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PHOTO: From left, lifelong friends Melanie Walton, Sgt. Tara Shepard, Maria Stevenson   A few members of our extended family responded to our country's call to service. My father served in the United States Air Force during the Korean Conflict. He gave the country four years of his life. The country repaid him with a college education at the University of Missouri, a first for our family; a home bought with a loan backed by the federal government; a successful, rewarding career as an electronic engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration that allowed him to work at headquarters in Washington, D.C.; and a retirement plan that he was able to pay toward and afford. He's retired now. But probably busier

POPLAR BLUFF - Those of us in Poplar Bluff tend to take its towering stare for granted, but there was a time the John J. Pershing Veterans Hospital was only an idea. With this week’s observance of Veterans Day, Angela Smith, Public Affairs Officer at the VA Medical Center, recounts that the hospital has a fascinating past and an equally exciting future. The Veterans Health Administration had its birth during the Civil War, when the first federal hospitals sprung up in order to service the young nation’s volunteer forces. Just a month before the Civil War ended, on March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln authorized the first national soldiers’ and sailors’ asylum to provide medical and convalescent care for discharged

It is with great admiration that we, the staff of SEMO TIMES, put forth this issue devoted to the Veterans of the United States of America. In June of 2007, Toni and I traveled to the Coronado Naval Base in San Diego for the retirement ceremony of family friend, Commodore Dennis Schulz. The ceremony was on the deck of the USS Midway. Toni sang the song we wrote, “Duty Calls,” and I sang the “Star Spangled Banner.” What an honor. What an awe-inspiring ceremony. After the ceremony, the first of several parties was held on the carrier lift (basically a huge elevator to bring the aircraft to/from the deck). I was listening to all the stories told of the men

It is perhaps one of the most mournful sounds on earth, the sound of a lone bugle, both mournful and peaceful, ringing over the land. The notes ring across a green field with white stones, as orderly as the troops who once marched in rhythmic movements, dressed in sharp uniforms. It’s a sound Ken Swearengin, Cemetery Director for the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield, has heard many times. With Veterans Day being observed this week, it’s fitting to think about the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and to give equal thought to the men and women who came back to their country, lived lives in and out of military service, but still choose

PHOTO: Early photo of building now housing Hays The Music Store Most folks would agree that music can be spiritually uplifting. But one musical instrument store in downtown Poplar Bluff might be the haunted home of spirits that lift and toss objects around for fun, longtime employees and owner said. The Beigley Building that houses Hays the Music Store at 401 Vine Street was spared from destruction in 1927 when a formidable tornado ran roughshod over the area. The building was utilized to serve the many traumatized people who found themselves injured - or worse - as a result of the cataclysmic event. "It really was nearly beyond belief," said Allen Gallamore, longtime employee at Hays. "There were 102 people killed.