Joplin Metro, PathFinder, Jan-Feb 2015

volume 5

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january/february 2015

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he dictionary definition of the word “pathfinder” is “a person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way.”6 Our definition can be found by reading the profiles on the THE SCENE pages that follow.

10 You will read about leaders in art, education and community. Their THE 10-SPOT names, in many cases, are the first you think of when these topics 65 15 COVER: 10 Pathfinders features 50 HEALTH: Overcoming post-holiday depression are mentioned.

THE J LIST Others, through successful business ventures, provided much 36 PROFILE: Lord of the ring 54 STYLE: Valentine’s “heart” gifts 66 needed jobs for our area and quietly provided a hand up to THE PARTING 42 HISTORY: Glossary of History and Architecture TO THE EARS: Third Party individuals and organizations in60theMUSIC community.

SHOT 46 TASTE: Ice cream in Joplin Some dared toareabe the first. They opened doors when all those doors were closed. Sometimes they had even been slammed shut.

But through their courage, their passion and their dedication, they led the way. area is aCONTRIBUTING better place because our T H E J T EOur AM T H E J O P Lof IN G L O B E 2015 class of Pathfinders.

PHOTOGRAPHERS EDITOR PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER SALES MANAGER J MAG is a publication of Newspaper Holdings Inc. and T. Rob Brown Laurie Sisk Now, we proudly them to you.

Lindsey Gregoryintroduce Bobbie Pottorff Kevin McClintock Janette Cooper Mike Beatty is published monthly. All rights reserved. No portion Phone: 417.627.7279 Fax: 417.623.8598 E-Mail: kmcclintock@joplinglobe.com MAGAZINE WRITER Ryan Richardson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michael Coonrod Bobbie Pottorff Amanda Stone Carol Stark

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Roger Nomer

Ryan Richardson

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Brian Huntley Emily Smalley Allison Ezell Lindsey Gregory Regina Carnahan COVER PHOTO T. Rob Brown COVER DESIGN Brian Huntley GRAPHIC DESIGN Publications Press, Inc.

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Phone: 417.627.7291 Fax: 417.623.8450 E-Mail: mbeatty@joplinglobe.com

Phone: 417.627.7236 Fax: 417.623.8550 E-Mail: jcooper@joplinglobe.com

EDITOR Carol Stark Phone: 417.627.7278 Fax: 417.623.8598 E-Mail: cstark@joplinglobe.com

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Jack Kaminsky Phone: 417.627.7341 Fax: 417.623.8450 E-Mail: jkaminsky@joplinglobe.com

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING Brent A. Powers Phone: 417.627.7233 E-Mail: bpowers@joplinglobe.com

DIRECTOR OF MAGAZINES Julie Damer Phone: 417.627.7323 Fax: 417.623.8450 E-Mail: jdamer@joplinglobe.com

of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher.

The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any editorial or advertising matter. The publisher assumes no responsibilty for return of unsolicited materials.

from the editor

In all, they are six men and four women, each a leader in their respective fields.

Each selected individual is easily recognizable in name and deed. And as Joplin Globe editor Carol Stark so eloquently puts it in the cover package’s

fifth year, and we’re always trying to keep the magazine and its contents fresh. We feel the new logo reflects the magazine’s local focus. We continue to strive to bring you some of the best features and photography you’ll find in our local area.

So true.

Also in this issue you’ll read stories about romantic spots in the area as well as a very informative piece about purchasing the perfect ring for that perfect someone in your life, either for Valentine’s or engagement. You will also read about how to battle post-holiday depression in our health section, the future of Joplin band “Third Party” in our music section, and, in partnership with the Joplin Museum Complex, another popular installment of the Glossary of History and Architecture.

Oh — and we also talk about ice cream.

Hey, no matter how cold it is outside, ice cream will always hit the spot.

Remember, if you have an interesting idea for a story, or if you know someone who would make a great subject for a feature, don’t hesitate to contact us or leave a message. You can reach me at kmcclintock@joplinglobe.com, by mail at J MAG, 117 E. Fourth St., Joplin, Mo. 64801 or by calling us at 417.627.7279.

Kevin McClintock Editor J MAG

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

This edition of J MAG highlights 10 individual pathfinders who have — through their actions, words, critical decisions and deeds — helped shape Joplin and the surrounding communities into a better places for individuals to live and families to grow.

introduction, “You will read about leaders in art, education and community.

Their names, in many cases, are the first you think of when these topics are mentioned.”

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lip open a dictionary and look up the word pathfinder. Now, the English language is full of goofy words that sometimes sound all wrong, or are spelled wrong, or simply don’t mean what you think it might or should mean. But there shouldn’t be any worries when it comes to the word “pathfinder.”

The definition is eloquent and easy to remember: A person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way.

Last but not least, you’ll notice a new J logo on our cover. J MAG is now in its 5

the scene

C H R I S T M A S PA R A D E PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAURIE SISK

Area Girl Scouts, all dressed up for winter and Christmas, pass down S. Main St. on a float.

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Snow White glows as she waves to parade patrons during the 44th Annual Christmas Parade in Joplin.

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Members of the East Middle School Band pump up the volume during the 44th Annual Christmas Parade in Joplin.

the scene

SPRINGFIELD BAND IN JOPLIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY RYAN RICHARDSON

The Springfield-based band, Pearl Boys, played recently at JB’s Piano Bar at 112 S. Main Street in Joplin.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Jimi rocks out on the guitar.

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Here, Cane and Kris perform. The band’s music focuses on the funky catalog of covers that reads more like a karaoke list than a genrespecific band. Think Morris Day and the Time from the 1980s — these guys aren’t afraid to take on a Lynard Skynard cover or two.

10-SPOT ROMANTIC SPOTS

BY KEVIN MCCLINTOCK

Local Romantic “Hot” Spots

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ou may have the most beautiful house in the world, surrounded by the best neighbors anyone could ask for, but at times you and the better half are forced to get away from it all: the screaming kids, the overloaded hampers of laundry, the cat hairs covering the living room carpet.

Whether it’s a candlelit dinner, a movie or a night’s stay inside a historic home, here are 10 romantic destinations in the Joplin area to keep in mind.

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Many romantic movies, whether comedies or tearjerkers, show couples spending some alone-time together inside cottages. Called “A lovers’ retreat,” Lakeside Cottages offers that rural sanctuary for loving Joplin couples. Pass away the hours inside one of two cottages, complete with leather loveseats, cozy fireplaces, queen-sized beds and luxurious jacuzzi tubs. The cottages, complete with a slide-swing chair, faces a 6.5-acre spring-fed lake, complete with paddle boats or a canoe ride.

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Rates range from $150 a night up to $810 for six or seven days.

For reservations, call 417.621.0203.

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Not very many people can say they have spent the night inside a 105-year-old house. This bucket-list item can be checked off when you step inside The Creative Cottage, a private, two-bedroom suite located in Joplin’s historic Murphysburg neighborhood.

Inside, enjoy the washed linen sheets, fluffy comforters and plump pillows, according to www.creativecollegejoplin.com. Outside, enjoy the backyard garden, pergola or inviting front porch. Fresh flowers, chilled champagne and comfortable furniture are all part of the experience at the Creative Cottage. Packages include “weekend writer,” “business visioning” and “meditation in clay.”

Located at 523 S. Sergeant Ave., call 417.438.6808 for details.

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Offering a potentially “spooky” take on the bed and breakfast theme, the Prosperity School Bed and Breakfast — located between Carterville and Carthage — offers four second-floor guestrooms, each with a private bathroom. Three rooms have jetted tubs or Bain Ultra Thermo Masseur tubs. Guests are treated to a full breakfast. The two-story former school house, built in 1907, is rumored to be haunted, and has even been investigated by the internationally-famed ghost hunting group TAPS.

This Queen Ann Victorian home was built in 1893 and offers Victorian architecture, furnishings along with modern comforts. Think of it as the ideal romantic getaway.

For more information, call 417.358.7265.

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It’s become a staple in numerous romantic comedies — a couple holding hands, gliding across the silk-smooth ice.

Snuggled inside the Jones Center For Families in downtown Springdale, Arkansas, sits an honest-togoodness ice arena. There’s no better way of saying “I love you” and creating some special moments than doing it on the area’s only ice rink.

You can skate for as cheap as $7 with others, or, if you want the rink all to yourself, you can rent the arena. For a $130 fee, you and your best friends can have a party complete with a private room and loft.

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A few miles to the east, Carthage’s Grand Avenue Bed and Breakfast showcases a unique twist to the bed and breakfast theme by offering a type of dinner theater with a Murder Mystery event. A group of friends can participate in the show or simply enjoy some romance away from home for an evening or long weekend.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

For more information, call 417.673.0833.

For more information, call 479.756.8090.

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Chocolates and flowers are often linked to Valentine’s Day — so, too, are wines.

At the White Rose Irish Bed and Breakfast and Winery (417.359.9253), you can wine and dine your true love and let all the cares of the day fade away. An afternoon of tasting their homemade and delicious wine can be followed up with dinner and a quiet night in one of their beautiful suites. In fact the White Rose Winery’s Norton won “gold” at the 29th Annual Lone Star International Wine Competition.

The White Rose Winery has a large selection of wines delighting even the most delicate of palates.

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At Keltoi Winery (417.642.6190) in Oronogo, you can enjoy their homemade wines — reds, whites, fruit, blushes and sparkling — inside “The Cottage” or the patio. During the winter time, you can sip a hot spiced wine called “gluhwein.”

Keltoi Vineyard was established in 1997. The grapes they primarily use are St. Vincent, a red French hybrid that has the capability of making a delicious full-bodied semi-dry wine.

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There’s nothing that says “I LOVE YOU!” quite like bellowing it from the basket of a hot air balloon — at sunrise or sunset. Sure, such rides and services are more prevalent in larger, more urban areas, but there are balloon services available just a short drive away from your doorstep.

BalloonSport USA, based out of Springfield, is one of the few full-time balloon companies currently operating in the Midwest.

Flights take place shortly after sunrise or two hours before sunset, meeting at a convenient location with all passengers riding out to the launch site inside a chase van. Flights last roughly an hour. Rates are $200 per person.

To make an appointment, call 417.865.0800.

I Love You!

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Believe it or not, Valentine’s Day is becoming an ideal day for married couples to renew their vows, either in private sessions or in front of hundreds of friends and family.

To that end, there are a number of small wedding chapels located near Joplin, including Cedar Meadows Event Center/Wedding Chapel, Silver Creek Park Wedding Chapel and Lavern’s Wedding Chapel in Miami, Oklahoma. Look these places up on the Internet for more information.

Weddings, receptions and special events are what they do best at Phelps House in Carthage. The elegant nature of this historic landmark lends a hand in making your events memorable and romantic. You can book parties, receptions, bridal showers and intimate events at the Phelps House.

This restored piece of history has grand staircases and was built with locally mined marble back in 1895. Restored to its full glory, Phelps House is the perfect romantic setting for creating lasting memories.

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Want to spend a special night with others while being entertained? Check out several of the local theaters: Stained Glass Theater and Joplin Little Theater in Joplin as well as the Stone’s Throw Dinner Theatre in Carthage. For something with a bit more of a black tie feel, check out the unique dancing plays at Midwest Regional Ballet as well as professional symphonies via Pro Musica.

