Friday,

June 1, See our

ne
2018 flag in t w
he
Vol. 146, Wednes
day
No. 35 edition
Bolivar, MO
65613-0330
Entire contents
Copyright © 2018
Established in 1868 — Polk County’s oldest continuous business
Bolivar Herald-Free Press
Your local newspaper

E s t a b l i s h e d i n 1 8 6 8

Parson to be Polk
County’s first governor
Lieutenant governor and former Polk County
sheriff, lawmaker to be sworn in Friday
By Jessica Franklin Maull
jessicam@bolivarmonews.com
Bolivar’s own Lt. Gov.
Mike Parson spent the past
few days preparing to take
the reins this week as Mis-
souri’s 57th governor — the
first Polk Countian to ascend
to the state’s highest office.
Following Gov. Eric Gre-
itens’ resignation announce-
ment Tuesday evening, Par-
son will step into his new
role at 5:30 p.m. Friday
during a private swearing-
in ceremony at the Capitol.
Details regarding a public
reception at a later date are
expected soon.
In a statement released
Tuesday evening, Parson
said “with Governor Greit-
ens’ decision to resign from
office, he has put the best
interests of our state and all
Missourians at the forefront
where they belong.”
“This is a decision that
will allow our state to heal
and move forward from what
has been a difficult time,”
Parson said. “This is an enor-
mous responsibility serving
as our state’s next governor,
and I am ready to fulfill the
duties of the office with
honor and integrity, and with
a steadfast commitment to
making our great state even
greater for the people we are
entrusted to serve.”
Parson’s office said
Wednesday the 62-year-
old U.S. Army veteran and
Hickory County native has
been busy “with a non-
stop series of meetings and
phone calls” in preparation
of the transition.
“We are taking every
step and working around
the clock to ensure Mis-
souri state government
does not miss a beat
throughout this transition,”
Parson said in the release.
“My commitment to all
Missourians is to listen to
them and work together
to advance the interests of
our great state.”
On Wednesday, the lieu-
tenant governor met with
House Speaker Todd Rich-
ardson, Senate President Pro
Tem Sen. Ron Richard and
legislators from both parties,
the release said.
In addition, Parson
reached out to all cabinet
members and is planning
to hold a meeting with the
cabinet early next week, the
release said.
Polk County’s
first governor
Parson, a third-genera-
tion farmer who, along with
wife Teresa, owns a cow
and calf operation, will be
the first Missouri governor
to call Polk County home
— although former gov-
ernor Matt Blunt has Polk
County ties through his fa-
ther, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt,
who went to high school
here and then Southwest
Baptist University. The el-
der Blunt later returned to
Bolivar as SBU’s president.
Parson’s first stint in
public office was as Polk
County’s sheriff, a role he
filled from 1993 to 2005.
He subsequently served as
state representative for the
128th district from 2005
to 2011 and as state sena-
tor for the 28th district
from 2011-2017.
In April 2015 at Boli-
var High School, he an-
nounced a bid for the
Missouri governorship. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
See Parson, Page 5A Lt. Gov. Mike Parson will take the oath as Missouri’s 57th governor Friday evening.

and counting...
An insider’s view: A force behind Parson’s successful
lieutenant governor campaign, Linda Bunch, shares her thoughts
on Missouri’s new governor. See Page 2A

It’s your party …

Will you be there?
By BH-FP news staff
news@bolivarmonews.com

As one who is engaged with this news-

paper, you have a birthday coming up
next week, first celebrated with a special
section Wednesday and then with a party
Humansville woman dies late Friday afternoon and early evening.
The occasion is the 150th birthday of

following rollover crash your community newspaper. Technically,

By Latisha Russell
news@bolivarmonews.com
Tuesday morning, a Humans-
ville woman was killed in a roll-
over crash north of Bolivar.
Barbara A. Childress, 70, of Hu-
mansville died Tuesday at Citizens
Memorial Hospital due to injuries
suffered in a May 29 crash, accord-
ing to a Missouri State Highway
Patrol news release.
According to the report, at
the birthday is on Monday, June 4, for the
Free Press half of the flag, but the special
a 2009 Honda Fit when it failed to
attention comes in the Wednesday edition,
negotiate a curve, crossing the cen-
June 6. There will be two big sections fo-
ter line.
cusing on both halves of the flag for the
The vehicle traveled off the left
first 100 years and the next 50 years as a
side of the roadway, hit a road sign
combined product.
and overturned several times.
There will be a lot of "the way we
According to the report, Chil-
were," not only with staff members but
dress was wearing a seat belt.
with newsmakers and advertisers.
She was pronounced dead by
The party rolls out Friday, June 8, from
Dr. Jeffrey Smieshek at CMH at
4 to 7 p.m. on the parking lot of Bolivar
around 10:30 a.m.
High School. Music will be provided by
The release said Childress’ next
three groups: Floodwater, Sunset to Burns
of kin had been notified.
and The Jarvis Family Band featuring
Arksansas/Missouri
Newspaper Bar Codes

around 8:50 a.m., Childress was
driving northbound on Mo. 83,
about 3 miles north of Bolivar, in
The release said this is Troop D's FILE PHOTO
Lisa (Childress), Brett and daughter Ad-
15th fatality for the month of May A sample of the treasures to be found in next
die Jarvis.
and the 45th for the year. See Your party, Page 5A week's 150th special section.

5
DEATHS PUBLIC NOTICES
Printed
with
David A. Butler, 53, • Polk County Commission bid notice days until the
Excelsior Springs • Bolivar R-1 roofing bids
SOY INK
Michael “Mike” Parke, • Potts name change BH-FP’s
Printed on
recycled
77, Weableau
Larry D. Wells, 76,
•
•
Powell estate
Roberts estate keepsake
newsprint • Tyler estate
Hermitage
150th
BHFP-F

MM
CCR

CCH

BR

• Jones trustee’s sale

BHFP-W
8

8
8

• Welker trustee’s sale anniversary

95401 00105

95401 00104

95401 00103

95401 00102

95401 00100
95401 00101

special section.

INDEX
News………………… 3A Death notices…………. 5A News……………… 8A Faith & Family……… 2B Classifieds…Marketplace
Commentary………… 4A Public Record……… 6A, 8A Sports…………………1B Entertainment………… 4B Autos for Sale…….DRIVE
9

4
1
H

H
N
8

8
Friday, June 1, 2018
Soon-to-be Gov. Mike Parson has a long history of service in Polk County.
In a BH-FP photo originally published Oct. 20, 1983, Parson, left, then a Polk
County Sheriff’s Office deputy, participates in the seizure of 75 marijuana
plants. Also pictured, from left of Parson, are former sheriff Kay Williams and
then-Prosecutor Charles Ankrom.
Parson From Front Page
Three months later, Parson shifted his
campaign to the lieutenant governor race.
Parson won 110 out of the state’s 114
counties during his 2016 successful bid
for the lieutenant governorship, becoming
the first statewide official to be elected out
of Polk County since 1928, when Charles
U. Becker won his third term as secretary
of state.
Area leaders, residents react
Local politicians reacted Wednesday
and Thursday to the news Parson will be
governor.
“Today is a great day for all citizens
of Polk County,” 128th district state Rep.
Mike Stephens, R-Bolivar, said. “More
importantly, Missouri is getting the fin-
est example of a true civil servant in Mike
Parson. Ever since he served as sheriff, it
has been clear to all, Parson represents the
true meaning of being from Polk County.”
He also offered up a message for Par-
son.
“Gov. Parson, you have made Polk
County proud, and now you will continue
to make Missouri proud,” Stephens said.
Rich Horton, the Democratic contender
for Stephens’ seat in November, said Par-
son “will be a breath of fresh air in the
governor’s office.”
He said he foresees Parson will help
usher in bipartisan cooperation in the
state.
“Gov. Parson and I are not of the same
political party and disagree on many poli-
cy issues,” Horton said. “What I think we
can agree on is that we both want what
is best for the State of Missouri. As long
as we can work together to find biparti-
san solutions to the issues in this state, our
state will be better with Gov. Parson in-
stead of Eric Greitens.”
Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, said
Parson “is a great friend.”
“I think there is no better person to lead
the state at this time,” she said. “His back-
ground as a farmer, small business owner,
former sheriff, U.S. Army veteran, state
representative and lieutenant governor
gives him a perfect background to move
BolivarMONews.com
DEATHS
FILE PHOTO
Missouri forward.”
Joseph Poor, the Democrat who will
oppose Crawford in the November elec-
tion, said via social media Parson is “by
all accounts a level-headed guy.”
Referencing “right-to-work” legisla-
tion, Poor said his levelheadedness may
make Parson “much more effective in
implementing” the GOP’s “anti-worker
agenda.”
“It’s well and good that Missourians
are nearly rid of Eric Greitens,” Poor said,
“but make no mistake, unless we do some
personnel shifting in the Capitol in No-
vember, it’ll be more of the same, but less
headline grabbing.”
In a statement Tuesday night, former
Bolivar resident and previous Southwest
Baptist University president Republican
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt also offered up sup-
port for Parson.
“I look forward to Gov. Parson’s lead-
ership and will do everything I can to be
helpful,” Blunt said.
Area residents also chimed in with sup-
port of the soon-to-be governor via BH-
FP’s Facebook Wednesday and Thursday.
Paula Shepard, Roy Blunt YMCA of
Bolivar director, said Parson’s personality
bodes well for the state.
“Parson is even-tempered and well
liked by everyone who has encountered
him both personally and professionally,”
she said, adding “rural Missourians will
be especially well represented.”
Barbara Mitchell McCarty, Springfield,
said she expects Parson “will do well.”
“He appears to have common sense and
to truly care about Missouri,” she said.
Ronald Kemp the younger of Bolivar
said Parson is the “best choice Missouri
could have,” adding that he hopes Parson
will be reelected “for two terms.”
Bolivar resident Julie Sexton had a
short but exuberant response to the news.
“Completely awesome!” she said.
Find more local reactions to Parson’s
ascension to the governorship on the BH-
FP’s Facebook page and online at Bolivar-
MoNews.com.
529711b
Deaths
LARRY DEAN WELLS
June 20, 1941-May 29, 2018
Service: 11 a.m. Friday, June 1,
at Hathaway-Peterman Chapel in
Wheatland with visitation preceding
the service by one hour.
Larry Dean Wells, 76, of Her-
mitage died May 29, 2018, at
Cox South Medical Center in
Springfield.
He was born June 20, 1941, in
Kansas City, Kansas, to Thomas
Glen Wells and Monabelle Katherine
Brown Wells.
He served in the U.S. Navy.
He was a heavy equipment operator
and owned and operated his own busi-
ness for several years.
Survivors include his wife, Rosalie
Wells, of the home; four sons, Shawn
and Patricia Wells of Barnhill, Illi-
nois, Johnny Dingen and Alex Peebles
MICHAEL “MIKE” PARKE
Michael “Mike” Parke, 77, of
Weaubleau died May 29, 2018. Ar-
rangements are pending under the
DAVID ALLEN BUTLER
Dec. 13, 1964-May 25, 2018
Service: Thursday, May 31, at Hid-
den Valley Funeral Home of Excelsior
Springs.
David A Butler, 53, of Excelsior
Your party From Front Page
There will be drawings for prizes and
charitable organizations will be offering
food for sale to benefit their causes. A
dunk tank will be raising money to be
shared between Care to Learn and the
Keeling Foundation for Kids. A news-
paper publisher, school superinten-
dent and others will be “doing time”
in the tank. There will be other efforts
to help those two organizations whose
combined efforts provide for a lot of
kids in all six county school districts.
A photo booth will be in place to
capture the time and place in history.
"The full focus is on service to the
community," publisher Dave Berry
says. "That's what your newspaper
Don’t Miss Getting a Copy of YOUR
150th Anniversary Special Edition!
And why not pick up some extras for family and friends?
Stop by the following businesses to
buy yours on Wednesday, June 6!
BOLIVAR
Bolivar Exchange..................112 W Jefferson St
Brenda’s ............................. 115 W Broadway St
Casey’s 3280 ....................... 328 E Broadway St
Country Inn .......................1819 S Wommack St
Fast & Friendly #14 ........... 1602 E Broadway St
Fast & Friendly #12 .......... 1913 W Broadway St
Circle K #104 Jump#335 ...... 1342Q Highway U
Kum & Go #432 ............ 3303 W Broadway Ave
Kum & Go #433 ............ 2565 S Springfield Ave
May’s Station .......................... 1301 N Oakland
Dollar General ...................... 1805 W Broadway
Walmart ........................ 2451 S Springfield Ave
Dollar General #6850 .... 2101 S Springfield Ave
Walgreens ..................... 1820 S Springfield Ave
Stephens Pharmacy .......... 1500 N Oakland Ave
Super 8.......................1919 S Killingsworth Ave
Woods Express ................ 804 S Springfield Ave
Woods Supermarket ................ 703 E College St
BRIGHTON
Case’s Corner ...................... 1559 Highway 215
FAIR PLAY
Hannahs ........................................ 108 W 1st St
Dollar General #18178 ............ 212 S Troost Ave
FLEMINGTON
TNT Quick Shop ...................Corner Of RB & 83
Bolivar Herald-Free Press 5A
of Colorado, Brandon Zallar of Colo-
rado, and Danny Peebles of Califor-
nia; two daughters, Laquite Wells of
California and Jennifer Zallar
of Colorado Springs, Colorado;
three brothers, Jimmy Wells of
Preston, Pat and Elaine Wells
of Peculiar, and Tommy Wells
of Idaho; two sisters, Judy Gross of
Branson and Debbie Wells; eight
grandchildren and six great-grand-
children.
Services are at 11 a.m. Friday, June
1, at Hathaway-Peterman Chapel in
Wheatland. Interment will follow at
Little Niangua Cemetery, Preston, un-
der the direction of Hathaway-Peter-
man Funeral Home, Wheatland.
Visitation will be from 10 to 11
a.m. Friday at the funeral home.
direction of Hathaway-Peterman Fu-
neral Home in Wheatland.
Springs died May 25, 2018. Services
were Thursday, May 31, at Hidden
Valley Funeral Home of Excelsior
Springs.
has been doing for 150 years, with
your help and that of those who came
before you. And an overwhelming
amount of the newspaper's focus has
been on other entities that are always
working for the betterment of this
place we call home.
"It's your party, and you can cry if
you want to, but only if they are hap-
py tears flowing over meeting up with
old friends," he said.
Everyone is encouraged to bring
lawn chairs for the entertainment and
sunscreen might be in order, too. If
the weather turns out different from
the current forecast, most events can
be moved inside.
HALFWAY
32 Whistle Stop ..................... 2135 Highway 32
HERMITAGE
Alps ......................................... HC 79 Box 3408
Caseys 2858 ........................ 404 W Highway 54
Trading Post ..........Corner Of Hwy 254 And 295
HUMANSVILLE
Deb’s Fresh Market....................201 W Tilden St
Dollar General #11145 ..............602 W Tilden St
Tiger Foods....................................301 W Tilden
MORRISVILLE
Hannah#5 ..................................1164 Maple St
Reeves Mercantile ......................1168 Maple St
PITTSBURG
Bulleye’s .................................................MO-64
PLEASANT HOPE
Laney ..........................................500 S Main St
Next Stop #6 ..................... 103 W Highway 215
WEAUBLEAU
Caseys 2857 ..........................101 E Highway 54
WHEATLAND
Caseys 2862 ......................... 310 E Highway 54
Triangle Quick Stop .....................RR2 Box 2104
SPRINGFIELD
Crossroads Eagle Stop...... 2785 W State Hwy O
• Red-letter day — Bolivar Day at the Springfield Cardinals is Tuesday. 7A
• The Polk County Junior Livestock Show and Youth Fair is set to return R1 The Bolivar
R-1 school
next week for its 72nd year. 8A board is
• The BH-FP invites you to join us at the races Saturday, June 16. 5A named
Outstanding
Board of
Education. 8A

Vol. 147 No. 37 Friday, June 8, 2018 Established in 1868 $1 plus tax

Who is that man in that office?

A governor steps down, another takes his place
Story and photos by Dave Berry

U
nfortunately, perhaps, Missouri’s new governor
doesn’t have all the answers.
Fortunately, he knows that.
“If you really want to be a public servant, which is what
I believe these jobs are — I believe that as the governor of
Missouri, that’s what you are — you’ve got to be willing to
admit you don’t know everything,” he said Tuesday, June 5,
in his first one-on-one press interview after becoming Mis-
souri’s 57th governor.
“And you’ve got to be a good listener, and then you’ve got
to figure out how do you make things better.”
The interview took place in a busy governor’s office in an
otherwise not so busy interior of the capitol with the legis-
lature not in session. The outside, though, was busy with
extensive restoration that Parson led the way in getting ap-
proved while he was in the Senate.
The new governor’s grammar is not as polished as that
of many who came before him in the position, and he
knows that, too. But he speaks as a common man with
perhaps uncommon achievements who knows from
where he came and how he got to where he is.
“Home is important to me,” he offered for why
he invited his Sunday school class to witness his
private swearing-in ceremony. “I’m not run-
ning away from it. I’m not running away from
Wheatland, Missouri, or how I grew up.”
Relying on relationships
People back home in Hickory and Polk
counties seem to understand what he
says, grammar aside. And people in state
government apparently do, too.
The key word in his vocabulary to with you. But you’ve got to have them,
explain his rise to the top seat in Mis- especially up here. You’ve got to be Governor to host public reception Monday
souri government: relationships. able to reach across the aisle from time
They helped him win election as to time to get good things done for the Missouri’s new gover- The reception will sion in the governor’s
lieutenant governor with record domi- state. Because some of the things we’ll nor and first lady, Mike follow a joint session office.
nance of counties won. They put him be talking about in this administration, and Teresa Parson, are of the Missouri legisla- Missouri hors
where he could move into the top job whether it is workforce development, hosting a public recep- ture. According to the d’oeuvres and bever-
tion at around 5:15 p.m. invitation, the governor ages will be served.
last Friday after former Gov. Eric Greit- whether it’s infrastructure, those are
Monday, June 11, in the and first lady will greet The invitation said the
ens resigned. not political issues. Really not. Those
State Capitol Rotunda in guests during and im- reception will be paid for
“All of this, all of this, my entire ca- are what’s best for the state.”
Jefferson City. mediately after the ses- by Parson for Missouri.
reer — (and) being governor of the He said some advisers wondered
state of Missouri I doubt will be any what signals he could be sending by
different — it will always be about rela- inviting his Sunday school class from That’s where listening to his heart Parson said people are wondering
tionships,” he said. Bolivar First Baptist Church to his kicked in, advice offered by his older who he is, what he is about, and those
“It will be about building them. Even swearing-in. Would people of different brother, a minister, during the prayer classmates were among the people he
with the people who don’t always agree faiths be offended? service before he took the oath of office. See Parson, Page 2A

It’s your party … Don’t miss it In Parson they trust

By BH-FP news staff
three
Music will be provided by
local groups: Floodwater, Come on out
Education leaders confident
news@bolivarmonews.com
Sunset to Burns and The Jar-
The following Hall
under new governor’s lead
It’s party time! vis Family Band featuring Lisa
nonprofits have • Bolivar Kiwanis By Jessica sioner Margie Vandeven,
In honor of the 150th birth- (Childress), Brett and daugh- signed up to • Matilda Polk Greitens cycled through
day of your community news- ter Addie Jarvis. Franklin Maull
have booths at Campbell DAR a series of state board ap-
paper, the BH-FP A dunk tank will raise mon- Friday’s event. • New Life Church jessicam@bolivarmonews.com
pointments, withdrawals

