Mark Steinhoff Archives

February 27, 2015February 24, 2021

The Circle Grows Smaller

Mother called with shocking, though not totally unexpected news: Katy Proctor, one of her closest friends had died. She and her husband had been in ill health some time, but Mother and Katy still talked and visited fairly frequently.

In 2001, Brother Mark and I surprised Mother by renting a couple of stretch limos and taking her and her friends to a birthday dinner. We planned it for a month before her actual birthday so she wouldn’t expect anything. Katy and her husband, Woody, were part of the crowd.

The group decided they wanted to see and be seen in their limos. As they cruised down Broadway, throngs of people lined the street, and she thought that maybe the whole town had turned out to celebrate her birthday. It was actually spectators showing up for the SEMO Homecoming parade, but, what the heck.

There was some discussion about mooning the crowd, but the folks in MY limo were talked out of it. I can’t testify as to the behavior of the rowdy senior citizens in the other car.

Unfortunately, most of the people in this photo are no longer with us, something that makes Mother feel increasingly more isolated.

Katy’s obituary

Kathryn Revelle (Katy) Proctor passed away on Feb 24 2015 at Assisted Living West at the Lutheran Home. She was born on November 23, 1920 at Hickory Ridge, Missouri to Melvin and Chlora McNeely Revelle. She grew up in Delta and graduated from Delta High School. She married Woodrow Proctor on June 7, 1941 at Oran, Missouri. They lived at Chaffee until 1964 when they moved to Cape Girardeau. She was cafeteria manager at Franklin School for 22 years. After her retirement she worked at Mothers Day Out at Lynwood Baptist church many years and volunteered at the Fish Food Pantry and SE Hospital Auxillary.

She is survived by her husband of 73 years, Woodrow Proctor, a son, David (Jeanie) Proctor of Nellysford, VA, a daughter, Brenda (John) Faris of Cape Girardeau. Five grandchildren, Stephen Faris (Jenny Weiss) of Cape Girardeau, Stuart (Megan) Faris of Webster Groves, Mo, Amy (Jack) Leachman of Asheville, NC, Andrea (Tarlton) Brewer of Richmond VA, and Kipp Proctor of Bozeman, MT and three great grandchildren Delia and Grady Faris of Webster Groves and Mary Grace Brewer of Richmond. She is also survived by a sister, Audrey Kitchen of Union, Mo.

She was preceded in death by her parents, 6 brothers and 4 sisters.

Active in organizations

I did some newspaper searches several years back for some celebration Katy’s family had planned.

The November 9, 1961, Missourian had a society brief that The Fern Herrington Intermediate G.A.s of Calvary Baptist met at the church on Monday to study, under the guidance of their counselor, Mrs. Woodrow Proctor, the chapter on “Germany, A Nation Divided,” from the book, Teen Traveler Abroad.

Woody served in World War II

A brief in the August 6, 1945, Missourian said that Pfc. Ralph W. Proctor of Chaffee, a member of the 13th AAF Bomber Command in the Philippines, had been promoted to corporal in the Netherlands East Indies, according to a dispatch from headquarters overseas. Corp. Proctor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Proctor, joined the service in December, 1942, and saw his first action with the veteran “Jungle Air Force” in June 1943, at Guadalcanal. His wife, Mrs. Kathryn Revelle Proctor, lives at Chaffee.

Squabbles

Mark and I were always amused at how the group of women were constantly squabbling and getting on the outs with each other, then reuniting like nothing had happened.

We’re going to miss her

Katy had an infectious grin that wrapped all the way around face, she could talk a mile a minute, and break out laughing at the least little thing.

She was a good friend to Mother. We’re all going to miss her.

December 27, 2014January 8, 2021

Rerun: Old Trinity Church

I grew up in the old Trinity Lutheran Church. I was baptized and confirmed there; was cast in way too many Christmas pageants, counted bugs on the ceiling when I was bored, and saw Dad’s casket in the front of the altar. Today’s post is a collection of stories I’ve done on the old Trinity.

When I heard that the building was being torn down just short of its 100th anniversary because it was “structurally deficient,” Brother Mark and I tried to document as much of it as possible. I put quotes around “structurally deficient” because the discovery was made just about the time a sizable donation came in that stipulated that it could only be used to build a new church.

Here’s what it looked like in the bell tower. Follow the links to see the whole story and to read the many comments.

1954 pledge drive

The church conducted a $225,000 pledge drive in 1954. This picture was used in a brochure promoting the drive. The post logged two dozen comments, so I wasn’t the only one picking out faces.