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A handful of Joplin’s finest dining spots has the perfect lighting and music to serenade those seeking a bit of romance and intimacy. Joplin’s “grandaddy,” Wilder’s Steakhouse (1216 S. Main St.), established in 1929, offers the finest selection of hand-cut steaks and seafood. Make a reservation at Caldone’s (218 S. Main St.) for a prepared table and glass of wine and dishes that are made to order, ensuring the highest quality. The Red Onion Cafe (203 E. 4th St.) is one of Joplin’s most popular “couple’s” spot, offering superb plates of steak, chicken and fish. The locally-owned Mythos (1306 S. Range Line Road) offers lunch and dinner plates of chicken, seafood and beef. The Red Oak Steakhouse at Downstream Casino and Josie’s Ristorante in Scammon, Kansas are two popular date night spots found outside Joplin’s city limits.

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cover story PAT H F I N D E R S

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he dictionary definition of the word “pathfinder” is “a person who goes ahead and discovers or shows others a path or way.”

Our definition can be found by reading the profiles on the pages that follow.

You will read about leaders in art, education and community. Their names, in many cases, are the first you think of when these topics are mentioned.

Others, through successful business ventures, provided much needed jobs for our area and quietly provided a hand up to individuals and organizations in the community.

Some dared to be the first. They opened doors when all those doors were closed. Sometimes they had even been slammed shut.

But through their courage, their passion and their dedication, they led the way.

Our area is a better place because of our 2015 class of Pathfinders.

Now, we proudly introduce them to you.

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Dan Stanley, ‘Mr. Joplin,’ continues to give to the community he loves

By Michael Coonrod | Photography by Roger Nomer

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{E

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veryone loves to hear about a local man or woman who does well for themselves; even more so the person who does well for themselves and their community.

Dan

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Stanley

Dan Stanley, a financial adviser who’s spent 59 of his 69 years in his hometown of Joplin, is more than qualified for that distinction.

While he helps people with their investments as his daily work, he’s invested himself with Joplin’s well-being.

“When you’ve been born and raised in a city, a city you love, and your mom and dad were real involved in the community and trying to do things daily to make Joplin better; you kind of adopt that philosophy in your own life,” he said.

“We literally would sit around the dinner table every evening as a family and we would talk about our city; our town; what was going on. We just talked about activities and current events. I’m thinking, ‘man, was I lucky, or what?’”

Stanley’s father was always involved with the community and his mother was a civic leader who founded a local youth center.

With his parents setting the example, it seems natural that Stanley would follow suit.

“When I’m happiest is when I’m thinking less about myself,’ he said. “And when I’m unhappiest is when I’m totally focused on ‘What does Dan want? What does Dan want to do?

What does Dan need?’”

That perspective was courtesy of another Joplin resident named Frank Evans. Stanley had junior high and Sunday school classes from Evans, who founded the Sheltered Workshop in Joplin and co-founded the Lafayette House. Evans imparted this wisdom to his students: ‘You all will find in life that the more you receive, the more you want, but the more you give, the more you become.’ He was just an amazing man,” Stanley said.

After attending college and serving in the Army, Dan has been working to help Joplin since 1970.

“I think I’ve been involved with almost every charitable organization in town and

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I’ve enjoyed every second of that,” Dan says.

“I really cut my teeth with civic work and notfor-profit work with my own church back in the early ‘70s. That kind of transferred into the United Way.” He’s also been active with the American Cancer Society, Spiva Arts Center and serves as a board member for the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri. That’s not to mention his work with the Boy Scouts, his church and Connect Culture; a visual and

community-minded passion. His son Logan has been instrumental in helping to rebuild the city. Ryan Stanley is a member of the Joplin City Council. Matthew has helped the post-recovery efforts with his videos of the storm damage and rebuilding projects.

“We just felt it was the natural thing to do, and we were just like everybody else,” Stanley said. “We are not the least bit special, we’re not the least bit unique; everybody had that same feeling.”

With family, friends and church members all dealing with the aftermath of the storm; the Stanley family felt it was their duty to help.

“It really was so widespread in our relationships that we just felt like we needed to do whatever we could and there were hundreds of people locally doing the same thing, and then thousands from all over the country and the world wanting to help us do it,” he said.

To honor those who helped with the rebuilding effort, the Stanley men have something special in mind for the storm’s fifth anniversary.

“We are really thinking that May 22 of 2016 is probably going to be the most significant day in a positive way in the history of Joplin,” he said.

The goals are: to honor those who died and lost so much in the storm; to thank the more than 200,000 volunteers who worked hard to help rebuild the city; and lastly, to celebrate Joplin’s rebirth.

With all these credits to his name, does Stanley feel like a Pathfinder?

“I’m very, very complimented, and honored, and humbled and I don’t agree with that choice,” he said, “but I’m going to accept the recognition and say thank you.”

When you’ve been born and raised in a city, a city you love, and your mom and dad were real involved in the community and trying to do things daily to make Joplin better; you kind of

”

adopt that philosophy in your own life. performing arts organization.

Even Mother Nature, in the form of an EF-5 tornado, couldn’t break his spirit.

“To see in one 20-minute storm, so much of what you’ve worked 40 or 50 years for, and my mom and dad had worked for a multiple number of years before me, it just broke our heart,” Stanley said. “So, yes, we really wanted to do everything we could to help Joplin rebuild well and quickly, and were amazed that three of my four sons that live here, they immediately had that same feeling as well.”

The Stanley children share their father’s

By Kevin McClintock | Photography by Roger Nomer

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Sallie Beard: 41 years as student, instructor, coach and athletic director

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n the fall of 1974, a group of student athletes changed Sallie Beard’s career — and the future of Missouri Southern State University — for the better.

} Sallie

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Beard

Congratulations from

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Beard had been teaching physical education at Missouri Southern State University since 1972, after she was offered the position by Southern President Dr. Leon Billingsly, whom she had known since childhood. She was in the groove, so to speak, and enjoying her burgeoning career as a college teacher.

But all that changed in a matter of minutes when a group of women student-athletes knocked on her office door. They didn’t beat around the bush after Beard greeted them.

They point-blank asked her if she would help them establish a women’s basketball team. Seconds later, they asked if she could coach them on that team.

“I had absolutely no inkling of what I was getting myself into when those girls walked into my office and asked if I could help them and I said, ‘Sure,’” Beard said.

“And the chain of events that was set into motion (because of that decision) completely altered what I thought my career was going to be.”

Two years prior to that fateful meeting, the passage of Title IX had opened the door for women in educational programs and activities by preventing discrimination on the basis of sex. Start-up athletic programs in colleges and universities, much like the one she was asked to coach at Southern, were springing up nationwide.

“I probably would have gotten involved in some way and at some point in time, but it certainly changed the direction I was headed in 1974,” Beard said. “I think (the creation of women’s athletics at MSSU) would have happened, whether it was me or someone else occupying that office. It may not have happened right then, at that particular moment, but it would have happened.”

If that meeting in her office back in 1974 was one book-end of her career, the other occurred on Oct. 13, when Beard received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators. Recipients of the award are chosen by the way they have advanced women in sports.

Mirroring what occurred to her when those student-athletes just randomly walked into her office with an offer she couldn’t refuse, she was equally surprised when she was asked to return a phone call to Association officials.

“Completely out of the blue,” she said of the phone conversation. “And that’s how I learned I had been awarded this. I was speechless. I stammered and stuttered around. I think I said,

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‘really?’”

During that conversation, she learned she’d been nominated for the award three years earlier.

“It was a real honor and a real privilege to be singled out that way and you can’t help to think that this is really the icing on the cake — to be recognized by your peers.”

As a first-year basketball coach in 1974, Beard led the Lady Lions to a more-than-respectable 11-2 record. She would also organize and coach Southerns’ first women’s tennis and softball teams.

She is often interviewed by local news media outlets when the Title IX anniversary rolls around, but the coverages of that landmark decision is sometimes frustrating.

“Most people associated Title IX with just athletics for women, and Title IX is so much more than that,” Beard said. “A lot of people don’t understand just how broad the implications of Title IX is. It’s often been narrowed down to women’s athletics, but that’s not fair to Title IX.” In fact, while Title IX is best known for its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, the original statute made no explicit mention of sports, when it was signed into law

by President Richard Nixon.

Despite that, women’s athletics has flourished.

According to the 2008 “Women in Intercollegiate Sport” study, since 1974, the number of women in high school sports has increased by a factor of nine, while the number of women in college sports has increased by more than 450 percent.

Outside athletics, thanks to Title IX, women have seen an increase in higher wages, a sharp rise in women’s college attendance, as well as receiving a four-year college degree. Most importantly of all, there was an immediate uptick of women working or even directing in work areas once dominated by men, , according to a 2012 Forbes article.

“It’s a broad law,” Beard said. “Its a culturechanging law.”

Beard retired as athletic director in 2009, following 37 years of service to MSSU and the community. Among her accomplishments during her tenure as athletics director were growing the athletics program, easing the school’s transition from the NAIA into the MIAA and constructing the $7 million Leggett & Platte Athletic Center.

But what Beard misses most is the interaction with the students.

“It was something different every day. It kept me engaged. I’m frequently asked if I miss my job.

What I miss is the engagement with the students and having students come in their freshman year and watching them transform (into adults) by the time they graduate. It’s a rewarding experience to watch.

“I hope my career, the bulk of my career, benefitted the student-athletic, male or female,” Beard continued. “I want them to know I worked for the student-athlete, regardless of their gender.”

I thought I would be in the classroom or teaching swimming or doing something in that capacity, but I had no idea I

”

would end up in coaching and athletics.

“You know, the thing that I’m most proud of is that all of this was a grassroots initiative,” Beard said of the school’s embracing of Title IX’s mandate. “Somebody could have come in here and said, ‘Ok, we’re going to start this because it’s now the law of the land,’ but it didn’t happen that way.

“It happened at Missouri Southern,” she continued, “because women wanted it to happen.”

Not surprisingly, Beard was named the university’s first women’s athletic director in 1976. She would also became the school’s first head coach of the women’s track and field team, soon stepping down from the helm of the college’s softball team. She would later hand over coaching duties of the basketball team in 1977, and the tennis team in 1978.

Beard had come a long ways in just four short years, moving from physical education instructor to women’s athletic director.

“I thought I would be in the classroom or teaching swimming or doing something in that capacity, but I had no idea I would end up in coaching and athletics.”

However, “I thought I could be more effective and make more change by going into administration.”

Beard would continue to serve as women’s athletic director for the next 25 years, before taking over as the school’s first-ever athletic director in 2001.

‘Don’t try to force anything, just be ready when it comes’

Ron Lankford, a leader in local and statewide education

By Kevin McClintock | Photography by Roger Nomer

{R

on Lankford has often been described as one of the most respected educators of Southwest Missouri.

And why not?

Ron

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Lankford

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He launched his career as a counselor at tiny R-9 Harrisburg school district near Columbia and is currently the deputy commissioner for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He was one of just three superintendents who guided the Webb City School District during an unprecedented span of 52 years. During the 1990s, he was the inspiration behind the establishment of the Southwest Center for Educational Services as well as the creation of the first Crowder College sub-campus in the City of Flags.

When asked about his reaction to being one of the most recognizable faces of education in the area, he modestly shrugged it off.

