Stories from Thursday, April 5, 2012

CHARLESTON -- Dianna Kathleen Vinson Heinly, 53, died at 4:10 a.m. April 1, 2012, at her cousin's home in Charleston. Born Sept. 10, 1958, in Charleston, to the late Lawrence Edward and Mary Loucretia Thurman Vinson, she had lived in Charleston her entire life...

SIKESTON -- Shelia Bain, 64, died April 3, 2012, at her home in Sikeston. She was born Sept. 18, 1947, in Cairo, Ill., to the late Bryan and Elsia Mae Collier Layne, she was a member of the Fellowship Baptist Church. She had been employed as a teller and also worked in the loan department at Montgomery Bank for 17 years...

BERTRAND -- Della Rae Davenport Miller, 76, formerly of Charleston, died April 4, 2012, at the East Prairie Nursing Center. Born July 21, 1935, in Harrisburg, Ill., to the late Samuel and Alline Grounds Chase, she had lived most of her life in Charleston...

PORTAGEVILLE -- Arnett Mary Murrell, 88, died April 3, 2012, at Pemiscot County Memorial Hospital in Hayti. Born April 30, 1923, in Sikeston, to the the late Arthur and Ruth Terrett Fisher, she was a member of the Eastern Star. On Aug. 10, 1940, in Portageville, she married Grady Odell Murrell Sr. who preceded her in death on April 24, 1995...

NEW MADRID -- Bennie Lee Cannon, 86, died April 1, 2012, at the Golden Living Center in New Madrid. Born April 10, 1925, in Rose Bud, Ark., to the late James and Suvilla Strickland DuPriest, she was a member of the House of Prayer COGI in Parma. On July 6, 1943, at New Madrid, she married Theodore Cannon, and he preceded her in death...

DEXTER -- Betty Jane Doerschlen, 83, died March 31, 2012, at her home. Born Oct. 31, 1928, in Niles, Mich., to the late John and Elsie Fischer, she was a homemaker and had lived in Dexter for 31 years. On April 11, 1955, in Lordsburg, N.M., she married Eddy J. Doerschlen, and he survives of the home...

MALDEN -- Robert Lee Franklin Coleman Sr., 77, died April 3, 2012, at the Golden Living Center in Malden. Born June 8, 1934, in Portageville, to the late Jesse and Hazel Ruth Pyle Coleman, he was a retired farmer and a member of the Stokelan Drive Christian Church in Malden...

sports@standard-democrat.com FARMINGTON -- Sikeston golfer Evan Deere finished first in the Farmington Invitational Tournament on Wednesday as the Bulldogs placed second as a team at Crown Pointe Golf Course. Deere, a senior, shot a 77 to lead the field...

sports@standard-democrat.com ORAN -- In scoring five runs in the first inning of Wednesday's contest against Scott City, the Oran Eagles were able to put the visiting Rams in an early hole they couldn't dig out of. Padding their lead in all but the second frame, the Eagles went on to pick up their sixth win of the season, 10-2...

leonnah@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Hundreds of Christians will line two Missouri highways on Good Friday to create the largest live cross this Easter season. Set for 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday along highways 60 and 63 in Missouri, the Carry the Cross movement aims to raise awareness of Jesus Christ as volunteers stand with 10-foot tall crosses every quarter of a mile to make a make one giant cross...

jillb@standard-democrat.com WYATT - It is an area of marked contrast. A farmer's tractor moves along a roadway to a field where planting will soon begin. Just across the road is a field with a scoured ditch and pocked with sediment from the floodwaters which inundated the 130,000 acres of the floodway after the Birds Point-New Madrid levee was breached by the Corps of Engineers...

scottw@standard-democrat.com SIKESTON -- Sikeston's street program is on pace to finish early this year. "We're actually running a little ahead of schedule because of the good weather we've had," said Steve Lee, street superintendent. "I anticipate that on the track we're on right now, the program should be totally completed sometime in July."...