Stories from Saturday, April 21, 2018

Addie Elaine Lester, 91, of Cassville, died Tuesday, April 17. Funeral services were held Friday, April 20, at Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Burial was at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Cassville.

Mary Maxine Cooper, 86, of Wheaton, died Sunday, April 15. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 21 at Wheaton United Methodist Church under direction of McQueen Funeral Home in Wheaton. Burial will be at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Butterfield...

Alexander “Alex” John Buderer, 74, of Shell Knob, died Sunday, April 15. A Celebration of Life was held from 1-2:00 p.m. Thursday, April 19, at Fohn Funeral Home in Shell Knob. Cremation arrangements were under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Shell Knob...

Jayson Joseph Bridgford, 38, of Billings, died Monday, April 16 at his home. A memorial service was held Friday, April 20 at the Crafton-Cantrell Funeral Home in Aurora.

Bobby D. “Bob” Blythe, 90, of Cassville, died Wednesday, April 18. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, April 23, at Mill Street Church of Christ in Cassville, under direction of Fohn Funeral Home in Cassville. Burial with military honors will be at Maplewood Cemetery in Exeter...

Ronald Mathias (Matt) Pfitzner passed away on April 19, 2018, at age 79. Son of Joe and Catherine (Hierholzer) Pfitzner, Matt was born and raised in Verona, Mo. He was a resident of Ft. Worth, Texas. Matt was preceded in death by his wife, Elaine, and is survived by sons, Greg, Randall, Robert and several grandchildren...

Dale (Pee Wee) L. Lansdown, age 75, of Cassville passed away Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at his home. He was born January 3, 1943 in Butterfield the son of Burl and Neeley (Spain) Lansdown. Survivors include: nine children and two step-sons, Brenda Shea and her husband Jeff of Vacaville, California, Dale Jr. ...

Pearl Kelley (Cravens) Evans, age 87, of Kansas City passed away Monday, April 16, 2018, at St. Joseph Hospital. Pearl was born September 27, 1930, in Metzville, Mo., to Landrey and Ruth Cravens. Pearl graduated from Springfield Central High School. ...

James Hubert “Jim” Gamroth, Jr., 81, of Monett, Mo., passed from this life to on Friday morning, April 20, 2018, at his residence with family at his side. Jim was born on July 28, 1936 in St. Charles, Minn., son of the late Hubert and Lorna (Lundeen) Gamroth. ...

Times change. When the Monett school board looked over designs for what we know today as Monett Elementary School in 1966, elementary supervisor Mary Helen Wilhoite told the school board the design for a distributed campus with separate buildings was a current construction trend...

The Monett Middle Schools eighth grade Boys 400-meter relay broke the school record last Thursday night.

Leadership, balance, teamwork and competitiveness has defined the Monett golf season, and the wins and high placings have mounted. The Cubs’ varsity quintet of Clayton Kaiser, Caleb Long, Lane Witt, Nicolas Pilkenton and Conner Durkin are coming off a stellar week where they won the Ozark and Cassville tournaments...

It was a very forgettable week for the Monett baseball team as the Cubs suffered three losses and moved to 10-6 on the season. On Tuesday, Monett fell 5-0 to Mt. Vernon and then followed that up with a 17-5 loss to Springfield Parkview on Wednesday day...

Officials at Monett Elementary School have chosen students demonstrating the characteristic of being safe in their environment as Students of the Week for April 9.

The Purdy High School National English Honor Society recently organized and participated in an English career panel luncheon at Mocha Joe’s Cafe in Monett.

Kids attending the Monett Kiwanis Club’s pancake dinner on Thursday could engage in a number of activities.

The Monett Rural Fire District will have its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24, at the fire station No. 1 on County Road, west of EFCO. Christian Motorcyclist Association, Chariots of Grace Chapter, will meet at 7 p.m. on May 1 at the conference room at Mercy Hospital, 700 Porter in Aurora. For additional information, people may call 417-258-2519...

On Tuesday, the Monett school board saluted J.D. Roberts, right, as he stepped down after 12 years of service on the board.

The Monett Board of Education held its reorganizational meeting on Tuesday. Ken Gaspar, center, two-term incumbent back after a year, and two-term incumbent A.J. Bahl at right took the oath of office from Lonna Norman, board secretary. The board voted to keep Darren Bass as its president and Bahl as vice president for a second year and reappointed Norman as board secretary and Tracy Wimberley as treasurer. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com...

Monett Masonic Lodge No. 129, AF&AM, hosted its annual ham and bean or beef stew dinner on Tuesday. An April event, the Lodge will follow that with a barbecued chicken dinner in October. Skip Smith, left, senior deacon, watched for additional customers as Brad Wells, worshipful master, at center, and Scott Cloyd, right, chaplain, kept food supplies ready for the afternoon and evening meals. Murray Bishoff/times-news@monett-times.com...

Preparations are underway for a concert by the Springfield-based Messiah Project at the First Presbyterian Church in Monett. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25 a the church. Admission is free though a free will offering will be taken...

Monett High School FFA students, led by instructor Kristy Sivils, left Wednesday for Columbia to compete at the State FFA convention on Thursday and Friday, wrapping up with the degree ceremony on Friday and state proficiency awards today. Heading into competition was the livestock judging team, which finished in the top 12 at district. ...

Standards from the American songbook and "smooth jazz" will be on the menu for a concert by Robin's Hood, an ensemble of musicians led by vocalist Robin Braun, at 7 p.m. on April 28 at the Monett Community Church on East Cleveland at Bridle Lane. The concert will be a benefit for the Barry-Lawrence County Development Center's building project...

No injuries resulted from a collision between a Monett school bus and a van Wednesday morning at Seventh Street and East Cleveland Avenue in Monett. According to a spokesperson for the school bus barn, the bus driver pulled out of Seventh Street from a dead stop and collided broadside with a westbound van. The van received side impact damage while there was no damage to the bus...

Monett school board members followed an extended dialogue on school safety issues and took several steps toward adding key personnel for the mission of security and hardening school buildings against possible intruders. Superintendent Brad Hanson reported he and three board members — Jeff Carr, Jim Randall and A.J. ...

Sara Smith had worked as a dispatcher with the City of Monett for seven months when one night she received a call from a household where a man was having a heart attack. Smith took the dispatcher's job to work in a field that complemented her husband's. Brian Smith has worked as a Monett firefighter for the past year and a half...

This week, The Monett Times and the Cassville Democrat family lost one of our own. Our business manager, Jule Egleston passed away on Tuesday, April 17. Jule Lynn (Harrison) Egleston joined our family in October, 2012. She moved here from Kansas City with her son, Jon and granddaughter, Alexis. ...