Growing up in Washington, Heather Jensen Suerig spent almost every day with her grandmother, Toledo Thorpe. Already 70 when Suerig was born, Thorpe still played with her granddaughter each day. She also taught Suerig basic sewing skills, so she could help the neighborhood women who would com…

DeAnn Fiedler is stitching new life into old band uniforms.

For Matt Brennecke, Augusta, with its rolling vineyards and historic winemaking, has always been home. The 47-year-old is production manager at Mount Pleasant Winery, where the view from his office window is a dramatic valley scene he’s known well since boyhood. His first view of the wine-ri…

“This little boy sees me and takes off down the sidewalk running toward me. He jumps on me and does not let go. That completely warmed my heart. I fell in love with doing this after that.”

– Daniel Feth, Midwest Batman

“When someone wins, the family is so proud. It means they’ve put a lot of heart and soul and work into their yard, so they are quite honored to be rewarded.”

– Sally Bocklage, longtime program coordinator

When Amber Raney and her husband became foster parents three and a half years ago, they opened their home to any child, of any age, needing any size or gender of clothes, at a moment’s notice. Ahead of their second placement, they were given about five hours to prepare their home for its two…

On almost every day of the week for most of the year, a drive past the Washington Historical Society Museum reveals a white GMC Sierra parked in the lot. The car is sometimes accompanied by others, but it’s not uncommon for it to be the sole vehicle there. Its driver spends thousands of hour…

Since its official beginnings in 1926, the legendary highway Route 66 has been bestowed with numerous nicknames: “Main Street of America,” “The Mother Road” (coined by the novelist John Steinbeck) and the “Will Rogers Highway,” among others.

Susie Lewis loves playing dress-up with her newest cat, Brighde. The cat has almost never left Lewis’ side since the animal moved into Lewis’ home in St. Charles County about a month ago. When she’s not meowing at Lewis’ feet, she’s often stretched out on the lap of Lewis’ 76-year-old father…

Several years ago, Joe Ridener made himself a promise. He was sitting in a jail cell when he says he broke down, fell to his knees and prayed. 

Spring into warmer weather with these 15 essential experiences for anyone living in Franklin County and beyond. Download a free printable list here. 

Before August and Katelyn Horstmann have even turned around, their dogs Kona and Fly hop into the small bed of a muddy UTV, their tongues lolling and tails wagging excitedly. To the right is a picturesque white farmhouse and to the left a vibrantly red painted barn. A friendly pig named Babe…

Union High School Cheer

Nine years into Coltyn’s Pajama Party, the guest list is growing. The annual fundraiser and donation drive for St. Louis Children’s Hospital put on by 9-year-old Coltyn Straatmann, his parents, Steven and Kristin Straatmann, and his siblings, Kendyl, 12, and Caysen, 6, is getting extra suppo…

The squeak of sneakers on a shiny gym floor and a chorus of shouts and cheers can be heard coming from the Ray Steinhoff Court at New Haven High School almost any night there’s a home basketball game. Inside, blurs of green or white rush past, dribbling, passing and shooting a classic orange…

For Negro League baseball history fans, Jim “Lefty” LaMarque is a memorable left-handed pitcher. He wowed fans with an .857 winning percentage in 1947 and a 15-5 record in 1948 and played alongside Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige on the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1940s, on the cusp of bas…

When Megan Rhoades was a teenager growing up in St. Clair, she got a summer job giving temporary tattoos at Six Flags St. Louis. The park was a right of passage in her family. For years, she and her brother and sister had had season passes, and her parents had met while working at the park y…

When Tim Vieth fell from a hunting stand and fractured bones in his neck and spine last fall, he had to relearn many things. Healing took time. Walking took time. Regaining strength is taking time. But Vieth says his body knew he had to get better, because he had to be on his feet in time fo…

Affixed atop one of the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River near New Haven is an unassuming 24x30 white A-frame chapel. 

“As a young child growing up, I always noticed they were different than other parents because I can remember them holding hands all the time,” the couple’s only child, Yvonne Byrne, told The Missourian. “I didn’t see my friends’ parents doing that.”

“I’m one of those guys who, when I look at something, I think of a way to fix it,” Whitworth said. “I did it for nothing except a little bit of time. I did it with my own stuff.”

