Cape Girardeau History and Photos

January 18, 2011

Third Graders Measure Up

On the same Missourian Youth Page as the Tucker Lamkin kindergarten aide story, I had two photos of Campus School third graders “measuring up.” They were applying arithmetic facts to everyday life.

Here’s the caption that appeared under the May 6, 1967, photo: At left, working with measures of liquid capacity, are: John, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Schneider, 2522 Meadow Lane, and Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James McHaney, 1425 Bessie; time, Elizabeth, daughter of Mrs. Bobbie Henderson, 1453 Howell, and Melinda, daughter of Mrs. Morley Swingle; and, solid volume, Debra, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. Edgar Massey, 564 North Boulevard, and Lyn, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. A. Williams, 1235 Normal.

I hated shooting school feature photos (except for the five bucks). You can see what a hassle it was to get not just the names of the kids, but their parents and their addresses, too. Can you imagine what that would be like in today’s blended family environment?

At least this assignment had some neat props. The killers were ones where all the class did was make a poster or a bulletin board. Deadly dull.

Rulers, yardsticks and scales

The photo caption read: Learning about rulers, yardsticks and scales are Stuart, son of Mr. and Mrs. Don Caldwell, 372 North Park; Kathleen, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. C. E. Williams, 336 North Lorimier; Susan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Barklage, 2427 Brookwood; Martha, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Walker, 1235 Sailer Circle; Scott, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Friedricksen, 535 North Sprigg; and Stephen, son of Dr. and Mrs. Bryce D. March, Kage Road.

Judy Crow captured good quotes

Staff Writer Judy Crow captured some good quotes from the children. You can find her story about the third graders at this link.

Some Missourian reporters resented having to do school features and asked me to leave their bylines off them. I have a testy memo from Judy where she wrote that she took the school assignments seriously and lobbied me to keep putting the bylines on the stories to shame the others into doing a good job.

I sure didn’t want to get on Judy’s bad side, so I heeded her wishes.

January 17, 2011

Tucker Lamkin: “She’s a He!”

Tucker Lamkin, left, was featured on the May 6, 1967, Missourian Youth Page, in a story by Margaret Randol headlined, “Kindergarten Class Has a Unique Helper (She’s a He!)”

Tucker, son of Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Lamkin, 702 North street, was the first male to participate in Central High School’s kindergarten aid program.

[Editor’s note: The story referred to Tucker as an “aid,”which didn’t feel right to me, so I checked an online reference which said, ” In American English, a personal assistant is usually an aide (nurse’s aide, presidential aide) but an inanimate object or process is always an aid (hearing aid, first aid).” I actually SAW Tucker move, so I can attest that he was NOT an “inanimate object,” and was an aide. I didn’t write the original story, but I probably edited it and should have caught it 43 years ago. It’s probably too late to run a correction.]

Signs of acceptance

I’ve discovered over the years that there are two steps that have to be taken before a minority group can be said to be integrated into a larger group.

Step 1: You do “First” person stories:

First woman firefighter
First black firefighter
First woman construction worker
First Hispanic Representative
First gay mayor (Get the idea?)

Step 2: (and more importantly) The LAST time you do one of those “First” person stories. That’s when it stops being unusual to see that group as news.

Little girls want to marry him

Margaret did a good job on the story. There are lots of funny quotes:

“Isn’t he handsome?”
“I’m going to marry him when I grow up.”
“No, you aren’t. He’s going to marry me. Maybe he’ll even let me ring the bell when it’s time to go in.”

It’s worth following this link to read the whole story about Tucker’s Adventures in Kindergarten.

Uncharacteristically, the children in the photo with Tucker aren’t identified. I’m pretty sure jBlue chewed me out for that.

January 16, 2011January 17, 2011

CHS Maintenance Staff

Central High School maintenance staffers like James Criddle might as well as have been invisible to most of us students. When I went back for a walk through our high school in 2009, I was impressed at how well maintained it was. Every wall and floor shined just like when we were there 45 years ago.

The new generation of maintenance workers must be carrying on the tradition of the ones who were there in 1965: Jack Snider, Harold Brown, Leonard Reed, Richard Ware, Leonard Mayberry, James Criddle and Mrs. James Criddle.

[Editor’s note: Walter Lamkin notes in a comment below that the name of one of the maintenance workers was misspelled: it should be Leonard Reid, not Reed. I copied the names from the 1965 Girardot and checked them against the 1964 Girardot. There was no listing for a Leonard Reed in the 1969 City Directory, but there was a Leonard REID. Mr. Reid lived on Thilenius St., along with Elodie and Larry (a student). Based on that, I’m going to vote with Mr. Lamkin and complain to Girardot Editor-in-Chief Nancy Jenkins.]

January 15, 2011January 14, 2012

NAACP Comes to Cape

It was appropriate to have run across these photos with Martin Luther King Day coming up.

[Editor’s note: I’ve kept with the vernacular used by The Missourian, even though the language feels strange these days.]

Kivie Kaplan, national president of the NAACP, came to speak to the local chapter and the public in the St. James AME Church Aug. 9, 1967.

The Missourian’s story the next day identified the folks in the photo above as the Rev. Ben H. Cleaver, retired minister, left, and the Rev. Wallace Ward, pastor of the St. James AME Church. Behind them are members of the church’s junior choir, Misses Ruth Watson, Janis Jefferson, Olivia Johnson and Diane Mitchell.

[Editor’s note: The Missourian’s cutline has the woman on the left identified as Ruth Watson; Ron Bedell said it should be Ruth Wilson and I’m pretty sure he’s correct. Here’s where you can see a photo of Ruth at last summer’s reunion.]

NAACP “does not condone violence”

Kaplan went out of his way to assure the audience of about 100 that his organization does “not condone violence,” and stresses at all times the “peaceful and legal pursuit” of its objectives. He added that the NAACP has more than 500,000 members and represents 90 per cent of the Negro population.

Police present to “direct traffic”

He said Black Power leaders and others who advocate violence as a means to acquire civil liberties represent “only a fraction of one per cent of the Negro people.”

The city fathers may not have been as sure of that. The story went on to say that “About a dozen policemen were on hand at the church to direct the flow of traffic and presumably to halt any outbreak of disorder. No disturbance was reported, however.”

It was reported that there was applause at least two points and audible “amens” came from the crowd occasionally.

Kaplan was welcomed to the city by Mayor J. Hugh Logan, who expressed his interest in Mr. Kaplan’s address.

Kaplan implies local firms show bias

Cape school integrated early and peacefully. Classmate Gerald Love said at the reunion last summer, “There was no friction with the kids. There might have been some adults with problems, but not the kids.” It’s worth going back to read Gerald Love’s story, though, of his introduction to racism in Cape.

Kaplan said he had been told that of the 400 persons employed by Marquette Cement Mfg. Co., only five are Negroes; out of 240 employees of Missouri Utilities, only four are Negroes. At Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., there is only one Negro out of a total of 200 employees.

Photo gallery of NAACP meeting

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to move through the gallery.