1
ey to be shared between

50
cordially in- They will feature • Pleasant Hope and reappointments.
vites you … Care to Learn and the Area education leaders
food, games and Trail of Life USA The shake-ups eventu-
to your Keeling Foundation predict positive change is
information. • Polk Co. CERT ally ended with the ousting
own par- for Kids. A news- • Polk Co. Children’s
on the way for Missouri
• Alpha House of Vandeven in December
ty. You paper publisher • Art Sync Gallery Division public education as Gov.
and others will be Mike Parson settles into and a subsequent stale-
won’t • BHS cheerleading • Polk Co.
mate between Greitens
want to YEARS “doing time” in the
tank.
• BHS fishing team Extension/4-H his new role.
And it’s change, they and the state Senate, which
miss it. • BHS football • Polk Co. Fair
BOLIVAR FREE PRESS
Established 1868 • 150th year
There will be Association say, that is most needed. refused to confirm Greit-
The team
HERALD-FREE PRESS MERGER
drawings for prizes • BHS wrestling • Polk Co. Health When he resigned June ens’ five education board
event is Nov. 1967 • 50th year
appointees.
today from — including a 55” team Center 1, Parson’s predecessor,
TCL Roku TV — and a • Bolivar City Fire • Polk Co. Library former Gov. Eric Greit- Consequently, the edu-
4 to 7 p.m. on cation board has remained
the parking lot of photo booth will be in place Department • Polk Co. Senior ens, left behind a public
to capture the time and place • Carrie J. Babb Center education system without without a quorum and un-
Bolivar High School. There able to meet for six months.
will be plenty of food and fun in history. Cancer Center • Polk Co. Sheriff’s a commissioner and with
Everyone is encouraged to • City of Bolivar Office a paralyzed state education Since being sworn into
for everyone. office Friday, Parson has
bring lawn chairs for the enter- Aqua Zone • Polk Co. Social board.
To raise funds for their publicly said addressing
tainment, and sunscreen might • Countryside Ministries In what was largely seen
causes, local nonprofits will be Assembly • Polk Co. the state of Missouri’s
selling various food items — be in order, too. If the weather by the Missouri education
turns out different from the • Halfway FFA Genealogical establishment as an effort education board is a high
Arksansas/Missouri
Newspaper Bar Codes

burgers, hot dogs, walking ta- • House of Hope Society priority.

cos, root beer floats and funnel current forecast, most events to stack the deck against
• Bolivar Kingdom • Roy Blunt YMCA former education commis- See Education, Page 3A
cakes, to name a few. can be moved inside.
INSIDE

DEATHS PUBLIC NOTICES

Printed Geraldine “Gerry” Brown, • Fair Play R-2 HVAC
with
SOY INK 88, Bolivar bids
Lola M. Miller, 92, Fair • Bolivar R-1 roof bids
Printed on Play • Potts change of name
recycled
newsprint • Doke heirship
• Roberts estate
• Tyler estate
MM
BR

BHFP-W

• Jones trustee’s sale

8

8
8

• Welker trustee’s sale

95401 00102

95401 00100
95401 00101

INDEX
Hoopin’ Redbirds 1B

News ................................3A Public Record..................6A School ..............................8A Faith ................................. 2B Classifieds ......Marketplace
Death notices..................5A Legals...............................7A Sports .............................. 1B Entertainment................. 4B Autos........................... Drive
8

4
1
2A COMMENTARY
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 6,
2018

DS
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per year locally (see box at bottom of page) by

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Bolivar, Missouri 65613-0330 make you free.” -John 8:32
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Telephone (417) 326-7636
Missouri Dave Berry, Publisher
by Periodicals postage paid at Bolivar, MO
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Jessica Franklin Maull, editor BERRY
(417) 864-0932 P.O. Box 330, Bolivar, Mo. 65613-0330

o, how could even older and softer

Parson: A listener, inspirer of hope for ‘Showing Them’ anyone at the than I am, that our ren-

T
newspaper make dition of an Old English
hose who truly want a more effective state gov- as lieutenant governor have led to the harshest and that kind of screw up? font should be sent to
ernment should see it happen with Gov. Mike perhaps unfair criticism of him in that role. Friday’s That’s the first ques- the same scrap yards
Parson at the helm, even if they still don’t get question was fair, relevant and timely. The response was tion that might cross where some of the old
everything they want, just like they wouldn’t get regard- solid. a few minds when equipment described in
less of who is running the show. A Golden Rule governor who takes his pride in seeing a mostly blank today’s special section
Those on the far right will be unhappy at times when building bridges rather than blowing things up should front page today. And went to die.
he demonstrates he is not as far to the right as they give all of us better hope for legislation that will bear the some might judge it Ours was not actually
reside. That might show up when he has the audacity fingerprints of people on both sides, meaning that when as a screw up even Old English, though.
to extend the common courtesy of listening to those on a law’s imperfections show up later, both sides will feel after hearing I call it “Ol’
the left. an obligation to repair it, not destroy it for political gain what really Keith,” as it
Those on the far left will be unhappy when they find when — not if — that power pendulum swings. happened. was designed
out he truly is conservative, and that his courtesy in The majority wins in the short term, but how long Eye of the about 50 years
listening to and considering their views will not cancel a victory holds up — and how long it deserves to last beholder, ago by local
out his personal convictions when working toward the — depends a lot on the fairness, honor, dignity, and you know. artist Keith
common good of a state occupied by people who are transparency used in securing it, because majorities can Many Robinson, com-
not all alike but who enjoy the same protections under a and do flip. Mike Parson knows that. All of that. He can community missioned by
constitution. lead divergent hands in building a horse that looks like a newspapers Jim Sterling.
Which should be fine when we all realize that none horse, not a camel. in Minne- The man-
of us will — or should — ever get everything we want We can feel hope now with him in Missouri’s top job, sota picked Dave Berry is ner in which
out of government. For one to be that happy inevitably a hope far better founded and more likely, even if not a week publisher of the it has been
means it comes at the expense of others, which puts it guaranteed, to be fed by worthy opponents on all sides last year Herald-Free Press. displayed has
at far greater risk of being erased when the pendulum of of issues as time passes. to publish been tweaked
power eventually swings the other direction. It’s a hope with a chance of making the middle a blank front pages to a number of times
We can believe that Mike Parson truly believes in the wider and more enjoyable space to live. Maybe, at least demonstrate what it over the years, but the
Golden Rule. He will continue to do his best at treating in Missouri, that middle will be restored as a super and might be like without home-made font has
others the way he would hope to be treated, even when civil majority in politics, not just among friends and local news — any news, remained the same.
the courtesy doesn’t result in full agreement in making neighbors in the course of our daily lives. for that matter — in Sorry, Keith.
law or in governing. Maybe, just maybe, Washington will pay attention newspapers. Several Sorry, Jim.
For example: The reporter granted the first question if the “Show Me” state does as we hope and “Shows others across the na- Sorry, any other tra-
following the new governor’s post-swearing in remarks Them” how to do this. tion picked up on the ditionalists like me.
Friday is the one whose earliest articles during his time — Dave Berry idea, including our I’ve often said that
neighbor to the north, when the New York
The Index, at Hermit- Times changes its flag
age. font, we’ll change ours.
The We put the idea in But I just couldn’t keep
commentary our pocket to pull out up the resistance as I
page will for an occasion like edge toward an even-
this, the commemora- tual exit — someday —
return to tion of your newspa- and senility.
its regular per’s sesquicentennial, If you love the new
location on or 150th anniversary flag, or even if you just
Page 4A in for those who prefer like it, credit the newly
the Friday, the perhaps more col- named, talented and
loquial term. much younger editor
June 8, Whether effective or Jessica Franklin Maull,
edition of not in the eyes of indi- and the other dynamic
the BH-FP vidual beholders, the people who surround
and going blank page serves as a her on staff. It’s of their
forward. demonstration of what making, with only some
life could be like for interference (well, they
Susan Sparks and other might say a lot) from
genealogists today had this soft body mass that

JI
Polk County’s news not used to be a wall.

Something old,
ESSICA
been chronicled in local If you hate it, blame
newspapers here over me for getting old and
the past 150 years. And soft.

FRANKLIN MAULL something new what would our family

scrapbooks look like?
It’s an expensive
But, for the record, I
admit that I like it, even
though I hate quitting
demonstration for us on Ol’ Keith.
see today’s edition of the BH-FP as a symbolic inter- house takes center stage — a symbol of our greater when considering the I wanted the court-
twining of past, present and future. coverage area. But Simon Bolivar still keeps vigil on the price and scarcity of house in it to accentu-
As we mark our 150th anniversary — and I say front page in his new home at bottom right. newsprint today with a ate the fact that we are
“we” as a community member, not as a BH-FP staffer — “Bolivar” keeps its sans-serif identity and remains in prohibitive U.S. tariff the county’s newspaper,
we take a look back via a keepsake special section (see its previous placement — where it has lived during my in place on Canadian not just Bolivar’s. I’ve
sections C and D). entire lifetime. newsprint. But state- long said we don’t
In its 26-pages, the special section recounts the The flag is just one element of a comprehensive rede- ments intended to be choose to draw lines in
paper’s first 150 years and how its history really is our sign that extends to page headers, folios, headlines (also bold can be expensive. defining our audience.
history as a community. Familiar faces and stories from Raleway) and copy typeface (now Old Century) with a ••• Not at the city limits or
the past appear, as do reflections from read- two-fold mission: Keep the past in mind while Then, one might ask, even the county line. If
ers and former BH-FP staffers. seeking ways to better tell — including visually what’s the deal with the you identify with this
At the same time, today’s edition embrac- — your stories today and tomorrow. new flag on the “sec- community, regardless
es the second half of “150 years and count- ••• ond” front page today, of where you reside,
ing” by looking forward to what is ahead, Today’s edition also means something new to your right? this is your newspaper.
the new. for me: a new title. Becoming the first editor That’s what happens As publisher, I’ve
Our new flag, which you’ll find atop Page of the BH-FP’s next 150 years — and the first when a wall — actually, insisted that Simon Bo-
3A, is one of those new elements. The cul- editor of the combined “Herald-Free Press” to the ever-softer body livar still be an anchor
mination of years of thought and the input of be from here — is an honor not only profession- mass someone sees on the page, even if not
many, it may at first seem a huge departure Jessica Franklin Maull ally, but personally. when looking at me — in the flag. Look for
from the flag that has identified this news- is the editor of the After all, this newspaper has played a signifi- falls down after being him in the lower right.
paper for the past five decades — the one so Herald-Free Press. cant role in my own history. My family’s scrap- pushed from multiple •••
many of us, myself included, grew up with. books are lined with its clippings. directions for a number And please enjoy the
It’s true. It is different. In its archives lie the records of my family’s additions of years. glimpse of the past 150
But not a complete departure. and losses, celebrations and milestones, triumphs and We’ve been told for years provided in this
As we worked through iterations of new flag possi- trials, across the generations over the paper’s 150-year a long time by self- edition, thanks to many
bilities, guided at each step by input from colleagues, I history. proclaimed and other- hands, including those
knew I wanted it to remain recognizable, to hint back to, This newspaper is where my own birth, school wise recognized design of former staff mem-
if you will, the identity of the newspaper of my childhood. achievements and athletic endeavors were chronicled. experts, some who are bers and owners.
That desire led to the exchange of the newspaper’s (In digging through the archives on some other quest,
previous unique rendition of Old English-style for a con- I have frequently been taken aback as I stumbled upon
temporary sans-serif display typeface, Raleway. my own face looking back at me from the past, some-
Designed in 2010 and expanded in 2012, Raleway is times triggering a long-forgotten memory.) HOW TO CONTACT THE
new, but not too new. It’s clean, minimalist and built for It’s where my engagement and wedding were an- BOLIVAR HERALD-FREE PRESS
our digital age — all while literally bringing together nounced.
something old with something new. It’s where the deaths of my dearest loved ones — Front office 326-7636 or 777-9700
Raleway includes elements that harken back to the grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and my mother Dave Berry, publisher 777-9776
Jessica Franklin Maull, editor 777-9723
early sans serifs of the 1800s, as well as some unique — appeared. It’s where one day I expect my own will Jill Way, associate editor 777-9722
flourishes (overbiting lowercase e, intersecting w, appear. Martin Barrett, sports editor 777-9724
etc.) — though not as elaborate as what is seen in Old Until that day, though, I hope to spend a good, long Deanna Moore, advertising manager 777-9731
English. time continuing to be a part of our newspaper in any Amy Gardner, recruitment ad manager 777-9733
As for the artwork in our flag, Polk County’s court- capacity in which you, dear readers, will have me.

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Martin Prairie Farms Kelie
believes cow comfort is key. 4B Henderson:
Bolivar’s Kelie
Henderson named
Girls Cross Country
Runner of the Year. 1B

Vol. 146 No. 38 Wednesday, June 13, 2018 Established in 1868 $1 plus tax

150 and
Community members and organizations, as well as
current and former staff, joined together to celebrate the
Bolivar Herald-Free Press’ past 150 years of operation

counting
— and kick off the next 150 years to boot — on Friday,
June 8. Pictured here, Vonna Jones laughs with friends as
Sheriff Danny Morrison makes a splash in the dunk tank.
For more photos of Friday’s event, see page 8B.
STAFF PHOTO/MARTIN BARRETT

‘Doing the
right things’ ‘It’s all about the youth’
Polk County Junior Livestock Show and Youth Fair turns 72
Bolivar City Fire By Latisha Russell

earns ISO 2 rating

news@bolivarmonews.com

Birds call on the wooden bleachers

of the sheep, goat and hog barn at the
By Jill Way Polk County Fairgrounds, 4522-4540
jillw@bolivarmonews.com S. 100th Rd, Bolivar, in the evening on
Tuesday, June 5. Cars drive down the
Bolivar residents may find a little re-
open gravel road off Rt. T and people
lief on their homeowner’s and business
greet each other before heading in-
owner’s insur-
side the white youth activities build-
ance — not to
ing. Inside, the Polk County Fair As-
mention a little
sociation meeting gets underway.
extra pride in
Preparing for the upcoming Polk
their local fire
County Junior Livestock Show and
crews — as the
Youth Fair, June 14-16, is no easy task,
Bolivar City Fire
and this year may have been a little
Department
more involved with all the renovations
announced Fri-
that happened at the fairgrounds over
day the depart-
the past year.
ment’s ISO rat-
The biggest project the association
ing moved from
accomplished this year is a renovation
class three to class two following a recent
to the youth activities building, cost-
assessment. STAFF PHOTOS/LATISHA RUSSELL
ing a total of about $21,855, according
“This validates, both by national stan- Abby Kaufmann waits to present her 4-H project in the newly built kitchen of the youth
to a letter sent out by Bill Bob Kallen-
dards and by third-party evaluation, that
bach, treasurer of the association. activities building Monday evening. The 72nd Polk County Junior Livestock Show and
our fire department is doing the right
The renovation included new cabi- Youth Fair kicks off Thursday.
things and doing them very well,” Chief
nets in the kitchen, new stainless steel
Jim Ludden said in the Friday, June 8, was a need out there for that new unions … they rent the facility. Rent’s
sinks, washing vats and disposal, two
board of aldermen meeting. kitchen,” said Tim Scott, board chair very inexpensive, but then they have
new ovens with hoods, a new freezer,
He said BCFD shares this rating with of the Polk County Fair Association, a full kitchen,” said Scott.
new kitchen utensils and required
“an elite few fire departments” — the top at the June 7 Community Connec- Other upgrades include lighting
plumbing and electrical work.
2 percent in Missouri and top 3 percent in tions meeting. improvements at the tractor and pick-
Contrary to what some may be-
the U.S. The 4-H students also have cooking up drag track, interior and exterior
lieve, the youth activities building
Ludden said the evaluation takes into classes in the building throughout the work at the new sheep, goat and hog
gets used more than just during the
consideration the department’s “apparatus, year, according to Katie Garretson, barn, including new holding pens,
fair.
equipment, staffing, training and communi- association co-chair. gates, panels and gate fasteners, and
“We have the homeschoolers that
ty risk reduction.” The building is available for the an interior electrical project at the
use our facility out there several times
Arksansas/Missouri
Newspaper Bar Codes

He said BCFD’s overall cumulative score public to rent, as well. Cribbs Beef Barn, the letter said.
in the course of the month ... that’s
was 82.65. “And then we have a lot of family re-
See Rating, Page 2A another reason why we felt like there See Fair, Page 3A
FRIDAY

DEATHS PUBLIC NOTICES

Printed • Betty F. Ackels, 86, Bolivar • Fair Play R-2 bleacher
with
SOY INK • Craig A. Dingman, 66, bids
Collins • Bolivar R-1 roof bids
Printed on • Kristopher “Kiefer” • Hartley adoption
recycled
newsprint
Douglas, 30, Bolivar • McCormack estate
• Janice L. Gorden, 93, • Stillwell assumed name
formerly of Bolivar
MM
BR

BHFP-W

• Michael T. Parke, 77, See photos from

8

8
8

Weableau Bolivar’s Day at the

• John Snider, 74, Halfway
95401 00102

95401 00100

Cards in Friday’s edition.

95401 00101

• Janet S. Colley Toner, 84,

Bolivar

INDEX
Bolivar Day at the Cards
Commentary..............4-5A Death notices ...........8-9A Sports.................................1-3B Public notices.................5B Classifieds ...Marketplace
Public Record.................6A Business ............................ 11A Agribusiness.............. 4-5B Milestones.........................7B Autos.........................................Drive
8

4
1
8B NEIGHBORS
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 13,
2018

Addie Jarvis of The Jarvis

Family Band performs
Friday evening.
STAFF PHOTO/
JESSICA FRANKLIN MAULL

STAFF PHOTO/MARTIN BARRETT

A young attendee decides whether or not to take a shot at the dunk tank’s quarry.

milestone
Marking a
Community members gathered STAFF PHOTO/JESSICA FRANKLIN MAULL
Friday at Bolivar High School’s 150 years of friendships are celebrated Friday night,
parking lot to celebrate 150 years with longtime friends Jim Sterling, standing, and
Rose Roweton, right, coming together.
of the Bolivar Herald-Free Press.

Community mem-
bers of all ages
— and heights —
turned out Friday.
STAFF PHOTO/
MARTIN BARRETT

STAFF PHOTO/JESSICA FRANKLIN MAULL

Above, Katie Garretson greets visitors to the Polk
County Junior Livestock Show and Youth Fair booth.

Sen. Sandy Crawford, left, presents BH-FP Publisher Dave Berry

with a resolution in honor of the newspaper’s 150th anniversary.

STAFF PHOTO/JESSICA FRANKLIN MAULL

Mayor Chris Warwick takes a dunk for Care to Learn and Keeling Founda-
STAFF PHOTO/MARTIN BARRETT tion for Kids during Friday’s celebration.
 1C

and counting...
2C Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

‘Let’s meet at Brenda’s’

B renda’s Café was born in April 1999 at 115 W. Broadway. Leading up to the opening, Brenda Berry was on her knees stir-
ring some paint destined for the walls.
“Are you sure about that combination of colors?” I asked. “They could make it too dark in here.”
She straightened up on her knees, turned her shoulders and pointed toward the front window while looking me straight in
the eye.
“I don’t see your name on that sign in the window,” she said quite frankly before resuming her task, having established whose
opinion didn’t count.
Taken aback and trying to be undaunted, I returned serve with a truth of my own:
“And I don’t remember seeing your signature on the check that paid for all of this.”
But my truth was only worth all the fun I’ve had sharing that exchange over the last 19 years.

T he decorating looked great. And so did the food coming out of the window behind which she was cooking over the next
11 years. She saw nearly every plate passed through that window to ensure the portions were bountiful and the presenta-
tion was pleasing to her eye. It was all about consistency and giving people what they wanted, to keep them coming back for
more.

