Cape Girardeau History and Photos

June 24, 2013

The Anniversary Card

I was sleeping the sleep of the just this morning when I heard a movement over by my computer. It was Wife Lila, on her way to church, leaving something. “Go back to sleep, she said.”

When I achieved consciousness some time later. (We won’t admit to how much later.) I immediately recognized what it was.

Anniversary card

As near as we could piece together, she remembered buying this card when Son Adam was into radio controlled cars when he was 10 or 12 years old. He’ll turn 33 July 7, so that makes this card at least 20 years old.

We forget to celebrate

I described last year why I can never remember our anniversary date of June 23: Buddy Bob Rogers asked when we were going to get married. (Lila and me, not Bob and me.) I told Bob to name a date; he picked June 27. That didn’t work out for some reason, so June 23 was the alternate. (Lila was standing there, so it’s not like she didn’t have any input.)

But, I’m not the only one who forgets the date, hence the card. So long as it’s around, we don’t have to make a mad dash to the store to pick one up at the last minute. On top of that, cards are expensive these days. I bet we’ve saved close to a couple hundred bucks on cards by recycling this one. (I mean, you wouldn’t expect her to spring for a cheap one, would you?)

Five years ago she included a photo of me with Grandson Malcolm. I had been on a bike ride and had hooked up with them at Dreher Park in West Palm Beach. Malcolm insisted on climbing a hill in the park, then wanted a drink out of my Camelbak hydration pack.

He’s almost as tall as his grandmother these days, and we have two more of the most perfect grandsons in the world.

It’s been a good run. I can’t wait to get the card again next year. (And, thanks for letting me sleep.) She – and it – become more special every year.

Game plan is to head back to Cape noonish on Monday. See you all there. I’ll have a bunch of calendars for anyone interested in Cape. I’ll let you know where you can pick them up if you are there. If you would like one mailed, hold off a few days. Lila says she’ll play postal person when she gets back in town after the 4th of July.

June 23, 2013May 7, 2021

Cafeteria: For Sustenance and Socializing

It’s fun to look at the faces in Central’s cafeteria in 1964, but it’s more fascinating to look at the variety of food on the trays.

I spot pineapple slices with cottage cheese and a cherry. The girl in the foreground has something on a bun, but she also has what might be two deserts and a Sealtest milk. Vicky Berry, second from left, has a copy of English Grammar and Composition just like the one on my bookshelf. I have to confess that I don’t open it any more now than I did then, but it’s comforting to know I COULD if I wanted to.

I hope that’s not a rolled-up gym suit in the middle of the table.

Is that Carol Klarsfeld actually studying?

I never saw Carol Klarsfeld with her nose buried in an Adventures in American Literature book like that before. She does not appear to be reading for pleasure. There is a couple in the background exchanging a meaningful glance. Or, maybe she’s just asking if he wants her desert.

Sealtest milk was a big seller

I’m surprised at how many students are drinking Sealtest milk. Some trays have two and three cartons on them. I can’t quite tell what’s on the tray in the right foreground. I see some form of desert, a biscuit, something that looks like beans and, maybe, a piece of chicken. I saw chicken bones on another plate, so that’s a possibility.

That’s Bonnie Strom on the left. I went K through 8 at Trinity Lutheran School with her.

This looks like a freshman table

Those boys look too young to be in high school. Gary Schemel is in the center of the background.

Cafeteria photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the side to move through the gallery. Identify the people if you wish, but I’d rather hear descriptions of what they are eating.

June 22, 2013

Joe Snell

I’ve been thinking a lot about my former Troop 8 buddy, Tiger photo staffer and classmate Joe Snell. I found this photo of him cutting up outside the Central’s darkroom on the same day I got the sad news that his mother had died.

Norma Ruth Snell

Here is the obit that appeared in The Missourian:

Norma Ruth Snell, 96, of Cape Girardeau passed away Saturday, June 15, 2013, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

She was born Dec. 19, 1916, in Frohna, Mo., daughter of Joseph R. and Edna I. Hellwege Mueller. She and Stanley Lee Snell were married May 18, 1946, in Cape Girardeau. He passed away April 15, 2010.

Norma was baptized and confirmed at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna and was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. She was a perpetual care-giver to friends and relatives at the Lutheran Home.

Loving survivors include a son, Joseph (Marguerite) Snell of Lake St. Louis, Mo.; daughter-in-law Sharon Snell of Cape Girardeau; four grandchildren, Jennifer (David) Doering of O’Fallon, Mo., Joseph Snell Jr. of Imperial, Mo., Joseph (Julie) Vetter of Creve Coeur, Mo., and Mark (Agata) Vetter of Brooklyn, N.Y; and five great-grandchildren.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents; a son, the Rev. Jerry L. Snell; and a sister.

Stan Snell

I didn’t know Joe’s mother very well, but his dad, Stan Snell, was a favorite of the boys in Troop 8. He was a dead ringer for Popeye the Sailor Man.

He died April 15, 2010. The comments that followed the post I did on Stan Snell brought back a lot of fond memories.

June 21, 2013April 10, 2021

We Had 3-D: View-Master

While I was packing to head back to Cape next week I kicked a dusty box in the back of the closet. In it was a stack of View-Master reels. I don’t know why the were called reels, but that’s the name that shows up on the official Fisher-Price View-Master website.

I didn’t dig though the box to see if the heavy, Bakelite viewer was in there. I’m disappointed. The viewers are selling for less than $20 on eBay. I guess it can stay hidden for a few more years.

Not only did I have the stereoscopic viewer, which simulated 3-D by having two slides that you looked through at the same time that had been photographed by lenses slightly apart, but I had a View-Master projector, too. It ran on wall power and got so hot you could probably fry an egg on it.

When you were traveling across the country, you had to pick up a bumper sticker and View-Master reel from just about every attraction you stopped at. In later years, View-Master started phasing out the scenics and started producing more cartoon characters and TV stories.

I spent many a happy hour sliding those reels into the viewer, then reaching for the advance lever – click – slunk – new magic pictures. Unless, of course, the holes didn’t engage and you’d have to keep pressing the lever until they did. If you got impatient, you could bend the lever or even break it off. Patience, young man, patience.