Cape Girardeau History and Photos

August 2, 2013

Kimbeland Turns 50

I was trying to figure out where the Hickory House was so I could meet Bill Hopkins for lunch when I saw Kimbeland Country Club on the map.

That made me think back to the days when about the only thing of note between Cape and Jackson was a magnificent air-conditioned stable and a horse farm with brilliant white fences. Every time we passed there in our 1959 Buick LaSabre station wagon with the windows rolled down in the sweltering heat, Dad would comment that we should be as lucky as the Kimbeland horses.

I drove back to see if there was anything left of the old place, but there wasn’t. I DID find out that the Kimbeland Country Club is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. (Click on the photos to make them larger.)

History of Kimbeland

Here’s a history of the country club I found on its website: On July 16, 1962, five members of the Jackson community formed a corporation to start a golf course and country club. These five gentlemen: Robert Wulff, Robert Hartle, Kenneth Kasten, Wilson Lewis and John Schulte Jr. each spent $100 so the corporation could be started. With the help of Paul Mueller, a lawyer from town, they drew up the original by-laws and articles of incorporation for the club to govern their rules and regulations.

These original shareholders met with a gentleman named George Kimbel. Mr. Kimbel owned the Kimbeland Farm, which is the land the golf course currently occupies. Even though Mr. Kimbel was not a golfer and didn’t have any interest in playing, he and his wife, Lillian, liked the idea that they could sit on their porch and watch the players enjoying their rounds of golf. George Kimbel agreed to lease the land to build the golf course and loan any monies that were needed at an interest rate of 6.0%. The original plans were to build a nine-hole golf course with a clubhouse, swimming pool and tennis courts, with an additional nine-holes to be added as funds became available. The construction of the original nine-holes began in the fall of 1962 on approximately 78 acres of ground. A five-acre lake was added to the property to serve as the water source for the golf course.

George Kimbel was generous

To gather funds together to help pay for the expenses, many of the charter members began traveling around the area trying to sell stock in the corporation. Each share of stock was sold for $100, which enabled the owners to obtain a membership without paying an initiation fee into the club. The Board of Directors set the dues for an annual membership to be $100.00 per year. They were able to get 90 members before the golf course was opened. George Kimbel funded any other monies that were needed to help build the course. Mr. Kimble did not believe in investing his money in stocks or bonds, but he was very generous with his money if he could have his name placed on his investment.

Including the help of the original members, many others including Jack and Jim Litz, Jim and Billy Joe Thompson, Wib Bangert, Palmer Hacker, Hassle Looney, Kelly Blackman, Bill Call, R.O. Hawkins, J.E. Hecker, Gene Cracraft and Bill Heyde Jr. began to put in the efforts to take the farmland and try and turn it into a golf course. Many companies including Kasten Clay Products, Calvin Phillips Excavating, Cape County Commissioners, Charlie Meyer Excavating, Litz Brothers Poultry and Bangert Auto Wrecking Service also donated their time and equipment to help.

Lake added

Fencerows and trees were removed, land was tilled, the lake was constructed and the road and water lines were put in.

With the assistance of Albert Linkogel and Ray Freeburg, a golf course design company from St. Louis, the course was laid out over hilly, wooded land of Southeast Missouri. With recommendations from Linkogel and Freeburg, bent grass greens would be built which ensured that the members would be able to enjoy their golfing season year round. Bob Wulff was instrumental in overseeing the construction of the greens.

Clubhouse opened in 1964

After the golf course opened in the spring on 1963, designs for a clubhouse were drawn. The Board of Directors decided to issue more stock to help fund the construction of the clubhouse. It was built in the fall of ’63 with plans to open in the spring of 1964. Now that the nine-hole golf course had a clubhouse, a motion was made to build a pool. Mr. Kimbel informed the Board of Directors that he would pay for the construction of the pool if he could design the shape. With approximately 300 members in the fall of 1965, the stockholders voted to build an additional nine-holes to make the first eighteen-hole golf course in Cape Girardeau County.

Best course between St. Louis and Memphis

The membership was flourishing and the golf course was improving due to the hard work of the people involved. The golf course superintendents and their staffs kept the golf course in such a shape that it was voted the best golf course from St. Louis to Memphis. Mr. Blevens, a greens keeper from Sikeston was the first superintendent, but due to his lack of experience with bent grass greens, Earl Siebert replaced him. Earl served as the superintendent until 1970, when Sherry Baker took over. Sherry continued to work for Kimbeland as the greens keeper until 1996. David Chasteen took over the helm and served as the superintendent until 2002. Claude Ferguson now holds the position.

P.G.A. members serve as golf pros

An integral part of having a country club with a clubhouse is to have somebody run the operation. The club hired a man named Penny Crabtree to oversee the business of the clubhouse and pro shop. Penny was replaced by Henry Vogel and then by Jim Thompson. Jim was the first person to own and operate the clubhouse as his own. He hired a kid named Bill Wampler to work for him, who went away to a Professional Golf Association School in Florida. When Bill came back, he took over for Jim and became the first P.G.A. member to be hired as the golf professional at Kimbeland. Many others have succeeded Bill, including Jess Simpson, Wes Duperier, Bill Curry, John Alexander, Brad Krutz, Larry Emery, Doug Dunbar, Todd Eastin and now Jim Davey, but the club has always kept the tradition of having a P.G.A. member serve as their golf professional.