H er mother, Veta Steinshouer, was a trusted sidekick, bantering with the faithful at the ticket counter and baking pies in
those early years. The loss of her husband in a 1953 farm tragedy, when Brenda and her twin, Danny, were five years old,
made all the hard work necessary. But it also made her their greatest role model.
Brenda Berry

S adly, part of Brenda died along with her mother in 2004. She hasn’t been quite the same ever since. She retired in 2010, pass-
ing the torch to Trish (Rice) Berry, a forever daughter-in-law and another pro at knowing how to serve while juggling many
responsibilities.

T win brother Danny, from whom we purchased the business, has managed the bookkeeping and payroll chores. Carolyn Kirklin
is the original employee still on board. This is her 40th consecutive year as a Bolivar waitress, having started in 1978 at Danny’s
Nifty Café. Trish’s mother, Susan Rice, stepped in as a longtime cook and still comes out of retirement to be of vital help at times.
Many others have come and gone as great patron pleasers over the years. Even a grandson to the name on the window pulls some
shifts, having learned to count back customer change when he could barely reach the cash drawer in the original location.

S ome might still doubt the wisdom of a change at the beginning of 2017, when we moved next door to 119 W. Broadway. A lot
of memories were made at 115, making it a tough move emotionally. But with twice the space in a historic building (Pretty Boy
Floyd and Adam Ricchetti kidnapped Sheriff Big Jack Killingsworth in 1933 from what was then a Chevy dealership), there is more
room for all and no waiting in line for a restroom. Extending the great tradition, though, is still a work in progress and we appreci-
ate all the patience.

Trish Berry
T his community is blessed with many other fine eating establishments, and we wish them all great
success. The Med, located in our original location, is just one of those. You will love their menu
and what they’ve done with the place. Give them a try if you haven’t already.

N o single establishment could possibly meet all of the demand, and we all know that variety in dining is one of the more
important spices of life. So, we appreciate and respect our peers. But we have unending gratitude for our many daily faithful
and for all others who make us part of their rotation for breakfast and lunch. Please keep contributing to our family business!
For those who haven’t yet experienced Brenda’s, it is our humble opinion that you owe it to yourselves to do so.
Many have told us that it is part of the overall can’t-miss Bolivar experience. “Let’s meet at Brenda’s,” is a com-
mon refrain we love to hear.
As for me, I’m still proud of that first signature in 1999 that made me a small part of the Brenda’s
Café experience. And Brenda? She struggles to remember us these days, but we all still
remember who she is — which is far more than just the name on the window.
Happy 19th Anniversary to Brenda’s Café, all of the crew past and pres-
ent, and all of the great customers. Carolyn Kirklin & Emma
And Happy 150th to the Bolivar Herald-Free Press!
I add my endless thanks to then-associate publisher Jim Sterling, first for bringing
me to the Bolivar newspaper in 1977, and then for introducing me to the wait-
ress who took our order for lunch at Danny’s Nifty Café. She was donat-
ing her lunch break from her real job to help out her brother. And
the rest is history.
Sincerely,

(The name still not on the

window but belonging
to a man who wouldn’t
trade the last 40 years
for anything, espe-
cially the most
recent 19.)

19
528798b
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 3C

1999 and counting forward

By Dave Berry
An era ended and an-
other began Feb. 1, 1999,
when Community Pub-
lishers Inc. purchased
Sterling Media Ltd.,
which included the Bo-
livar Herald-Free Press,
Missouri ColorWeb
Printing, the Buffalo Re-
flex and the Cedar Coun-
ty Republican at Stock-
ton.
It was the first step
in newspaper ownership
outside of Benton Coun-
ty, Arkansas, for CPI,
which already owned a
daily, a twice-weekly
and some weeklies there.
It wouldn’t be where
the growth in titles end-
ed, either. The Marsh-
field Mail was added in
June that year, followed
in subsequent years by
papers in Ozark, Nixa,
Harrison and Jasper,
Arkansas, Rogersville,
Republic and eventually
several cities surround-
ing Tulsa after the Ben-
ton County papers were
sold.
The Missouri group
of eight at its peak saw
the end of local printing
operations in Marshfield
and Bolivar in favor of a
new printing plant in an In Bolivar, an old the businesses hold up as publisher of all of the tions in any community chased by Rupert Phillips
industrial park in Spring- building with a lot of under the pressures of a Missouri titles. looking to progress. As and organized under a
field. It offered higher history but also a lot of disrupted industry and Steve Trolinger was an avid reader of news- new corporation, Phillips
quality, more color and problems was torn down The Great Recession. president of CPI, based papers but not an op- Media Group. Dailies at
larger page counts on in favor of Free Press Jim Sterling, majority in Bentonville. Chairman erator, he sought out the West Plains and Sedalia
new equipment. And it Plaza, which is large owner of SML, left the of the board and majority newspaper experience have since been added,
replaced two plants with enough to house not only company with the sale, owner of CPI, but totally of Trolinger to lead the all under the corporate
presses and other equip- the smaller newspaper moving into a newly hands off in its opera- publishing company. guidance of Jim Holland,
ment that were about at office footprint of today endowed chair for com- tions, was Jim Walton, Both retired in 2015, president, based in Har-
the end of their useful but plenty of space for munity journalism at his a banker by trade who setting the stage for the rison.
lives. other businesses. alma mater, the Univer- didn’t care to know how sale of the company. Berry has remained
Higher tech processes The upgrade in print- sity of Missouri, a posi- to manage newspapers The Missouri properties publisher of the five re-
were added throughout ing equipment and office tion from which he re- but wanted to do all he along with Harrison and maining titles in Mis-
the organization, requir- space exemplified the tired one year ago. Dave could do as an investor Jasper, Arkansas, and a souri — Bolivar, Buffa-
ing substantial invest- deeper pockets that came Berry stayed with the to help preserve what he printing plant in Nowata, lo, Stockton, Marshfield
ment. along just in time to help new ownership, serving considered vital institu- Oklahoma, were pur- and Ozark.

Helping Bolivar
& Polk County
“See” Better
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Since 1981, Dr Lane Nutt has been a provider of quality vision

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On June 1, 2017, Dr. Nutt and his staff welcomed
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Monday 7:30-5:00 • Tuesday 8:00-5:00 • Wednesday 7:30-5:00
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529246b
4C Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

A history
intertwined
BH-FP and Bolivar R-1 schools
By Jean Pufahl Vincent members, school support
When Jessica Franklin staff and one lawyer with
Maull asked if I would be questions regarding buses,
interested in writing an ar- school openings and clos-
ticle for the newspaper’s ings, etc.
150th anniversary special Then I went to the muse-
section, I said I would be um where the curator kind-
delighted to do so. ly steered me in the
After all, I had al- direction of a file
ready been work- cabinet wherein I
ing on an article discovered a folder
about the history labeled “schools.”
of North Ward, I opened the folder
that building and began reading
which now houses the information
the Polk County Vincent therein.
Museum. The only way
It should be easy I can describe what hap-
enough, I thought, to add to pened to the amount of in-
that information and write formation I had at that time
a history of Bolivar R-1 is to remind you of the pho-
schools. I soon learned tos of the cloud produced
into more than I could have dedication of what was then additions to existing ones activities too numerous
that I needed a lot of help. by the atomic bomb that
imagined. the new high school build- are also discussed, and oth- to mention or remember
Subsequently I called for- exploded over Hiroshima.
Most of that growth is ing on March 18, 1927, by er information, as well. have appeared in the news,
mer teachers, students, The amount of informa-
due to a speech given at the Judge J.M. Leavitt, who, I arrived at home, the which has been and still
bus owners, community tion simply mushroomed
interestingly enough, was folder clutched in my hand is a vital link between the
my cousin’s grandfather. like a bag of precious gems, community and the school.
Judge Leavitt was a law- and announced to my long- The Herald-Free Press, the
yer with a lawyer’s love suffering spouse that I’d result of a merger, contin-
for detail. His speech, en- “hit the mother lode.” ues to feature the schools
titled “Bolivar Schools, Throughout Bolivar in many articles throughout
A Historical Article Pre- Schools’ history several the year.
pared by J.M. Leavitt for newspapers have kept the This history goes back
B.H.S. Dedication,” which community informed of the a bit further than the 150
consists of six typewritten school’s progress and ac- years this newspaper has
pages, took the history of tivities. Those newspapers been publishing, and the
Bolivar’s schools back to have kept the community historian inside my head
the beginning. informed of the progress, forbade me to omit the
Every bond issue and events and activities of all early things. I have added
amount; every lot pur- schools in the area. the population of both Polk
chased or sold with the Bond issues and dates County and Bolivar from
amount of each transac- of election; sports events census records in order to
tion; most of the board and awards; new teachers give a better perspective
members who have served and administrators hired; of the environment of the
the school, the administra- school board meetings, folk times.
tors and several teachers running for and elected to This was a most educa-
are named (including the serve on the school board; tional project; I’m glad I
salaries paid); details re- graduating classes and their was asked to do it.
garding new buildings and pictures; and many other See History, Page 5C
528800b
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
History From Page 4C
Early Days: The first schools were In-
dian schools (workshops). Practical arts
such as carpentry, zoology, botany, forest-
ry and geology were among the subjects
taught.
Population 1840: Bolivar-not found,
Polk County-8,449
1841: The first school house is shown
on a map of Bolivar. It was a log building
which belonged to the Methodist church
and stood southwest of the square.
Population 1850: Bolivar-
not found Polk County-6,186
1851: A direct quote from Judge
Leavitt’s speech: “On July 17, 1851, Wil-
liam Jameson, James B. Jameson and
John W. Jameson leased the south half
of Out Lot Eleven (11) of the Original Plot
of Town of Bolivar, Missouri to William R.
Devin, Benjamin M. Jewett, Moses P. Hart,
Thomas R. Blake and Perry B. Laremore,
in trust for the purpose of having erected
thereon ‘A Male and Female Seminary
of Learning,’ the same to perpetual ex-
istence, the size and dimensions of the
building to be determined by a majority
of said second parties, and when erected
and the school thereon occupied to be
under the control and management of the
parties of the second part as trustees, and
the trustees to be chosen by the majority
of the donors, and the trustees.”
Construction of The Bolivar Academy
was begun. Designated to be a “Male
and Female Seminary of Learning” it was
constructed near where the North Ward
Museum now stands. Although there are
no known records pertaining to that Acad-
emy, it was built and opened in the same
year and operated as a private school,
funded by tuition, until the Civil War began
in 1861. There is no record of any school
in Bolivar having been in operation for the
duration of the Civil War.
Population 1860: Bolivar-409,
Polk County-9,995
1865: Rev. J.C. Nodurfth opened a pri-
vate school in the academy building. The
school continued in operation for several
years.
1866: Bolivar’s Public School District
was organized following the election of
three directors — Judge T.H.B. Dunnegan
and George W. Drake were two of those
elected; the third is not named. The board
had no money, no lot, no house nor mon-
ey to build a school building. They joined
with the academy with what funds could
be obtained and school continued as be-
fore.
Population 1870: Bolivar-635,
Polk County-12,445
March 21, 1870: The Missouri Leg-
islature passed an act authorizing cities,
towns and villages to organize the act
and gave to those towns and cities special
powers and privileges; included among
the privileges listed was one creating a
board of education consisting of six mem-
bers.
June 22, 1871: An election was held
for the purpose of organizing the District
under the act and the proposition carried;
soon after that the first Board of Education
was elected. They were as follows: T.H.B.
Dunnegan (who ultimately served 50
years on the board), John D. Abbe, John
528879b
F. Shipley, Charles L. Dalrymple, John H.
Oldham and T.G. Rechow.
January 4, 1873: The Trustees of the
Bolivar Academy, Washington Galland,
W.L. Snodgrass, William R. Devin, Joseph
McBroom and David Hendrickson execut-
ed a lease to the Board of Education for
use of the Academy building. The lease
was for 999 years and was to expire in the
year 2872.
The Academy building was now inad-
equate for the needs of the school; the
school board submitted a bond issue of
$12,000 which was approved by the vot-
ers.
The new schoolhouse was constructed
near where the academy building stood. It
was built of brick, two stories high with four
classrooms and was occupied in 1873 or
1874. This was the first building the district
ever owned. (This building, in my grand-
mother Pufahl’s time of attendance, was
also called the “Bolivar Academy.”)
The first teachers in the new school
were W.E. Arnold, Principal and Instruc-
tor of High Department (salary $75.00/
month); Byron Lunceford, Intermediate
($40.00/month); and Miss Jennie No-
durfth, Primary ($25.00/month).
October, 1875: Three teachers were
108 Years Old & Still Going Strong!
We are proud to have been serving our
communities since 1910!!
And very proud to have been serving
Bolivar since 1997!!
NEWS
employed at the Academy. John A. Co-
chran’s contract stated that he would teach
the school for $140.00 per month and em-
ploy and pay out of that amount two other
teachers for a term of 10 months. Seven
and one-half of those months he was to
be paid out of the public funds, and was
to take subscriptions for the other two and
one-half months.
The school was graded into three
departments: Primary, Intermediate and
High. Higher Arithmetic, Algebra, Geom-
etry, Trigonometry, Natural Philosophy,
Analysis, Rhetoric, Elocution, History,
Civil Government, Bookkeeping, Physical
Geography, Latin and Writing were to be
taught in the High Department. Average
daily attendance at this time was 120, but
the record adds the number had been
lessened by the prevalence of measles.
1875: A contract was let to build a col-
ored school building for $500.00 and was
in operation for as long as there was a suf-
ficient number of children to attend. Be-
fore the school was built rooms had been
rented to serve the purpose of a school.
Population 1880: Bolivar-516, Polk
County-15,734
1885: A new course of study was ad-
opted for the Academy, but it doesn’t ap-
1630 S. Killingsworth
111 W. Jackson St.
Bolivar, Missouri 65613
Phone: 777-3322 | www.fsbmo.com
Bolivar Herald-Free Press
pear to have been as extensive as that of
1875. The school was also graded at that
time. S.A. Hoover, A.B., A.M., was Super-
intendent of Schools. Mr. Hoover had long
been a professor at Warrensburg State
Normal School prior to his employment in
Bolivar.
1886: The first three graduates re-
ceived their diplomas; William Raymond,
Clara Chandler and Minnie Walts.
1889: Two classrooms on the ground
floor and an auditorium on the second
were added to the Academy Building.
Population 1890: Bolivar-1,485,
Polk County-20,339
1898: The voters of the district ap-
proved the board’s proposal to purchase
a lot south of the Town Branch and build
a ward school thereon at a cost of $5,000.
The school was to be constructed of brick
with four classrooms (two upstairs and
two down) with large halls on the south
and a full basement under all. (This build-
ing became known as South Ward School
and stood in the location where Tres Ami-
gos, Little Caesar’s, etc., are now located.)
Population 1900: Bolivar-1,869,
Polk County-23,255
June 11, 1902: The district voted to is-
sue bonds for $8,000 to build a new High
School on the site of the Academy Build-
ing.
March 1903: Mr. Henry H. Hohen-
schild, who also designed several court-
houses in Missouri, was hired as architect
for the building. A contract was let to Kill-
buck Brothers for $7,927.00. They razed
the Academy building to use the brick,
lumber and windows in the new build-
ing. This became North Ward School,
now North Ward Museum. The upstairs
windows are different than the downstairs
windows and came from the Academy.
Thirty-nine windows were recycled in this
manner.
North Ward opened as a school on
October 17, 1903. Four elementary
classes were held on the ground floor;
the high school students occupied the
four rooms upstairs. (My dad told me that
when he was an elementary student the
children switched back and forth between
North and South Ward as they progressed
through the grades. Some years they
would attend school at South Ward, and
other years at North Ward.)
Population 1910: Bolivar-1,975,
Polk County-21,561
1917: The board was authorized to sell
bonds for $6,000 to build an addition on
the south side of South Ward School. The
addition added four more classrooms with
a full basement under all.
Population 1920: Bolivar-1,980,
Polk County-20,351
July 29, 1924: The voters approved
the board’s proposal (594 for, 122 against)
to issue bonds for $50,000 for the con-
struction of a new high school. The build-
ing was completed in the fall of 1926 and
school began there on Monday, January
3, 1927. The building was 126’ x 72’, three
stories high with a full basement under all.
It was built of brick, steel and concrete.
The gymnasium occupied a space of 80
x 33 feet. The playing floor was in the
basement. Bleachers on the north side
5C
and with a balcony above were provided
for spectators. The girls’ team played half
court. Both David and I have heard many
stories about basketball games as both of
our mothers played on the team.
There were 18 classrooms, an office
for the Superintendent, a library room,
halls, two storage rooms with lockers, a
coal room, boiler room and toilets — all
modern and fully equipped. The grounds
cover over half of Knox Addition to the City
of Bolivar.
Mayor J.L. Heckenlively of Springfield,
was the Architect and Superintendent of
Construction. M.B. Gillioz was the con-
tractor.
At some point a building was con-
structed to the south of the high school
building, the purpose of which was to pro-
vide classes for Vocational Agriculture, but
I have not located any records pertaining
to that building.
A football field was donated to the dis-
trict by Herman Pufahl.
North Ward then became North
Ward Elementary and served all chil-
dren, grades 1-7 who lived in town north
of Broadway Street. South Ward served
students in grades 1-7 who lived in town
south of Broadway. Eighth grades for both
North and South Ward were located in the
high school building.
March 18, 1927: The Dedication
The Dedication Ceremony for the
newly constructed Bolivar High School
occurred on Friday, March 18, 1927.
There were both afternoon and evening
sessions. The afternoon session featured
several speakers: For Faculty-John A
Doak, Superintendent; For Students- El-
vin Douglas; For S.W.B.C.- President J.C.
Pike and Herman Pufahl, who spoke for
the taxpayers of the district (basically as-
suring them that all was well financially).
The other afternoon speaker was, of
course, Judge Leavitt, whose speech was
described by the Free Press as “exhaus-
tive”. The “Bolivar Herald” printed the
speech in its entirety. I agree with the sen-
timent expressed in the Free Press. As I
read through the treasure trove of histori-
cal information I cringed at the thought of
all those who had to sit through the whole
thing.
Sports: Both football and basketball
were played at BHS. In the beginning
the boys were called “The Bolivar Ti-
gers” and the girls the “Jungle Janes”.
In the 1950s the team was renamed and
became “The Bolivar Liberators”, named
for that great South American Libera-
tor, Simon Bolivar. Bolivar, Missouri
was named for Bolivar, Tennessee from
whence came many of the early settlers.
Bolivar Tennessee, as far as I know, was
named for Simon Bolivar, but there were
once more than 10 towns named Bolivar
in the United States. Girls’ sports were
forbidden in Bolivar Schools for many
years. (I’m not sure just how long that
ban lasted, but I can assure you that
no girls’ sports were allowed in the late
1950s and early ‘60s, when I attended
B.H.S. When girls were once again al-
lowed to play sports their team became
known as “Lady Liberators.”)
See History, Page 6C
6C Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

History From Page 5C

Population 1950: Bolivar-3,482, Polk
County-16,062
Former staff
reflections:
Reorganization: In the early 1950s
Missouri law required districts to bring ru-
ral school children to schools in town and
to provide transportation for those children.
Bolivar was the first district to reorganize
in Polk County, thus the “R-1” designation.
Voters approved a bond for the building of

Sue Roweton
new school buildings.
1953-54: Bolivar Schools were very
different that year than they had been in
the past. Mitchell Elementary (grades 1-8)
was new, built just to the west of the high
school building. A new elementary school

