Surgical Group at 1912 Broadway. Click on the photo to make it large enough to identify the players.

Swimming pool with traffic lights

These guys are blasting through water nearly deep enough to submerge the car’s Confederate flag license tag on Broadway in front of Broadway Plaza.

Earlier in the day, children splashed in the water while the traffic signal kept flashing red, yellow and green, but no traffic was passing. One kid was quoted in the paper as saying, “This is the first time I’ve ever been in a pool with traffic lights in it.”

When I called Mother Monday night, she said most of the snow is off the yard, but it’s so full of water that it’s “squishy.” Once we get past the ice and snow stage, the next news from the Midwest will be tornadoes and floods.

February 17, 2014

What Was Social Living Class?

I gave these photos a file name of “Speech Class” because I saw the National Forensic League (NFL) logo in the back of the room. Then, I looked at the students, most of whom are in the Class of 1965, and didn’t see a large number of debaters.

The bulletin board display, with its front pages from U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek got me thinking Current Events. (The facing portraits on the board look more like Calvin Chapman than JFK.) There are also lots of stories tacked up that may be Senior Spotlights from The Tiger.

Social Living Clue

My thinking changed when I saw the textbooks on the desks of Cheri Huckstep and Paul Schwab. They say “Social Living.” I can’t remember, for the life of me, what that class was about. Was that another name for Civics?

Photo gallery

You should have fun putting names to faces. I recognize lots of folks, but I’m going to give you the opportunity to make guesses so I don’t have to make corrections. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery. (Check out the street scene out the window of the vertical shot with Lynn Latimore in it. I bet you can ID the businesses in the background.)