Stories from Friday, March 10, 2017

John Leonard Aust, Sr., (“Smokey”) passed away unexpectedly on March 7, with his loved ones by his side. John was born in Bakersfield, Calif., to Spurgeon Aust and Clara (Young) Aust. He was the eighth of 12 children born to this union. He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Clara “Jiggs” Webb...

Neoma L. Ballard, 53, of Monett, died Monday, March 06, at her home. Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, March 10, at Pierce City Cemetery in Pierce City. Burial will follow at Pierce City Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Lakin Funeral Home in Pierce City...

Alberta Marie Conine, 95, of Aurora, died Tuesday, March 7 at her home. A funeral service, under the direction of the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora, will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 12 at the Aurora First Baptist Church. A private family burial will be held at the Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Aurora...

Gary Clayton Elmore, 76, of Nixa, died Monday, March 6 at his home. A memorial visitation will be held from 6-8:00 p.m. on Monday, March 13, at the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora.

Norman “Lyle” Hilburn, 53, of Aurora, died Saturday, March 4. Graveside services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, in Russell Cemetery at Butterfield, under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Visitation will be held from 5-7:00 p.m. Monday, March 13 at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville...

Bill Horner, 93, of Cassville, died Monday, March 6. Funeral services were held Thursday, March 9, at the Cassville United Methodist Church. Burial was at the Horner Cemetery in Cassville. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the White Funeral Home and Crematory in Cassville...

Glen J. Jordan, 92, of Aurora, died Tuesday, March 7, at the Mercy Hospital in Joplin. A funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 10 at the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home, in Aurora. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at the Maple Park Cemetery in Aurora...

George C. Lebow, 79, of Cassville, died Tuesday, March 7 at Mercy Hospital in Cassville. No services are scheduled at this time. A private family burial will be held at a later date at Corinth Cemetery in Cassville. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of the White Funeral Home and Crematory, Cassville...

Jewel Maxine Pinson, 101, of Bolivar, died Saturday, March 4 at the Mercy Hospital in Springfield. A graveside service, under the direction of the Morris-Leiman-Mosher Funeral Home in Miller, was held on Thursday, March 9 at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Mountain Grove...

Postseason honors have begun to trickle in this week and the Spring River Valley Conference announced their all-conference teams. Pierce City took home the conference championship in the girls division and junior Belle Golubski earned the MVP award...

The post season honors have just begun to flow in for the Pierce City hoops team. The Eagles landed four players and one coach on the 2016-2017 Spring River Valley All-Conference team released this week. Matt Street shared Coach of the Year honors with Preston Hyde of Greenfield...

The annual carnival at Trinity Lutheran School at Freistatt will not be held today as scheduled, due to excessive illness at the school. The event has been moved to Friday, March 24 at the same times: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for dinner, carnival 6 to 8:30 p.m., live auction at 9 p.m...

Warm weather on Wednesday offered irresistible conditions for families wanting to enjoy outdoor activities.

Matt Batson, at left, and Justin Semerad at right, staffed the serving station last Friday for St. Lawrence Catholic Church’s annual fish fry.

School wellness coordinators and building level wellness representatives from the Monett school district joined the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities Summit last week at the Monett City Park Casino top discuss successes seen to programs launched by the Missouri Foundation for Health through the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities initiative...

Three people were hurt in a three-vehicle crash on Highway 39 on the north end of Mt. Vernon on Wednesday. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the multi-vehicle collision took place at 3:15 p.m. at the north city limits of Mt. Vernon. A northbound 2004 Chrysler Sebring, driven by Caroline Hunter, 44, of Peculiar, crossed the center line and struck the drive axle of a southbound 1992 FRTV cement mixer, driver by Charles Dill, 40, of Greenfield. ...

Racing against the clock and the incoming storms on Monday, Monett police and firefighters participated in an extended search for a missing Monett man. Concern lasted well into the night until another law enforcement agency reported the missing man had been found in Joplin...

As flowering Bradford pears shed their flowers for green leaves, the rows of trees along the driveway to the Church of the Nazarene in Monett have made one of the most striking floral displays anywhere in Monett this spring.

Bi-county residents were treated to another of Mother Nature's fits of temperament Thursday evening, as the third storm of the 2017 severe weather season struck with a vengeance. Just into the second week of storm season, area residents postponed their daily activities around 5:35 p.m. ...