(grades 1-6) was also constructed at Polk.
Polk area students were bussed to Bolivar
for grades 7 & 8. Buildings were moved in
from the O’Reilly Army Hospital in Spring-
field to house cafeterias at both North and
South Ward. A new gymnasium was built
to the southwest of the high school build-
ing; the old gymnasium became a cafete-
ria which served high school and Mitchell
students. A library was added where the
gymnasium balcony once was. Other
O’Reilly buildings were moved in to pro-
vide classrooms for band, drum corps and
industrial arts.
Population 1960: Bolivar-3,512, Polk
County-13,753
1963: Leonard Elementary (now the
location of the Primary School) was con-
structed to house grades 1-6. The Mitchell
Building became a Junior High, housing
grades 7-9. The buildings at North Ward
and South Ward were retired from service
as schools. The South Ward building was
closed and later sold, but the North Ward
Building was entangled in legalities. The
trust that had been formed so many years
ago for the Academy was still in effect. The
property upon which North Ward sat was
to be returned to the family when it was
no longer used for educational purposes.
The family members couldn’t be found, so
North Ward just sat…and maybe it waited.
(As nearly as anyone can remember, it
was about this time that bus service was
provided to students in town. However,
nobody I’ve been able to ask is sure and
I don’t remember.)
1966: North Ward was once again
opened as a school, providing half-day
Kindergarten classes. Both morning and
afternoon sessions were held upstairs. In
prior years there had been no public Kin-
dergarten classes; private ones were avail-
able for the price of tuition. Mid-day trans-
portation had to be provided by parents
even if the children lived outside of town. At
this time part of North Ward’s first floor was
occupied by the Polk County Health Dept.
1969: Student population had out-
grown existing space at Leonard. North
Ward continued to house half-day Kinder-
gartens as before, with the addition of first
grade classes on the first floor.
Population 1970: Bolivar-4,769, Polk
County-15,415
1973: Leonard was enlarged and
North Ward ended its long history as a
school building. About the same time the
Population 1980: Bolivar-5,919, Polk
County-18,822
Mid 1980s: Student population contin-
ued to grow. A Middle School was built
north of Leonard Elementary to house
grades 6 - 8. The Mitchell building be-
came part of the high school.
Population 1990: Bolivar-6,845, Polk
County-21,826
1995-96: A bond issue had been ap-
proved for the construction of a new high
school building. The year 1995-96 was
the first year classes were held in that
building and was the first year there was
air-conditioning in all buildings. Although
I have been unable to acquire the mon-
etary amount of the bond it certainly far
exceeded the bonds passed in earlier
years. The building was constructed north
of the Middle School. It originally boasted
an auditorium, cafeteria, a gymnasium,
several classrooms and a Vo-Ag Build-
ing. Additions have since been made to
the building. The Middle School became
the Intermediate School. Mitchell, which
had been greatly expanded throughout
the years, became the Middle School.
The old gym became the Middle School
Gymnasium.
New Names: The naming of all the
buildings was a concern. After a great deal
of deliberation the committee in charge
determined the names are as follows:
Bolivar Primary School, Kindergarten-
Grade 2
Bolivar Intermediate School, Grades
3-5
Bolivar Middle School, Grades 6-8
Bolivar High School, Grades 9-12
W
hen asked to share a memory of my time at
the BH-FP (where I worked as the ad manag-
er/promotions director from 1988 to 1999),
more than any single event or anecdote, I remembered
the people. Those I worked with on the staff and the
business owners I worked with in the community.
When you tell people you were in sales for 10 years,
they often remark on how difficult that must be or how
they could never do a sales job. But, I always had an
easy answer. It makes all the difference in the world if
you believe in what you’re selling.
And it wasn’t just the amazing people I worked with.
The business people I was working with knew the value
of their community newspaper as well. To use a cliche
shine Preschool, Bolivar Center for the the BH-FP “sold itself.”
Developmentally Disabled, and the Alter- I still read the paper from cover to cover every week
native School. Programs and curriculum
and feel proud to tell people I worked in journalism.
are provided to meet the needs of every
student. Even though I wasn’t writing news stories, I sold the
Bolivar’s student population is pres- ads that made providing that service possible.
ently (March, 2018) 2,753; there are 209
I believe with all my heart in the vital role that
teachers and 15 administrators, as well as
150 who serve as support staff. journalism plays in our world today, on both a small
The last bond issue passed was for and large scale. Playing a part in that and the people
$11,000.00+ and provided for the im-
I worked alongside to do it is my favorite memory of
provement of cafeterias and HVACS.
working at BH-FP.
I have greatly enjoyed this as-
Also there was the time I got everyone to dress up as
signment, probably much more
Dave Berry.
than Jessica enjoyed the work I
once assigned to her. It has been a
lot of fun to find and learn, and then
find more fascinating facts about
the educational progress of Bolivar
Schools.
Thank you, to each one of you
who helped me gather the informa-
tion and a very special thanks to
my long-suffering spouse who is
always willing to proof, edit and
make suggestions to improve any-
thing I put on paper.
Judge Leavitt’s introductory
statement was: “The people of this
community have always taken a
great interest and pride in their
schools, and in the education of

school at Polk was closed.
During all this time there were remodel-
ing projects going on here and there, but
are too numerous to list in this article.
1950
Population 2010: Bolivar-10,325, All their children.”
Polk County 31,137
Obviously, that still holds true
Today, in 2018, Bolivar R-1 also
boasts Little Liberators Daycare, Sun- today.

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528875b
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 7C

Former staff reflections:

Jackie Dunn Wiehe
C
ongratulations, BH-FP, on 150 years of pub- cade since the old Herald and Free Press newspapers
lishing! had been merged. The BH-FP offices and printing
Jim Sterling hired me out of college in press were in a repurposed auto dealership building
1975 to follow Linda Engleman McBride as editor on South Springfield Avenue. Bloody Mo. 13 was
of the People & Living section. still bloody but in the process of becoming four lanes
Mark Wiehe was news editor during the first year to Springfield. The Dunnegan brothers still were in
I was on the staff, and in October 1978, I left Boli- Polk County Bank on the northwest corner of the
var after he and I were courthouse square,
married in a ceremony and Mr. T.H.B. en-
in Dunnegan Memo- joyed showing inter-
rial Park. We made ested visitors his art
our home in Colum- collection on display
bia, where he lived and at the bank.
worked. With our two Bolivar’s City
sons, John and Michael, Hall and municipal
we have lived there offices were in a lit-
ever since. tle building south of
One of the “extra du- the courthouse, and
ties as assigned” with the county jail was

A cut worth
my job always felt like nearby in the up-
a weekly trip through stairs of the old brick
local history. I com- house, the sheriff’s
piled a weekly Remem- office located on the

keeping
By Rose Roweton
Back in about 1969, our youngest son, Kelly, and I
were at the store doing errands (after the other four kids
had gone to school) for Western Auto on the Northeast
Corner of the square.
We were copying statements, as we had no copier then.
We were at the Douglas and Douglas Law Firm, and the
Bolivar Free Press was right next door. I could put two
statements on a page, but then I had to cut them.
My dad, Elvin Douglas, at the law office had a won-
derful pair of scissors that cut those statements in two
swaths.
I said, “Dad, I need a pair of those scissors.” He said
he had bought those scissors from Marshall Gravely who
owned the Bolivar Free Press (which my dad called the
Weekly Struggle) — and with a sly grin on his face, he
said, “When I die, you can have them.”
Ten years later he passed away, too young, at age 69.
A couple of weeks passed, and I walked in the office
and my brother, Kerry Douglas, who had joined the firm
by then, without a word, handed me those scissors!
I still have them and used them to cut statements until
we closed our store, Roweton’s Home Center, at the end
of 2017.
ber When column of a
few noteworthy news
items from 25, 40 and
75 years earlier in Bo-
livar and Polk County,
those being the early
1950s, mid 1930s and
early 1900s. The items
were gleaned from
bound issues of both the Herald and the Free Press
newspapers published independently during that
time.
In those old yellowed albums of newspapers,
it was striking to see longevity and continuity of
people and places in the county throughout those
75 years. I recognized so many family names from
earlier generations of local people. There were ads
from businesses still in operation or ones that had
endured but later bore names of different owners.
Southwest Baptist College was always mentioned in
the issues 25 and 40 years old. Activities of Univer-
sity Extension and 4-H always were big news items.
Elections generated much interest and discussion.
There was abundant evidence of great pride in each
of the communities of Polk County, their schools,
churches, organizations and people.
The Bolivar Mark and I experienced was part of a
different era. At that time, it had been less than a de-
first floor.
Teters Floral and
the garment factory
were the mass em-
ployers.
There was no art
museum or YMCA,
and North Ward
School building’s fu-
ture was very uncertain. Southwest Baptist was still
College. The month before I left Bolivar, a name
was being chosen for the brand new hospital that
would be built on the north side of town.
As much as things have changed, I feel sure the
pride of place and heritage still exists within resi-
dents in all of Polk County.
It was a pleasure to write about and photograph
so many interesting people of the area during the
three years I was privileged to live among you and
make lasting friendships. Mark and I both believe
our lives and careers were shaped immeasurably by
the freedom and opportunities offered in Bolivar on
our first newspaper jobs with Jim Sterling and Jac
and Rheba Zimmerman. We are forever grateful.
Jackie Dunn Wiehe was editor of what was then
called the People & Living section from 1975 to
1978, and Mark Wiehe was the news editor from
1974 to 1976.

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Lionel Lear’s Pawn Shops DaKotah, Tyten & Tyler Lear
Humansville & Bolivar Locations
Established Early 1990’s
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Bolivar
417-777-2886
8C Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

The Sterling years were laced in gold

By Dave Berry
From late 1967 until
Feb. 1, 1999, James C.
Sterling was a principal
architect of local news
and marketing through the
pages of local newspapers.
His name was Sterling
and his hair color was
appropriately silver be-
ginning at an early age,
perhaps due in part to the
stress of the business, but
his newspaper touch was
golden when it came to
recognition for quality.
The Bolivar Herald-
Free Press under his own-
ership earned seven Gold
Cups from the Missouri
Press Association, recog-
nizing it as Missouri’s best
weekly newspaper. It also
received many first-place
awards for General Excel-
lence and more than 480
total awards by the end of
a 31-year era.
A sister paper, the Ce-
dar County Republican
at Stockton, also earned a
Gold Cup, making a total
of eight strikes of gold.
The Gold Cups for the
Herald-Free Press came in
1984, 1985, 1986, 1989,
1992, 1993 and 1996.
In 1999, just after his era
ended but still riding his
momentum, the Herald-
Free Press was recognized
by the National Newspa-
per Association as “The
Best of the States.”
Sterling, a member of
the Bolivar High School
Hall of Fame and 1960
graduate, returned in De-
cember 1967 to manage
the local newspaper fresh
after three publications
had become one.
That was the beginning
of a Bolivar newspaper ca-
reer that would earn him
induction into the Missouri
Newspaper Hall of Fame
and receipt of the coveted
Missouri Honor Medal
from his alma mater, the
University of Missouri
School of Journalism.
The Stufflebam family
owned the Bolivar Her-
ald beginning in the early
1900s. It was in 1967 that
Ralph Stufflebam held the
reins in succession of his
father, Frank. Ralph also
was general manager of
KYTV, now better known
as KY3 in Springfield.
Stufflebam executed the
purchases of the Free Press
and the Polk County Times
in late 1967 and quickly
hired Sterling to become
general manager of the new
combined product.
The first week of com-
bined publication actually
involved the exact same
content being published
under two different original
titles.
The next week it was
one paper bearing the flag
Bolivar Free Press-Herald,
perhaps as an olive branch
to the Republican half of the
name even though the new
owner came from the Dem-
ocrat half.
Sterling’s first act after
coming on board was to
recommend a reversal of
names, not based on poli-
tics but on so many other
mergers of newspapers that
involved “Herald” being the
first of the combined names.
“It just sounded better,”
he said.
And so it became on the
third week.
Those two newspaper
names were combined to
become the new name but
the Polk County Times of-
fice, at 213 E. Broadway
Ave., became home base.
The volume number of the
Herald was adopted, hence
this being only Vol. 146
while the Free Press part
of the name just completed
150 years.
The Free Press had pub-
lished in what is now the
extreme west portion of the
Douglas Haun & Heide-
mann law office on West
Broadway Avenue. The
Herald had been in what
is now Solutions Salon but
was the long-time office of
attorney Ralph Gilchrist on
East Jackson Street. In be-
tween it was a restaurant
named Ralph’s in honor
of attorney Ralph, not the
Herald’s Ralph.
The newly merged pa-
per printed in Clinton at the
time.
Sterling was general
manager, reporter, editor,
photographer, ad salesman,
page designer, delivery
man and more.
The rest of the staff con-
sisted of a part-time sales-
man, two ad composers
and a receptionist who also
composed news copy.
But the Stufflebam own-
ership was short-lived. He
sold the paper to Jac and
Rheba Zimmerman of Wil-
low Springs, who took over
in March 1968.
Fearing his job security
after learning what was in
the offing, Sterling ac-
quired the Fair Play Advo-
cate as a safety valve. But
his concerns were allayed
when the Zimmermans
brought him in as a junior
partner, along with his Fair
Play flag that never gained
new life.

Congratulations Early in the Zimmerman

ownership, the former Gal-
Sterling bought the
newspaper, along with
Berry became publisher
of the Herald-Free Press

Bolivar Herald- livan auto dealership build-

ing, which more recently
had been an early home for
Teters Floral Products, was
the Stockton flag, in late
1979, just prior to Jac
Zimmerman’s death. He
Jan. 1, 1987 and executive
vice president of Sterling
Media in 1989, and be-
had already purchased the gan acquiring stock in the

Free Press on purchased and became the

new home for the newspa-
per and a three-unit offset
Buffalo Reflex and Dal-
las County Republican in
January of that year.
company. The company
sold to Community Pub-
lishers Inc., effective Feb.
King Press. Printing of the He eventually broke 1, 1999.

150 paper was back in Bolivar.

That building was at the
same South Springfield
out the printing operation
to become Missouri Col-
orWeb Printing and orga-
Berry remained with the
new ownership and Ster-
ling soon thereafter occu-

Years!!
Avenue location where the
office is still today, but in
a new office complex, Free
Press Plaza.
Dan Zimmerman soon
arrived to become the first
BH-FP editor who didn’t
have other titles. He was
followed in that job by Ed.
Payton, then Mark Wiehe,
Jim Hamilton, Dave Berry
and finally Judy Kallen-
bach to finish out the Ster-
528867b
nized that and the three
newspapers under the
combined ownership of
Sterling Media Ltd.
Sterling remained active
in several aspects of the
operation until beginning
to mix in other interests in
the mid-1980s. For exam-
ple, he eventually became
a newspaper broker, leav-
ing day-to-day manage-
ment of the Sterling Media
pied the endowed chair for
community journalism at
his alma mater, a job from
which he retired last sum-
mer.
Sterling, despite his
retirement, remains to-
day one of the most rec-
ognized names and faces
in community journalism
throughout the United
States, still making his
home in Columbia with

ling era. Ltd. entities to others. wife Nancy.