“I would say that’s probably an overstatement,” Lankford said with a smile.

Stops at Harrisburg and East Newton school districts were brief; a majority of his years were spent at Webb City, either as a principal, assistant superintendent or as superintendent of schools. Without exception, this Seneca native has undertaken nearly every role found inside a school building during his long and successful career.

“It’s been a tremendous experience,” he said.

“When you start out, if I was going to write a script, I don’t think I could have written one as gratifying or satisfying as this one has been.”

As a senior at Seneca High School, Lankford was introduced to a man he would become close friends with over the next 50 years: Ron Barton.

At the time, Barton was the school principal while Lankford was the student body president.

“He and I talked a lot about the future, and I remember saying to him, ‘I’d like to be a principal some day.’ He told me, ‘What you need to do, when someone asks you to do something, or you have the opportunity to do something, you just be very busy about helping people.’ And I’ll never forget that.”

Lankford would eventually major in counseling, serving in that capacity at both Harrisburg and East Newton.

“I don’t know if I ever inspired to be a principal — I know I did always want to be a teacher. In fact, I could show you my high school yearbook where one of my good friends wrote, ‘I know you’ll be a good teacher.’”

During his stay at East Newton High School, he loved the saying of a sign hanging on the principal’s office wall. It read: ‘The secret to success is about being ready when opportunity comes.’

“I have quoted that to people over the years who have inspired to do something,” he says. “I’ve said, ‘Don’t try to force anything, just be ready

“

when it comes.’

He put words into action when he was given the chance to jump south from Newton County to Jasper County in 1977.

His good friend, Barton, was in Webb City. Lawrence Miner was superintendent.

At that time, the present and the two future superintendents were all working together in the same school district. In two years, Barton would assume superintendent duties. Lankford, principal of the district’s junior high and high school, would follow him to the central office as associate superintendent in 1987.

of important projects. In the mid-1990s, for example, he was responsible for establishing the Southwest Center for Educational Services, which was an idea inspired by the concept of public and private school districts, as well as colleges and universities in the Southwest Missouri area, collaborating together through networking, and strategy sharing. Today, it is comprised of 43 school districts as well as Missouri Southern State University and Missouri State University.

And when Crowder College officials were thinking of establishing a Jasper County-based satellite campus on land formerly used by Atlas Powder Co. between Carterville and Carthage, Lankford was able to convince them to move in to a refurbished armory building in Webb City.

That campus has seen an increase in enrollment of 50 percent in just five years, Lankford said. When it was first opened, the student population was 20. Today, there are more than 900 students utilizing services there.

Lankford announced his retirement just days after R-7 voters approved a $2 million bond issue to add classrooms for early education at three of the district’s elementary schools.

The timing wasn’t accidental. In his letter to the school board he said he had waited to announce his retirement until after the Nov. 3, 2009 special election.

“It was my belief,” he wrote, “that all my energies should be spent preparing for our students’ futures rather than my retirement.”

That statement right there, those 18 modest words, shows why he is respected throughout Missouri’s educational landscape, and why he was named “Superintendent of the Year” by the Missouri Association of School Administrators.

A former Webb City teacher called Lankford a “well-rounded superintendent.”

Former Webb City football head coach Jerry Kill, who currently heads the University of Minnesota football program, said in a recent Joplin Globe article that his first head coaching job in Webb City was made far easier by Lankford and the other school administrators.

“They wanted everything to be good. They wanted the band to be good. They wanted the school to be good. They didn’t put up with any crap, so you knew you weren’t going to have any discipline problems with the way they ran the school.”

When you start out, if I was going to write a script, I don’t think I could have written one as gratifying or satisfying as this one has been.

”

“I think we complemented each other very well,” Lankford said of his relationship with superintendent Barton. “I love finances and longrange planning.”

Lankford’s genius in that department was demonstrated in 1987, when a bond issue adding floor space to the high school and the city’s three elementary schools passed. During that time, the Joplin/Webb City industrial park had been established and was quickly landing tenants.

People moved into the school district and began building houses, forcing the district to grow. In 1993, the Outstanding School Act was passed, its funding formula creating new revenue streams for the R-7 school district.

All of this would launch a streak of successful bond issues by district voters that would, in many ways, rival the winning streak of the school’s football team, the Cardinals.

“One year, either 1997 or 1998, we were building three new buildings at the same time: the kindergarten center, the Harry S. Truman building north of town and the middle school. It was the busiest the district had ever been.”

Since the late 1960s, only two bond issues have failed, Lankford said.

“I used to chart every bond issue, and... since 1968, our ‘yes’ votes in the Webb City district for bond and levy increases has been above 70 percent. There aren’t too many places in the state of Missouri that could say that.”

While serving as superintendent, Lankford reached beyond the school borders in a number

‘Prying Open the Box’

Allison Malinowski Sunday puts women’s needs first

By Kevin McClintock | Photography by Laurie Sisk

R

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

ising from her chair, Allison Malinowski Sunday points through her office’s window to a building rising above the tops of distant trees. It’s the old Freeman Hospital, abandoned now, but back in 1980, when she first came to the area, it was the one and only safe haven for battered, homeless Joplin women.

22

Allison Malinowski

Sunday

“That was September 1980,” Sunday said, a smile on her lips. “Inside the old Freeman building on 20th Street we had a hallway and, I think, seven rooms inside. And we had no paid staff, we were all volunteers.”

Sunday was 22 at the time, eager and full of fire. She had received a minor degree in women’s studies from the University of Maryland, and had already successfully completed a practicum at a women’s shelter in Washington D.C. Shockingly, the nation’s capitol had dozens of programs for homeless men at that time, but only one program centered on battered and homeless women.

“That’s where I really learned just how many women were homeless (and) victims of domestic violence,” Sunday said. “That was really the start for me. Realize that, in 1980, we didn’t even have the phrase ‘domestic violence’ in our vocabulary.”

Sunday was away from her East Coast home for the first time, and based on her work at the nation’s capitol, she felt she could make a difference here in this small Missouri community. She was a volunteer for VISTA, which essentially was the Peace Corps but centered here in the U.S., instead of countries overseas.

“My stipend was $154 a month, but my rent for a studio apartment was $120,” she said with a chuckle. “My mother used to send me care packages each month.

“But I had just finished college and it was an adventure and great fun,” she said.

She thought she would stay in Joplin for 12 months before moving on toward the west coast.

Instead, this year marks her 35th year in Southwest Missouri — and counting. In that time, the Family Self Help Center, which morphed in 1984 into Lafayette House, began aiding hundreds of battered women from Joplin and the outlying communities.

“I knew nothing about (Joplin), but in some ways that may have been advantageous because I just put my common sense into action,” Sunday said. “I was able to listen to the people who came through the door telling us what we needed to do (for them).

I asked myself, ‘Who do we need to be friends with? Who can we seek help from?

“

Who could we get support from?’ So being young and knowing nothing, it was (easy) for me to call up the police chief and ask if I could sit down with him to discuss (our) domestic violence program. And there was tremendous support.”

That support, she found out, was ready and willing to lend a hand. In fact, many of the professionals in the emergency services or family services weren’t shocked at all to know there was a domestic violence problem in Joplin.

“It wasn’t a surprise to them because they were seeing it happen. They knew domestic violence was a problem, and they embraced the fact that (we) were there to help them,” she said. “We just needed to open the door and start the conversation.”

And what a conversation it has been.

Sunday, serving as executive director since 1995, has seen Lafayette House grow to serving, housing and protecting dozens of women in the early 1980s to more than 1,500 women and their children today. Stays inside the former school range from a few weeks to

This was my calling.

The grainy video of Ray Rice, former Baltimore Ravens running back, shocked the nation when an elevator camera recorded him punching unconscious his then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the face. As difficult as the video images are to watch, and as horrific as it might have been for Palmer, Sunday said it showed domestic violence publicly in a way never seen before.

“People who never could really ‘get it’ could suddenly see Ray Rick knock that woman out, never checking to see if she was okay, and that visual changed a lot of people’s thinking; to make people understand what domestic violence is all about.”

She’s seen women come and go. Most move on to a better life. A few don’t.

Sometimes there are tragic endings.

“Every one of those (women who have died) just rips at you, but it has to motivate you to work harder, and I think I have been able, through some very dark days, to do that.”

She told an amusing story about how she ran in to pay for a tank of gas and, 30 minutes later, came back out to the car where her future husband had been patiently waiting for her.

“I had ran into someone who wanted to give me an update (on their life) and what a wonderful experience it was. Many times I don’t recognize them individually, because I’m an administrator, but they do recognize me.

When they tell me about the wonderful things in their lives, it makes it all worthwhile.”

Sunday has received a number of awards over the years — they line the windowsill along one wall of her office; others hang behind her desk. Probably the two most prestigious is the Freeman Health System Quality in Medicine Award as well as a 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Department of Mental Health.

“This was my calling. This has been a gift, and I’ve gotten back a million times what I’ve put into it.”

This has been a gift, and I’ve gotten back

”

a million times

what I’ve put into it.

six months, she added. And nobody will be turned away.

“There is no waiting list,” Sunday said.

While numbers of women seeking out the services of Lafayette House continues to rise, Sunday doesn’t see that as a negative at all.

“In 1980, a woman’s shelter was a place a woman came to if she was in a very lethal situation. Today, women seek shelter when there is verbal abuse. Yes, you still see lethal situations, but more and more women are seeking help. To see that lightning fast of a change, from 1980 to 2014, is remarkable. It’s a cultural shift and that’s exciting.”

Roper is the longest running local dealership in Joplin Written and photographed by Kevin McClintock

T

is the primary reason why one of Joplin’s business greats, Hal Roper, is doing what he loves doing, selling cars, in the town he loves living in, Joplin.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

All because of some wet Nebraska snow in the winter of 1958.

Hal

Roper Congratulations from

24

Happily serving as district manager for Fuller Brush Company in Dallas, Texas, company officials wanted Roper to up his roots and migrate north to Nebraska.

“When I flew to Omaha to look the situation over, and when my plane landed, there was three feet of snow on the ground,” Roper said.

“So I got into the car business.”

His father, Gil, had purchased the Dude Hinton Pontiac dealership at Ninth Street and Joplin Avenue in 1958.

When Roper Pontiac was launched with 10 employees, they were averaging three new and 10 used car sales a month.

After he decided selling brushes in Omaha wasn’t his cup of tea, his father asked him to come back to Joplin and take over the family business. In a span of just 12 years, Gil had guided the Pontiac dealership into a fullline facility at its new 808 Illinois Ave. location. In the years to come, Hal would expand the Roper name across Joplin.

But first he had to learn how to sell cars.

Thankfully, it looked a bit less difficult than peddling brushes to strangers on front porches.

“For 15 years I was selling door-to-door,” he said. “I’ve had doors slammed in my face.

I would make the circuit every month, the same (route), and I would go back to that same door that was slammed on me and it would be an entirely different situation.

“When you knock on 100 doors a day, you learn how to sell and how to communicate with people.”

From 1970 to 1971, father trained son about the trade secrets of the automobile industry.

After that, Gil left to serve as president for United Missouri Bank. Meanwhile, Roper took charge of the Roper dealership.

“And I’ve been selling cars for the last 45 years,” he said. “It was quite a switch, (but) the Lord has led me by hand all through my life.”