New Trinity at dusk

I was walking back to my car when I saw the new federal building and the new Trinity Lutheran church in the fading sunlight.

That’s as close as I’m ever going to get to the building. MY church was torn down and many of the things that made it special were discarded, so I have no reason to go into the new Trinity.

And, yes, I know that church is more than bricks and stained glass. That’s why you rarely see me in one.

From the tower

When Mark and I shot the bell tower, I also took pictures out the windows in all four directions. The tall white building off in the distance is the KFVS tower.

There’s an aerial of the neighborhood in this post, too.

Sanctuary and altar

The most striking part of the church was the sanctuary with its imposing altar. Jesus was hauntingly realistic.

Unfortunately, He wasn’t welcome in the new church and has, reportedly, bounced around a bit, becoming damaged in the process. I heard that He might be out at the old Hanover School.

The balcony

Our family usually headed to the balcony. I loved its majestic sweep. On the wall behind the organ was printed Psalms 26:8 – “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house and the place where Thine honor dwelleth.”

If you follow the link, you can see the inscription in the background of a photo of workers dismantling the pews and lowering them to the ground floor.

One of my readers reported the words were still visible when a bulldozer strained to pull the building down.

Lutheran Church mural

The church owned a property at the corner of Broadway and Middle with a huge blue mural painted on it: “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.” There’s a plaque in the corner that is a who’s-who list of well-known Trinity donors who paid for the sign.

The building had deteriorated to the point where it had to be razed in 2011. I toured the 501 Broadway property with David Renshaw, one of the most introspective demolition men I’ve ever met.

Nothing left but bricks

When David was through, there was nothing left but debris that was quickly hauled away. A parking lot is there today.

I was given a piece of the blue cement block as a souvenir.

Keeping the lights on

I want to thank those folks who have used the yellow Donate button at the top left of the page. I appreciate your support and wish you and yours a Happy New Year.

December 24, 2014

Rerun: Santa Mystery Solved

As promised, I’m taking a short break over the holidays and offering up rerun links to older posts.

This story about Christmas shoppers from December 9, 2009, was one of my earliest posts. I made some guesses about where they might have been taken in Cape.

It set the tone for all my posts to follow:

I got most of the facts wrong
My readers went to great lengths to prove I was wrong and to provide the correct information.

By December 12, Brother Mark, Bill Hopkins, Chuck Blitstein, Jesse James and Brenda Bone Lapp chimed in with opinions, speculation and photographs, but it took The Missourian team of Fred Lynch and Cathy Hancock to determine the photos were taken in Jackson, not Cape.

Hey, close is good enough in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear war; I mean I was only seven miles off, give or take?

We know where this is

By December 14, the Fred and Cathy team helped figure out where in Jackson these photos were taken, too. Jim Vangilder filled in more blanks.

After that, I wasn’t afraid to post mystery photos. With few exceptions, someone always stepped up to the plate to provide the (maybe) correct information.

This is one of those exceptions: nobody has come up with who these cheerleader-looking types are.

August 3, 2014August 2, 2021

Neighbor Rhonda Turns 50

When we moved into our house on Kingsway Drive 58 years ago, Bob and Mary Tinker lived across the street; the Grays lived next to them, the McCunes lived in a small cottage down the hill, and the Hales and Heislers in their farm houses finished off the neighborhood. We were way outside the city limits and cows grazed in the field behind our house.

That’s Mrs. Tinker in front of her house.

Boltons came Memorial Day 1994

Bill and Rhonda Bolton moved into the house on Memorial Day, 1994. Even though they’ve been living there 20 years and have been the best neighbors you could want, we all still call it the “Tinker House.”

They keep an eye on Mother for us. When Brother Mark kept getting a busy signal on her phone one night, he called me and I reached out for the Boltons and Carla Jordan, who lives over by Food Giant. It turned out to be a false alarm: Mother had failed to hang up the phone properly and that’s why it rang busy.

When Mother’s mower stopped while she was massacring grass the other day, Bill came over to help her push it away from the street. It’s nice to know you have friends and neighbors who will come running if you need them.

Come over for Rhonda’s party

Bill stopped by Friday to invite Mother to Rhonda’s 50th birthday party on Saturday. I’m not sure if he used the phrase, “if you can make it up the hill,” but that would have insured that she would attend.

“A good time was had by all”

That’s a line that one of The Missourian’s country correspondents would tack on to any story involving more than two people, even if it was a funeral. In this case, it was true. There was a nice mix of family, friends and neighbors, good food and even a photo booth.

Birthday party photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the images.