Archives of Community

By Jasmine Jones This story was first published in the December 2022 issue of The Best Years with the title “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Joann Lester.” When Joann Lester walks into the dining room of Chick-fil-A in Cape Girardeau, she instantly begins serving people: grabbing their trays and trash, rushing to open doors, chatting with […]

At 12 years old, Fran Scholl knew she wanted to be in the military. What she didn’t know was how unusual that was for a young girl in 1968. As the oldest girl in a family with 11 kids, she grew up feeding and rocking her younger siblings. Mothering and nurturing were second nature to […]

By Sydney Waters Being an events coordinator for Old Town Cape is rewarding in so many ways. It truly is a career that combines structure and creativity in the most intricate web, and I feel very honored to have found and fit this position. We have established that sustainability of downtown Cape Girardeau is directly […]

By Nicolette Baker This story was originally published in the Summer 2022 issue of mind + body. It’s an almost universal start to the morning: a hot (or cold!) cup of coffee. Milk, cream, sugar or black — however you take your coffee, everyone has their preferences. Katie Britt starts each day with a French […]

By Jasmine Jones This story was first published in the August 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” Recipes tell the stories of communities and the people who shape them. Each recipe is more than a list of ingredients and steps: It is a written legacy of the individual who created the dish, their family and […]

This story was first published as “Faces of Southeast Missouri: Nora Speight” in the July 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” Nora Speight’s love of flowers comes from her grandfather she calls “Paw Paw.” He lived on a farm in Marston, Mo., where Speight got paid $3 to pick 100 pounds of cotton as a […]

By Jasmine Jones This story was first published in the July 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” Recipes tell the stories of communities and the people who shape them. Each recipe is more than a list of ingredients and steps: It is a written legacy of the individual who created the dish, their family and […]

By Jasmine Jones This story was first published in the June 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” Church and civic group cookbooks tell the stories of their community and the people who shape them. Each recipe in these cookbooks is more than a list of ingredients and steps: It is a written legacy of the […]

By Lizzy Stock This story was first published in the June 2022 issue of “The Best Years.” When Gail Lowrance retired from teaching special education in 2014, she spent a summer in a tiny town in California where everyone knew each other by name. On her third day there, a bookstore owner recognized her by […]