Archives of Community

meet along the way: Laura Irvan

This story first published as “Survivor Stories: Surviving Breast Cancer” in the 2025 issue of Survivor Stories, inserted into the Southeast Missourian Oct. 9, 2025. While laying in bed one night reading at age 34, Laura Irvan felt a lump in her breast. Although she didn’t think much of it at the time, she called […]
4 days ago

meet along the way: Val Grant

This story was first published as “Community Cookbook: Make Cornbread with Val Grant from Sikeston, Mo.” in the September 2024 issue of The Best Years.  Violet “Val” Grant grew up in a large family in Sikeston, Mo. Her mother, Hattie, birthed 18 children, with Grant coming close to the end at No. 16. Her dad […]
4 days ago

meet along the way: Jayne Ervan

This story was first published in the September 2024 issue of The Best Years. Jayne Ervin, owner of Jayson Jewelers, grew up in Cape Girardeau with a city grandmother and a country grandmother. She says her city grandmother, Grace Erlbacher Dace, was a classy lady, always well-dressed, with hair and nails to match. As a […]
4 days ago

meet along the way: Mary Rowe

This story was first published in the October 2025 issue of The Best Years as “Community Cookbook: Make pecan tassies and kolackys with Mary Rowe of Marble Hill, Mo.” Mary Rowe of Marble Hill, Mo., grew up the fourth child out of 10. Since her father was in the Navy, they often moved throughout the […]
3 weeks ago

meet along the way: Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA

This story was first published as “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA” in the September 2025 issue of The Best Years. Rhonda Weller-Stilson, MFA, first took the stage in the second grade when she played a fairy in a play at her public school in Cincinnati. She continued theater throughout high school and into […]
3 weeks ago

meet along the way: Dara Drury

This story was first published as “Community Cookbook: Make Senior Center meatloaf with Dara Drury of Cape Girardeau” in the August 2025 issue of The Best Years.   Mondays through Fridays, Cape Senior Center kitchen manager and head cook Dara Drury feeds approximately 400 people in Cape Girardeau County, from Scott City to Whitewater to […]
2 months ago

Sponsored Content: Teen Challenge Extends Ministry to Women Through New Deborah’s House

For 55 years, Adult & Teen Challenge Mid-America has transformed men’s lives in Southeast Missouri, helping to free them from addiction and reintegrate into society through spiritual, vocational, academic and transitional residential services. Now, the Bible-based recovery program is expanding its ministry to women. “It’s like God’s bringing it full-circle — we’re going to be […]
2 months ago

Funny Women: SEMO improv group provides space for comedians to shine

By Lily Niebrugge In Southeast Missouri State University’s (SEMO) Dramatically Incorrect Comedy Club (DICC), students like freshman musical theater major Brea Johnson take center stage in their comedy. Johnson says she auditioned for DICC, an improv troupe on SEMO’s River Campus that produces shows often comparable to the early 2000s TV show “Whose Line Is […]
2 months ago

Collecting: Jennifer Birk-Cook, Hats

As a child, Jennifer Birk-Cook says she always loved her family’s tradition of wearing Easter bonnets to church on Easter Sunday each year. And she remembers her first two hats: her cowboy hat, which she wore when her family rode their horses in the Sikeston Rodeo Parade, and an Easter bonnet she wore to church […]
2 months ago

Collecting: Taylor Ebersohl, Seashells

The Bahamas; Tybee Island, Ga.; St. Augustine, Fla.; Gulf Shores, Ala.; Biloxi, Miss. Taylor Ebersohl, a recent graduate of Perryville High School who now attends Missouri State University to study entertainment management, has collected seashells from her family’s trips from all of these beaches. Some of her unique finds include a shark tooth, fish scales […]
2 months ago