Forum Flashbacks: Feb. 16-22
FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Arrow of Light – Cub Scouts Davin Underwood, Cody Gillenwater, Dustin Henggeler, and Joel Driskell receive instructions from “Aklea” (Dave Merrill). Each Cub Scout received the Arrow the Light, the symbol of leaders for boy scouts as the boys move up to Boy Scouts. Cubmaster Lance Holman received a plaque for 10 years of service and Joella Holman received a gift for her assistance to the cub scouts.
5 years ago
Hundreds of Maryville students have passed through one room in Maryville Middle School. It is a classroom filled with Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat memorabilia, photos of past golf teams and 19 years worth of memories.
Brenda Ricks sits among all of these, sitting at a desk in which many of her students have spent their long school days. She reminisces of her time at Maryville Middle School, of the students who have been with her, of her time on the golf course and of how she found this second home nearly two decades ago.
Ricks said she knew she always wanted to be a teacher.
“Always,” she said. “After teaching for 25 years, I have no regrets. There’s nothing I would entertain doing besides this. It’s just what I was meant to be.”
15 years ago
When Dave Tollefson finished his career at Northwest Missouri State he knew he had a shot at playing on Sundays.
He never dreamed he’d be playing on Super Bowl Sunday.
Tollefson, a former Northwest defensive end from 2002-2005, suited up for the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. There the Giants upset heavy favorite New England and two years after he left Northwest, Tollefson was a Super Bowl Champion.
Tollefson’s name can’t be found in the box score, but he did get in on a few plays. He regrets never getting to sack superstar Tom Brady. However, he’s extremely grateful just for having the opportunity. Especially after the journey he’s taken in his two seasons after being drafted by Green Bay in the seventh round of the 2006 draft. He was still on the Giants’ practice squad until right before the playoffs this year.
“This is my fourth team if you count NFL Europe,” Tollefson said. “I’ve kind of bounced around. Even when I got picked up by the Giants, it wasn’t like ‘Oh man, we’re going to the Super Bowl.’ It’s just one of those deals, it’s just a blessing, kind of a lifetime achievement I can take off the list.”
25 years ago
Longtime Maryville resident Glen Mrytle Hotchkiss Goodspeed will be celebrating a special occasion Feb. 24 — it is her 104th birthday.
The daughter of Anna and Warren Hotchkiss, Mrs. Goodspeed was born in the prairie lands of Kansas, Feb. 24, 1894.
Her father, Warren Hotchkiss, had a mercantile store in Sheridan, Mo., and later had a mercantile store, The Green Front Store, located on West Third Street, across from the Christian Church in Maryville. He later became a state representative in the Kansas House of Representatives. He was buried in the Miriam Cemetery in Maryville.
Mrs. Goodspeed received her early education at Garfield Ward High School and later at Maryville High School. …
Mrs. Goodspeed also attended classes at the Normal School, now Northwest Missouri State University, and later taught school at Garfield Ward in Buhl, Minn.
She was a founder and first coordinator of the original Camp Farthest Out, which served as a prototype for similar camps throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. …
The family plans a simple celebration for Mrs. Goodspeed, who is currently residing at Maryville Health Care Center, Maryville, where it is reported she is in good health and still actively enjoying her life. She gets up to eat meals and goes to care center events via her wheelchair.
The “Today Show,” NBC, will feature Mrs. Goodspeed with a picture and short account on her birthday.
100 years ago
ANNA LARSEN IS RETURNING HOME
————
Danish Woman Who Came Here Eighteen Years Ago to Care for Uncle. Is Going Back to Native Land
————
The work for which she came to America finished, alone in this country without relatives and unable to speak but a little English, Anna Larsen of near Bedison is going back to her old home in Denmark to spend the remaining years of her life with her only sister. She leaves Friday and she is glad to go, although she has lived in America for eighteen years.
Miss Larsen, who is 68 years old, came here eighteen years ago at the request of her uncle, Lehman Kjersner, to keep his house and take care of him in his declining years. Last November, at the age of 96 years, Mr. Kjersner died, and now Miss Larsen is freed of her trust and she is going back to Denmark. She leaves Bedison for New York City and sails on the Scandinavian – American line vessel Frederick VIII for Aalborg, Denmark, on Tuesday.
The little twenty-acre farm near Bedison on which Mr. Kjersner and Miss Larsen lived, will be sold by E. S. Fannon, executor of the estate, who is also making arrangements for Miss Larsen’s departure. The Danish minister at Chicago has been notified to look out for her.
Mr. Kjersner came to this country from Denmark about twenty-five years ago, and eighteen years ago sent for his niece to come and care for him. Since that time they have lived on the litel(sic) farm. Miss Larsen is unable to speak no(sic) English since she and Mr. Kjersner always spoke Danish to each other and she has never learned the language of her adopted country.
Mrs.(sic) Larsen is ready and anxious to go back to Denmark — but there is just one thing which has worried her since the arrangements were made. And that thing is the fate of “Shep,” Mr. Kjersner’s dog and constant companion. Several days ago she gave orders that “Shep” was to be shot and buried after she was gone. But that order has been countermanded and “Shep” is going to have a home for the rest of his days with one of the farmers who live near the Kjersner place.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 100-year flashback is courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, viewable at shsmo.newspapers.com. The original article ran in the Feb. 21, 1923, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.
