Community News
Veteran and five brothers served in World War II
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter 83-year-old World War II veteran Roy Adams will spend this Memorial Day like he has spent most others in recent years, remembering his five brothers, all of whom fought in WWII. He will start the day at the Urbana cemetery placing flags on the graves of his family members, and then he will put them on every grave in the cemetery. He plans on attending Avenue of Flags at Memorial Park Cemetery in Chanute as ...
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Powers a fixture at Thayer Senior Citizen Center
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter THAYER – To celebrate her 88th birthday, the Thayer Senior Citizen Center held a birthday party Thursday afternoon for longtime manager Margaret Powers. Powers has run the center for the past 22 years, seeing everything from the fire that destroyed the old meeting place, a church in Thayer, to the construction of a new building in 1991. “I worked two years before that. We moved in here in August of ‘91, w...
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Taylor closing out five years as assistant superintendent
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Assistant Superintendent for Chanute Public Schools Kathryn Taylor will retire this year after five years in the district and 34 years working in education. Prior to working for USD 413 Taylor worked in Dodge City for nine years, some of which as Principal of Dodge City Middle School, and then Director of Secondary Education. She came back to Chanute, which is her hometown, five years ago, and plans on rema...
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Longtime USD 413 educators retiring
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Seven teachers will retire from USD 413 this year. Several have spent the majority of their career in the district. Their knowledge and experience is invaluable, and they will be truly missed. Bob Cross will retire after 41 years at Royster Middle School. Marilyn Hurt currently teaches at Chanute Elementary School and has been with the district for 35 years. David Olson teaches at RMS and has been in the di...
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New store has coffee and computer needs covered
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Is it a computer repair shop with coffee, or a coffee shop that also does computer repair? Either way Total Tech at 121 E. Main is a place to relax, have some coffee, and either browse on a computer or get one fixed. Owners Josh and Susan Woolley wanted to open a computer repair shop initially. They found the store front on Main and decided it was too big for just a computer repair shop. So they turned the s...
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Erie family collecting donations for victims of Joplin tornado
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter ERIE —  A fundraising effort by Erie residents Byron and Kyle Shultz took a quick turnaround after Sunday’s tornado in Joplin. Kyle had begun a drive to take donations to Alabama after hearing of the record breaking destruction caused after a series of tornadoes there. Kyle reported on Thursday that the donations collected will be re-routed to Joplin. The plan is to collect goods with plans to deliver th...
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Leo J. Kaemmerling 1926-2011
Leo J. Kaemmerling, 84, Chanute, died Monday, May 23, 2011 at the Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center. Leo was born in Blackwell, Okla., on Oct. 15, 1926, the son of Louis and Amber Frisbee Kaemmerling. He attended Chanute schools. He served his country in the Army during WWII building bridges. Leo was united in marriage to Regina Hubler. They later divorced. She preceded him in death in 1998. He worked various jobs including working as a...
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Donation deadline today at 9:30 a.m. at Armory
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter Donations have been pouring into the Joplin tornado relief program set up in the Chanute Armory Building. Throughout this week, volunteers have made three trips to Joplin and will make one last trip to the Joplin American Red Cross this morning. Volunteers will arrive in the Armory Building around 7 a.m. and begin loading the truck around 8 a.m., and will continue to accept donations until the truck depar...
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Apartment destroyed one day after move
Tribune staff The family of Chanute High School graduate Blake Morgan was in Joplin Saturday to move the Missouri Southern University student to a different apartment in the city. One day later, her third floor apartment at 20th and Connecticut and all of her belongings were gone. Ironically, the building where she moved from was still standing. “She lost everything,” Chanute resident Carolyn Morgan said of her daughter. On Sunday Blake w...
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Rural Erie farm damaged by high winds
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter ERIE — After several parts of the Midwest have been battered by intense rounds of storms early this week, one hit very close to home. Tuesday night Mark and Liz O’Daniel’s property, just outside of Erie, was ravaged by intense winds. What used to be the O’Daniel’s pole barn now lays in a heap of wood and nails around their property. The roof landed across U.S. 59 highway, and parts of it still hang in the wi...