Course remained same until 1996

The golf course stayed the same until 1996, when a group headed by Jack Litvay, laid out a new and improved golf course with larger greens and a more challenging layout. The course continues to try and improve with the help of the current Board of Directors and the members. In 2000, golf course architect Art Schaupeter developed a long range plan for Kimbeland’s golf course. A portion of that plan has been completed including adding two additional holes and completely re-building holes 8 and 9. In December of 2006 construction began on a new 7000 square foot clubhouse which was completed in September of 2007.

August 1, 2013

I Hate Cell Phones

What did people do before they had cell phones? When I became telecommunications manager at The Post in 1991, the company had exactly six cell phones – the original Motorola brick. They were part of a pool that could be checked out as needed. I quickly discovered that four of them were on permanent assignment, so that left only two in the pool.

Not long after that, I put our business out for bid and got a sweet deal from a carrier who would give us free phones and 60 minutes of local calling for $10 a month. Departments were happy to have an electronic noose around their employees for ten bucks a month and, since 60 minutes was more than anybody would ever need for business, they were permitted a “reasonable” number of personal calls for carrying the unit and being reachable.

Fast forward to 2007

By December of 2007, those six phones had multiplied to 577 phones, which racked up 302,166 minutes of talk time a month at a cost of $31,211.84.That’s a MONTH, not a year.

In comparison, our landline phone switches in 13 locations supported about 1,500 extensions and about 425K minutes of talking. The total BellSouth and ATT landline bill ran us about $16,500 a month, half of the wireless tab.

Every year I would negotiate a better contract which would give us more minutes at a lower cost and the usage would STILL go up. At one time, as you can see on the shelf in my office, I tried to hang on to one model of every phone we used, but the models changed so quickly that I never could keep up with them. The phones were only part of the equation. If we changed carriers or the carrier offered us “new and improved” phones, then all of the batteries, chargers, cases and accessories had to be changed out, too.

The Verizon Wireless bill ran 1,844 pages long. I always wondered how many of those minutes were actually used talking to advertising customers and news sources.

Did I mention I hate cell phones?

When I was working, I carried a cell phone on each of the two carriers we used. After all, if the message is, “Nextel’s down,” how is anyone going to call you if don’t have a phone from the other guy?

After I retired, I was persuaded to switch to a “smart phone:” a Verizon HTC Droid Incredible. I have to confess that it was pretty neat: I no longer had to have a laptop on the seat next to me if I wanted to check my mail on the road or get a weather report. Having live traffic data on the Google map was even better than using my Garmin Nuvi 760 for navigation. I hardly ever use the camera feature. If I want to take a picture, I’ll use a REAL camera.

DROID!!

All was going pretty well until last year when I made the mistake of letting it do a software upgrade. As part of the start-up process, the thing hollers “DROID!!” in a loud tone that becomes increasingly annoying when it goes into a reboot cycle at 2 in the morning. Every morning. The only way short of heaving it across the room is to take the battery out and reinstall it. A factory reset solved the problem, but that meant that I had to download and re-install all my applications from scratch.

I noticed several weeks ago that the phone was getting sluggish: stuff wasn’t loading as quickly as it once did and phone calls weren’t dialing as soon as I selected a name. Then, while I was in Ohio, aps started dropping off, starting with Navigation and going from there. It was like my whole smart phone had gotten dumb or had gone on strike. Soon, about the only thing that worked was Gmail. Facebook went belly-up yesterday morning.

Andrea pulled out her magic wand

Andrea at the Verizon store just over the hill from Mother said she had a magic wand she’d wave over it. After plowing the same ground I had, she said I had two choices: start with a factory reset (remember that?) or have an accident that would cause insurance to replace the phone. I assured her that if the factory reset didn’t do the job, there would definitely be an accident that would probably involve plastering a wall.

The factory reset (knock wood) looks like it solved the problem for now. Maybe my phone is smart enough to have taken my threat seriously.

July 31, 2013

Cold Showers and Sunsets

If travel wasn’t interesting, it wouldn’t be fun. Keep in mind, though, that the phrase “May you have an interesting life” is both a blessing and a curse.

I mentioned yesterday that I had a blast in Athens, but all good times have to come to an end. I waved goodbye to Curator Jessica at the Athens Museum around 7 p.m., which put me right on my planned departure time of 4 p.m., as calculated in Steinhoff Standard Time.

Heading west into the setting sun can be a bit challenging at times, but it finally gave up someplace about 80 miles from my starting point. When it decided to go to sleep, it went quickly.

No No-Smoking, no sale

I had hoped to get as far as Cincinnati, so I started looking for lodging in the Florence, Ky., area, west of there. The first place I checked had only one room available and it was a smoker. No sale.

