Life Story

The educators of educators have much to share in the nation’s universities. The tricks of the school trade, however, get discovered with time.  ... Read more
Dr. Billi Tiner has a theory that serves her as a veterinarian and a writer. It deals with the human-animal bond, a mutually beneficial tie that fulfills cross-species needs.  ... Read more
The roof had a hole in it large enough to let the seasons in. The rain, snow and wind blew in for so many years that grass and weeds grew out of the lopsided floor. Water pipes hung unattached. Chunks of ceiling laid on the floor.  ... Read more
The hill pushes up Spring Street, just like it did 50 years ago. This contour sweeps the southerly winds of spring toward the crest, where, of all things, an old fire engine has planted itself.  ... Read more
The journey of 354 million miles begins with a single step. Well, not so much a step as an inspiration.  ... Read more
The man wrote letters from prison addressed to “my dear and affectionate wife,” hoping for her good health because no letters had arrived from home. Desperation pushed him in one correspondence to question “whether I’m writing to the living or the dead.”  ... Read more
Leota Elder remembers a moment when the presentation of Handel’s “Messiah” looked completely entwined with her family’s genetics.  ... Read more
Dorothy Ditmars believes in divine direction. The topic came up in her Sunday school class recently, the discussion turning on why people do what they do.  ... Read more
Cable news talkers stake out small-town coffee shops in their campaign coverage, a suggestion of simpler times. The presence of cameras, microphones and TV celebrities sort of defeats the idea.  ... Read more
A world of uncertainty deserves something steadfast. Michael Gier finds that in a two-letter word. Pi.  ... Read more
Kathy Bourek remembers her grandmother’s umbrage at the goading remark about heritage.  ... Read more
Leechia Jones hesitated before she opened the door to her office at Family Guidance Center’s Chemical Dependency facility.  ... Read more
Fourteen children in various stages of wiggle sit on the library floor as Will Stuck gives them a choice.  ... Read more
Dr. Ann Sherman’s career in economics has followed a right-place-right-time arc.  ... Read more
Pictures on the wall show firefighters, a century removed in time. The black-and-white stills have these solemn men posed beside equipment of their day, now more suitable for museums.  ... Read more
Curtis Howard started his career guarding the home of serial killer Marvin Irvin while authorities served a search warrant.  ... Read more
The international airport in Miami stood as a gateway to the lower Americas but, make no mistake, it had a ratty feel in the mid-1970s.  ... Read more
Janet Degase knows her way around the fine points of needles. She teaches classes in knitting and crocheting, amusements the Maryville woman picked up at age 8.  ... Read more
In the basement’s quiet, thousands of items have thousands of voices.  ... Read more
Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy seems to have mastered the art of good timing that arises from bad timing.  ... Read more
Jesse Barbosa remembers the night he rained 42 points on Central High School.  ... Read more
The contrasting views of Cite Soleil could not have been more stark for Lori Biggs and Matt Goedken.  ... Read more
The mechanics of arranging a local history project play out in unemotional sequence: the proposal, the grant writing, the scheduling, the hours aimed at presentation.  ... Read more
Howard Geib can point across the moonscape to the place he grew up.  ... Read more
Susie Minor never discusses that early concession stand without use of the adjectives “rickety” and “old.”  ... Read more
David Krajicek used to sit outside the St. Joseph house, the one on South 38th Street, and try to wrap his mind around what happened there.  ... Read more
Joe Laukemper stands amid the vines and runs a hand through a cluster of Chambourcin grapes. The deep purple hybrid, he believes, holds some promise for rural Missouri.  ... Read more
Boxing gloves seem the incongruent element in the festive hall. The decorated tables of the June Conley Building celebrate a 19-month-old boy.  ... Read more
Karl Rice won’t say he was born to trapping, though his father, a conservation agent, knew the ways of the wild.  ... Read more
The phone rang at 9 p.m., and Amy Jo Edwards prepared to learn another harsh lesson.  ... Read more
Mike Rumsower stood in the middle of the loneliest road in America and screamed at God.  ... Read more
The scene plays in Jim Hartzell's mind not only for comic value, but as a reminder of the loosey-goosey rules that once governed fireworks.  ... Read more
After villainy in the Garden of Eden played out, humans never saw snakes in a positive way. Shelly Cox has a more forgiving spirit.  ... Read more
Evelyn Jordan-Isaacs begins each artwork in its own way. The process might start in the late afternoon, or inspiration might come in the middle of the night. The subjects vary according to her mood, whatever feels worthwhile in the moment.  ... Read more
Lee Crouch has had a bird’s-eye view of like a thousand runways.  ... Read more
George Washington, the sign points out, never slept in King City, Mo. But William Jennings Bryan did.  ... Read more
Missourians who fought in the Spanish-American War would not recognize a geomapped world.  ... Read more
Beverly McCulloch marvels at the irony and delights in telling young people about it.  ... Read more
Behind a partition in Carol Brandon’s classroom, a foothill of cardboard rises. It portends change.  ... Read more
Jean Hoffman’s role in the Lafayette Fun Fest of 1936 belied the situation of almost everyone with whom she went to school.  ... Read more

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