'Save our caboose'

Robbie Gillespie of Sikeston plays with his Thomas the Tank Engine trains in front of the Sikeston Depot Museum's caboose. The 2-year-old train enthusiast is sharing his third birthday party with a public fundraiser to help repair the Sikeston monument, which was recently found to have roof damage and other problems. "Save Our Caboose" will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday behind the Depot at Legion Park. (Photo Leonna Heuring, Staff)

Birthday will also serve as fundraiser

leonnah@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- As a child, Linsey Smith Gillespie remembers countless times playing on the caboose that sits next to the Sikeston Depot Museum.

"We climbed all over it. We had tea parties and played like we were riding on the railroad," the 25-year-old Sikeston woman recalled. "I played with my sister, and all of Don and Nell Lowe's grandkids."

The Don Lowe family donated the caboose to the Sikeston Depot Museum shortly before it officially opened to the public in March 2000.

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