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Charles Dockins, 12, Rescued 2 Girls 50 Years Ago

Bill East sent me a clipping from The Southeast Missourian’s Out of the Past column Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010.

50 years ago: Feb. 20, 1960

A tour south, having traveled some 5,000 miles since leaving on Jan. 27, was completed by Mr. and Mrs. L.V. Steinhoff and sons, Kenny, David and Mark, of Cape Girardeau, when they returned here late yesterday; their itinerary included many cities, including Miami, Silver Springs, Cypress Gardens, St. Augustine and St. Petersburg, Fla., and New Orleans, La.

That was a trip my brothers and I will never forget. I’m sure you’ll hear a lot about it one day.

Chuck Dockins was a hero

What I didn’t see until later was the item under that one:

Charles Dockins, 12, rescues two small girls from a burning car in Cape Girardeau in the evening; Dockins, a Boy Scout, notices the fire in a car parked on the National Food Store lot and goes to the girls’ rescue; they are unharmed.

Are we talking about THIS Chuck Dockins?

The one who was playing in the 1965 Central High School Red Dagger play with Sally Wright and Sherry McBride?

Here’s the Google Archive story from the Feb. 19, 1960, Southeast Missourian.

A Cape Girardeau boy, 12 years old, who happened to be nearby at the time, rescued two small girls from a burning car in Cape Girardau early Saturday night. The girls were not hurt, except that they inhaled some smoke.

The lad, a Boy Scout, is Charles Dockins, a son of Mr. and Mrs. P.L. Dockins, 1807 Bloomfield St. The fire was in the parking lot of the National Food store on Sprigg at William, and it was about 7:15 Saturday night. The car which suddenly caught fire was on the west middle section of the parking area.

The Dockins family had stopped at the store and Mr. and Mrs. Dockins had gone into the store to make a purchase. Charles remained in the family car to mind a granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dockins, Wendy Louise Dockins, 20 months old.

The car that caught fire was that of Mrs. Christine Petty of Cape Girardeau.

The Dockins car was near the Petty machine in which the two girls were seated. Charles said he noted a flash suddenly appear in the back half of the other sedan. He left the baby in the Dockins car after closing the door as he got out, and ran over to the other car.

One girl, about 5, was seated on the front seat, and the other was there too, by that time, and Charles said she evidently had just climbed from the back seat.

The boy said he first opened the door and pulled out the smaller of the girls, with the fire getting pretty hot by that time. He then took the arm of the other girl, about 7, and got her out of the car. He led them to near the door of the store and asked people to call firemen. He then checked back with the baby. The rescued girls were crying a little, but the Dockins baby seemed merely to be entertained by the whole proceedings.

Follow the Google Archive link to read the whole story and to see a photo of 12-year-old Chuck.

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Southeast Missouri State University 1966 Aerial Photos

Southeast Missouri State University – Kent Library

I love looking at Fred Lynch’s collection of Frony pictures, including the February 22 photo of Kent Library from the 1940s.  His f/8 and Be There blog makes my job easier.

  • They jog my memory about things I’ve shot.
  • He and Sharon Sanders do all the research I’m too lazy to do. Instead of doing a lot of writing, I can send you directly to the work they’ve done.

(I KNOW that it was called Southeast Missouri State College at the time these pictures were shot, but I’ll go with the current name to make it easier for folks who use search engines to find it these days.)

SEMO has several good maps to help you identify campus buildings

The photo above shows Kent Library in the upper left corner. Dearmont Hall is to its right. The Grauel Building is under construction at bottom right.

Academic Hall, Kent Library, College High School

This photo, from a slightly wider angle, picks up Academic Hall in the center, , then clockwise to College High School, the Grauel Building at the bottom, Dearmont Hall, Kent Library and the baseball field at Capaha Park at top left.

Houck Stadium and Field House, Academic Hall, Kent Library, Broadway & Pacific

This photo centers on Houck Stadium and Houck Field House, but includes the intersection of Broadway and Pacific at the bottom right. You can see Howard’s Sporting Goods, the Esquire Theater and Vandeven’s Merchantile.

Last Chance – First Chance Saloon

There’s a two-story building at the southwest corner of Pacific and Broadway, across the street from Howard’s, that is no longer there. I can remember there was a tiny gap between it and the building to its west that was just large enough for a kid to walk through. Here’s what The Missourian had to say about it.

In the mid-1800s, Frank C. Krueger purchased property on the southwest corner of Harmony (now known as Broadway) and Pacific Street. It has been said the Krueger erected the building that once stood at the end of Cape Girardeau’s city limit during the 19th century. Broadway to the west of Pacific Street was a gravel road known as Jackson Road. Krueger opened up a general store on the east side of the building, and he established a saloon on the west side. It soon became known as the “Last Chance” saloon headed west out of Cape Girardeau and the “First Chance” as one entered town. The saloon provided the last chance to have a drink when leaving Cape Girardeau and first chance upon entering town. Krueger died in 1882, and the building saw several proprietors after that. In the 1920s, the east section — 901 Broadway — housed Miller & Foeste grocery for many years. In the 1940s, the Last Chance Tavern opened on the east side. Oscar Becker operated the Last Chance Pool Hall on the west side — 903 Broadway — for more than 45 years. In the later years of the building, it would house a restaurant and pizza business before returning to a tavern, called the “Second Chance.” In November 1994, the building was razed.

