Stories from Thursday, February 7, 2008

Frank L. Swager Jr., 85, Nevada, passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, at Christian Health Care in Nevada. He was born Oct. 18, 1922, in Topeka, Kan., to Frank Leonard Swager Sr. and May Violet (Brown) Swager. He married Mary Jean Maple on Oct. 27, 1942, in Vancouver, Wash., and she preceded him in death on Feb. 3, 2004...

Rita Diane Daugherty, 65, of Kansas City, Mo., passed away Feb. 6, 2008, after a long battle with cancer. Visitation will be from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m., Monday at Muehlebach Funeral Home, 6800 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Mo. Interment and graveside services will be 2:30 p.m., Monday, at Worsley Cemetery, Bronaugh. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to American Cancer Society...

Edward Joseph Andula Sr., 79, of Leawood, Kan. passed away Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008, at St. Luke's South Medical Center, in Overland Park. Services were held at 2 p.m., Wednesday Feb. 6, at Heuser Funeral Home, in Rich Hill. Visitation was held at noon until 2 p.m., at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Lunch Association...

Last night I was in the waiting room of a medical institution that was very busy. There were people sitting around waiting and several staff people bustling around. As I sat in a chair that seemed very like one I had relaxed in during a visit to some friends' home during the day, I saw a familiar looking person come in one door and quickly go to another. I was surprised to see that it was my friend who now lives in Marionville, Mo., in the Methodist retirement village...

"You don't write English," Carl Simpson once complained to this English-loving scribbler. He meant, I trust, the likes of Mark Twain' s "English as she is spoke." I use too many long and strange words, others grumble. My sentences are too long, too full of obscure allusions, subordinate clauses, phrases in Latin yet! Sorry about that, chief. ...

In the past, views of farming and its influence on American life and culture have focused on the roles that men have played as farmers, while women's contributions to agricultural production were largely ignored, perpetuating the stereotype of the "farmer's wife." The photographic exhibition, "Voices of American Farm Women," opening on Feb. 11 at Cottey College, presents a contemporary perspective on women in agriculture...

A new take on curriculum has put one local teacher into the pages of a nationally recognized teacher reference magazine. Kathleen Day, a Northeast Vernon County High School art teacher, has been given a place in an edition of SchoolArts magazine, a nationally read publication offering art teachers across the country ideas and examples for expanding their curriculum and effectiveness with students...

It's an informal group, a small group but the TIPS group wants to do what larger groups can't -- give people a chance to interact with each other that is just not possible as part of a large group. "The small-group dynamic helps get people talking who normally wouldn't in a large group," Dr. Jason Meisenheimer said. "People feel more comfortable and aren't as reluctant to speak. Even if we get a lot of people coming to these get-togethers we'll still break up into small groups for that reason."...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Janelle Hawks, Darcy Bond, Taryn Charles, Cara Clow, Hailee Miller, Samantha Whitworth and Jessi Snead from Vernon County were among the 277 youth delegates attending the 2008 Missouri 4-H Teen Conference, Feb. 2-3, at Stoney Creek Inn, Columbia. These youth, ages 11-13, built leadership skills and increased their knowledge of healthy lifestyles, international education opportunities, and what it takes to be a "difference maker" in their local communities...

The Nevada Red Sox American Legion program will be holding try-outs for their 2008 teams on Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Nevada Middle School starting a 1 p.m. If the weather permits the try-outs will be moved to Lyons Stadium. Any interested baseball player who lives in Vernon County or attends school in the Hume or Rich Hill school districts and was 19 years old or younger on Jan. 1, 2008, is welcome to try-out for the Nevada Red Sox teams...

Anyone who is planning to attend the Nevada-McDonald County basketball games Friday night in Anderson will have an opportunity to eat at the High School instead of hunting for a restaurant. The McDonald County High School Drug Free Scholarship group is holding a food fair Friday night in conjunction with the basketball game...