At 76 years old, Tom Adams of Beaufort died from COVID-19 on Oct. 9. His wife, LaVerne, and children Bonnie and Dennis continue to reside on the same land where he spent over 40 years of his life. His pickup truck is still parked in the driveway. 

When Grace Straatmann plays with dolls, she plays with three at a time. Since October, the 2-year-old of Villa Ridge is seldom seen with any other number of dolls. She mimes feeding them, knows to burp them and lovingly places them in her stroller — that is, when she isn’t playing with the r…

In the face of a global pandemic, wedding tradition has circled back to what was once common in the 18th century. Couples are choosing to have their weddings at smaller venues, in their homes or backyards. 

For more than 25 years, Washington has celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a community event hosted by Neighbors United Undoing Racism (NUUR). The day has been marked at several churches over the years, and for the past three Januaries has been at East Central College. 

When Rich Luecke and Mary Lee Kliethermes were children, their family, like many, didn’t own an automatic washing machine. It was the early 1950s, and the siblings’ mother, Leona, washed the family’s clothes each week in a wringer washer and hung them on a line to dry. In between loads, she …

A handmade orange and neon yellow sign with streamers taped to the back greeted Mark Spann, 64, as his bright red tennis shoes rounded the last bend of the last lap around the open grass field Thursday at St. Vincent de Paul in Dutzow.  

Sarah Schafer rarely lets people see her get emotional. The 39-year-old hospice worker at Heartland Hospice in Washington comforts her patients when they take their final breaths, offering steadfast, stoic support. But Schafer becomes so close to her patients that she often can’t help but jo…

The moment was a decade in the making. 

It's the only house renovation project to be selected for the award this year.

It’s a lesson that Hallmark and other feel-good Christmas movies have ingrained in us: It doesn’t matter where you celebrate Christmas; what matters is how, and with whom. 

If foresight is 2020, birth rates in 2020 and 2021 are on a down turn.

The Schwarzer factory in Washington produced Franz Schwarzer's world-famous zithers and other instruments for 66 years. It went out of business in 1956 and has been torn down, but the instruments made there are a string of Washington's past. 

On a crisp and windy Chicago morning, a professor at Loyola University sits at their computer and prepares for a lecture. With a click of their mouse, the Zoom call is live and the professor is addressing their class. 

To many Washington parents, Theresa McGowan is known as their children’s high school guidance counselor. The 54-year-old was a counselor at St. Francis Borgia Regional from 2004 to 2017, and since 2017 has been a counselor at Washington High School. 

Luke Davis dreamt about this moment for three years — maybe longer. In fact, the night before his trek across Missouri, the Marthasville man could hardly sleep. 

Feldmann served overseas with the Missouri National Guard’s 1138th Engineering Co. in Kandahar, Afghanistan for nine months from 2012 to 2013. 

A chorus of giggles pierces the quiet night that has settled around Cinema 1 Thursday evening. Under the beams of the streetlights, four girls, three clad in matching tan button-ups, unfold and admire their new flag. It reads: “Troop 636 Rotary Club Washington, Mo.”

The 22-year-old welding student rides to success atop the backs of two horses, literally, with Daredevil Drafts entertainment.

Theater students at St. Francis Borgia Regional High School want to take audiences on a journey — literally. The theater department will perform “Cellular ’Cenes,” not in the auditorium, but rather in the art room, music room and cafeteria to accommodate social distancing.

Halloween might be dressed up a little differently this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are still ways to treat yourself to a celebration that doesn’t feel like the ghost of years past. The CDC guidelines split many classic activities into three categories based on health risk, …

Vibrant balloons bustling in the breeze greeted all arriving at the back lot of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ Saturday afternoon. Although the event was scheduled for 5 p.m., the first car arrived at 3:15 to wait. A colorful banner announced the occasion — the 10th anniversary of Harve…

From former presidents to president hopefuls, Franklin County has welcomed many from "the other Washington."

“I always thought Grandma and Grandpa were rich ... When I got older I realized it wasn’t money, they just made it feel like we had everything,” Darlene Copeland said.

ECC Nursing Students are Running Toward the Front Lines to Battle the Novel Cornavirus