Selling cars, he said, is all about using common sense. In fact, he still remembers his first automobile sale. It was to a nice gentleman with the last name of Bacon.

“It was a Pontiac Catalina, 1970,” Roper

“

said with a smile. “Brand new car. It sold for $2,200.”

While he had to coax strangers to buy brushes when he was knocking on doors, here, people came to him looking for a deal.

“They know what they want and you just have to treat them the way you would want to be treated.”

Acquiring Honda in the early 1970s, Hal said, “helped us a great deal. Back in those days it was a necessity, because the oil embargo started and we needed to branch out. In fact, the Pontiac representatives encouraged us to take on an import. They wanted us to survive.

I had a little bit of apprehension (at the time), but on the other hand somebody else would have done it. It was a very good product.”

The Honda brand became so popular that Roper oversaw the construction of a new Honda dealership at the intersection of Range Line Road and Newman. The GMC Truck line was introduced to Joplin residents two years later in 1975, and another Japanese import, Subaru, followed in 1983.

The Buick product was brought into the fold in 1997 and Kia followed in 2000, with the new Kia dealership opening at 320 N. Hodgdon Road three years later.

Today, Roper Automotive Group officials oversee six Joplin locations and employs more than 100 men and women.

“When I moved into Joplin there were nine new car dealers in Joplin at the time,” Roper said. “I’m the sole survivor of that group. Now, I say owner — my boys, Randy and my two sons-in-law, Jef Frost and Rick Brown, are the dealers now. I don’t work. I’m retired.”

Perhaps, but during a recent trip to the Roper Pontiac dealership, he was gliding with familiar ease across the dealership show floor, shaking hands and rallying the troops.

The Lord, he said, has blessed him and his family. His favorite Bible passage is the entire third chapter of Proverbs. “The whole chapter has been my guiding light throughout my lifetime.” Favorite lines include: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” as well as “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”

“Joplin has been very good to us,” Roper said.

When you knock on

100 doors a day, you learn how to sell and how to communicate with people.

”

Those words and ideas helped form Roper’s two major slogans since the 1970s. The first: “Give us a chance to say yes to your deal” and the current, more popular one: “We’re not happy ‘til you’re happy.”

While Roper had always possessed a natural knack for selling cars, he also had an iron-hard work ethic to go along with those speakeasy skills. He credits his upbringing on the family farm located between Carthage and Sarcoxie — “It hardened me up,” he said. In fact, he was born in 1934, inside the Roper farmhouse, and not at a nearby family hospital.

Providing for his family also helped him maintain his legendary work ethic.

“I had five kiddos at home so I had to make a living — no taking a break, no vacations,” he said.

Putting that work ethic to good use in 1971, Roper began expanding the Family name throughout Joplin. He brought the Honda brand to Joplin in 1973 — introducing economically-efficient cars in a time when the oil embargo was strangling car owners nationwide.

Sandy

Higgins

{P

erhaps it was fate that Sandy Higgins would be selected as a Pathfinder.

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

‘I love art with a path in it’

26

Sandy Higgins, a leader in the local arts community for decades

By Amanda Stone | Photography by Roger Nomer

}

“I love art with a path in it. A path leads to what? That’s the miracle, what it leads to,” said Higgins with a twinkle in her eyes, gesturing to the many paintings of paths hanging on her office wall.

Higgins, 79, has been a leader in the local arts community for decades. She’s held the position of Director of the Midwest Gathering of the Artists since its inception, over 35 years ago, and had a hand in creating Art Central more than 30 years ago. Both ventures are still thriving today, serving as the foundation for the local art scene, yet Higgins remains incredibly modest about her hand in their creation.

“I’m just me. I knew it was something I could do.

It came naturally,” Higgins said.

“I used to visit a small gallery on the square years ago run by Lowell Davis.

Bob Tommey was sitting there feeling low and he said out loud to himself, ‘How can I do a show’ — not asking me, just talking to himself. All I said was, ‘I can do that.’ From that moment on we worked together and have been dear friends,” said Higgins.

Tommey, Davis and Danny Hensley started the Midwest Gathering of the Artists with Higgins stepping in as director soon after.

Each year, Higgins works to find new artists for the gathering, but this year she’s also hoping to find a new director.

“MGA will always be there. It will go on forever. But we need new direction and new people with new, wonderful ideas. I start searching for artists right after the MGA show is over, and I continue all year until it’s time for the show again,” said Higgins.

She plans to keep doing what she loves by finding and supporting artists, but she believes it’s for the betterment of the MGA to have a new director to keep the event current.

Art Central was formed from a mutual desire from Higgins and friends from Carthage’s Stone’s Throw Theatre for a place to teach art and have small shows. Higgins did just that by co-founding Art Central, which began on Central Avenue, but is now housed in the historic Hyde House at 1110 East 13th Street.

Higgins still sits on the advisory board.

Higgins knew she was good at organizing events from raising four daughters.

“I was always the one that volunteered to

“

be a leader and organizer for Brownies and Girl Scout troops. It was easy for me and I enjoyed it,” she said.

Higgins surrounds herself with art, both literally and figuratively. At one time she had a gallery on the square in Carthage, but now the walls of her home contain her artwork.

Her home gallery could rival any small gallery, yet she doesn’t have any interest in painting herself.

“I did two paintings 28 years ago. I gave one to my daughter and the other one is stashed in my closet,” said Higgins.

have no outlet. Drawing or writing it out with poetry helps them. Emotionally it lets out their inner being, their thoughts, what’s in their heart. They might be having troubles that they can lay out on paper. The soul of a young artist can really emerge through their art.”

Higgins believes encouragement is essential for young children and beginning artists. She writes handwritten notes to young artists, encouraging them to stay with their artwork.

“It’s important to tell them they can do it, they have it and to stay with it,” said Higgins.

Admittedly, Higgins loves doing things for people. She has always worked as a volunteer in some capacity. There’s a list of accomplishments attached to Higgins’ name that could seem unbelievable if you didn’t know her. She’s been involved with and won awards from multiple organizations, such as: The Ronald McDonald House, the March of Dimes, the Ozark Writers and Artist Guild, the Cerebral Palsy Center and Missouri Citizen for the Arts, among many, many others.

Aside from raising her daughters, being a hospice worker is Higgins’ biggest accomplishment. For 12 years, Higgins volunteered her time to people in their last moments of life.

“It was natural and easy for me to do,” she said. “I was someone to talk with and to listen.

To listen is a very important thing. Hospice was my blessing. I loved doing that.”

“Peace” is a word Higgins uses often. For her, it’s not just a word that ends her letters and emails; it’s symbolic of doing good, being kind and above all, always looking toward the positive.

“It is most important to pass on goodness, blessings and peace to one another. To be kind, we need to be more generous with passing on good thoughts,” said Higgins.

Higgins believes it’s best to stay involved.

“I don’t see much changing in the upcoming years. I want to continue to encourage young artists and writers and to pass the good forward. It’s our choice to be positive. That’s why we’re here on Earth,” Higgins said.

It is most important to pass on goodness, blessings and peace to one another.

To be kind, we need to be more generous with passing on

good thoughts.

”

Although her home seems nearly filled to capacity with works of art, Higgins can’t leave an art show or gallery without a piece.

“I always wind up with something. You should see my closets! Now, when my daughters come to visit I say you can’t leave unless you take a piece of artwork,” laughs Higgins. She continues to make room for new works by giving art as gifts for birthdays and at Christmas time.

“When I buy something I don’t buy it just to buy it from the artist. It’s got to show me something. I’ve got to feel it.”

Higgins pointed to a portrait nearby and said, “Like this. I see the soul of the artist. And that’s the way I feel about all of my artwork.”

She once bought a piece of art from a young boy that had taken off his shirt and quickly painted the Grand Canyon on it. Higgins wanted to buy the shirt, but the boy couldn’t understand why she would want it. She told him, “Because it’s you.”

Higgins has a passion for supporting young artists. She used to love having children’s shows at her gallery on the square.

“It’s so different with children, they’re just terrific when they paint and draw. A lot of young people keep everything inside or they

Jim Tatum grows Crowder College into an instrumental, educational force Written and photographed by Ryan Richardson

W

hen Crowder College was founded in 1963 on the remaining buildings left at Fort Crowder in Neosho, the words that would form their mission statement were made clear in the dedication that it took to establish the college.

Jim

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Tatum

Congratulations from

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“Build a civil, serving, literate, learning community of responsible citizens.”

Thanks to the hard work of many, that idea of a school’s service to its community has become a realization for McDonald and Newton County residents for more than 50 years. But it has been a lifetime of dedication to education that has led former Crowder Board of Trustee president Jim Tatum to become a pioneer in the field of education — not just for Southwest Missouri, but the nation as a whole.

“When we had this idea to form a school, the blueprint wasn’t there yet to form something outside of just one school district,” Tatum said.

For a college that started with just two buildings, they now have several large campuses scattered throughout Missouri, with many buildings and landmarks bearing his name.

“We were told that they were trying to do it in St. Louis, but we were facing a very different task here in a rural area with very little population. We got them to pass a 40cent levy with almost 80 percent turnout. We made people believe in a better education for their kids.”

To Tatum, it just means the goal to provide a real educational option to his community has been realized, though on a much larger scale than he initially realized.

When the school opened in September 1964, 360 students were enrolled. The fall 2012 enrollment set a record with 5,590 students. That number rivals nearby universities such as Missouri Southern State University.

It was a dream come true.

Though community colleges are commonplace now, in the early 1960s, the idea of smaller, community-based colleges were becoming a hot trend in education,

“

and Tatum worked tirelessly on both ends of developing a college system and learning from other well-established schools. He worked on the state level, pushing for the creation of junior college districts, while working on the local level to develop the relationships to nurture the budding school.

Being a man with the knowledge, coupled with the determination to learn how to lead an area in the field of education, led to his work on the national level, living by the model of servant leadership.

“We’ve always been great about finding

dedicated to making their area better.”

Though Tatum left his post on the Crowder board after 50 years of service, his legacy of leadership has been well established. His wife and fellow education administrator, Lynn, met Tatum while she was vice president at a community college in Michigan and said that on the national stage, Tatum was a legendary figure in the continued development of schools.

“You knew he was on to something when you heard him talk about education,” Lynn said. “If you were a leader at a community college, you knew Jim Tatum. He was president of the National Trustee Association. He was a member of the American Association of Community Colleges.

You went to someone like Jim because he was someone that was a leader. You wanted him to work with your school because you knew he would make it better with his involvement.”

Tatum believes his path of service is one that others will continue to follow. That path of service, that has a college that probably would not have had the same status if it wasn’t partly for his work, is one that has been a continued result of being truly passionate about his work.

“If you are lost in the work, if you really believe it, you have no idea what is going to happen and that is wonderful,” Tatum said. “When I’ve been busy and lost in what I’m doing, great things have happened. My life has been a series of enrichment through the people I have worked through, that I would have never had the chance to meet if we didn’t go forward with an idea we had no clue how it would work out.”

You knew he was on to something when you heard him talk about education...