Three buildings north of the intersection, on the right-hand side of the street is a two-story brick building that was a bottling company. I wish I knew more about it. A good chunk of that area has been gobbled up by the university for parking.

BurritoVille replaces the Last Chance – First Chance Saloon

This is the southwest corner of Pacific and Broadway on Oct. 28, 2009. The Last Chance – First Chance – Second Chance Saloon is gone, replaced by BurritoVille and some other businesses. I guess that may not be much of a loss. When Son Matt and his family visited Cape in 2008, he gave BurritoVille a rave review on my bike blog.

Northeast corner of Pacific and Broadway

The Esquire Theater is on the left and Howard’s / Craftsman Building / Vandeven’s Mercantile (depends on your era) is across the street.

 

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Fender-Bender at Broadway and Fountain

Looking south toward the Idan-Ha Hotel

I’ve got a gazillion wreck pictures in my files, but I’m  going to run only those that are of unusual vehicles, unusual circumstances or have interesting backgrounds. This fender-bender between a car and a taxicab at the corner of Broadway and Fountain in 1966 fits the criteria. I assume the two guys in the foreground were the drivers from their universal “Oh, Bleep” pose.

The old Idan-Ha Hotel is on the corner. I spent many a lunch hour in the coffee shop there when I was working at The Missourian.

Looking north toward the Marquette Hotel

The Marquette Hotel is on the right and the H&H Building is on the left.

Officer Fred Kaempfer directs traffic

I looked at the officer directing traffic and thought I had a shot of him from another occasion. Yep. It was a portrait of a guy with sort of a soulful look in his eyes. I remembered him as being one of the nicest guys who ever wore a uniform.

Wife Lila immediately recognized him from her days working at the Rialto Theater. The only problem was that we couldn’t think of his name to save ourselves.

Fortunately, we have house guests from Cape Girardeau staying with us. Lila’s sister, Marty Perry Riley (Class of 68) and her husband, Don Riley (class of 67) are in town for Marty to do a chalk drawing in the Lake Worth Street Painting festival this weekend. Son Adam’s company, DedicatedIT has brought her down the last three years to do the drawings. (It’s chilly down here this year, but it’s generally not hard to convince her to come to Florida in February with the kind of weather Cape’s been having.)

As soon as I showed them the photo, they both said, “Fred Kaempfer.” Don had been a Cape police officer himself.

What I didn’t know about Officer Kaempfer was that he was a song writer who came up with “Keep Walking On,” sung by Ken Roberts, in 1970. Fred died in 2004, at 80. His obituary fleshed out his life. He worked at Leming Sawmill for 25 years, was a Cape policeman from 1965 to 1973, and was a Scott City policeman from 1973 until he retired in 1978.

A letter to the editor in The Missourian after his death pointed out something else. Few know that during World War II Kaempfer fought in five major campaigns: Sicily, Central Europe, Normandy, Rhineland and the invasion of France, where he was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

View to the east shows First Federal Savings and The Southeast Missourian

It was a hot day in 1966, if the temperature sign on the First Federal Savings is correct – 88 degrees. This is quite a contrast with a Frony picture taken at the same intersection during a snow storm when the temperature was 28 degrees on the sign. You can see it in Fred Lynch’s Southeast Missourian blog.

Notice the phone number on the side of the cab: ED. 5-4433. ED stood for Edgewater. Jackson was the Circle exchange.

You can see The Missourian Building and the Royal N’Orleans, but the KFVS tower hasn’t been built yet.

The Idan-Ha is gone

The Idan-Ha Hotel caught fire a couple of times and was torn down. Here’s what it looked like on Oct. 24, 2009.

The Marquette Hotel escaped the wrecking ball

The future of the Marquette Hotel was very much in doubt for many years, but it looks like it’s taken on a new life. The canopies over the doors were more interesting when the building was a hotel, but, overall, the building looks better than it has in decades.

Note the KFVS TV building sticking high up into the sky.

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Mystery Cheerleaders

This is going to be one of my mystery posts. I don’t know who these girls are, what they are doing or even what town they were in.

I know that the house they’re practicing in front of is numbered 121. The trees have plenty of leaves, so it must be late summer or early fall, particularly since most of the girls are dressed in shorts. The year is sometime between 1963 and 1967.

Since these girls don’t look like anyone I remember as being Cape Central cheerleaders, I’m guessing that I might have shot this while cruising Jackson for The Jackson Pioneer. Of course, they could also have been from Notre Dame or College High.

Let me know if you recognize anyone.

Photo gallery of mystery cheerleaders or wannabe cheerleaders

(Click on any image to make it larger, click on the left or right side to step through the gallery.)

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