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Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS
Reading Former staff reflections:
my history Dan Zimmerman
M
y parents, Jac
By Joan K. Cloyed Cox and Rheba
The Bolivar paper has been important in my family Zimmerman
for generations. bought the Herald-Free
I can picture in my mind watching both of my grand- Press while I was still at
fathers, Bud Zumwalt and Earl Cloyed, reading the Bo- the University of Mis-
livar paper. Both of my great-grandfathers would surely souri School of Journal-
have read the paper as they were businessmen and might ism. They had previ-
even have placed ads. ously owned the Willow
G.W. Cloyed was a blacksmith specializing in mak- Springs News and Mtn.
ing and repairing the wheels of wagons (a wheelwright). View Standard, and prior
James Marion (J.M.) Zumwalt purchased land, laid out to that in the late 1940s,
lots, leaving land for a church, school and cemetery. He the Miller County Auto-
opened a store. gram in Tuscumbia.
Soon, the little town was named Polk. He would be- Jim Sterling was the
come the postmaster and also became a county judge, Herald-Free Press gener-
now called a commissioner. He would have needed to al manager, and I joined
keep up on all news and might even have subscribed to the H-FP as editor upon
both papers at the time. graduation in 1969.
Both families were Democrats, so it is most likely The newspaper was
they would have subscribed to the Bolivar Herald. housed in a crowded spot
J.M. was asked by the Bolivar Free Press to write just a few doors down
about the experiences of his father, grandfather and him- from Roweton’s West-
self as they settled what is now the northeast part of Polk ern Auto. Early every
County. Wednesday, I would take
I have copies of eight articles he wrote. A notation on Dad’s Chevelle convert-
the copies indicates that the articles were published in ible, pulling a U-Haul
1908. trailer, to Marshfield
He tells stories about the first entry into the area by his where the H-FP was
father, Adam Zumwalt, and three other men. printed at the Mail plant.
He tells about the naming of creeks and land areas. After a year or so, Jac
He tells about the first cabins and houses, clearing and and Rheba bought the
plowing of the land, mills built, mail delivery, attending former auto dealership
a school and preachers of various denominations hold- and then Teters Floral served semi-retirement.
ing camp meetings together. These men have descen- Products building next
dants still living in Polk County. to the post office (since growth in the local news
I have many clippings from Bolivar papers over the replaced with Free Press media, another positive
decades that show a wide variety of news about descen- Plaza). The spacious
dants. front was remodeled, and
The clippings include birth and death notices, stories in the building’s rear, a
about athletes, leaders, a school board member, business three-unit, 12-page News
owners, teachers, Bolivar High School Hall of Fame in- King press (made in Jo-
ductees, a postmistress, employees of a variety of Boli- plin) was installed. We
var businesses and volunteers. now could print our own
I definitely read both editions of the paper each week. newspaper along with
My daughter says that I read every word — not quite, sister paper, the Cedar
but almost! County Republican in
I know I am not the only descendant of these two fam- Stockton.
ilies that reads the Bolivar Herald-Free Press each week. Jim and I worked well
It tells us about all types of events we could attend, together and the paper
how our taxes are used and what is happening in our grew with the town, al-
schools and businesses. lowing Jac and Rheba
Everyone needs to be an informed citizen. to transition to well-de-
Auto Mall
326-5858
South Bus. Rt. 13 • Bolivar
November 10, 1955….
Jim Rush & Amos Franklin
purchased the Bridges Chevrolet
Agency in Urbana, MO
And that is where the story
began. Jim would later open
dealerships in Osceola & Bolivar.
People have come to respect &
appreciate the down home, great
service that Jim Rush started
Jim Rush back in 1955.
529239b
SEE ALL OUR LISTINGS & PICTURES AT WWW.JIMRUSHCARS.COM
3111 S. Springfield Ave. • Bolivar • 417-326-5858
change came about in
Besides change and Bolivar in the late 1960s
to early 1970s.
Jim and I were in
Will never forget this night.
The “youth group” in Bolivar was so
close that we had a rotating dinner at
someone’s house every month. This
particular evening was going well
until someone heard about a bad
wreck where Mo. 32 toward Stockton
crossed Mo. 13.
Jim S. and I got a camera and
sped out to the scene. Sid Pitts and
we arrived at the same time, before
the sheriff and highway patrol. Both
the man and woman in the car died
Bolivar Herald-Free Press 9C
our 20s and many other
young adults were mov-
ing to Bolivar to join the
family business or start
one on their own.
Years later, attorney
Kerry Douglas told me
he had mixed feelings
about joining his father’s
law firm in Bolivar but
was soon thrilled to see
other young profession-
als moving to town.
Among them were
R.D. Vestal of Vestal
Equipment, Charles Long
of Bolivar Hardware, Bill
Jones of Hacker’s, Danny
Martin of Martin’s Fur-
niture, Derald Isdell of
Town and Country Lum-
ber, Charlie Miller of
Miller’s Jewelry, Jim and
Paul Davolt with a florist
shop, and Rex Blackwell
with Braithwait’s.
An influx of young,
professional people mov-
ing to a small town in the
Midwest was unusual. In
most cases, young adults
couldn’t wait to “move
out.” But I believe our
“crowd” of young pro-
fessionals helped make
Bolivar the fine city it is
today.
instantly. It was awful. All of us have
(and will have) to cover such happen-
ings and we’ll never forget them, but
it’s part of the job.
The day Bob Hope came to Bo-
livar. His top administrative assistant
was a Bolivar native and unfortunate-
ly, she passed away and Bob came to
Bolivar in 1969 to deliver a eulogy at
her funeral at Butler Funeral Home.
She was Joan Maas, his co-producer.
Hope’s nickname for her was “Bolivar
Baby.”
10C Bolivar Herald-Free Press
Stufflebam a settling force for the
‘H’
in ‘BHFP’
He was also a driving force
behind Bolivar’s greatest
day in 1948 and the survival
of Southwest Baptist
By Dave Berry
Frank L. Stufflebam was
days late telling his wife
what he had done on a trip to
Bolivar to conduct teachers’
summer school training as
Polk County’s commissioner
of schools.
It was the beginning of
June 1904 when he took
time from those duties to
meet with two attorneys
who had owned the Bolivar
Herald for about five years.
The meeting ended with him
becoming the sixth owner in
the newspaper’s 33-year his-
tory.
How gutsy was that
move? Consider that it
wouldn’t be until he returned
home to Humansville on
June 7 that he would tell his
wife, mother of their four-
month-old son, about the un-
expected purchase.
Oh, and that would be the
same woman who 10 years
earlier had refused to marry
him if he followed through
with a desire to buy a news-
529254b
paper in Osceola.
That’s how gutsy the
move was.
And it wouldn’t be the
last time he would be brave
in the face of challenges
in stopping the revolving
door of Herald ownership.
Many newspapers had al-
ready come and gone in
Polk County, but under his
ownership the Herald would
become one of only two with
real staying power.
He would be involved
with the paper’s ownership
and management until his
death 47 years later. And
the paper, flying a Democrat
banner, remained in the fam-
ily until March 1957, for a
total of 53 years, all of which
were in serious competi-
tion with the Bolivar Free
Press, a Republican brand,
and a number of other flags
that came and went over that
time.
In his introduction to his
new readership June 16,
1904, Frank promised to
NEWS
“advocate Jeffersonian de-
mocracy pure and simple,
high standards for the coun-
ty’s schools and teachers,
and anything contributing to
the upbuilding of town, state,
or nation.” The latter point
included “the use of all hon-
orable means for suppress-
ing the liquor traffic through-
out the state.”
In that first issue, he of-
fered a scholarship to South-
west Baptist College in
Bolivar for the boy or girl
soliciting the most “whole-
year, paid-in-advance sub-
scriptions.” That was the first
of many ways in which he
would co-op with the local
college. The original campus
of the school would eventu-
ally be named for him, com-
528880b
memorating his involvement
in bringing it back to life and
helping it sustain.
It would be no mystery to
which newspaper local at-
torney Elvin Douglas would
refer as “The Baptist Bugle,”
according to son Kerry
Douglas. The Free Press, to
the elder Douglas, was “The
Weekly Struggle.”
A fire in 1910 destroyed
the college campus, putting
the school out of business for
three years. Stufflebam was
instrumental in the drive to
get it rebuilt and back in op-
eration. He was on its board
of trustees for the last 45
years of his life.
That original campus was
named for him in 1968, af-
ter a second fire became the
driving force to buy 102
acres to the south and de-
velop the more prominent
campus of today.
He used his editorial page
to advocate for Bolivar and
Polk County betterment.
He listed as needs more
hitch racks, a chamber of
commerce, a good laundry,
improved streets and side-
walks, a sanitarium and a
foundry. He promoted shop-
ping locally.
His paper would become
the first in the state to enlist
the agriculture college at the
university to contribute ar-
ticles to rural newspapers, a
practice that became a regu-
lar part of the university’s
extension work.
In 1921, he continued to
press for road construction
and repair, and he traveled
about to see farmers, ask-
ing them to sell land for use
as rights of way. This was
while he was also serving
as the appointed postmaster,
limiting his newspaper work
to only the editorial page.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
In 1930, fortified at the
paper by the presence of his
son, Ralph, the elder Stuffle-
bam sought a seat in the state
legislature, advocating for an
income tax to raise money
for government and reduc-
ing its dependence on real
and personal property taxes,
which he thought were un-
fair. He lost 3,901 to 3,148
in an election where Repub-
licans won all 13 offices on
the ballot.
Perhaps his crowning
achievement was his effort
over many years to bring
national recognition to Bo-
livar. He worked to get the
nation of Venezuela to pres-
ent a statue of Simon Bo-
livar, “The Liberator,” to
Missouri’s city of Bolivar.
World War II interrupted
those efforts, but, finally,
on July 5, 1948, Romulo
Gallegos, president of Ven-
ezuela, met in Bolivar with
U.S. President Harry S Tru-
man for the dedication of
said statue.
It was estimated that more
than 80,000 were in the tiny
town to view the parade
and witness the dedication.
Stufflebam worked 18-hour
days for months in advance
of the event to ensure that it
would be all that he had en-
visioned.
That accomplishment,
carried out from a minor-
ity political position in the
county, culminated in what
remains as perhaps Boli-
var’s “greatest day.” The
statue still stands in what
is known as Neuhart Park,
and the high school’s sports
teams, previously known as
the Tigers, became the Lib-
erators four years after that
dedication.
Competition between
the town’s two surviving
newspapers was fierce but
fair and civil from the time
Stufflebam joined the cause
in 1904. Prior to that, civil-
ity was a foreign concept
to many of the folks who
operated the Herald. The
Herald’s sharp barbs were
mostly ignored by the al-
ready stable ownership of
the Free Press, which made
it easy for a healthy respect
to develop between the
competitors when Stuffle-
bam came along and acted
accordingly.
That respect led to the
Herald offering help to the
Free Press to publish after
the death of its long-time
editor in 1934, a gesture
returned years later by the
Free Press upon Frank’s
death.
That civility and Stuffle-
bam’s tenacity resulted in
the Herald living to become
the first half of a newspaper
flag celebrating a 150th an-
niversary overall and a 50th
anniversary of the combined
product.
It was the second gen-
eration Stufflebam, Ralph,
a television executive at the
time, who orchestrated the
merger of three products
into one in late 1967, and
eventually settling on the
new name being the Boli-
var Herald-Free Press, after
experimenting for one week
with the name Bolivar Free
Press-Herald.
Many thanks to Martin E.
McCullen, whose term pa-
per for his History and Prin-
ciples of Journalism course
at the Missouri School of
Journalism in 1959, pro-
vided the bulk of this con-
tent. Much credit is also due
to a Free Press heir, Ben
Gravely, for his help in the
archives of both papers.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 11C

Former staff reflections: Linda Wieland Bunch

I
n the fall of my senior year at Bolivar Jim introduced me to the University of
High School, I dropped out of band. Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism; Linda’s lessons
An injury left me unable to play my the No. 1 journalism school in the nation, • I learned to count not to never scratch and/or It’s too soon for them to
clarinet and not knowing what do with my as well as the oldest. And, I credit him for only by inches and pag- touch anything or any be thinking about next
first-hour class. Limited options included making it possible for me to attend. es, but by column width, body part you didn’t want week’s ad, but plenty
study hall, shop with freshman boys and a On my first visit to the J-School, I picas, leading and add- to leave record of while of time for them to alert
journalism class with Randy Jones. I opted stopped by the Columbia Missourian ing pages in multiples of working with ink-printed you to the mistake you
for the latter. — the daily newspaper published by the fours. So, when in doubt newsprint. made in their current
It was standard the first-hour class pro- school. No planned interview, no appoint- — go sell more ads! • Here, even 40-plus one.
duced the school newspaper and the last- ment — just introduced myself to the ad- • I learned never to years later, just like Pav- • Paula Clasby and I
hour class was in charge of the yearbook. vertising manager. wear open-toed shoes lov’s dog, I have an in- would get almost Christ-
Already enrolled for the yearbook class, I When she heard I worked for Jim at the or sandals when hur- ternal alarm that sounds mas-morning giddy over
was now privileged to bookend my school Bolivar paper, she called the general man- riedly working with sharp when I talk about doing the arrival of new clip art
day with “Journalism by Jones.” ager to come meet me. We had a nice talk X-acto knives — just in something on a Tues- books.
When about Boli- case you lost your grip. day. That’s deadline day. • No one could smoke
Randy asked var, newspa- • I miss the forgone Don’t plan anything. a cigarette longer with-
for some- pers and Jim. tools of the trade. Blue- • There is not a longer out flipping the ashes
one to go to I men- lined layout pages, fine- space of time than that than Gerry Keller while
the Herald- tioned I was tipped turquoise blue from a Wednesday pub- typing a Woods grocery
Free Press headed next Flair pens, the smell of lication day to the next ad.
to typeset to a maga- hot wax and the odious Wednesday when you • No one’s eyes could
copy for the zine office a scents of photo devel- have omitted an ad or well-up with tears faster
school pa- few blocks oping chemicals that made a mistake on one than Libby Elliott when
per, I volun- away where lingered on your clothes which needs corrected. talking about anything.
teered. I had I heard there prompting everyone out- • Never take a call Anything.
no idea what might be a side the office to ask, from an advertiser on a • No one can sneeze
typesetting job. “What’s that smell?” Wednesday, especially as many times in a row
entailed, The maga- • Always remember a Wednesday morning. as Jim Sterling.
but I knew zine didn’t
I could type even know I right, you stayed in good standing with editions for Southwest Baptist University
and I knew was coming. her. I made sure I did that. She was a and Citizens Memorial Hospital openings
the assign- Yet, when I jewel. and anniversary.
ment would arrived, they I answered a lot of phones at the BH- I started the Bolivar H-FP Retail Club,
get me out had a mes- FP early on and was trained very specifi- initiated promotions and even published
of school. I sage for me cally by Rheba on the “ways and the ways a Simon Bolivar coloring book complete
took it. from the ad not” to do that job. with custom art by the illustrious Keith
At the Linda, in the Sterling era manager at Details. Always get the details. And the Robinson, featuring renderings of Simon
BH-FP, I the Missou- billing information. Bolivar in the advertisers’ stores.
was parked in the tiniest of cubicles at the rian — would I please come back? On the September Tuesday evening af- As a part of distributing that Simon Bo-
keyboard of a gigantic blue Compugraphic In the short time it took me to walk a ter Labor Day 1983, when we were finish- livar coloring book, a BHS senior dressed
Junior typesetting computer nearly as large few blocks, the Missourian had called Jim ing the final pages for that week’s paper, I up and played the part of the Venezuelan
as the room. When finished typing, you re- and whatever he said, it caused them to of- answered the phone. general.
moved the film canister from the machine fer me a job. The hurt I heard in the voice of our co- He traveled with me to area schools
and prayed on your way to the dark room A full-time job. With benefits, bonus worker Libby Elliott still affects me today. with a program on the history of Bolivar
that all would develop correctly. and the waiving of some classes based on Libby’s daughter and son-in-law, mar- and Polk County, as well as talking about
I volunteered for and learned every job my experience at the Herald-Free Press. ried the Saturday prior, had been killed the importance of freedom and what free-
Randy offered. Being at the newspaper of- That reminded me again, I came from a in an auto accident while on their honey- dom of the press meant.
fice so much, then-editor Jim Sterling pe- pretty special paper and people. moon. The family just received the news. Those were the early days of the News-
riodically would ask me to help out on the I worked, studied, wrote and completed Several of us drove immediately to papers in Education program.
“real” paper. a couple survey projects for the BH-FP and Libby’s house. We comforted. We cooked. I still smile when I think about that
I typed newspaper copy, pasted up ads, the Buffalo Reflex, also owned by Jim. We cleaned. truly funny, zealously industrious young
answered the phones, proofed classified After graduation, I excitedly returned to That’s just what you did for family, and man.
ads, cleaned the office, learned to run oth- work for him and the rest of his weeklies she was our newspaper mom. But I sure cried a lot that spring of 1984
er equipment, pulled tear sheets and tore as marketing and promotions manager un- And another story… when a tragic car accident claimed his
down pages once they went to print. til starting a family and my own business. After returning from J-School, I helped too-short life.
I worked in the pressroom, stuffing sec- I am so thankful that God put me in the with the first issues of the Bolivar Liv- I still miss Jimmy Shelenhamer.
tions and tying bundles of papers for deliv- paths of Randy Jones, Jim Sterling, BH- ing Guide, Progress editions, and special Loved that boy.
eries. Later in my career, I would advance FP Publisher Jac Zimmerman and all the
to “fly-girl,” catching the freshly printed rest of the BH-FP gang who raised me.
and folded sections right off the press as
quickly as they were printed.
The summer after graduation, when Jim
Randy gave me an assignment in the
fall of 1975 that turned into my career.
Didn’t know it then. But forever grate-
Congratulations Bolivar Herald-
needed someone to fill in selling ads, he ful now.
asked if I had an interest in advertising
and would I want that job for a couple of Zimmermans and Libby
-30- Free Press on 150 years!
weeks. I first got acquainted with Publisher Jac
I said yes. Zimmerman when I was typesetting for
I really didn’t know much about adver- the high school paper.
tising, but I knew I wanted to work — and He was interested in knowing who I
I didn’t want to say no to anything that was, who were my parents and just what
would keep me a part of the paper. was I doing at the paper.
Armed with a list of ads to pick up and I remember him saying, “OK. You can
a yellow legal pad, I walked to the Bolivar stay.” And then flashing a fatherly grin and
Square. wink.
Jester’s House of Glass wasn’t on my From then on, he would greet me with,
list, but I stopped anyway. I’m not sure “Are you still here?”
Oby Jester had ever bought an ad since I loved hearing him peck out his col-
opening the store, but that summer, cel- umn. Manual typewriter. Yellow copy pa-
ebrating an anniversary, he wanted one. per.
I will never forget the shock and grin of Jac also taught me to never take the
disbelief on Jim’s face when I told him I top newspaper off a stack of papers. Real
had sold Oby an ad. newspaper people always took the second
After pinch-hitting for those two weeks, from the stack, something I still do today
Jim never moved me from the advertising and always think of Jac.
department. I learned all things advertis- Jac’s wife, Rheba, taught me much, as
ing, from sales to layout to copywriting to well. She was business, golf and Republi-
graphics. I loved helping businesses share can politics.
their stories. If you worked hard and did your job

Celebrating 25 Years of Building

Bolivar & Polk County!!

206 Killingsworth Ave. | Bolivar

www.dgaltdonline.com
417-327-7465
528866b
529252b
12C Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Congratulations
on being a part of the Bolivar and Polk County
communities for over 150 years. We would like
to thank all the families we have been privileged
to help and serve in this our 110th year of
business. May the Lord bless us to continue
another 110 years of service to you and yours.

Front row: Shaelyn Jones, Dixie King, Earlene Pitts, Teresa Pitts, Dixie Barber, and Sonia Hosiner,
Back row: Gary King, Greg Bird, Jake Diemer, Boston Diemer, Jason Diemer,
Martin Hosiner, and Mike Pitts.

From the Owners and

Staff of Pitts Chapel

of

Greenlawn Funeral Homes

316 E. Broadway • Bolivar, MO
Email: pittschapel1@yahoo.com | www.greenlawnfuneralhome.com
(417) 326-5211
528881b
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 13C
Newspaper
crucial to
family research
By Susan Sparks
I volunteer at the Polk County Genealogical
Society Research Facility on the square, and
newspapers are a crucial part of historic and
family research.
We use historical Polk County newspapers on
microfilm at our facility on a daily basis, or, as I
affectionately call them, “portals into the past.”
Newspapers of the 1800s and early 1900s
carried mostly national news with just a small
percentage of the paper being devoted to local
news. I guess at that time, if you wanted local
news you could go to the square or dry goods
store and get an earful of the latest news being
passed around. Think coffee shop or Facebook
of the past!
As times changed and radios became avail-
able to the masses, the papers took a turn from
national news, which was being covered on the
radio to more local news.
The newspapers are a wealth of information
on your ancestors. From obituaries to births to
wedding anniversaries to local scandals and
crimes, newspapers of the past can flesh out a
family history or clear up the who, what, where
or why of an event, just like they do today.
Many times, I load the microfilm newspaper
looking for a particular incident and five hours
later realize I have veered off my assigned task
and have entered the Bolivar of 1895 where I
learned about everything from local government
concerns to who built a new house or who wel-
comed a new Republican into their home. The
newspapers of the past, just like today, cover the
good, the bad and sometimes the ugly. News-
papers add to our collective understanding of
the world around us and, unlike TV, radio or the
internet, they are memories that you can physi-
cally hang on to and pass to the next generation.
Thanks to our generous donors, we have
Polk County newspapers on microfilm from
the 1850s to current issues. We also have news-
papers on microfilm from Cedar and Hickory
counties and Springfield (Greene County).
Feel free to stop in at our facility on the south-
east corner of the Bolivar square and take a trip
into the past! We are totally volunteer-based and
maintain the year-round hours of Mon., Wed.,
Sample of the promotion mind of Sue Roweton. Fri. and Sat. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
528799b
529255b