You went to someone like Jim because he was someone that was a leader. You wanted him to work with your school because you knew he would

”

make it better with his involvement. the trends on what students want in their education,” the 90-year-old said. “You want them to be engaged with the school they attend, especially if they are from the area that they are going to school at. Those are the kids that are going to go right back into those same communities and build them bigger. They become an educated workforce

Orthopedic hospital; medical campus in

By Kevin McClintock | Photography by Roger Nomer

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

n just seven years, a slab of Southeast Kansas real estate once housing a dilapidated trailer park on the outskirts of Galena, Kansas has been transformed into a medical community.

Dr. Brian

Ispen

Congratulations from

30

“

Orthopaedic Specialists of the Four States, or simply Ortho Four States, is currently the largest and most comprehensive “neck-to-toe” facility found anywhere in the Four State Area.

More importantly, it’s the first — and only — of its type found in Joplin.

“We came up at the same time with the idea that we needed to do something different, something bigger and better, something that hadn’t been done before,” said Brian J. Ipsen, M.D., one of four orthopedic physicians who comprised Ortho’s original core group.

The other three, Ipsen said, are Jonathan L. Grantham, M.D., J. Christopher Banwart, M.D. and J. Timothy Ogden, M.D. “We’d seen this done in bigger communities and bigger areas (Boston, Chicago and Kansas City, as examples), and we’d seen it work and work well for our patients, and we all came to the conclusion at the same time that we had to do this here in Joplin.”

Ortho Four States, Ipsen said, “is something that hasn’t been done before.

It’s unbelievable how fast it’s gone by.

When I think back to 2007, when we bought 80 acres of what was literally a methamphetamine trailer park, and I look at it now, it’s amazing.

“And it’s only going to get better,” Ipsen said.

Ortho Four States’ sprawling campus offers full-service and easy-access orthopedic care, including state-of-the-art equipment, HydroWorx therapy pools in the rehabilitation center, as well as a pharmacy, hospital and outpatient surgery center.

But the physician’s dream almost didn’t get off the ground.

“We purchased (at $5,000 an acre) the land in 2007, and we were ready to go,” Ipsen said, “but the economic downturn of 2008 really hampered (us). We went from having banks saying, ‘Yeah, we’ll fund you’ and ‘Sure, we’ll throw in extra because you’re a bunch of doctors’ to (bankers) literally not returning our calls. It was a big struggle to be ready to go to where there was no money to do anything.”

It took between 14 to 15 months to finally get the financial support in place, Ipsen said, when the former First State Bank of Joplin agreed to finance the venture. “They really came through for us,” Ipsen said.

Right off the bat, people were asking why the physicians had chosen to build outside Galena instead of a couple miles east in Joplin. There are several reasons for this, Ipsen said.

“Galena (and Southeast Kansas) has an interesting geopolitical market that made it most advantageous to practice here. We looked at Oklahoma by (Downstream Casino), and that

adage is true: “If you build it, they will come.” Not only are “they” the patients, but other businesses following the traffic flow to Galena. For example, already located on campus is a Red Onion Espressoria. A Subway restaurant recently opened for business there, as well. A hotel may build in the area soon, taking advantage of the number of people staying at Ortho for treatment. And there’s been a spillover effect in Galena proper, as well. The Mi Torito Mexican Restaurant on Main Street has expanded. A Pizza Hut recently opened. So did an ice cream parlor.

“That’s due to the increased traffic flow through Galena,” Ipsen said.

Each of the doctors there specialize in a specific orthopedic area. For Ipsen, it’s the spine.

“I wanted to be a family practitioner, to go to a small town like the one I grew up in and take care of families. What’s funny is I was on my family medical rotation and the doctor was tired of this med student following him around, so he sent me over to the orthopedic surgeon” to view a knee surgery. “It absolutely felt like home to me.

It was saws and hammers and power tools and all the things I grew up doing with my dad. It was comfortable. It was definitely fixing somebody.

“A lot of times a person has psoriasis and you give them medicine but the problem is still there.

If a person has diabetes you give them insulin but the problem is still there. With orthopedics, often times people come in with a problem and we get it fixed and they get better and they don’t necessarily have to come back. I chose the spine because there’s still a little bit of mystery to it. There’s more complexity for you to use your mind to figure out what’s wrong, and I like that.”

Today, Ortho Four States employs between 100 and 150 people and includes the main building, which houses offices, physical therapy, three surgery rooms and four overnight stay rooms, as well as a lab and MRI scanner. A second building is a orthopedic hospital, in every sense of the word “hospital.” The newest building is a complex of medical offices.

“The essence of Ortho is providing great care the best way we can, and I believe we have stuck very close to that principal,” Ipsen said.

He and the other physicians “get to drive this Lamborghini every day, but it’s a whole team that makes us good. We get to be the face of it, but it’s everybody that has really put their heart and soul into Ortho that makes it so successful.”

...it’s a whole team that makes us good.

We get to be the face of it, but it’s

everybody that has really put their heart and soul into Ortho

”

that makes it so successful.

was actually a close second (location). But it comes down to... if we had built 2,000 feet over to the east, across State Line Road (in Missouri), we couldn’t have built this.”

For example, Missouri’s Health Facilities regulations and the accompanied certificate of need would have likely prevented the physicians from building Ortho Four States in Southwest Missouri, Ipsen said. Also, from a medical malpractice standpoint, it was much more cost effective to build across the border in Kansas.

A third reason was building in Kansas makes it easier for Missouri-bound patients to seek out their services, as strange as that may sound.

“Missouri patients can travel across the state and they can see me as an in-network provider.

Patients come first. I don’t want to see somebody who has to see me because their insurance tells them to. I want somebody to come and see me because they know they are going to get quality, compassionate care. They come here because they know they are going to get something better.”

The luxuries Ortho Four States provides over those found inside the big box hospitals is another huge plus, Ipsen said.

“You can come here and stay at the Ritz... we’ve stepped it up a notch here. Catered food.

Nice linens. Nice smells. Massage therapists. It’s those niceties that make a difference.”

And like the movie “Field of Dreams,” the old

‘Facilitating creative and emotional expression and healing in children’ Art Feeds continues to involve area children with art and love

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By Amanda Stone | Photography by Roger Nomer

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

eing around Meg Bourne Hulsey is like taking a breath of fresh air that’s bubbling with kindness and creativity. She laughs easily, speaks openly and gives generously.

32

Meg

Bourne

“

Being a part of an organization that is a catalyst for the imaginative,

innovative, creative little ones

of our community is the best accomplishment I could ask for. They don’t have a trophy for that, but

man does it pay in hugs.

At 25, Hulsey has already carved a deep path in the community with Art Feeds, a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and creative healing of children through art.

Art Feeds began in a classroom with a child who was struggling both socially and academically.

Hulsey spent time with him, trying various forms of art and eventually learned he wasn’t being fed at home. After addressing his nutrition, Hulsey continued to focus on feeding his artistic expression.

She knew that emotionally, he needed more than just food.

Hulsey began working with more children in more classrooms, but she quickly found she needed funds for supplies. She printed and sold shirts that featured “Art Feeds _____” in the little boy’s handwriting with his handprint, which happened to have a heart in the middle. The blank space could be filled in with whatever the buyer chose. The Art Feeds logo was born.

“The simple T-shirt project grew far beyond expectations and the story of this little boy spread as did the impact and reach of Art Feeds programs,” Hulsey said. “The story of this little boy is now the story of thousands of Art Feeds students who have together had the realization, ‘What I’m creating has worth, therefore I have worth.”

Seeing students thrive with artistic expression became Hulsey’s passion. She rarely says “I” in reference to Art Feeds; it is nearly always “we.” With her team, she repeatedly experienced how important creativity and expression are for children in education.

Prior to the 2011 Joplin tornado,

Art Feeds was in place in several classrooms, working with students with behavioral disorders, special needs and those considered to be at risk.

“The night of the tornado I looked around at my devastated neighborhood and knew it could no longer be only for those small classrooms,” said Hulsey.

That summer, Art Feeds could be found in schools, working with students while developing their all-inclusive whole school programming.

“It became very clear that our programming was helping with the trauma of the disaster, but what was more evident is that the entire student population faced some sort of trauma or obstacle in their (lives) beyond the disaster. All children — no matter their home life, socio-economic background or the obstacles they face — need an avenue of expression for their mental and emotional wellness and the opportunity to build their creative capacities,” she said.

Word quickly spread about the good Hulsey and her Art Feeds team were doing. She has been awarded with Missouri Arts Educator of the Year, the Do Something Award and was an honoree in NBC’s American Giving Award, among others.

“I don’t want to negate how honored I have felt to be considered for those awards, but my biggest accomplishments are the small moments with kiddos that fuel me to continue the work at Art Feeds,” Hulsey said. “Being a part of an organization that is a catalyst for the imaginative, innovative, creative little ones of our community is the best accomplishment I could ask

”

for. They don’t have a trophy for that, but man does it pay in hugs.”

National recognition came with media coverage that gave Art Feeds the opportunity to help children in other communities. People from areas with high poverty rates or devastating natural disasters began contacting Art Feeds, requesting their help. By 2013, Art Feeds had an online site so their teaching model could be replicated and chapters could be formed in other communities.

“We have to be careful, because we don’t want a ton of chapters at low quality. That’s not what we’re about. To make an impact in their community, we need to help these first chapters grow. We want the human to human contact. We’re investing in these students for years,” said Hulsey.

Her passion for giving is not a coincidence.

“My mom and dad are huge influences. My mom is incredibly faithful and I grew up in service with her. I went to church every single morning with her as a child and learned about Mother Teresa and become so enamored with the powerful little nun that shook the world,” Hulsey said. “My mom is stubborn, giving and does everything with excellence. My dad is generous to a fault, never, ever complains and showed me what drive in practice looks like.

They both have a painful amount of integrity. I learned by example from them.”

Because Hulsey started Art Feeds at such a young age, she admits it used to be hard to differentiate between what was Meg and what was Art Feeds. They

were interwoven as a unit for a long time. Still, Hulsey is quietly branching out.

“I want it to be a successful and sustainable organization without me, to be so successful that it grows its own two legs and people will say, ‘Meg who?’ in 10 years or so. I want to live many lives in my lifetime; Art Feeds for now is just a big part of my story,” said Hulsey.

“It’s important to me to share with young people that they are capable of anything,” she continued. “The things we’ve been able to accomplish aren’t because I’m smarter, or more creative, or had more money or time or am older or whatever. Any success myself or the organization has had has been a result of not giving up. Also, that thing you are thinking about doing, the idea you’ve been mulling over — stop disqualifying yourself. Just get started. The worst that will happen is you will fail. Big deal. I’m on a failing and succeeding roller coaster daily. The ride isn’t so bad, just hop on board.”

Hulsey’s ride is far from over. She continues to grow with Art Feeds, stressing the importance of creating and fostering an environment where kids understand that they are naturally creative.

“Some day, when Art Feeds isn’t the thing I think about when I open my eyes in the morning and the last thing I think about before I close my eyes at night, I’ll take a look at the notebook where I keep my ideas and get to work on what I think is the best one. Whatever it is that I’m doing, I want to be as excited about life as I am now.”

‘We wanted to treat our customers fairly’ Henry Robertson, known for R&S Chevrolet and Crossroads Industrial Area

By Ryan Richardson | Photography by Laurie Sisk

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Henry

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Robertson

I

f you bought a car in Joplin from the 1950s to the new century, chances are that it passed through Henry Robertson’s hands as the owner of R&S Chevrolet.

