Forum Flashbacks: April 23-29
MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, APRIL 27, 2001
25 YEARS AGO: Springtime Fun – A Kindergartner at Horace Mann Lab School, Nicole Cook, sets and soaks up the sun during our recent warm weather. The temperatures in the 80s have brought a lot of people to the parks to play.
50 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, April 29, 1976
‘Cousins’ Help Kids Learn Value of Home
Each Thursday evening on a 220-acre ranch northeast of Maryville in Nodaway County a family of 12 sits down to a farm-style meal.
The meal, while physically nourishing, is nearly as important in an emotional sense to the participants.
Seated around the table are Dr. and Mrs. E.L. Whitmore, five Northwest Missouri State University students and five lower elementary school-age youngsters.
It is not a family in the traditional sense of the word family, but a family created by Dr. Whitmore out of a desire “to share the good life,” as he puts it.
Dr. Whitmore, an associate professor of psychology at Northwest Missouri State University, calls his group “Country Cousins,” and the primary beneficiaries of the weekly association on his farm are the five youngsters who range from first graders to fourth graders. …
What is involved is an attempt to give the five young children some of the tangible and intangible benefits of a wholesome family life. The number is limited to five because when this quintet of youngsters is added to five University students or “Older Cousins,” and you increase that number by two for Dr. and Mrs. Whitmore you reach 12, “And that’s all we can handle around our supper table,” laughs Dr. Whitmore.
Screening, or selecting the five elementary-age children to participate in the Country Cousins program, is accomplished by officials at Maryville R-2 school district. Mrs. Everett Brown, Eugene Field Elementary School counselor explains:
“The Country Cousins requested five children at the elementary school level who might benefit from a warm, loving relationship with interested young adults. The University students serve as role models for sharing, kindness, friendship and good manners.” …
The five University students and the five elementary students are paired on a one-to-one basis with the central theme for the younger children being a caring relationship. The one-to-one relationship gives the youngster the special attention of an adult, and Dr. Whitmore says this attention in the beautiful country setting of the ranch is conducive to achieving positive results in modifying behavior patterns and creating healthy attitudes toward life.
75 years ago
Maryville Daily Forum, April 28, 1951
Gas Explosion Hits Residence Hall
20 Persons In Hospital, 3 Critical
The south wing of Women’s Residence Hall at Northwest Missouri State College was destroyed early this morning by fire which followed the devastating explosion of a huge natural gas storage tank about 100 feet east of the building.
The explosion occurred at 12:10 a.m., just after the coeds’ midnight curfew and many were asleep or preparing to go to bed. Panic stricken, they fled bare footed and leaped from second story windows to escape the flames.
Portions of the heavy steel tank were blown four blocks by the blast and flame shot several hundred feet in the air.
Wing Almost Deserted
Miraculously, the south wing, which suffered the most damage and was directly in the path of the blast, was almost deserted. About 100 girls were in the building, but only a few were in the south wing. The building ordinarily houses 150 girls, but many had gone home for the week end.
The explosion jarred the entire city and shattered plate glass windows in over 25 business establishments in downtown Maryville as far as 10 blocks from the scene. Windows in the College administration building and library also were broken.
Several Rush Into Building
Several men who had just said goodnight to their dates were the first on the scene and rushed into the building to lend assistance. Others remained outside to break the falls of girls who leaped from windows. Several used their cars to carry injured coeds to the St. Francis hospital.
Male students residing on the campus poured from the Quads and rushed to the aid of those still in the burning building. Fifty airmen from the newly organized air force school also pitched in and helped carry furniture and personal belongings from the building. All were lauded by College President J. W. Jones this morning.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 50- and 75-year flashbacks are courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.
