Forum Flashbacks: Dec. 23-29
FORUM FILE PHOTO
25 YEARS AGO: Outdoor Learning – Michael Swinford looks at a birdfeeder in the outdoor classroom at Eugene Field Elementary School on the old second-grade playground. The bird feeders were donated by Consumers Oil Company.
5 years ago
Local resident Evie Church has been honored by Community Blood Center for spearheading blood drive efforts that resulted in Maryville being named the top community in the region for units collected during 2015.
CBC Account Manager Betty Tinker recently presented Church with the Kansas City-based blood bank’s Top Organization award for her work on behalf of the local chapter of Business Women of Missouri in organizing blood drives held every eight weeks at the First United Methodist Church, located at 102 N. Main St.
During 2015, the Business Women-Maryville community drives collected 739 units of blood, more than any similar community-based effort in CBC’s service area, which includes more than 20 counties in northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. …
Altogether, Maryville blood drives provided 2,280 units of blood for CBC-served hospitals and clinics during 2015, a 328- unit increase over the 1,952 units collected here two years ago.
In citing those totals, Tinker said Maryville, with a population of around 11,000, has become one of the top donor communities in the region, and that the number of units donated here exceeded the total for St. Joseph, a city of 76,000 people.
15 years ago
It’s been 20 years since Lester Keith first stepped into the hallways of the Nodaway County Courthouse as its presiding commissioner.
This week will be his last.
“I look at it as being thankful that I’ve been able to serve the citizens of Nodaway County and hopefully have done things to better the community,” Keith said last week.
Keith’s career in public service began decades ago when he worked with Maryville Public Safety, even serving as its director for a time. He then spent six years on the Maryville City Council before crossing the street to the courthouse.
“There are a lot of people I’ve worked with and relationships I’ve developed, and I can’t thank those people enough,” Keith said. “I’m the type of person who likes to treat people the way I want to be treated, and I think that has worked for me.”
25 years ago
A North Dakota man impressed with the facility and community will fill the position of president and chief executive officer at St. Francis Hospital & Health Services.
“Both SSM (Sisters of St. Mary) and St. Francis have good reputations,” future St. Francis president and CEO Michael Baumgartner said. “I see St. Francis as a progressive facility, and I see a successful future for both St. Francis and the community of Maryville.” …
St. Francis Hospital & Health Services Interim CEO Nellie Agyagos said Baumgartner was chosen from four applicants after a six-month search, following the resignation of Ray Brazier. She said Baumgartner will be an asset to the entire operation of the hospital.
100 years ago
LABELLE SCHOOL IS FIRST
TO BE RATED SUPERIOR
Rural School, Southeast of Ravenwood,
Has Fulfilled All Requirements of the State
SIXTY IN COUNTY STANDARD
McCann School in Jefferson Township Is Latest to Be Placed on This List—County Schools Have Been Improved
The Labelle school, southeast of Ravenwood, is the first rural school in Nodaway County to receive superior rating from the state department of education, the school having fulfilled all of the requirements for both standard and superior rating. Miss Iva Fish is the teacher of the Labelle school. There are about sixty schools in the county that have attained standard rating in the state department and others will no doubt complete requirements for superior ranking this year. The McCann school in Jefferson Townships with Miss Mary Wirth as teacher is the most recent one to be placed on the standard list.
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.org/collections/newspapers/mdnp. The original article ran in the Dec. 24, 1921, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.