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Committee to weigh both sides of local government ordinance
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter City Commissioners on Monday evening rescinded the certified local government resolution passed in November of last year and tabled the proposed certified local government ordinance until a research committee can be formed. The committee, whose members have yet to be appointed, will come back to the City Commission with information portraying both the potential benefits and disadvantages of creating a certi...
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Bakers lose belongings in tornado
Tribune staff Former Chanute residents Brenda and Dennis Baker have been preparing to move into a new home in Joplin. As of Sunday evening, their new home is standing, but the rental home they were living in is not. Both homes are in the vicinity of the damaged St. John’s Hospital. Kay Patton, Chanute, Brenda’s sister, said the Bakers had moved to Joplin about a year ago to retire. They were closing on the new house and were making preparat...
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Welder advances to nationals as state champ
Marilynn Rutledge Tribune Reporter For the third consecutive year, the Neosho County Community College and Chanute High School welding class has brought home a state title from the State SkillsUSA Welding Fabrication Competition. After two-time champion Josh Tull graduated in 2010, welding instructor Will Jordan decided to send CHS senior Garrett Ross in 2011. Ross finished in first place in the state welding competition at Wichita Area Tech...
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Chanute sends assistance to Joplin
Chanute first-responders traveled to Joplin on Sunday to assist the devastation of the tornado, said Sam Budreau, public information officer. Capt. Mike MIller of the Chanute Police Department and Capt. Kirk Steeves of the Chanute Fire Department headed up the group who planned to return home on Monday night. Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center sent an ambulance and crew in response to an official call for mutual aid, said Patricia Mor...
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Chanute connections told in Joplin disaster
Kathleen Carney Tribune Reporter Several Chanute residents were in Joplin or had family members there when a three-quarter-mile wide tornado tore through town on Sunday evening. Former Chanute resident Trisha Williams and her husband, Jeff, now live in Joplin. Her family and home is safe, but many nearby lost everything. Williams said, “From our house you look in either direction and it yields no clue to the devastation 10 blocks away.” W...
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Donald Earl Stanley
Graveside inurnment services for Donald Earl Stanley of Elsmore, whose obituary appeared earlier in The Chanute Tribune, will be 12:30 p.m. Sunday, May 29 at the Elsmore Cemetery.  All are invited to 502 N. Main in Elsmore following the service for a time of fellowship with the family.  Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Memorial Chapel of Iola is in charge of arrangements.
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Marvin Martin 1920-2011
Marvin Francis Martin, 90, a resident of Vintage Park in Fredonia, formerly a longtime resident of Lafontaine, died Saturday, May 21, 2001 at the Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice at Via Christi St. Francis Medical Center in Wichita. He was born Nov. 10, 1920 in Lamont, Mo.,, the son of Lewis Cecil and Pearl Mae Gowin Martin. Martin was a retired farmer. Martin served in the United States Army during World War II. He was a member of the Lafont...
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Gloria Faye Goff 1935-2011
Gloria Faye Goff, 76, St. Paul, died at Saturday, May 21, 2011 at Labette Health, Parsons. She was born Feb. 28, 1935, a daughter of Stanley Whitworth and Loretta June Whitworth Harding. She grew up and attended school in rural Neosho County. She met and married Virgil L. Goff on Dec. 23, 1952 at Huntsville, Ark. She worked 32 years at the Home Savings Bank at Chanute, retiring as secretary and treasurer. Gloria was a long-time member of t...
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Scott A. Coomes 1963-2011
Scott A. Coomes, 47, St. Paul, died Saturday, May 21, 2011, at his home. He had been in failing health the past two years.  He was born August 29, 1963, in Garden City, Mich., to Adrian Dale and Helen Schoenhofer Coomes. He moved with his family to St. Paul where he graduated from St. Paul High School in 1981.  Scott worked in construction for several years then later worked at Industrial Crating in St. Paul. Most recently he was employed with...
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Superintendent Parsons retires from Chanute Public Schools
Reception Wednesday at CES  Connie Woodard Special to the Tribune After 40 years in education in southeast Kansas, Superintendent Stephen Parsons is stepping down from a satisfying career with no regrets.  “Every step in my career has been positive and provided a great opportunity for me to grow and learn,” Parsons said. “You get to meet and work with some really great people. I have been blessed to have been given the chance to learn from...
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