Stories from Wednesday, December 2, 2020

I wish people would give up their red hats and start wearing face masks. We would be a lot safer.

Dear Editors: I am feeling excited about this year’s meal. Why? Because with the COVID-19 virus, we had to completely redo how we executed the meal. No walk-rounds, no phone calls, no deliveries all over town — a whole new ballgame! We did it! We served 680 meals with very few snafus wearing our masks and gloves and trying hard to practice social distancing. Volunteers were sparse, but we still got the job done. …...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Averie Lynn Williams, age 6, went to Heaven on Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020 at 8:53 p.m. at her home surrounded by her loving family.

 She was born June 18, 2014. She was the precious daughter of Elliott and Carrie Williams, and little sister to Eli and Ashton Williams all of Cape Girardeau.

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NEW MADRID, Mo. — Evelyn Gertrude Dubois, 83, passed away peacefully at her home in New Madrid on Nov. 19, 2020. She was cared for by her daughter, Phyllis St. Mary, and many other loving caretakers through an extended illness. In Matthews, Missouri, on April 30, 1937, Gertrude, the fifth child of eight, was born to John Sterling Nolen and Evelyn Miller Nolen. ...

POWHATAN, Va. — Ruth Sanders, 73, of Powhatan, formerly of Advance, Missouri, passed away Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020, at her home. She was born Nov. 10, 1947, in Canalou, Missouri, daughter to Earl Ross and Loyal Partain Jones. On Nov. 15, 1968, she and Richard E. Sanders Sr. were united in marriage in Sikeston. He preceded her in death on Sept. 17, 2001...

SIKESTON — Ernest B. Deason, Age 76, died Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, at his home in Sikeston. Born Feb. 29, 1944, at Sikeston, to the late Benjamin Deason and Beatrice Crook Deason, he had lived in Sikeston most of his life. On April 27, 1991, he married Cynthia Feese, who survives of the home...

SIKESTON — Judith Ann Northcutt, age 80, of Sikeston, died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Judy, the daughter of Lacy Burl Taber and Eva Marie Lancaster Taber, was born June 27, 1940, at Matthews, Missouri. On May 17, 1960, at Canalou, Missouri, she married Gilbert Ray Northcutt, who preceded her in death April, 29, 2019. Judy was co-owner of Ruth and Judy’s Draperies with her sister, Ruth Etta Burch...

SIKESTON — Ann Crumpecker Tucker died on Nov. 29, 2020, at the Methodist Hospice Residence in Memphis, Tennessee. She was born on Feb. 16, 1942, to Clarence and Gwendolyn Crumpecker. Ann graduated from Sikeston High School and then attended William Woods College for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri where she graduated with a degree in elementary education.

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Barton Ripley Thomas, affectionately known as Rip, 72, died Friday, Nov. 27, 2020. He was born September 30, 1948, in Villa Ridge, Illinois. Rip enlisted in the United States Air Force in November 1966. He was a highly skilled jet engine mechanic who was honorably discharged in 1972...

SIKESTON — Davey Roger McDowell, age 68, passed away Nov. 17, 2020, at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. He was born Sept. 11, 1952, in Dexter, Missouri, son of the late Coy Gardner McDowell and Martha Lou Kelley-McDowell. Davey was a lifelong resident of Sikeston, a member of Eastside Church of The Nazarene, a member of the Sikeston Fraternal Oder of Eagles and had been a self-employed construction worker before retiring...

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Leora May Bentley Chapman, age 73, formerly of Anniston, Missouri, died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, at Mercy South Hospital in St. Louis. Born Aug. 25, 1947, at Anniston, to Mary Frances McAfee Bentley who survives of Anniston, and the late Herbert Elmo Bentley, she grew up in Anniston and went on to attend Southeast Missouri State University graduating with a degree in Business Education and Library Science.