Cape Girardeau History and Photos

October 4, 2013

A Winter Photo Tip

Cape had gotten about four inches of rain over the past few days, but a cold front moved through, dropping the temps down into the mid-teens and low 20s. That sets the stage for my assignment to cover a swim meet in the basement of Academic Hall on December 10, 1966.

My equipment had been sitting in the car for most of the day, so it was at the same temperature as the air, let’s say 20 degrees. I walked into the heated air of an indoor swimming pool where the humidity approached 100%. The first thing that happened was that the lenses fogged over with condensation. It took almost half an hour before the equipment warmed up enough that I could SEE through the lens.

Camera froze up

After about six shots, the camera locked up hard. It wouldn’t fire; it wouldn’t advance; it was dead. I gambled that I had at least one usable shot and headed for Nowell’s Camera Shop. (The first shot above ran in the paper, so I got my $5.) (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

Mr. Nowell opened it up and said that there was as much condensation INSIDE the camera as there had been on the outside of the lenses. All that moisture turned the dust inside the camera into mud.

I might have used that as an excuse to buy a new Honeywell Pentax body while he was fixing the frozen one.

Pool records, like my camera, were broken

You can read the whole story about the meet in The Missourian. It says that SEMO won the meet against Drury and Culvert-Stockton. The 400 medley relay team of Dave and Dan Ranson, Hal Bliggenstorfer and Dennis Lorch set a new varsity and pool record with a 4:24 time.

Arnold Moore set a varisty and pool record in the 100 freestyle with 13:40.6 and Charles Stevenson was timed in :29.4 in the 60 freestyle. Lorch also set a freshman, varsity and pool record in the 150 individual medley relay when he was clocked in 1:51.2.

Photo tip of the day

Your winter photo tip of the day: Do not leave your cameras out where it is cold, cold, cold, if you are going into somewhere that is hot and humid, humid and humid.

October 3, 2013

Posters and Paintless Brushes

The negative sleeve says 1963 Safety Campaign, but the billboard has 1964 stats, so, who knows?

Hokey set-up photos were standard at small papers. So, what’s a tip-off that this is a fake? First off, I never saw Al Spradling III, left, that interested in anything before in his life. Secondly, we have Ron Marshall and Carolyn Penzel diligently painting a sign without looking at it and with nary a paint can in sight.

I cringe to think I shot this photo and the one that follows. I may not have sold my soul for $5, but I sure rented it out a lot of times.

Billboard features my pictures

Looks like my wreck photos (including the ones that got me started in the news biz) were big during Safety Week. A picture of Joanne Bone in front of another bulletin board featured a bunch of my crash pictures.

Notice how Ron is carefully applying paint to something that had been created with a stencil (and without looking at it). I knew Ron was slim, but he’s so thin he hardly shows up from the side. He, unfortunately, is another of our classmates who is no longer with us.

Coming events

Sometimes the stuff in the background is as interesting as the primary subject. The Coming Events board is cut off, but I can see there is going to be a basketball tournament; an 8 a.m. meeting with [someone] Robert Edgar; the district teacher meeting, the Red Dagger Play, Safety Week, Senior Class Party, the end of the quarter and what I assume to be Easter (not Spring) break.

The motivational poster on the right assures students that “This may sound like ‘OLD STUFF’ When the Great Scorer comes To mark against your name, He’ll write not ‘won’ or ‘lost,’ But how you played the game.” The Great Scorer might do that, but I don’t recall Coach Goodwin ever saying that.

October 3, 2013

December 1966 Basketball

The sleeve is marked December 1966 Basketball. Since there are a variety of teams all jumbled together, I’m assuming it is the annual Christmas Tourney or the College High Tournament. I can’t remember if they were one and the same or if they were two different meets.

Anyway, the film was in pretty bad shape. Some of the frames were clean and sharp; others were fogged and had something that looked like an amoeba growing on it. I cropped the frames a little loose because I thought I could almost recognize some of the spectators.

Basketball photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the side to move through the gallery.

October 1, 2013

My Silver Dollars

For as long as I can remember, Dad carried some silver dollars in his pocket they had been there so long they were nothing but slick disks. I don’t know why he carried them, but I always liked to think it was to remind him of my two brothers and me.

When Son Matt came along on September 27, 1975, I went right out and got a silver dollar from the bank and started carrying it.

When Son Adam came along on July 7, 1980, I got a second dollar. I needed a way to tell the coins apart, so I snatched up the photo department’s engraver and scrawled Adam Lynn 7/7/80 on his.

I got the date wrong

In a burst of enthusiasm, I scratched Matthew Louis on his coin. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in my new son’s birth day that I inscribed Matt’s date as 9/27/80 instead of 1975. My only option was to scratch the 80 out and put 75 beneath it.

What brought this to mind was Daughter-in-Law Sarah asked if I had an engraver. We traded emails where I said that Adam still had it from the birth of Grandson Elliot, but she was welcome to use it.

Adam responded by writing, “I’ve still not engraved Elliot’s dollar. I’m too scared to mess it up.”

In 50 years it’ll be slick

I told him the story of Matt’s coin and said that even if he makes a mistake, it adds a certain character to the token. “Besides, in 50 years or so, it’ll be slick anyway.”

I don’t know why Dad carried his silver dollars, but I know that every time I rattle the change in my pocket, I think of my two sons. I hope they do the same with their boys.