“I was told by someone at General Motors that we were the second oldest dealership in the United States that was owned by the same family,” Robertson said. “From the time we were on Fourth Street where we right downtown until we moved to Seventh Street, we were doing great business. It was probably the best time in this country to own a car dealership and I enjoyed that for 51 years. We were a Joplin business that was selling a commodity that people wanted.”

More importantly, “We wanted to do everything right. We wanted to treat our customers fairly and we wanted to treat our employees like they mattered, because they did,” Robertson said. “That’s how you run a successful business.”

Though he was young when he bought into his uncle’s dealership, a stint in the military matured him. He served during the Korean War on a B-29 bomber flying from a small airbase in Saudi Arabia and snooping on bombing sites the Soviet Union military was using to test nuclear weapons. This experience would give him the necessary focus to help him build and operate a successful and long-standing business.

“I was in the Air Force for a little while until I was discharged in 1953, and then I came back and started work immediately the next day,” Robertson said.

“There wasn’t any real transition out of it, but I was ready to work.”

Robertson continued to run the dealership at the same location, before finally deciding to sell the business that his family had built for so long in the early 2000s.

“I wanted to continue in the family, but I realized it wasn’t feasible to keep that business the way it was going,” Robertson said. “I talked to my son about it, because he was heavily involved in the business too, and we decided that we were letting

“

We wanted to do everything right. We wanted to treat our customers fairly and we wanted to treat our employees like they mattered, because they did. That’s how you run a successful business.

them take the business to the next level. It was important to us to put the business in good hands so that it could still serve the people here.”

While he was more than qualified for a retirement after a lifetime of toil, selling his business didn’t mean it was time to kick up the heels at home.

He continued his community outreach that began in 1960s as president of the Rotary Club and many years of service as a

”

Rotarian.

There’s also a great chance that if you were looking to establish a business in the industrial park between Webb City and Joplin, or at the Crossroads in south Joplin, you owe a debt of gratitude to the initiative Robertson and several others made years ago.

“I’ve tried to stay active as possible and I’ve taken appointments to city boards where I could help with my experience,” Robertson said. “For

many years, I was on the Industrial Development Authority, working with many of the prime movers that helped shape modern day Joplin. During that time, we helped form the industrial park near Webb City, helping with the development of spec buildings that were ready to use by companies that moved in there.

I was also part of that group that helped establish the Crossroads Industrial Area. It was about getting businesses to come to Joplin and employ workers who were ready to work. I think both of those projects had the right support and development from the community.”

For a man in his 80s, Robertson has seen Joplin change from a post-mining town to one now poised to be a major industrial and commercial center in Southwest Missouri.

“We are at a wonderful location for growth; we truly are at the crossroads of America here and we attract a great labor force because this is where the jobs are,” Robertson said. “Look at what happened after the tornado. We lost so many businesses, places of employment, but we didn’t lose population in the schools and those businesses came back quickly. That doesn’t happen in other towns, only the remarkable ones.”

Robertson said that the base is there for Joplin to move forward.

“We have an amazing arts community. We’ve got a university that supports the town. We have great schools.

We’ve got culture,” Robertson said. “We have what employers are looking for when they want to establish a business here.

“We are on the cusp of a great expansion and it is coming soon.”

profile

LORD OF THE RING WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY BOBBIE POTTORFF

Something with a Ringto it Getting the most bling for your buck

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ou have to choose the shape and color of the diamond. Do you pick round or square, white or yellow? But then you pick the metal. How about tungsten? Or what about yellow gold or white gold or even platinum? And remember the four Cs — color, cut, clarity and carat. Most importantly, do you get a warranty or insurance?

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

With potential pitfalls and the devil in the details, it’s little wonder there is so much stress involved when it comes to picking out that perfect ring, either for popping the all-important question or giving a love that perfect Valentine’s day reminder.

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Which means he had never discussed rings with his girlfriend and had no clue what she preferred in a ring on her finger.

Thankfully, there are ring experts inside jewelry stores to help guide men and women through the sometimes tortuous process.

Ligi ultimately chose a “very vintage, very Marilyn Monroe-type” of diamond ring with matching diamond band.

“Because I had no idea what I was going to pick, either a solitaire or a set, she talked me into (buying) a set,” Ligi said with a grin.

Just ask John Ligi.

Mission accomplished.

Ligi, a resident of Rogers, Arkansas, was recently shopping at Kay Jewelers in Joplin for a ring, and he admitted he had no idea what he was looking for. He was doing it the old-fashioned way.

The sale of engagement and “love” rings skyrockets before Valentine’s Day, and Comeau Jewelry Manager and Gemologist Chris Keller says these days guys have a little bit of extra help with websites like Pinterest and TheKnot.com.

“I have been dating this girl for seven months now and decided it was time,” he said. “I’d rather surprise her.”

“With the internet, the guys have much more of handle on what she likes,” says Keller. “Eight out of 10 times she’s very, very involved in the selection of the ring. She may not know exactly when the proposal will be, but usually she will have a handle on what the ring will look like.”

Keller, a graduate gemologist, has been with Comeau Jewelry Company for eight years and says folks usually focus on color, which is one of the famed 4 Cs of diamonds. But it’s actually the cut that Keller says people should worry about first and foremost.

“I try to educate people because so many people don’t know anything about diamond selection,” he says. “As a gemologist, my No. 1 priority is cut. Cut means so much more than shape. It’s proportion. It’s the angles. It’s actually what gives the stone its

Two other “C” factors include clarity and caret-weight. The last one, color, should receive the lowest priority or worry, Keller says.

“A lot of guys want something bright and

The color scale for diamonds is somewhat confusing (as if all the other details weren’t confusing enough). The color scale begins at D and goes to Z (there is no A, B or C), with D being completely free of color. The tail-end of the range, the Z, means yellow.

Anything beyond Z, and you start getting into what Keller calls “fancy yellow.”

“Those get expensive,” he says. “Because diamonds that are that saturated in yellow are rare. It’s a rarity thing and there are different intensity levels.”

4 Cs of Diamonds Cut Carat Clarity Color

Chocolate Diamonds Now, chocolate diamonds (brown diamonds) are a different story. Chocolate diamonds are essentially brown diamonds.

And brown diamonds are the most common of all diamonds found in the world. There are tons of them. Because of their numbers, they are less expensive than clear diamonds.

Nonetheless, chocolate diamonds are very, very popular right now.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

Every diamond, regardless of its shape, gets it brilliancy and scintillation by cutting and polishing the diamond facets to allow the maximum amount of light that enters through its top to be reflected and dispersed back through its top. A correctly cut, “well made” stone is correct angles, allowing the light to disperse properly back through the diamond’s top facets. When a stone is cut too shallow or too deep, the light that enters through the top is allowed to escape through the diamond’s bottom and does not properly allow the diamond to show off its maximum beauty.

nice looking,” he says. “They want the biggest bang for their buck.”

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sparkle. You can have the clearest, biggest (and) most colorless diamond in the world, but if it’s not cut well, it will not sparkle. It’s all about light refraction. It’s very technical.

It’s absolutely crucial.”

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“They have done a good job of creating a demand for them,” says Keller.

The brown color once made these diamonds less attractive as gemstones because of the reduced glimmer. However, technical advances and improved marketing programs have resulted in recent years of brown diamonds becoming valued as gemstones.

Says Keller, “And the contrast between the brown and the white, it creates a really neat look. It’s the same thing with the black diamonds. And black diamonds are far less expensive than white diamonds but you know the look it creates is really neat.”

Just like with clothing, jewelry has cycles. Keller says yellow gold bands are making a comeback. More so on the coasts than here in the Midwest.

“White gold is dominant because it’s what people want — that silver look,” says Keller.

“Platinum has that same look, but it’s just more expensive so people typically go with white gold.”

Chocolate Diamonds

Choosing the right shape is often a tough choice. Experts urge buyers to select a diamond based on what she likes, and not what you like.

“Round is always king. Always. Certain stones will challenge it,” Keller says. “Princess cuts will challenge it from time to time, but round always has been and always will be the best seller.”

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

One thing Keller wants to make sure to educate perspective ring buyers about is the extended warranty policy people are offered for their engagement ring.

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Warranties Be wary of the warranty, Keller advises.

“My best advice — and I tell this to every person who comes in here looking at engagement rings — get it insured through either Jewelers Mutual, your homeowners or renters policy as a personal articles policy.

That will cover everything a warranty covers.

It will be cheap and covers stone loss, theft, tornadoes, stupid accidents, garbage disposals, losing it in a lake — everything. You will have complete peace of mind. Just don’t buy those stupid things.”

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A wax model with diamonds inlaid to show a customer what the final product will look like.

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eweler Chad Comeau, owner with wife Jill of Comeau Jewelry Co. in Joplin, holds up what looks like a green ring.

It’s actually not green, but a wax replica of a future ring.

Comeau has embraced technology. To that end, he is using 3-D imaging software to show a 3-D prototype to a customer who orders a custom-made gold ring.

Using a combination of Computer Aided Design and CNC wax milling technology, it allows a truly unique and one-of-a-kind ring to be made for a loved one. Once a design is drafted, the customer is able to see a realistic computer rendering of the piece as well as try on the physical wax model that is milled inside an in-store lab using the CNC wax mill.

lion’s head was designed by the person purchasing the ring. By using the greenish wax model, changes can be made to the design, and tweaks can be made to the size, before the piece is actually made and the diamond stones placed atop it.

Using the technology, any sort of ring or bracelet or necklace piece can be dreamed up. A mother’s wedding ring can be duplicated, or a great-grandfather’s jeweled wedding band can be re-created, sometimes using the original diamonds. It’s a brand new piece, but it looks old.

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Commenting about the process in a You Tube video, Comeau said, “the sky is the limit.”

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“We do a ton of scratch custom,” Comeau said. “Which is where we build the ring from the ground up. Which is making something one of a kind. It’s all done via computer and drafting. We usually have several projects going all the time.”

One example is a recently-generated wax model of a ring that soon will be fashioned and completed. It’s a ring for a gentleman made to look like a lion’s head. The

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history

THE JOPLIN MUSEUM COMPLEX E x p l o r i n g t h e p a s t s i n c e 19 31 WRITTEN BY BRAD BELK PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN MCCLINTOCK

h

GLOSSARY of History & Architecture

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HARE & HARE

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S

idney J. Hare and S. Herbert Hare were prolific landscape architects who left a lasting visual impression in the Midwest. In 1902, Sidney opened his landscape architecture business in Kansas City. Eight years later, son S. Herbert joined his father’s practice, creating the firm of Hare & Hare. This dynamic father and son duo created the master plan for J. C. Nichol’s Country Club District and laid out the grounds for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Their work can be found in more than half the states in America.

Their designs can be appreciated in southwest Missouri, as well. Sidney laid out the grounds for Mount Hope Cemetery in 1906-1907. He broke the rules of tradition by replacing the

time-honored rigid right angle grid system. Instead, he designed the cemetery as an organic, botanical park by selecting a series of ovals and circles. He also carefully selected the plants, shrubs and trees that would grace this sacred ground. Hare & Hare also designed the suburban tracts for Reding’s Mill Resort. This mid-1920s plan encompassed 413 acres of wooded land adjacent to Shoal Creek. Although those plans were never completed, the firm’s work northeast of Joplin, on the former Mission Hills estate, was a different story. During the summer of 1964, Hare & Hare began drawing the landscape for Missouri Southern. Today, their deeds are enjoyed by those traversing the grounds at Missouri Southern State University.

