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USDA names

CHARLESTON - Cathy Walters is the new community development manager at the Charleston USDA Rural Development office.

Walters has 31 years of experience with the agency beginning as a county office clerk in Scott County then as a county office technician in Mississippi County. A community development specialist at the local office for the last seven years, she has been acting community development manager since the retirement of Morris Ridge in August.

Since becoming a community development specialist in 1995, Walters has worked in all Rural Development programs including single-family and multi-family housing, community facilities, water and waste and business and industry.

Walters can be contacted at the USDA Rural Development office, located at 831 S. Highway 105 in Charleston, or by calling 573-649-9947, extension 4.

Moore joins

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Gretchen Morse of Benton has joined the staff of the Workforce Investment Board of Southeast Missouri.

The monitoring assistant for the management information systems at the WIB office in Cape Girardeau, Morse started her duties Nov. 4.

Morse and her husband, Kevin, and their children, Taylor, 10, and Joshua, 8, reside in Benton. Morse attended two years of high school at New Madrid County Central High School and is a graduate of Kelly High School in Benton.

"We are very pleased to have Gretchen on the WIB staff to assist Wanda Dillon and Tammy Tankersley with customer file data and monitoring. She is a great addition to the staff," said Ken Boyer, current president and COO of the Workforce Investment Board.

The Workforce Investment Board offices are at 760 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

Dewitt adds

SIKESTON - Steve Lambert, a native of Sikeston, recently joined the DeWitt Company.

Lambert, who has 25 years of sales experience, will serve as sales manager for Dewitt, which is an international manufacturer and supplier of landscape fabrics and accessories.

A graduate of Sikeston High School, Lambert is married to Marla Bryant Lambert, formerly of Portageville. The couple has two children, Andrew, a freshman at Southeast Missouri State University, and Abbey, a freshman at Sikeston Junior High School.

Woodmen rep

ESSEX - Ron Ledbetter, a district representative with Modern Woodmen of America, was membership leader and agent of the month in the Missouri East Agency for November.

Also Ledbetter was selected membership leader in the Missouri East Agency for the month of December.

Ledbetter joined Modern Woodmen's Rainwater Agency, located in Farmington, in June 1991.

Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal life insurance society. which provides life insurance and annuity products to more than 760,000 members nationwide.

For more information contact Ledbetter at 573-283-5925 or the agency office at 573-701-0163.