The second wanted $101. The third was even more proud of its rooms: that chain wanted $139. I didn’t have Friend Anne along this trip, so I couldn’t even pull the old “we’re newlyweds who have had a spat and need separate rooms at a discount to save our marriage” argument.

Just as I was resigned to heading west another hour or so to get to the cheap seats, I spotted a [Name withheld] Motel. It had an older look and the parking lot was filled with at least two dozen 18-wheelers, most of them car haulers. The lobby was a bit smoky. One of the guys behind the front desk sported a fair array of jailhouse tattoos. I hope that’s what they were, because if they weren’t, he overpaid the “artist.”

“How much for a non-smoking room for one person for one night?”

“$53.96.”

Is it clean?

I can overlook a lot for the difference between $139 and $53.96. “Is it clean?”

“Yep.” (I wasn’t exactly sure his standards and mine were anywhere close, but I handed over my plastic and was awarded Room 251.)

It wasn’t bad. It had extension cords running all over the place to provide enough outlets for modern travelers, but I’d rather have that than no power. The Wi-Fi was fast enough and didn’t require a password. The AC sounded like a jet taking off every time the compressor kicked in, but it did put out cool air. The bed was great.

I set the alarm for 9:45 and slept like a log. I got up, checked my mail and figured I had just enough time to jump in the shower, pack up and be out by the 11 a.m. checkout deadline.

Tub had funky uni-knob

I turned the water on in the tub. It had one of those uni-knobs where you don’t know what the setting is, so I turned it full left and got cold water. I turned it full right and got cold water. I turned on both taps in the sink and got cold water. I was beginning to detect a pattern. I called the front desk. “Does this place not have hot water or does it just take a long time to get to 251?” I asked in what I hoped was a pleasant tone.

“It’s broken,” a harried female voice said, “We have someone on the way to fix it.”

When I got to the lobby, all the trucks had pulled out and there was a zoom of motorcycle riders getting ready to leave. The woman I supposed attached to the earlier harried voice was talking with some guests who were checking out. (She must have gone to the same tattoo artist as the night guy, by the way.) I overheard her saying to a coworker, “I’m not going to have anything in my drawer by the end of the morning.”

“I guess I’m not going to make your day any better,” I said. “The last time I stayed in a hotel without hot water was in 1958. What can we do to make it right?”

“I can knock $20 off,” she said.

“Look, I’m not looking for a free room. I slept very well last night. On the other hand, I’m going to have to smell myself for another six hours. How about we split the cost of the room?”

She agreed, so I got a good night’s sleep for $28.96 instead of $139 at a fancy joint. I don’t think I’ll be going back again, though.

Rain slowed me down

When I called Mother to tell her I was rolling west this morning, she warned me that I was going to run into a bunch of rain. I paused to put on a fresh coat of Rain-X on the windshield.

Traffic was light and running smoothly for the most part. My Waffle House breakfast had scarcely settled before the first splatters of rain showed up. The splatters put their hands together and turned into heavy rain. Fortunately, that didn’t last too long. The next three or four hours were just light, steady rain.

Rain at the rest stop snagged me

It wasn’t the rainfall while driving that slowed me down. It was the rainfall when I stopped to take a short nap at an Illinois rest area. I’ve written about how I usually set my alarm for 22 minutes, then wake up refreshed enough to log another three or four hours.

This afternoon I decided I wasn’t THAT sleepy, so I set it for 17 minutes and dozed off to the sound of the rain pounding softly on the roof above me. When the alarm went off, I liked the sound well enough to tack on another 12 minutes.

Twice.

If I hadn’t needed to get moving, I think I could have dozed to that for hours.

So, I’m back in Cape for a few days. I’m afraid to turn on the hot water tap.

July 30, 2013July 30, 2013

The Downard Sisters

I spent a most enjoyable day playing historic sleuth and running all over southern Ohio with Curator Jessica looking for (and finding) something I’ll write about when I don’t have white-line fever. I got a late start (what’s new?) and only made it just west of Covington, Ky.

I’ll tease you a bit with a quote: “I knew my grandfather about as well as any of his grandkids: I knew where he hid his whiskey.” When somebody tells you that over the phone, you HAVE to track him down.

One side trip was to the Athens Cemetery on West Union Street. Jessica challenged one of my ancient photos as not having been taken there. I, of course, had to prove I was right.

Erin and Jamie

While there, she took me to one of her favorite grave markers: one for two sisters, Erin Michelle and Jamie Leigh Downard. Erin was born in 1982 and died in April 1989. Her sister was born in 1984 and died in January 1989.

How did they die?

You have to wonder why two young sisters would be taken so close to each other. Was it a car accident? An illness? I guess that’s another one of those things I’ll have to look up the next time I get to Athens.

A sense of whimsy

This marker is unique, but not as heart-rending as the Downard sculpture. I’d love to hear the story behind the license tag etched on Kay Anne Blackburn’s stone.