Historical May 1988 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Thanks to all of you who noticed that this column did not appear last month.
As Karen Bynum so aptly put it, “I don’t see why you can’t hold two part-time jobs, be a full-time mother, be in this play and also write your column. What’s wrong with you anyway?” I don’t know, just lazy I guess.
Thanks to all of you, like Karen, who understood.
Speaking of the play, it was great to see so many friends and neighbors at the Center of Contemporary Art for the Skinker-DeBaliviere theater performance April 9. Believe me, up there on that lonely stage, it was so wonderful to see so many smiling, encouraging faces.
The performance was dedicated to the memory of Betty Nerviani, a long-time neighborhood resident, and frequent participant in neighborhood theater productions. Al Nerviani was in the audience and even promised to join a future cast. Personally speaking, it was a real pleasure to get to know well a number of neighbors whom I only knew casually before.
A special treat was the opportunity to know and work with Rita Washington-Sweets, who directed the show. Rita, formerly of 6100 Westminster, now of 5600 Kingsbury, is the Director of the Artistsin-Education Residency Program of Young Audiences, Inc., 5615 Pershing.
Dan Shea, 6100 Kingsbury, was unable to be on hand to see his wife, Kathleen Williams, perform in the show.
He was performing himself that night at the Edison Theater in Washington University’s production of Equus.
Dan was walking on a cloud when he showed up at our dress rehearsal, April 8.
It seems that the cast of Equus had received a standing ovation that night.
Congratulations to another thespian, Mary Bea Stout, 6100 McPherson.
Mary Bea appeared in Voices—an experimental theatre project—at the Mildred E. Bastian Center for the Performing Arts on the Forest Park Community College Campus. Dr. Larry Gallamore, pastor at Grace United Methodist, Skinker and Waterman, is teaching a course in psychoneuroimmunology at Grace, which is also being taken as a correspondence course by people in St. Louis, as well as New York, and even one person in Europe.
The course shows ways in which emotions and attitudes, both negative and positive, effect health and illness. Dr. Carol Peck, 6100 McPherson, of the UMSL School of Optometry, was recently awarded a five-year, $600,000 federal grant.
The grant will be used to study the eyes’ response to stimuli, designed to help researchers to better understand some neurological disorders.
This represents the largest research grant ever awarded to someone at UMSL.
Congratulations to Mary Karr and John Sappington, 6100 Kingsbury, on the birth of their daughter, Anne Karr Sappington, on Easter Sunday, April 3. Baby Anne weighed in at eight and a half pounds. DeWitt Campbell, 6100 Pershing, a sophomore at Roosevelt, was selected by the faculty there to be the first participant in a rural-urban student exchange program. DeWitt spent two weeks in February on the Proffitt family farm in Richmond, Missouri, Mr. Proffitt is a school board member in Richmond.
Another sophomore from that school district was selected to spend two weeks in the city with the family of Marjorie Smith, a member of the St. Louis School Board. DeWitt, 16, says he learned a lot about rural living, and found that it wasn’t all the way he had thought it would be. Susan and Sandy Rothschild, 6200 Washington, had a splendid vacation earlier this year in Barbados.
They visited Sandy’s mother who vacations there from her home in Toronto.
They were also able to spend a few days visiting Disney World and Epcot with Sandy’s brother and his family. Betty Klinefelter, 6100 Kingsbury, has been traveling again.
She took a wonderful cruise to South America in March.
They stopped in Caracas to sight-see and continued down the Atlantic coast past Devil’s Island which was deserted in 1947, and quite eerie.
The cruise continued on to the mouth of the Amazon, and then traveled 1,000 miles up the Amazon to Manaus, Brazil, a city of a million people. Along the way, they stopped at three villages; one so primitive, Betty said she felt as though she had stepped into another century.
At some stops, the passengers even had to wade into the shore.
Most of the time, however, the travelers were not “roughing-it:’ The cruise ship served six meals a day, and featured wonderful entertainment nightly. Never one to stay at home and rest, Betty also traveled to Chicago this past month to see the Georgia O’Keefe exhibition. Other neighbors had spring vacations as well. Tom and Karleen Hoerr, 6100 Kingsbury, vacationed in Hawaii in March. Clare Kerz, 6100 Washington, spent her spring break in Florida.
Welcome to the neighborhood to August and Christopher White, 6100 Washington. Originally from Washington, D.C., the Whites are more recently from Little Rock, where Christopher was in the military for five years and August received her Masters in Operations Management. Christopher now works in the Assets, Management and Pension Services department of Travelers Insurance Co. August is currently job-hunting. Next time there should be lots of baby news, there are many on the way. Til then…
Original photograph caption
The May 9th performance of “West of Pecos” was an outstanding display of neighborhood talent. The cast, eighteen members strong, was led by Rita Washington-Sweets. The production was followed by a buffet reception, featuring the culinary talents of other neighbors and friends. The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, May 1988, page 5. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, May 1988.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Photo caption says May 9th; the column and preceding April issue identify the performance as April 9. Preserve conflicting caption date. Source Mary Karr differs from earlier Mary Carr; not harmonized.
Original source: SD_Times1988_05.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