Home Telephone Company

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n 1902, the Home Telephone Company began operations in Joplin. Their early years were extremely controversial, especially for the era. Before even completing their first full year, two female operators were abruptly fired by their male manager. His dramatic action provoked the remaining 12 operators to walk off the job in protest. The ladies complained that the manager was sexually harassing them on the job, as well as after hours. Sympathetic male linemen jumped on board, supporting the operators by walking off their jobs, too. Home Telephone Company president, Theodore Gary, fired both the operators and linemen. Eventually, an arbitration board from Kansas City sent representatives to settle the dispute. The lineman were rehired immediately, but the operators were hired back only as openings occurred.

y

h p a r g io B t h g li t o Sp

D . Hoover Dorothea B

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culture enhancing the in ce en flu in ver had a major theater. Her orothea B. Hoo interest in the nd ou of pr a d Beal, was r ha e name of John of Joplin. Hoove ag st e th r de un oover was liedung, on the stage. H brother, Alex B d an m fil in tor working LT) in 1939. The a prominent ac Little Theatre (J in pl Jo e th of the late 1950s the formation at JLT. During ns tio uc instrumental in od pr l ra s who felt so directed seve of Joplin citizen p ou gr a h it Joplin native al w as lved In 1966, she w ver became invo y disappearing. dl and 1960s, Hoo pi ra me as ca w y be r or Hoove e city’s hist l Society (JHS). ca ri that much of th to is H or in st pl cted hi ical ders of the Jo years, she colle e th gh one of the foun ou hr T t. lling others n’s first presiden ng a museum te vi ha of y the organizatio da e on uits got to see the fr plin and hoped tely, she never artifacts from Jo na tu JHS or e nf th U . r, ty year late y of the ci t 27, 1972. One us about the histor ug A e th on ng ay , duri e passed aw Avenue. In 1976 in pl Jo of her efforts. Sh h ut tr So as cons ucted museum at 110 ent museum w an rm pe a opened its first l, ia nn eum (est. merica’s Bicente te Mineral Mus ta i-S Tr e th to celebration of A , adjacent ng Joplin’s past er Park. It was tions in preser vi bu ri in Schifferdeck nt . co m eu nt us ca rical M r of her signifi . Hoover Histo B a he 1931). In hono ot or D e m was named th the new museu

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

r e v o o H .

B a e h Dorot

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phy

Spotlight Biogra

s e h g u H n o t s g n La

ry — and it the 20th Centu of st ci ri ly n, ia merican wright, histor ential African-A flu in d an oet, author, play c ifi ol pr Hughes was d was the most Mercer Langston could be debate es m Ja — es at St and Carrie United parents, James writer from the s’ he ug H .

02 19 red by the on February 1, y. James was hi ur nt ce e th born in Joplin of turn ughes to Joplin at the a month. The H ed 5 ov $2 r m fo s, er he ug ph H a stenogra on’s stay would g Company as Avenue. Langst i ur Lincoln Minin so is M 02 d and Carrie r a time at 16 mother separate d an er th family resided fo fa is H . k occurred Joplin, however ughes’ big brea H s. sa an remain brief in K e, nc .C. There, located to Lawre Washington, D in , el ot H rk and Langston re ort dman Pa l Lindsay. In sh bles at the War ous poet, Vache m while waiting ta fa e m.” le th ar to H s of e of his poem e the “O. Henry m co be ld he slipped thre ou w oy ambitious busb order, this very

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foundation of le in laying the ro or aj m a ed play ed to all 114 arren Hearnes . Hearnes travel ity rs ve ni U e at rn St the state.

Missouri Southe highest office in e th r fo n ig pa ster met his cam d Richard Web an a counties during iv Sp e rg eo hes, G gation’s cates Fred Hug The Joplin dele vo y. ad nt ge ou C lle co er sp in for Jopl to Ja idate of the need one of his visits nd ng ca ri l ia du or es at rn rn ea with H emocratic gube i Governor, John convince the D evious Missour pr he T i. mission was to ur so four-year t Mis College into a ge in southwes or lle ni co r Ju ea in -y pl ur Jo fo t a nver was the legislation to co Hearnes, as he ed ng to ci ve in n, nv to co al in D M. e 46th ccessful fter becoming th A leaders were su . in an pl pl Jo ge n. lle tio co institu the four-year 1965, Hearnes that supported ative session in sl gi le st fir only candidate s hi a four year ring issouri, and du junior college to ar ye o tw e th Governor of M . For his ated 210, which elev on on the region si ill B es pr se im ou g H in ed st sign ion left a la ity with Hearnes ilestone legislat in the commun ed ch et college. This m ns ai m U campus). earnes’ name re rnes Hall (MSS ea H d an ) contribution, H et re n St lin’s South Mai Boulevard (Jop

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

W

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Missouri (left) the University of Rob Robson with r Missouri Governo shakes hands with es.

Warren E. Hearn

T

Mining the Past Hard Hat

he hard hat was a safety measure to protect the wearer’s head (even Percy the cat) from falling debris. Early miners wore soft derby hats, with an expanded bill, very similar to baseball caps. For cushioning the miners would stuff paper into the cloth cap. The soft cap was inadequate at best. However, a better answer was found on European battlefields during the First World War. After the war, the soft cap was replaced by the hard hat, which was copied from the Brodie M1917 “Doughboy” helmet. Many of these hard hat helmets found their way to the Tri-State Mining District. Incorporating a similar design, the miner’s helmet was made of Bakelite, an early form of plastic. The Bakelite hard hat was noticeably lighter than the steel army helmet, offering a degree of protection from smaller, falling debris. Unlike the army helmet, the miner’s hard hat allowed a place to attach the miner’s carbide lamp so he could see in complete, underground darkness. Just as the briefcase for the businessman, the miner’s hard hat became another iconic symbol for the working man toiling beneath the ground. Unfortunately, no helmet could protect the miner from ceiling collapses, boulders falling from above, dynamite explosions or falling down the shaft.

O

Hooker

nce the ore cans were lowered down a shaft, they were turned over to a special workman known as the tub hooker. His function was to signal (by ringing a bell) for the hoisterman above ground to lower the cable. The hooker would then attach the loaded ore can to the cable and make another signal to raise the can to the surface. The thousand-plus pound ore can was lifted and dumped automatically into the ore hopper by the hoisterman, returning in less than 30 seconds.

The hooker’s station was located at the bottom of the shaft. This was the area where the ore cans briefly merged together, both full and empty. The hooker’s job was also to tally each ore bucket and place it on a tally board next to him to determine which shoveler or shovelers loaded the ore can.

Shovelers were paid by each ore bucket filled.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

he horse hister was a device used to lift ore up from a mine shaft.

The early mining industry continued to evolve from two men with a pick and shovel to the incorporation of animal power. By using the Armstrong hoist, early miners had to rely solely on their own muscle power to lift the heavy ores mined. The weight lifted was directly related to the strength of the individual doing the lifting. Horses and mules working above ground increased production capacity. Heavier loads could be lifted with the incorporation of mechanical energy powered by horses. It should be noted that horses performed better above ground, while mules were more well suited for underground work. The horse hister operated by having the horse walk in a circle, pulling or pushing a lever attached to a large, round drum. The drum turned a pinion gear attached to a drive shaft powering a winch that lifted the ore up the shaft. With this simple motor in place, and powered by the horse’s movement, a new word was adopted — “horsepower.” In time, the horse hister was replaced by a steam powered hoist, which was eventually superseded by the electric motor. Interestingly, each of these changes were measured by the amount of horsepower they could provide.

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T

Horse Hister (Heister or Hoister)

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taste

ice cream

By Bobbie Pottorff Photography by Laurie Sisk and Bobbie Pottorff

g n i m a e r c S r fo Ice

Cream

Frozen Times Call for Frozen Treats I “

t makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” says Noah Hartje, a 10-year-old from Carl Junction, as he gobbles up his old-fashioned vanilla ice cream.

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jan u ar y / f e br u ar y 2 0 1 5

Noah’s sister, 13-year-old Paije, just smiles at her brother’s answer and chalks it up to his age. Paije chooses the “Wedding Cake” flavor because she is going to be a bridesmaid in her cousin’s wedding in January.

46

The Hartjes were visiting Anderson’s Ice Cream & Cinnamon Rolls in Redings Mill on a very cool, winter afternoon.

“It is the best ice cream I’ve ever had,” says Paije. “When I eat ice cream it melts in just the right way and tastes the best.”

Anderson’s Ice Cream has delighted generations of area residents. The establishment was revived in 2012, when Billy Garrigan and Guy Stegman got together and started making their trademark ice cream again.

“Our goal was to establish a small business where our customers could enjoy a super quality product that is handmade on site, and offered at an affordable price... without breaking the bank,” Garrigan said.

It was originally created in 1936 by Carl and Frieda Anderson of Joplin. The original Anderson’s shut down in 1996, leaving people in the area longing for the beloved sweet treat.

But it’s not just Anderson’s that residents are crazy about. Ice cream and frozen treats in

general are favorite desserts in the area. Now, residents have more than just one or two places to choose from. Venues include the new Baskin Robbins and Sweet Caroline’s, both located on Main Street in Joplin. There’s also Andy’s, Orange Leaf and Shake’s Frozen Custard over on Range Line Road.

Across the border in Kansas is the newest ice cream venue, Eye Scream Labs.

Sweet Treats, Caroline’s Sweet Shoppe, I then wrote down Sweet Caroline’s and it stuck,” Sweet says. “Our marketing group, Little Byrd, then did a play on words which is where Cream & Coffee came from. Sweet Caroline’s Cream & Coffee was born.”

“We had tossed around several names like the Gryphon Sweet Shop, etc… and then I suggested (one of) the owners’ daughter’s names, Caroline, and I know I wanted the name Sweet in the name for my daughter.

So after playing around with Caroline’s

Area Hearing & Speech Clinic

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“We wanted an old-fashioned ice cream parlor look and the Gryphon Building provided that — we (also) wanted to be on this side of town,” says manager Ginger Sweet. “We thought this was something Joplin could really use. There are lots of yogurt and custard places, but at the time when we started the project, there were only two ice cream places.” Caroline’s was named from two children, Darcy Sweet and Caroline Joseph.

jan u ar y / f e br u ar y 2 0 1 5

Here in Joplin, Sweet Caroline’s, located inside the Gryphon Building, opened back in June.

2311 S. Jackson Joplin, MO 64804

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Despite being a cold dessert, ice cream is popular year round, whether it’s 77 degrees or 7 degrees.

“There’s nothing wrong with ice cream in the winter,” says Rob Tucker of Carl Junction. “This is like summertime to me, because I’m originally from Detroit.”

Tucker was visiting Sweet Caroline’s with his son Elijah, who was enjoying some good old-fashioned vanilla ice cream. Tucker says his visit was his first to Sweet Caroline’s, and they were thoroughly

48

impressed. Back home in Michigan, they just had the typical chain stores and there wasn’t anything very impressive about any of them.

But he says Joplin really has some great ice cream places.

A new science-lab themed ice cream parlor in Galena, Kansas uses something out of the ordinary — liquid nitrogen — to freeze the final product. It opened in early October.