529168b
14C Bolivar Herald-Free Press
Former staff reflections:
Stacey Hamby
W
hen I enrolled in the
only journalism class of-
fered at SBU in the early
1990s, I never imagined how that
one decision to take a writing class
— simply because I enjoyed writing
— would set the course for a career
in journalism and public relations.
It was my good
fortune that the
instructor of that
class was Bolivar
Herald-Free Press
Editor Judy Kal-
lenbach. In the
years since, I’ve
always liked to say
that Judy spotted
a natural talent in
me and plucked me
from the classroom
and put me in the
newsroom to teach
me the skills need-
ed to make it as a
news writer.
She hired me as a part-time
proofreader/editorial assistant and
about a year later, I moved into the
position of reporter — right out of
college. That year — 1993 — I was
excited to see my first-ever front
page byline. It was the beginning
of my realization that I love to tell
stories. I love to hear the stories of
people who lived events I’ve only
read about in school; for example,
I remember interviewing the late
John Playter. He never before had
talked about his time as part of the
Bataan Death March during World
War II until he wrote a book.
I was the one who had the privi-
lege of meeting him and hearing his
story firsthand. I was learning peo-
ple’s stories matter. And I enjoyed
writing those stories.
Not having grown up on a farm, I
wasn’t quite sure how I would relate
to being the agriculture section edi-
tor, but as the rookie at the BH-FP,
that responsibility was mine, and
I embraced it and enjoyed meet-
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ing the people of Polk County and
learning things that were new to me.
One of my most memorable as-
signments early on was to go take a
photo of twin calves (or some other
bovine anomaly … that’s not the
part of the story I remember most).
Here I was dressed in my office
slacks and black
flats tippy-
toeing through
some mud toting
a camera to take
a picture and get
the scoop. I’m
sure I made the
farmer chuckle
inwardly, but he
was as gracious
as Polk County
folks are and
never made me
feel like I didn’t
belong in that
barnyard.
As a result of
those responsibilities, such as be-
ing the ag editor, I learned that it is
OK to ask questions about things I
have no idea about — and listen to
people describe what they are pas-
sionate about.
I carry that into every area of my
life, asking questions and learning
new things.
Also stuck with me to this day
are Judy’s rules of editing; actu-
ally, I’m confident I don’t know any
other way.
Thank you, Bolivar Herald-Free
Press, for giving this 20-some-
thing college student a chance.
Because of you, I found what I
loved doing and spent many more
years writing.
Today, I remain in the communi-
cations field as a community rela-
tions specialist for Liberty Hospital
in Kansas City’s northland area. I
am blessed to have been a part of
the BHFP family!
Stacey Hamby worked with the
BH-FP from 1992 to 1996.
• Antiques
• Vintage & More
NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Former staff reflections:
Emily Pohlsander
W
hen I was a reporter for the Bolivar the file to be printed. But right before I saved the
Herald-Free Press, I got to do some- document, I accidentally dragged little thumbnail
thing most jour- versions of the pages on the
nalists only dream could hap- computer screen out of order.
pen to them. What came hot off the
No, I didn’t accept a Pulit- presses was actually a hot
zer Prize. mess of jumbled up pages,
I got to burst into the print- confusing to read because
er room of the paper and yell, many of the supply lists
“Stop the presses!” jumped from one page to the
Of course, I was the reason next. The section read as if it
the presses had to be stopped had been shuffled like a deck
to begin with. of cards.
I was in charge of putting I don’t know how much it
together a special back-to- cost the newspaper to reprint
school section, filled with sup- the section. I do remember the
ply lists for all the Polk County mistake was caught early in
elementary classrooms. I had the printing process. And I do
written profiles about new administrators and in- remember I earned a $50 bonus that month for
cluded stories about making the transition from taking on that extra project. So maybe I didn’t do
summer to fall easier on kids. And I had designed too much damage.
the page layout for the entire section myself. Or maybe my bonus was originally supposed
After getting the final version approved, I sent to be a lot larger.
Former staff reflections:
Charlotte Marsch
M
y fondest memories of working at newspaper during my senior year of college,
the Bolivar Herald-Free Press are it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with
the people — Bolivar.
from co-workers to you, the I am grateful to the people
faithful readers. of Bolivar and Polk County
Many of my co-workers for welcoming me to the
at the BH-FP have moved community and entrusting
on to other professions, but me to tell your stories. Work-
we still have a common ing at the newspaper taught
bond of the press. I owe so me the importance of com-
much to former editor Judy munity, especially a commu-
Kallenbach and current nity working together for the
publisher Dave Berry for betterment of all.
their mentorship through I will always consider it a
the years. privilege and an honor to be a
Like many others who small part of serving the peo-
come to Bolivar to attend ple of Polk County through
Southwest Baptist Univer- the pages of the BH-FP.
sity, I stayed in Bolivar af- Charlotte Marsch is a for-
ter graduation. Once I started working at the mer editor of the BH-FP.
Our Family Has Been Proud To Serve
Your Family For Over 42 Years!
Left to Right: Derek, Kenny, Molly, Bill & Zach
Abel’s Hatchery and Turkey Farms/Feed Store opened in the 1940’s and
added the feed mill in 1958. Bill started working for Abel’s Hatchery and
Turkey Farms/Feed Store in 1964. He then purchased the feed business
from Abel’s in 1976. His brother came to work for him several years
later. Zach worked during summer time and became full time after grad-
uating high school. Together, they bring several years of experience and
knowledge. Bill’s Feed & Farm Supply appreciates all of our customers
through the years.
BILL’S FEED & FARM SUPPLY
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By Bill Gravely
with Ben Gravely
As the Bolivar Herald-Free
Press celebrates 150 years of ser-
vice, we are pleased and honored
that the Gravely family is a part of
the history through ownership of
the Bolivar Free Press for 75 years.
Our thoughts are also bitter-
sweet as we consider it has been
more than 50 years since we both
were actively involved.
Our father, Marshall W. Gravely,
managing editor of the Free Press,
was killed in an
auto accident
between Bolivar
and Springfield
on October 15,
1965. Just prior
to our dad’s
death, the future
Ben of the Free Press
Gravely was at a cross-
roads — perhaps
more likely near the end of the
road.
The editor, Ralph Gravely, had
developed serious health problems
and retired in 1965. Marshall was
left to be editor, manager, and print-
er working along
with his wife,
Ola, and several
print shop em-
ployees.
Thirty-six
years of work-
ing long hours
Bill had taken a toll
Gravely and Dad was
looking for the
finish line. He loved his 80-acre
farm and encouraged his sons to
raise dairy cattle and pursue farm-
ing. He longed to retire to the farm,
enjoy his grandchildren, carpenter
and milk cows. October 15, 1965,
brought an end to those plans.
Beginnings
The Bolivar Free Press came off
the printing press for the first time
on June 4, 1868. In the second edi-
tion of the paper, next to a re-print
of the national Republican Party
platform, an advertisement de-
clared “the cheapest Radical news-
paper in the state of Missouri. Pro-
spectus of the Bolivar Free Press,
a weekly paper devoted to general
news, politics, local interests, agri-
culture, etc.”
The Free Press changed owner-
ship several times until 1891 when
Joseph W. Gravely assumed own-
ership with the assistance of T.H.B.
Dunnegan, one of the founders,
as well as J.B. Upton and C.H.
Skinker. Gravely, known as Joe
W., would remain the publisher and
editor for 43 years until his death in
1934.
The Gravely family moved from
Cedar County to Bolivar in 1875
after events involving the most
famous member of the original
settlers, Joseph Jackson Gravely.
Joseph, known as J.J., and his wife
Martha had journeyed from Virgin-
ia to Cedar County in 1854. J.J. was
a lawyer and school teacher when
the Civil War began. He joined the
Union Army, and eventually be-
came a colonel in the Eighth Mis-
souri State Militia.
After the war, he served as a
member of the U.S. Congress,
1867-1869, and was elected Mis-
souri Lieutenant Governor, in
1870. In April 1872, he adjourned
the Senate and came home. He be-
came extremely ill and died days
later, on April 28.
and counting...
The Bolivar Free Press
and the Gravely Family
Seated at the keyboard of a Model 5 Linotype, Marshall W. Gravely (1911-1965) was the last Gravely managing editor of the
Bolivar Free Press. The long run of the Gravely family at the helm of the paper ended after his death in a car wreck on Noble
Hill. His older brother, Ralph, had already stepped away from involvement with the paper. They were sons of Joe W. Gravely,
who started that family run in 1891.
Pictured are, from left, Ray Vickrey, Butch Wilson, Claude Blue and Joe McCracken.
J.J. was more a man of stat-
ure than of means, and his fam-
ily struggled financially after his
death. In November 1875, Martha
moved to Bolivar to send her chil-
dren to school. Leaving school at
the age of 13 to earn a living, Joe
W. learned the printing trade, first
in the Free Press office, and later
with a Springfield newspaper. He
was engaged in newspaper work
throughout his life except for the
time he served as deputy county
clerk from 1886 to 1890.
The first edition of the Bolivar
Free Press under Joe W. Gravely
ownership was March 5, 1891. The
first editorial column was written
by partner and noted lawyer, J.B.
Upton. He stated that, in the case
of the paper’s management, “in the
discussion of political questions
will be fearless as fair, and fair as
fearless.” He also said that “Mis-
souri, Polk County and Bolivar are
the best and brightest state, county
and city on the sphere terrestrial,
and we are their apostle.”
Joe W. married Myrtle McDan-
iel and they had two sons, Francis
Gravely (who died as an infant) and
Ralph Gravely. After Joe W.’s first
wife died, he married Bess Wolford
and they had three children: Ruthe,
Jean and Marshall Gravely.
Ralph and Marshall were life-
long Bolivar residents.
Ralph graduated from Bolivar
High School in 1915 and the Uni-
versity of Missouri in 1919. He
returned to the Free Press as city
editor and married Esther Ham-
montree.
Marshall graduated from Boli-
var High School in 1929 and im-
mediately began working in the
print shop operations where he had
helped since the age of 13. He mar-
ried Ola Creed and they had three
children; Martha, Ben and Bill.
Marshall was print shop man-
ager for many years, eventually be-
coming managing editor. He was a
self-taught Linotype operator, me-
chanic by necessity, press opera-
tor, typist (with 2-3 fingers) copy
editor, advertisement salesman —
whatever needed to be done.
Ralph Gravely devoted over 50
years as a journalist and was a fine
editor. He was also eccentric and a
hoarder. It was very difficult walk-
ing around his office area piled
high with stacks. But Uncle Ralph
was a country newspaperman de-
voted to the written word and he
contributed greatly to local news.
Ben recalls working on a school
writing assignment while at the
Free Press office. He asked Uncle
Ralph how to spell a certain word.
With a beckoning finger, Ralph
motioned Ben over to his desk,
and, pointing to a large diction-
ary, said “look it up.” Ralph was
the editor of the Free Press for 46
years, retiring in 1965 and dying in
1973.
Tour of the office
Somewhere within the confines
of Douglas, Haun and Heideman
law offices are the walls that sur-
rounded the Bolivar Free Press.
The front office, which faced West
Broadway, was a plain area with
two desks, two safes and an ad-
dress machine for managing sub-
scription mailings. The next area
was another office for the editor
and bookkeeper containing roll top
desks and classic manual typewrit-
ers. High on shelves were bound
volumes of all the editions of the
Free Press.
Further on, the room opened
up to contain a Babcock Alliance
flatbed printing press with fold-
ing machine. Newsprint was fed
1D
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS/BEN GRAVELY
onto the press drum and across the
inked type on the flatbed to create
the printed pages. Also in the print
room were three hand-fed Chan-
dler-Price job presses which were
used for a variety of small printing
jobs (funeral folders, auction sale
bills, invitations, business forms,
programs, election ballots, legal
forms, etc.). An additional item
was a huge paper cutter that looked
like a guillotine.
Near the end of his life, Marshall
bought a Little Giant which was a
fully automated job press. He hat-
ed it. The press malfunctioned far
more than anticipated and Dad de-
cided he preferred the old hand-fed
presses.
The next area to the back of the
building was the composition room
containing three Linotypes used for
creating the bulk of the news lines
for both the newspaper and other
printed materials.
The first Linotype purchased
in 1925 was described in the 60th
birthday edition as a “marvel of
mechanical perfection.” The Lino-
type consisted of a keyboard, letter
matrix magazines, and pot of very
hot metal. A plunger forced “the
melted metal against the crevices
of the matrices, forming the raised
face on the line of type, which
is ejected onto a galley, ready to
print.”
Also in the composition room
were file drawers filled with block
letters of many different sizes for
headlines and display advertise-
ments. This room also included a
melting pot to produce molten met-
al used in the Linotype machines
for the print type.
There were also composition
tables where type was locked in
page-size forms to be placed on the
press.
Along with being editors of the
Free Press, both Ralph and Mar-
shall could perform back shop
duties as needed. Ben remembers
seeing both brothers setting lines
of type by hand at speeds that only
came from years of experience.
See Gravely, Page 2D
2DBolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Gravely From Page 1D Random reminiscence

The distinct sensory memories
of the Free Press office were of
ink, noise and dust! Ink was every-
where. One had to walk carefully
through the shop to keep from
getting smeared with ink, regard-
less of efforts to clean equipment.
The noise, especially on press
night, was very loud, but there
was a rhythm to the sound of
the press as the drum revolved.
I’m not sure how the folks in the
Douglas law office tolerated the
noise if the press was running
during the day. I guess they got
used to it.
During the week there were
different noises. The job presses
had a rhythmic clackety clack
and the Linotypes were complex
machines that whirred, jingled
and clicked. The newsprint cre-
ated lots of dust from paper trim-
mings and it seemed like there
was a coat of dust most of the
time.
Marshall also hired high
school and college students. On
a few occasions, employment
was provided for people who
were between jobs and in need.
The “hot type” newspaper trade
was not the easiest to learn, so
Marshall provided the on-the-job
training required. This was how
he had learned the business from
the age of 13.
In the later years, each fam-
ily member got in on the work.
Marshall was primarily the me-
chanic keeping machinery run-
ning properly to avoid major
breakdowns, but he also spent
many nights feeding supplement
sheets into the press as well. Af-
ter Ben and I finished milking the
cows, we would come to town to
help.
Ben was the pressman for
the final run over the last three
years of the Free Press. This
job required carrying newsprint
sheets up to a feeding platform
to be fanned out and then more
than 3,000 sheets were fed one
at a time onto the press drum. I
would catch the papers as they
came off the folder, help Mom
A young Ralph Gravely, who was the older half of the
second generation of the Gravely family at the helm of the
Free Press from 1891 to 1966. Ralph was a graduate of the
Missouri School of Journalism and a long-time editor of
the paper, also serving as postmaster during the Eisen-
hower administration.
stamp addresses on each paper
and then bundle stacks according
to address for delivery to the post
office.
Our sister Martha married Ce-
cil Byrd in 1959 and both were
school teachers. They eventually
moved to Springfield and it was
to there that Mom and Dad were
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/BEN GRAVELY
traveling on Oct. 15, 1965 to see
their grandchildren, David and
Becky.
While her main role was as
wife and mother, Martha filled a
vital role by helping with writing
and editing in the days following
the accident. She died in 2013
after a teaching career in reading.
Here are some moments from our memories of the Free Press Days:
• Ben remembers going with Dad to Kansas City in 1953 for the
purchase of a Linotype. While there, the two of them went to the semi-
finals of the NAIA basketball championship when SMS (now MSU)
won an overtime game with only four players on the floor. Not a news-
paper moment, but definitely a father-son moment.
• Ben also remembers spending the night with Dad at a tool shop
in Springfield where a craftsman created a gear for the old Babcock
press. Ben watched intently and marveled at the man’s ability to create
the part using broken pieces as a guide.
• I remember going to the store to get juice for Dad when he got
very sick and dehydrated on a press day. He ended up in the hospital
with mononucleosis. It seems like the only time we ever saw him miss
work for illness.
• Both Ben and I recall when office cash receipts were brought
home with the intent of depositing the next day. Somehow the money
ended up in a trash burn barrel and, upon realizing what had happened,
Mom frantically stamped out the fire. Polk County Bank personnel
helped sort through the remains, and the Federal Treasury reimbursed
most of the money.
• When I was a student at South Ward Elementary, I remember a
time when the music class was singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
I raised my hand and protested to the music teacher, “Why don’t we
ever sing Hark the Free Press Angels Sing?” This became a favorite
family story.
• One night when I was playing baseball for the Fraser Yankees, I got
a hit but the base runner in front of me was thrown out at third. I was
in tears thinking my hit wouldn’t count. My sister couldn’t persuade me
otherwise and finally took me to the Free Press office. It was a press
night, but my Dad stopped what he was doing and finally convinced me
that my base hit would count in the box score. A father’s job didn’t stop,
even on press night.
• Every week we would buy a Sunday morning St. Louis Post Dis-
patch at Mahaffey’s Drug Store so Dad could read how the big boys
did journalism.
• During my senior year in high school, Dad let me do sports report-
ing. My story (with byline) of the Bolivar-Waynesville football game was
across the page from his obituary in the October 21, 1965 edition of
the Free Press.
• In 1952, after 20 years of Democrat presidents, the Free Press
had a very large full-page headline, EISENHOWER ELECTED BY
RECORD VOTE. I was four, so I only know what I read in the news-
paper!
• Besides being good with his hands, our Dad was a musician and
singer in his day. He was a coronet player for the Bolivar Boys Band
that traveled to Chicago. Dad also could sing and I fondly remember
bouncing along in the pickup truck harmonizing on a hymn. He had a
great record collection that I still have. He loved music.
The Gravely family wasn’t perfect during the Free Press days. There
are probably people who might tell a different story than ours. We only
know that, through it all, the Gravely family was a Bolivar family. Our
dad and uncle and grandfather were dedicated to providing journal-
ism’s Who, What, When, Where and sometimes Why to the best of their
ability.
They were devoted to “The Old Home Paper of Polk County.” Estab-
lished in 1868 — Still on the Job.
Happy Anniversary, Bolivar Herald-Free Press!

Kevin Krueger opened Capstone Insurors, Inc. in June

of 1997. A one-man agency with only himself and
a receptionist, Kevin’s dedication to hard work and
community service saw the business grow quickly and it
hasn’t stopped. In 2004 Kevin began a school consortium
that has now grown to 45 Missouri School Districts.
He began in a small office behind Woods Express, and
is now located at 1053 E. Broadway Street. In addition,
the staff of 1 has now grown to 14 employees. Capstone
Insurors prides themselves on being a full-service insurance agency, with a growing Property & Casualty team, as
well as a Life & Health division. They recently added 2 agents, with one located in Rogersville and one located
in Jefferson City. The agency is service minded and work hard to make sure the customers know they are the
priority.
Capstone Insurors is dedicated to the Bolivar
community. You will often see them serving
at churches, watching their children compete
in area sports teams, refereeing basketball
games, serving on important boards and
committees, coaching and going on mission
trips. They enjoy living and working in the
community that has given their families so
much.
Capstone Insurors wants to congratulate
the Bolivar Herald-Free Press on 150 years,
thank you for your service and dedication
to Bolivar!

417.777.7570 • 888.201.3249
1053 E. Broadway, Bolivar, MO
www.capstoneins.com
528876b
Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 3D
Former staff reflections:
Francis Skalicky
L
ike everyone else who grew up Press sports reporter. I was gaining
in Polk County, making the Bo- confidence with each article I wrote,
livar Herald-Free Press’ but when Judy asked if I’d be
pages was always a big event interested in taking over her
for our family, and I have column for a week to recount
a collection of clippings to what farm life had been like
prove it. while my parents vacationed,
However, the article that my pride surged to an astro-
will stand forever above my nomical level.
other Herald-Free Press mem- It was the equivalent of Stan
ories is the time my words Skalicky Musial in his prime going to the
filled the space of Judy Kallen- team’s newest rookie and say-
bach’s highly popular “Borgassmord” ing, “Why don’t you bat for me today?”
column. Newspaper editions come and go
It was 1982, and I was spending the but this article — and the feeling of
summer between my sophomore and pride and achievement that went with
junior college years as a Herald-Free it — has stayed with me to this day.