At Eye Scream Labs, 606 S. Main St., the ice cream mix is placed into a bowl and a mixer is turned on, stirring the ice cream as liquid nitrogen is used to freeze about 3 liters within three minutes.

Local Ice Cream Shops

“It is very cold, so when you’re operating it you have to be careful,” he said. “But it’s no different than operating hot grease at a fast food restaurant.”

Another new ice cream parlor in the area is Baskin-Robbins, at 3025 S. Main Street. For years, Baskin-Robbins had a popular spot inside Northpark Mall during the 1970s and 1980s.

“It just makes you feel good,” says Sweet about the “sweet” taste of ice cream and custard. “It’s a treat that is just (so) refreshing and you can have it so many different ways that it doesn’t really matter what time of year it is. You can have just a bowl or cone. You can make it into a shake, malt or float. You can top it with sauces or candies for a sundae or banana split, or you can have it with a piece of pie or cake.”

— Katie Lamb contributed to this story

• • • • • • • • •

Anderson’s Ice Cream & Cinnamon Rolls, Joplin Jack’s Ice Cream, Joplin Orange Leaf Frozen Custard, Joplin Andy’s Frozen Custard, Joplin Baskin-Robbins, Joplin Sweet Caroline’s, Joplin Freddy’s Frozen Custard, Joplin Shake’s Frozen Custard, Joplin and Webb City Eye Scream Labs, Galena, Kansas

jan u ar y / f e br u ar y 2 0 1 5

“The sound is it getting out the nitrogen that’s not liquefied,” he says. “When the sound goes away, what’s coming out of the bottom is pure liquid nitrogen, which comes out at about minus 321 degrees (Fahrenheit).

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As 19-year-old Lawson Endicott described the steps, a fog poured out of the mixing bowl and onto the floor and a loud whistling noise filled the room.

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health

H O L I DAY D E P R E S S I O N

BY AMANDA STONE

Dealing with

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DEPRESSION

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How to help a loved one or friend overcome holiday sadness

T

he holidays aren’t a merry time of year for many.

Pressure to be jolly can be daunting when burdened by sadness. Symptoms of holiday depression come in many forms.

Since the holidays stretch out over several weeks, it can be difficult to know if a loved one is experiencing holiday-related sadness or a major depression. If several of the symptoms are present and interfere with normal relationships, it is important to seek help from a doctor right away.

“A person who is depressed may feel sad, empty, worthless or hopeless. They may cry or become tearful easily. Depression causes people to have difficulty experiencing pleasure. A depressed person may lose interest in activities they usually enjoy,” says Robin Reitz, a nurse practitioner with Freeman Health System’s Ozark Center.

Other symptoms, Reitz continues, can include unintended weight loss or weight gain, increased need for sleep or insomnia, loss of energy, feelings of excessive guilt, problems concentrating or making decisions and even thoughts of death.

Memories and traditions run deep during the holiday season.

Often, the result is high expectations that aren’t quite met.

Families change and grow; holiday rituals and traditions will naturally follow suit. Fighting progression by holding on to the idea of the perfect holiday gathering often leads to disappointment.

If there’s been a perfect holiday gathering, cherish the memory and be open to making new ones, experts say. Consider making

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new traditions relevant to current times. For examples, maybe go to a movie, a restaurant or even on vacation.

in the family, or skip gifts entirely and host a potluck dinner instead. This way, holiday-related deficits.

The holidays can also bring on financial burdens which can then trigger symptoms of depression. Too much money is spent, or maybe there’s not enough money to spend on holiday extras.

Entertaining, traveling and gift expenses can add up quickly for long-lasting debt. To avoid that, try to keep finances under control by making a budget for the holidays and sticking to it. Consider gift exchange games instead of buying gifts for every single person

The idea of attending or hosting events with family members prone to ongoing squabbles and disagreements can be discouraging. Avoid hosting big family gatherings or host them at a restaurant, where it will be easy to escape an unruly situation.

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Also, keep control of holiday plans. When traveling, it might be more enjoyable to stay at a hotel instead of with relatives. Protect

mental health during the holidays by saying no. Go ahead and skip events that you don’t want to go to, or promise yourself that you’ll only go for a few minutes.

Loneliness or sadness over the loss of loved ones can be overwhelming during the holidays. There’s not a quick cure or a set amount of time that makes the ache of missing a loved one disappear. Focusing on others can help alleviate holiday depression. Loneliness during the holidays can be helped by reaching out. Donating time at a shelter can give people a sense of purpose during the holidays, while reminding them what they have to be grateful for.

“There is certainly an increase in depression for some people during the holidays due to unmet expectations of joy, missing loved ones or financial stress,” Reitz says. “However, the actual change in season plays a larger role as many people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder.

This disorder occurs in the fall when the daylight hours become shorter and people who are predisposed to SAD feel the increased need for sleep, increased appetite with craving for carbohydrates, weight gain, irritability, sluggishness, sadness or feelings of dread and increased emotional sensitivity.”

Keeping a physically- and mentally-healthy routine can help alleviate depression.

“Staying active, eating well, staying in touch with other people, avoiding alcohol and getting some sunlight exposure can be helpful,” Reitz says.

Help loved ones this holiday season by, “Paying attention, watching for the symptoms, encouraging them to participate in activities and recommend they seek treatment for depression.

People who are experiencing depression often need antidepressant medications to relieve symptoms and therapy is also helpful to address negative feelings or thoughts,” Reitz says.

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music to the ears T H I R D DAY

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED

BY RYAN RICHARDSON

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Third Party plays a recent gig at JB’s Piano Bar in Joplin.

After a year’s worth of ups and downs — from the debut of the band’s stellar album, “Music for Driving” to theft of the band’s gear — members recently announced an indefinite hiatus that will include the departure of a few members out of area.

But don’t call it a break-up, because it ain’t broken. After a December run of shows in

the area supporting their newest release, the band — consisting of Mike Sullivan (percussion, vocals), Greg Walker (drums), Kelly Maddy (Bass), Patrick Beckett (lead vocals, guitar) and Jason Beckett (guitar, keys) — is still eyeing future plans together as a group that eventually will include another album.

J MAG — Knowing the trials and tribulations you guys have experienced, where does this leave you guys as a group?

Patrick Beckett — A lot of people went into thinking that when we announced

these shows, that this was it. Like they were shocked at how hard we had worked to overcome the problems and that we were going to be done. That’s not the case.

We’re proud of where we are right now, very proud. There are times that we didn’t give this our full attention and we went into recording not as focused, but the end result is something we are proud of.

Mike Sullivan — Having some of the stuff that happened, like the theft, was motivating us. It makes you more serious, it give you more heart to give it everything you have.

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Greg Walker blasts away.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

O

ver a year and a half ago, J MAG chronicled the adventures of Joplin-based band Third Party as they were starting the planning phase of recording their first album.

Jason Beckett plays during a recent live Joplin concert.

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PB — That has been the plan for a long time and it was always on the table. I’m taking an internship with Jet Propulsion Lab in California and I want to go to grad school.

Greg Walker — We knew it was always going to happen and even with some of us being further away as it is now, it is a surprise that it lasted this long, but it also has worked for us. We’ve got another album already in the works.

Jason Beckett — I can see us getting together this summer to see where we are musically. We’re friends and distance doesn’t change that — we’ve shared a lot of music. We aren’t done.

be in Los Angeles. I’ve heard they have a few bands there (laughing). We’re such a collaboration of influences it can’t hurt to experience even more. That’s really helped us define who we are.

J — You already have that plan in place?

That’s amazing to be that focused on new music when you just released an album that shows a maturity in the group’s sound.

What do you see musically for the band with putting something together that quickly?

GW — This album was such a focused effort as a group that we’re excited to take things in a new direction. But being apart, we are going to have times to breath and get excited to do it again. But right now, it will be great to have a moment to appreciate where are now.

PB — Spending times in different scenes will actually mature it even further. I’ll

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

J — So you have a few people wanting to leave the area and that is going to change the future of the group.

Third Party lead singer Patrick Beckett blasts lyrics to a standing-room only crowd.

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Kelly Maddy in action.

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The I

:

Out-of-the-box Valentine’s Gifts

t’s nearly Valentine’s Day once again. But candy and flowers? Blah and dullsville.

Instead of the traditional gifts, how about trying something a bit different? Something new. Something unique. Something that puts a smile on your special Valentine’s face.

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Joplin’s Romantic Delights store covers everything you’d need to keep your relationship young at heart.

Choose between dresses, swimwear and lingerie.

Aromatic massage oils are often big sellers as a Valentine’s Day gift, offering enticing fragrances that imparts a powerful effect on the mind, body and spirit.

Call 624.7567 for more information.

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Hopefully not as awkward as Will Ferrell’s hilarious singing attempt in the movie “Elf,” singing telegrams truly can make a great and wonderfully unexpected gift.

Entertainers include a strolling violinist, Allison Steiner from Springfield, Michael Jackson impersonator Corey Melton from St. Louis or Jolly Bean the Comedy Magician from Nebraska — all three and so many more can perform in Joplin.

Go online at https://www.gigsalad.com/Variety/ Singing-Telegram/MO/Joplin to select just the right act to come and entertain your loved one, either at home or where he or she works.

2 Want a non-traditional spin on the art of the giving of art on Feb. 14? Visit Joplin’s Images in Tile USA, which designs and creates tile murals not available in the traditional marketplace.

Thanks to the mastering of craft and science, Joplin residents can now have distinctive tile murals made for any size for fireplaces, swimming pools, showers, living room walls or floors. Want that favorite picture of you and your loved one kissing on the sandy-white beach during the honeymoon above the bed in the master bedroom? No problem.

Call 206-0252 for consultations.

5 Sometimes, couples feel like they have everything they want, and would love to give something back to their city. To that end, why not donate your time to a worthy cause? Rebuild Joplin — www.RebuildJoplin.org — would be a wonderful place to start.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

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Candy is an easy sell. Why? Because everyone loves candy. Luckily for us, we have the Candy House in two locations — the factory at 510 S. Kentucky Ave. as well as the original location at 454 Redings Mill Road — selling some of the most delicious candy found in Southwest Missouri. Be sure to check out their gold box deluxe assortments of milk and dark chocolates, ranging in size from eight ounces to the hefty three pounder. And for that man and woman in your life who loves Route 66, check out their “Mother Road” snack basket filled with hard candy, cajun spicy beer brittle, pecan pretzel rods and caramel nut corn.

Call 417.623.7171 or go online at www.candyhouse.net for details.

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We think the following five ideas are grand.

Or perhaps you want gifts that are outside-the-box? How about taking a cooking class as a couple? Or making a so-called “couple’s cocktail?” Maybe go cheese tasting. Or wives, make your hubby his own beer. Pick flowers outdoors, maybe along a local walking trail?

Maybe a fake tattoo of your sweetie’s name on your forearm?

The ideas, as you can see, are endless. Have fun and happy Valentine’s Day! 65

parting shot

V I C T O R I A N B E AU T Y

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROGER NOMER

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Kay Ellis poses in a Victorian dress she and her sisters handmade from scratch inside the beautiful Scottish Rite Cathedral in downtown Joplin. The Ellis sisters have shown off their costume talents during past Third Thursday events and, most recently, DickensFest 2014.