Former staff reflections: Linda Roller

T
he four years I spent working at
the Bolivar Herald-Free Press
were among my happiest (and
sometimes most harrowing). No two days
were ever the same, and I
learned many lessons that
have continued to inform
the way I live my life:
• People hear (read)
what they want to hear
(read). As a reporter, it
was my responsibility to
relate both sides of an is-
sue without bias, even if
— or maybe I should say,
especially if — I actually
did feel a personal preju-
dice. One of my “beats”
at BH-FP was covering
education topics, which
included reporting on all
of the Bolivar R-1 school board meetings.
Raised in a family of educators, I hold
very strong opinions about education, so
sometimes that wasn’t always easy. One
week I reported on an especially conten-
tious board meeting, and I had to work
very hard to present an unbiased view. For
a few days after the story was published,
I ducked around corners, my eyes cast
529233b
downward, fearing I might be in trouble
with folks on one (or both) sides of the is-
sue. What a relief when people from both
contingencies called to thank me for writ-
ing the story showing their
side in a favorable light!
• Deadlines are a neces-
sary evil. The hours before
a paper went to press were
almost always “exciting.”
The staff would frequently
proofread and lay out and
re-proofread and re-lay
out, only to spot an error
in a story, an ad or even
a headline, only minutes
before the presses were
due to roll. Without those
deadlines, I might never
have made a phone call
or stopped sharpening my
pencils and sat down to write.
• Measure twice, cut once. Randy Jones
and I, both former English teachers at Bo-
livar High School, once misspelled the
word “persistence” — we spelled it with
an “a” — in a graphic that appeared on
the front page of the paper. As a reminder
of how important it is to proofread care-
fully (and not to play around with content),
there was a clipping of a photo of a huge
snowstorm pinned to our bulletin board in
the lay-out room. The cutline to that photo
read something like, “A $@#&-load of
snow fell on Chicago today.” Someone’s
head rolled for that one, I bet. Fortunately,
Randy and I were allowed to keep ours.
• A compliment might be disguised as
an insult (or vice versa). I’m not really a
photographer, but I was frequently sent to
take pictures at area events if no one else
was available. One year, I happened to be
in the right place at the right time with my
cheap-o camera poised at just the right an-
gle — it was a miracle, I tell you — to take
a photo of Cindy Hood milking a cow at
Country Days, which won first place in the
Missouri Press Association’s Better News-
paper Contest. When I received the award,
Dave Berry told me, “You finally took a
decent picture.” I decided to take that com-
ment as high praise from Mr. Berry, if you
know what I mean.
• No matter what anyone says, rural
Missouri towns (like Bolivar, Pleasant
Hope, Halfway, Fair Play, Humansville)
are populated by the best people in the
world. People on the outside can call Mis-
souri a “fly-over state” or whatever they
want, but I know for a fact that, whether or
not they agree on sports teams or religion
or politics or whatever, the people who
live in Polk County are among the kindest,
most hard-working, most intelligent, most
interesting people you’ll find anywhere.
The people in our community made my
job as a journalist worthwhile. Writing the
feature stories — about people in every
occupation from farriers to entrepreneurs
to apple growers to designers of Arabian
horse costumes — was my favorite as-
signment.
• No matter what anyone says, the best
people in the world are members of the
media. Among my favorite memories of
working at BH-FP was the (mostly) good-
natured banter among the inhabitants of
the desks in the editorial office or at our
weekly editorial meetings, as we scram-
bled to write articles for the week. It was
always fun to share our “war” stories, es-
pecially those unsuitable for print.
Debbie, Sue, Linda B., Linda S., Linda
F., Renee, Dave, Ashley, Judy, Bill, Cla-
rice, Angie, Carrie, Jamie, Libby, Jim,
Randy and many others at BH-FP made
me look forward to going to “work” every
day, and I mean that sincerely. I’m proud
to have been a part of such a high-quality
organization.
4D Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

The
Printing
Life
By Jim Sterling,
Publisher Emeritus
Back in 1952, fresh out of Mayo
Clinic where he spent 100 days,
40-year-old Kenneth Sterling was
looking for a way to help his young
family survive. He was told he had
a year to live.
He turned, as many of us would
do, to his extended family. He had
a dozen brothers and sisters who
mostly all lived in or around Boli-
var. His parents still lived in Boli-
var.
He needed to find something
to do because he could no longer
go back to managing a vegetable
packing plant, which he had done
in Boston and Chicago.
that would be his print shop. Ken-
neth bought a used press and a
copy camera, loaded them onto a
small trailer and headed out for the
Ozarks.
Once here, Dad was fortunate to
make money printing for the new
Lucky 13 Drive-In Theatre, South-
west Electric and Southwest Bap-
tist College. These were the days
before copying machines, but he
could print things quickly and of-
fered overnight service with pickup
and delivery.
He joined Kiwanis and was soon
printing the Junior Livestock Show
Catalog.
Kenneth had a wife, Mary, who
was from Michigan. He had moved CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The answer to what he could do
came from Bob Pufahl, who lived
in Bolivar.
He suggested the town needed
a print shop. The two newspapers
both did job printing, but they
were far too busy with the labors
of producing weekly newspapers to
spend much time getting envelopes
and other business printing done.
So, Dad found a place near our
home in south Chicago, worked
for free for about six weeks and
learned the basics of a new kind of
printing. Offset printing.
Meanwhile two of his brothers,
Carl and Rodney, who ran a con-
struction company in Bolivar, went
to work building a small building
to Michigan when he was 13 to join
some of his brothers and sisters
who had gone north looking for
jobs.
He carried water for the Wayne
County road department, and he
got on with Ford helping build
the new Henry Ford Museum and
Greenfield Village when he was 17.
Later, he worked in the soybean
experimental labs, and he took
classes in night school to make up
ground from his eighth-grade edu-
cation.
He was a pioneer in the plastics
industry and worked on the devel-
opment of the rear gun turrets on
the big planes produced at the Wil-
low Run Bomber Plant.
Jim and Ken Sterling
Bad legs and feet kept him out of It was in his print shop, Ozark ness into office supplies and sport-
the service in World War II, despite Offset, that he got his start. He took ing goods. He sold Johnson out-
trying to sign up on more than one time away to go fishing when he board motors and boats.
occasion. But when the war ended, could, and suddenly the one year I could say I got into the news-
and the other boys came home, he he had to survive turned into more. paper business through the print-
felt his chances were slim staying Within seven years he was presi- ing business, but it was actually
on any kind of fast track at Ford. dent of Bolivar Kiwanis, Bolivar an English teacher, Miss Margaret
After seven years in the veg- Economic Development and the Chiles, who encouraged me to go
etable processing industry, where Land of Lakes Association which to the Missouri School of Journal-
he not only ran the plants, but ex- was promoting the new lakes com- ism. I owe a lot to that wonderful
perimented with ready-made salads ing at Pomme de Terre, Stockton woman who put up with me for two
and pre-cut French fries (products and Kaysinger Bluff, which be- years of high school classes. And
that would not come to the market came Truman Lake. to Bill Wasson, our principal and
for another 25 years), he had to find He fed, clothed and housed his superintendent, who suggested I’d
something new to do and get his wife and children (my sister Diane better learn to type if I wanted to be
family set up for the future after he and me). He helped us get through a journalist.
was gone. college and he expanded his busi- See Printing, Page 5D

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Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Printing From Page 4D
A couple of years out of college, in late
1967, I got a chance to come back to Boli-
var. Ralph and Clessa Stufflebam had just
locked up ownership of the three newspa-
pers operating in Bolivar. The Stufflebam
family had owned the Herald most of
the time going back to 1900 and had just
bought out the owners of the Free Press
and the Polk County Times.
I took over the management of the
new Herald-Free Press and soon became
a junior partner with Jac and Rheba Zim-
merman when they bought the newspaper
in 1968. I would buy the newspaper from
the Zimmerman estate 11 years later.
We tended to the newspaper business
and didn’t try to be in the job printing
business. I had a job shop at Buffalo after
buying the Reflex, but the only printing
we did in Bolivar besides our own news-
paper was other area papers or jobs that
would naturally run on our newspaper
web presses. We formed Missouri Color-
Web Printing as our printing division.
And it was a long way from the 11x14
sheet fed Multi-lith offset press that my
dad brought to town. So, I never followed
in his footsteps and became a printer. But
I did know a little about putting ads and
newspaper pages together. And I did un-
derstand how offset worked. But, for cer-
We Are Proud To Have
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of Many Families in Polk
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on 150 Years!
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NEWS
Former staff reflections:
Linda Fuerst
tain, I did not want to compete with my
father or any other job printer in Bolivar.
And his company, Ozark Offset, still con-
tinues today in Bolivar under different
ownership, the Coopers.
I got in 31 years in Bolivar running
the newspaper, some of it absentee while
engaged in other ventures. It was the best
time ever to be in the newspaper business.
Since then, I’ve been in Columbia,
back at the School of Journalism, teaching
young people how to sell advertising and
how to manage a community newspaper.
But I’m retired now and still learning the
ropes of getting up and not going to work.
It all started because Bob Pufahl told
my dad Bolivar needed a print shop —
and because my father lived 40 more
years instead of one.
We attribute the latter to drinking Bo-
livar water.
Jim Sterling lived in Bolivar for the bet-
ter part of a pretty good life still in prog-
ress. He had the unique view of looking
at the world from inside out of the printed
page. He grew up in Bolivar, he was there
as a young adult when the Bolivar news-
papers were merged together, and now to-
day, after being gone for nearly 20 years,
he acknowledges that his heart is still in
Polk County.
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Bolivar Herald-Free Press 5D
I
was lurking between parked cars outside
the Benton County Courthouse waiting
to snap a photo of a convicted murderer
being led across the street from jail to his
sentencing hearing, and a thought popped
into my mind: It would never in a million
years have occurred to my mother that this
was the sort of thing her daughter would
be doing. She would probably not have ap-
proved.
Honestly, if I had known that a person
without a journalism degree from MU could
work at the newspaper, I would
have been knocking on the of-
fice door a lot sooner. Writing
for the BH-FP felt like the job
I was born to do.
From 1997 to 2007, I cov-
ered city and county govern-
ment, crime, law enforcement
and the courts. I went to city
hall or the courthouse, the
sheriff’s office or the police
department, and I pestered of-
ficials with questions on your
behalf. Then I came back to
the office and wrote about the answers. What
could be a better job than that?
Sometimes at a criminal trial, I would be
the only person in the courtroom not par-
ticipating in the case. Instead of saying “All
rise” when the judge entered, the bailiff once
glanced around the empty room and said,
“Hey, Linda, stand up.” I was there to see
and hear what happened and relay the news
to you. I felt the responsibility, and I pushed
myself to do it right.
Not everyone appreciated total accuracy
in news reporting. After the court news was
published each week, there might be a phone
call from someone who did not think it was
necessary to print the names of people who
had been arrested. I remember the call from
a young single mother who said she was
trying to raise three kids on her own, and it
was hard enough without me making her life
harder by putting her name in the paper. I
told her she probably should have thought of
that before she sold meth to an undercover
cop.
My favorite news reporting tale involves a
jury trial that was moved to California, Mis-
souri, on a change of venue. Several people
had been charged with murder in this case,
but all the others had pleaded guilty without
a trial. The last defendant refused to plead,
We’re all in this together.
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and I convinced Dave Berry and Judy Kal-
lenbach that this trial was our only chance to
hear what actually happened on the night of
the murder. So they let me attend.
It was about 5 p.m. on a winter day when
the jury retired to begin deliberations, and it
had already started snowing heavily. I decid-
ed to head back to Bolivar and make a phone
call the next day to learn the verdict. But the
weather got worse by the minute, and traf-
fic on the highway was barely crawling. I
made it as far as Sedalia before I gave up
and found a motel.
Those were the days before
I had a cell phone or a laptop
computer, and there was no
internet at the motel. I spent
half a day snowed in at the
motel, writing my story in
longhand on the back of scrap
paper, motel stationery, any-
thing I could find. I edited by
crossing out words, drawing
arrows, writing between the
lines and renumbering pages.
When I was finished, I
thoroughly confused the motel desk clerk
by asking her to fax these raggedy-looking
scribbles to the BH-FP office, where some-
one else had to decipher and type them.
But the story arrived before deadline, and it
made the front page. We got the story to the
readers.
That’s what I felt like we were doing the
whole time I worked at the paper: We were
getting the story to the people who needed
to see it. No other job I ever had made that
much difference in the world.
A murder victim’s mother showed me the
scrapbook she had made with all the stories
I had written about the death of her son and
the trials and sentencing of the people who
had participated in beating the life out of
him. She said she planned to take the scrap-
book with her when she attended their pa-
role hearings 20 years in the future. Her goal
was to keep her son’s killers in prison for as
long as possible, and she planned to use my
words to help her do it.
That’s just profoundly humbling to me; I
can’t accurately express how that makes me
feel. I’m glad Dave and Judy gave me the
chance to see the things I saw and to write
the things I wrote. I think accurate news
makes a difference. That’s what working for
the BH-FP taught me.
528873b
6D Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Former staff Gravely family reflections:

reflections: By John Palen
O
ne autumn early in the last century, my time to be gigantic — the rotary press on which the

Jim Hamilton
grandmother Bess Gravely took her children
from Bolivar to Springfield on the train to
visit relatives. It was an extended visit, and while
there they received a letter from my grandfather, Joe
paper was printed.
Even farther back, Uncle Pete would be at work in
a noisy, cluttered room setting copy on a Linotype.
There was constant loud clatter as the brass matri-

I
began my community journalism career
at the Bolivar Herald-Free Press at the on-
set of America’s bicentennial celebration
in January 1976 — possibly one of the most
exhilarating times in history to be a country
newspaper
editor.
Com-
munities
in every
corner and
township of
Polk Coun-
ty were en-
gaged in a
year-long
celebra-
tion of both
their lo-
cal and na-
tional heri-
tages. Old
Glory and
Bicentennial flags were raised in ceremo-
nies from Pleasant Hope to Humansville.
Exuberant high school bands led parades
of antique cars, tractors and horse-drawn
wagons down Main Streets. Orators elicit-
ed rousing applause from patriotic crowds.
Hometown fiddle players and banjo pick-
ers in their best overalls offered their most
reverent renditions of “America,“ while the
tantalizing aroma of woodsmoke and barbe-
cue hung in the Saturday evening air over
Main Streets and town squares throughout
the Ozarks.
It was, from January to December, a cele-
bration of all that is great and good about our
nation and the rich heritage shared by every
citizen and community. It was a year of un-
abashed pride in simply being an American
and recognizing the men and women who
had brought us through our first 200 years.
It was a great time for a young community
journalist to discover the heart and soul of
the folk he was to write about for the next 42
years, and hopefully for many more to come.
Jim Hamilton was the BH-FP news editor
from 1976 to 1977.
W. Gravely.
It was perhaps typical of letters written by devot-
ed husbands and fathers to absent families: Humor-
ous news of this and that around the neighborhood
and wistful expressions of loneliness.
This letter was different, though, in that it was
a meticulously laid out and hand-lettered miniature
newspaper page, in ink. At
the top was a nameplate
well known at the time to
Polk County residents:
“The Bolivar Free Press/A
Republican Party Paper
and Chronicler of Local
Events.”
It must have taken my
grandfather hours to com-
plete it. I don’t know where
it is now, but I remember it
included a story about the
man who delivered coal
to the Gravelys’ two-story
brick home on Broadway,
and a third-person account
of how much Free Press
Publisher Joe W. Gravely
looked forward to seeing
his wife and children again.
My grandfather died before I was born, so I knew
him only through the memories of others — and by
that single letter-size sheet of paper, brown with
age.
My mother remembers him sitting in the dark for
hours after supper, listening to her practice piano in
the next room. She described him as a kind and lov-
ing father, and she adored him.
We moved from Bolivar to Lamar in 1948 when
I was 6 years old, but I have early memories of the
Free Press office a block west of the square. I was
there often when my mother would stop to see her
brothers, Ralph and Marshall “Pete.”
Uncle Ralph was the editor. His office at the
front was a jumble of papers, pencils, heavy black
typewriters and telephones, dog-eared dictionaries,
phone books, maps and other tools needed to inform
the people of Polk County about their community.
Farther back in the building, large bound copies of
the Free Press and stacks of recent editions crowded
a narrow passage from floor to ceiling. The passage
opened out on a machine that seemed to me at the
ces for individual letters fell from a magazine down
a channel to be assembled into a “line of type.”
Then, they were lifted mechanically to a spring-
loaded channel that carried them to the casting box.
Once the slug was cast, a mechanical arm lifted
them to another channel that distributed them back
into the magazine, ready to be used again.
Amazing, I thought.
My first work in a newspaper
was carrying lead “pigs” in from
the alley to be hung on a chain
and fed into the pot of molten
lead that my uncle would turn
into words. My pay was a dime.
Putting out a local weekly was
hard work. Once a week, the two
of them would work all day, all
night and into the next morning
to get the paper out on time.
Uncle Ralph was also Boli-
var’s postmaster. Uncle Pete and
his family farmed dairy cattle in
the country. There was a spring
house on the farm where the
milk was cooled, and there were
wooded hills behind the neat
single-story house. Somehow
in such a busy life, Uncle Pete
found the time and had the skill to refloor the house
with hardwood.
There was also a collie named SHRDLU — the
letters Linotype operators cast with a single quick
finger-stroke down the left side. These stood out
and alerted the compositor that the previous line
contained a typo and should be pitched and replaced
with a corrected line. Hence, “mistake.” Uncle Pete
had a dry wit.
Years later, when I came to the point of choosing
a way to make a living, I chose journalism. My time
in the Free Press office with my uncles had made
it a familiar pursuit. I saw that it was also one that
helped the community. They devoted most of their
lives to it, I thought, so it must be worth doing. They
were right.
John Palen worked as a reporter, copy editor, city
editor and editor at daily newspapers in Missouri,
Illinois and Michigan. He earned a Ph.D. at Michi-
gan State University and taught journalism for 26
years at Central Michigan University. Retired since
2009, he lives in Urbana, Illinois.

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Wednesday, June 6, 2018
Gravely stopped the
revolving door, made the
Free Press sustainable
Not bad for a school dropout at age 13
who saw what he wanted and went after it
By Dave Berry
It was from humble beginnings in
formal education that Joe W. Gravely
stopped the revolving door ownership of
what still stands today as the oldest con-
tinuous business in Polk County.
Gravely was the son of Col. J.J. Grave-
ly, a former Missouri lieutenant governor.
In 1879, the family moved to Bolivar from
Stockton, where Joe was born in 1866.
Joe would soon leave school at the age
of 13 to learn the newspaper business.
He started with the Free Press, learning
the mechanical side of the business, and
eventually moved to Springfield to learn
more about the trade.
The Free Press was established two
years after his birth, at a time when Polk
County had been without a newspaper for
a couple of years. The Civil War had taken
its toll on a lot of businesses in the preced-
ing years, with newspapers not being im-
mune to the carnage.
The need for the paper arose as a result
of property foreclosures and the absence
of a legal publication in the county. Law-
yers, as one might imagine because of the
legal notices, were among the first inves-
tors, and more lawyers would be involved
in subsequent ownerships.
The original owners were out before
the end of the same year it started. The
next owner made it seven years, the next
three years, the next just a few months and
the next four years. It was during the latter
ownership that Gravely joined the paper
at age 13. But he soon moved on and that
owner did as well, selling to an ownership
that lasted eight years.
It was then, on March 5, 1891, that the
still young Gravely, age 25, published the
first edition under his ownership. He took
on an attorney partner in the early going,
but it would be Gravely remaining at the
helm for the next 43 years, until his death
OUR HISTORY
The Butler Funeral Home
has been in Bolivar, serving
the families of Polk and the
surrounding counties since
1958. Formerly the White
& Erwin and Erwin & Blue
Funeral Home, Paul D. Butler and Mary Lou Butler
opened their doors in August 1958. Joining the busi-
ness in 1969 was their son R. Stephen Butler and later
by Stephen’s wife Jarolyn, in 1989. Mary Lou Butler
passed away Nov. 6, 1988 & Paul D. Butler passed away
on June 30, 2007.
We are just as committed in showing you that Butler
Funeral Home is a name you can trust in the future as
we have for the past 60 years.
IN MEMORY OF
R. STEPHEN BUTLER
1947 - 2017
529236b
NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 7D
of a heart attack in his sleep Oct. 24, 1934.
Much credit is often given to one par-
ticular participant in the startup of the pa-
per in 1868. T.H.B. Dunnegan was in law
enforcement at the time and would hold
other public offices later, before eventu-
ally becoming a banker.
Neither he nor his partners did much
more than just start the Free Press before
it was handed off to others to keep it alive,
and it wasn’t until a man who had left
school at age 13 to learn the business, in
an era of handset type, took control that
the paper finally experienced sustainable
success.
However, Dunnegan did have a hand in
helping get Gravely established.
Gravely faced immense competition
every year he was in business. Only one
other publication, the other half of the
name still today, was continuous in oppo-
sition, but several others came and went
along the way.
The Free Press carried the Republican
brand, the majority position in Polk Coun-
ty from its origin through today. But noth-
ing could be taken for granted up against
the Democrat flag. There was much snip-
ing between the two from the startup of
the Herald three years after the Free Press
began. The Herald’s editors picked most
of those fights from the minority posi-
tion, and the Free Press was credited with
mostly ignoring the jabs.
But it was in 1899, during Joe
Gravely’s early days at the Free Press, that
the Herald’s feisty editor, C.D. Lyman,
touched a nerve with a published comment
about the Free Press. And it invoked this
Free Press response: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/BEN GRAVELY
“The editor of the Free Press very much Joe W. Gravely, who quit school at age 13 to learn the printing trade during
dislikes to be personal and is never guilty hard times. He started at the Bolivar Free Press and then worked for a Spring-
of saying harsh things of anyone who can field newspaper. He purchased the Free Press in 1891, ending its revolving
lay claim to be a gentleman. But we have door of ownership. Followed by two sons, the Gravely family maintained own-
See Gravely, Page 8D ership into 1966.
Bolivar, MO • 326-5233
Humansville, MO • 754-2215
www.butlerfuneralhome.com
528046b
8D Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Gravely From Page 7D Former staff reflections:

stood the virulent, bitter personal calumnies of
the Herald for the past twenty-five years and can
stand them for a century longer. The only answer
we have ... is that Mr. C.D. Lyman ... is a dirty,
malicious and senseless liar and lacks the cour-
age to resent our calling him such.”
Yet, when Lyman was ousted from his position
a mere six weeks later, presumably because of a
number of controversial things he had published,
the Free Press published kind remarks about him
and the newspaper he had headed for 25 years.
The long Stufflebam era of the Herald would
begin five years later, and the civility model
already in place at the Free Press seemed to
be more in style between the two publications
thereafter, despite competition for subscriptions
and advertising.
In fact, one of Joe Gravely’s grandsons, Ben
Gravely, still of Bolivar, remembers firsthand
that when Frank Stufflebam died in 1951, the
Free Press staff assisted in getting that week’s
edition of the Herald published.
Ben also witnessed the two papers, and other
neighboring publishers, frequently relying on
each other for spare parts for equipment. The
suppliers were too far away to be as timely with
delivery of new parts.
“There was a healthy respect between us,”
Ben Gravely, a valuable volunteer at the Polk
County Genealogical Society, says.
Indeed, it did go both ways. The Free Press
acknowledged on its front page the offers of as-
sistance from the Herald and other area papers
upon the death of Joe in 1934.
It would be a Stufflebam heir who stepped
forward to combine the two names with yet a
third publication in late 1967. The name Bolivar
Herald-Free Press carries on now as the oldest
established business in the county.
But no one deserves more credit for the news-
paper surviving for 150 years than Joe Gravely,
the first publisher to stop the revolving door of
ownership, the first to make the Free Press sus-
tainable.
Much credit goes to Jim Sterling, one of three
consecutive BH-FP inductees in the Missouri
Newspaper Hall of Fame, for the research in-
volved in this article. It was research conducted
while he was a student in the University of Mis-
souri School of Journalism for his term paper in
the History and Principles of Journalism class in
1963. His focus was on the history of the Bolivar
Free Press. Martin L. McCullen’s term paper for
the same class four years earlier, focusing on the
Herald, also was utilized for this summary.
Linda McBride
M
y stint of 10 years at the Bolivar Herald-Free
Press provided a time of change, growth and
learning. It also was a time of fun.
It all began in 1972, when gas pumped for 55 cents
per gallon. Wrangler jeans retailed at $10 a pair and
hamburger sold for 98 cents per pound. The average
price of a home listed at $7,374, while the average in-
come paid $11,800. “The Godfather” played on the big
screen, and Elton John, The Eagles and
Michael Jackson sang pop songs.
That year, Jim Sterling, general man-
ager, offered me a summer internship at
the BHFP. I was thrilled!!
Change could be found everywhere.
The community was growing. South-
west Baptist was expanding. The news-
paper was developing. I was entering
the last year of my collegiate career.
That internship exposed me to a
world of writing, reporting and produc-
ing an actual newspaper, just what I
needed as preparation for my planned
professional career. That summer pro-
vided a taste of the real world of news-
papering. I loved it! It hooked me quickly, reeled me
in, and steadfastly locked me into the profession. I
knew that was exactly what I wanted to do. The career
I wanted to pursue.
The People and Living Section was my responsibil-
ity. I loved tracking down and interviewing interesting
people to feature each week. Everyone has a unique
story, and I wanted to discover that story. I also report-
ed general news, covered school board meetings and
contacted the county schools.
Another major project for that summer entailed
creating the articles for the Centennial issue for the
100th anniversary of Polk County Bank. I wrote fea-
tures spotlighting the founders, the Dunnegan family. I
conducted interviews with Bolivar’s iconic Dunnegan
brothers, T.H.B. and Mr. John. Their influences and
philanthropic generosity can be found throughout the
city. Other articles highlighted Dunnegan Park, the
historic Dunnegan home and the Polk County Bank.
What a privilege!
Pouring over the back issues of the newspapers from
the previous 100 years revealed a life of long ago in
Bolivar and the surrounding communities. I was re-
living my history, too. Locating an article about my
grandfather Engleman’s family surprised me. What a
shock to suddenly discover news in my maiden name
that took place in the late 1800s.
It was 1972 — a time before the digital and computer
age hit. No internet. No cell phones. It was 1972 —
the year Atari introduced the world to the video game
of PONG, spawning a new generation of video enter-
tainment and video junkies.
Much of the newspaper publishing process was by
hand. Stories were typed out on a manual typewriter.
After snapping the photograph, I hand developed the
negatives. With a design of the People page layout in
mind, I would then actually cut and paste the thin strips
of justified copy onto the layout page.
Tuesdays required long hours of put-
ting the week’s pages together. The
presses started printing out the pages
and finished up on Wednesdays. Then,
the stream of customers would enter
the front office to pick up their copies
of the latest news hot off the press for a
mere 15 cents. It was gratifying to see
that final paper rolling off the press and
to view the end product.
Upon graduating from the School of
Journalism at the University of Mis-
souri, I returned to BH-FP as the fea-
tures editor. I continued where I left
off the previous summer, developing
features and photographs for the People section of the
paper, authoring Borgassmord, a personal column and
covering general news events.
On a regular basis, I visited the county public
schools to gather stories and photographs of their stu-
dents, instructors and current events. We worked with
the county extension clubs, reported weddings, planned
extra sections on special topics and sponsored a cook-
ing seminar. New friends and contacts were made. We
even won a few awards from the Missouri Press As-
sociation.
It was a joy and an adventure to come to work.
After a couple of years, I moved away when my hus-
band, Dean, transferred to Kansas City with his job.
But I returned and then left again, a couple of times. In
fact, they quit giving me going-away parties because I
kept returning. Returning home to the BHFP.
Working for the BH-FP provided much knowledge
and insight. It stands as one of my most memorable
experiences. I will be forever grateful to Jac and Rhe-
ba Zimmerman, Jim Sterling, Danny Zimmerman and
Dave Berry for their guidance and wisdom, and I thank
you all. However, it was more than just a work ex-
perience. The friendships and bonds formed then have
grown and survived through all these years.
I hold dear the memories of the special people in the
community and of those treasured relationships. These
people make Bolivar a special community. It is a plea-
sure to have worked for the Bolivar Herald- Free Press.

Family Owned 49 YEARS

Since 1947
Woods Supermarkets Inc, began
in 1947 in Long Lane, MO
when Don and Bertha Woods,
purchased a small country general
store. Their first employee was
Bert Burton, whose job was to do
whatever was needed, which is the
mark of a true grocer. Since our
company was established decades
ago, Woods Supermarket has continued to offer true
values throughout all locations and departments.
From those humble beginnings, Woods Supermarket has grown
to twelve supermarkets in the state of Missouri. There are also five
Woods Express locations that have convenient fuel stations where our
customers can redeem their fuel rewards. We also serve as a reliable
pharmacy at 8 locations so you can pick up your prescription refills at
the same time you shop for groceries. Additionally, Woods offers an
online grocery shopping/pickup service that makes grocery shopping
even more convenient.
Whether you are looking for choice hand-cut meats, fresh produce, a
great selection of your favorite grocery items, or freshly fried chicken,
you can guarantee that Woods Supermarket will offer you true value
with a big smile. Woods Supermarket strives to be more than just a
grocery store, but a general location that serves as a source for quality
goods and services for the community.
Woods Supermarket is here to help you find what you need!
OF CONTINUOUS SERVICE
As the oldest Real Estate office in the area, we are proud
to continue the same honest and professional service that
Bob Butler provided when the office first opened in 1969.
Our name has changed through the years from Bob Butler
Real Estate to the current Ozarks Home Realty. As our
office grew, we had to find larger facilities. Starting out on
East Broadway, we are now in our third location at 530 S
Albany.
And how things have changed! When the office first opened
there were no computers, no multi list and, of course, no
cell phones! Now we can locate property all over the Unit-
ed States, and other countries as well, with the push of a
button. In 1969 you could write a listing or sales contract
on 1 page, now we are up to a minimum of 8 pages each!
Our office proudly boasts that among our agents we have
an accumulated 242 years of real estate experience.
WE ALL KNOW EXPERIENCE MATTERS!
And it especially matters when
buying or selling real estate.

Where Home Is Our Middle Name

530 S. Albany | Bolivar, MO
417-326-2411
528801b
528868b

703 E. College • Bolivar, MO • 417.326.7601

Wednesday, June 6, 2018 NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 9D

Former staff reflections:

Judy Kallenbach
W
hen I picture the Bolivar I loved that office, even when the
Herald-Free Press building, thunder roared and the rains came roll-
it’s at the same 335 South ing in and drove straight through the
Springfield Avenue address as now, but caulking around those many panes. I
in a different could take the
building — a window seat
rock structure cushion to a
that sat right drier part of
next to the the building,
street and had but there was
once been a car nothing much I
dealership. The could do about
current build- the water pool-
ing was con- ing on the floor
structed after I until the rain
left the newspa- ended except
per in 2004. gather my ready
During the 25 stash of tow-
years I worked els, take off my
at the BH-FP, I shoes and mop
occupied sev- it up.
eral different I loved that
desks and cu- office anyway.
bicles within And I loved
the building, working with
but my last lo- the more than
cation was by 60 other em-
far my favorite. ployees dur-
It was an actual ing that quarter
office, with a century. And I
Judy, in the early days of her 25-year ca-
door, on the loved meeting
reer at the BH-FP, plus time at the Herald.
northeast cor- so many people
ner of the building. It had newspaper- throughout the county and having the
themed wallpaper, a big desk, built-in opportunity to tell their stories.
file cabinets, a little refrigerator to Now, I love getting the BH-FP in my
keep my Mountain Dew cool and a mailbox twice a week.
small lavender couch where visitors •••
and interviewees could be comfortable. When I started working at the Boli-
Best of all, it had a huge many-paned var Herald on East Jackson in 1967, the
window on the north that afforded a political leanings were a thing of the
view of the courthouse and the south past, but the two papers continued to
side of the square. A window seat with operate separately.
a red cushion spanned the width of the Ralph Stufflebam owned the Her-
window, and wooden printer boxes that ald, and it was managed by Merrill and
used to contain the heavy lead type that June Pratt.
was set by hand a letter at a time in pre- I worked there until the day before
vious decades had been cut to make a our child was born, and then took a hia-
waist-high boarder around a couple of tus for several years, beginning work at
the walls. the BH-FP in 1979.

-
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10D Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Former staff
reflections:
Paula Clasby
W
ell, I have so many great memories of
working for the Bolivar Herald-Free Press
that I don’t even know where to start!
I can say that during my seven years of working
there, I felt like I belonged there. We had amazing
teamwork and a camaraderie unlike any that I expe-
rienced before or after. I believe that each of us was
proud to play a part in the creation of Polk County’s
“pride and joy.”
I will always have fond memories of my time at the
BH-FP and the people who made that time well spent.

Former staff
reflections:
Clarice Coker
E
ighteen years at the Bolivar Herald-Free Press
produced many more memories than could be
put in a single column.
I was there through four typesetting systems and a
half dozen or so editors/publishers.
I got to be part of 50-year class reunions long
before I had one of my own, saw Cub Scouts and
4-Hers grow up to start successful careers, walked
under the dam at Pomme de Terre, met 100-year-old
citizens and New Year’s babies. Got to live other
people’s milestones and cover events large and small.
Learned that a “small” event was always important
to someone and had better be reported correctly.
I met politicians early in their first campaigns and
became adept at knowing which ones would hold an
office. I learned to recognize fescue foot and army
worms.
I’ve been gone from the BH-FP for 25 years and
yet last week two people mentioned a particular ar-
ticle and what it meant to them. I was proud to be
part of an organization that was the gold standard for
weekly newspapers.
Congratulations on 150 years and here’s to the
next 150.

Three Generations of Polk County

family business and still going strong.

Expert Car Repair in Bolivar for over 40 Years!!

Roger & Debra Short
are proud to have Charles N. Long
Paul V. Long Paul W. Long
served the Bolivar
area for over 40 years
& look forward to
Congratulations
to the
serving you in
the future!
Bolivar Herald-Free Press on
150 years in business!
ROGER SHORT
Owner & Manager
SHO-ME Stop by The Paul Long

326-2451
Agency today - We are
326-2451 MUFFLER in it with you for the
Long Haul!
529383b

1114 W. Broadway
Bolivar & BRAKE
529382b

471 S. Springfield Ave., Bolivar, MO • 777.5664

Wednesday, June 6, 2018
First 100...
1868 Bolivar Free Press established.
1870 Laclede, Fort Scott Railroad
chartered. Construction of roadbed be-
gan. Work for ten years. Never completed.
1871 Bolivar Herald established.
1872 Origins of Polk County Bank
began as Tolfree, Dunnegan & Company.
1873 First public school erected on
Academy lot in Northward location.
1879 Southwest Baptist College
moved from Lebanon to Bolivar with first
classes on the northeast corner of square.
1880 New jail constructed south of
square. Would serve for 99 years.
1884 Clara building built on south
side of square.
Frisco “High Line” Railroad opened
between Bolivar and Springfield.
1888 Fairgrounds property acquired
in what is now northeast Bolivar.
1890 Brick Block burned northwest
corner of square.
1892 Wilcox Building on southeast
corner of square built.
1894 Standpipe built on north Main.
1895 Union Block burned on north
Main.
1896 Cary Hotel built on lot east of
present Stephens Studio.
1897 Polk County Bank buildt new
building on west side of the square.
1898 RR Tracks extended north to
Osceola, connect to Kansas City.
1903 Northward School built, replac-
ing old public school.
1906 Reformed outlaw Cole Younger
brought carnival to south side of the
square.
Construction began on new court-
house.
1907 Courthouse dedicated.
First National Bank building constructed
caddy-corner from Polk County Bank.
1910 Following fire, Southwest Bap-
tist Academy is rebuilt.
1912 Bolivar square is paved.
Deep well built at Bolivar Power Plant.
1913 Administration Building built at
Southwest Baptist.
1914 Carnegie Library building
opened on square.
First airplane came to Bolivar.
1916 Bolivar had totally motorized fire
department, six years before New York
City.
1922 Dunnegan Memorial Park
Proud To Be Serving
Bolivar for 35 Years!
Pictured from left are Katie Duncan, Diana Leslie, Nancy Erickson, Tim Erickson, Anne Rippeon
Congratulations to the
Bolivar Herald-Free Press on 150 years
of keeping our community informed!
529166b
Nancy Erickson
114 E. Jackson
Bolivar, MO
417-326-4445 or
Toll Free (800) 828-8504
MEMBER SIPC

NEWS Bolivar Herald-Free Press 11D
basketball championship. Southwest Baptist acquired Shoffner
1961 Mo. 13 bypassed Bolivar Campus and began building campaign.
square, 1965
passes Southwest
Fair Play, Baptist be-
Dunnegan came a four
dedicated. and Hu- year college.
1925 First Bolivar High School foot- mansville, Rod-
ball team. making it die Hughs
1926 Pike Auditorium opened at a virtual opened Bo-
Southwest Baptist College. straight livar Speed-
1927 New High School opened in Bo- shot to way.
livar. Northward became a grade school. Clinton. 1966
Smith Hospital opened on East Broad- Pomme Polk County
way where Butler Funeral Home is today. de Terre Times
1928 Hutcheson-Blue Furniture build- Lake con- launched in
ing opened on center of southside of the struction Bolivar.
square. completed. 1967 Bo-
1929 Bolivar tornado struck south- 1962 livar Herald
side of town. Pike and Bolivar
Last football game played by Southwest Auditorium Free Press
Baptist until reinstated in 1983. burned. are merged,
1930 Highway 54 moved from Broad- Leonard along with
way to run through Hermitage, Wheatland, Elemen- Polk County
Weaubleau and Collins. tary School Times.
1933 Pretty Boy Floyd and sidekick opened. Woods
Adam Richetti stopped by Chevy garage Teters Shopping
in Bolivar to see Adam’s brother and Floral Center
ended up kidnapping Sheriff Jack Killing- Products opened.
sworth. He was released unharmed later Co. moved into its new building. 1969 Stockton Lake opened.
in Kansas City.
1936 Mo. 13 paved from Bolivar to
Springfield.
The next 50 years money raised to build a facility. It’s next to a
senior center.
There was much more that could have
1948 President Harry S Truman and School facilities were updated and retrofit-
Venezuelan President Romulo Gallegoes been mentioned from the first 100 years, in-
ted as new ones were constructed.
dedicated Simon Bolivar statue before 10s cluding fires, hangings, school construction,
One of the earliest Walmart stores opened
of thousands of people in 100-plus degree crimes and politics. here and was later replaced with a supercent-
temperatures. And to cover the last 50 years in a time er, and eventually McDonald’s made news
Polk County was top turkey producer line would perhaps be even more difficult to by showing up, with other national brands in
in the nation, delivering 2 million turkeys squeeze into the confines of available space. tow.
across America. But, for the latter, here is just a snapshot of Silo Ridge Country Club opened. A new
SWBC dorm, the former Cary Hotel, some talking points: airport is across the road.
burned. Joe Rayl built a new bank, the first “high A city water park was built adjoining the
1949 Bolivar Coca Cola opened new rise” building in Bolivar. YMCA, and the old pool site became a youth
plant just west of railroad viaduct on West CMH opened its doors, and many more
park with a splash pad.
Broadway. related buildings and services came later. The
1952 Polk County schools consoli-
Bolivar’s population topped 10,000 for the
hospital concept came from the mind and first time.
dated, closing country schools. Mitchell research of T.H.B. Dunnegan, Jr. and was
grade school and Liberator Fieldhouse are State championships came for sports
shared with Jac Zimmerman and Jim Ster- teams throughout the county, along with
opened.
ling of the Herald-Free Press. They took his some national championships for FFA, and
Lucky 13 Drive-in Theatre opened.
The Bolivar Tigers are renamed the
match and helped start the fire that became even at least one international championship.
Bolivar Liberators. a hospital through the efforts of many vol- Developers like David Cribbs stretched
1954 Last passenger train rolled unteers such as Kerry Douglas, first board the business district and changed its face a
through Bolivar. chairman, and eventually the paid expertise few times.
1956 Bolivar Golf Course opened of its only CEO to date, Don Babb. All of that and much, much more that
next to Greenwood Cemetery. New fairgrounds were developed on many will have no trouble noticing that
1957 First stop light on the Bolivar county land where a poor farm had operated. we’ve failed to mention.
square is installed. A sports complex was developed and later The newspaper is the oldest continuous
Fire on west side of square destroys replaced with what exists today. business in Polk County, beginning in the
City Drug Store, other buildings. The Rayl Family Library opened, and the post-Civil War era, and it’s still going 150
1960 Bolivar won boys Class M state old library became the resourceful genealogi- years later. Each issue is a living history of
cal society location. the community, far too much history to be re-
The YMCA was brought to town and viewed in much detail in one issue.
Serving
Bolivar for 42 Years!!
Tim Erickson
2394 S. Springfield Ave.
Commerce Terrace
Bolivar, MO
417-777-5780 or
Toll Free (877) 777-6608
The Bill Grant Ford family at our
25th anniversary in 2001.
BILL
GRANT
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3"USINESS2Ts"OLIVARs
12D Bolivar Herald-Free Press NEWS Wednesday, June 6, 2018
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