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

The 4-year-old golden retriever is a certified comfort dog with Lutheran Church Charities K-9 program.

Hondo, Texas. Forty miles west of San Antonio. That’s where Kim Choate, 52, and her husband, Matt, were planning to drive on their inaugural roadtrip in their newly purchased RV. The recently retired Sullivan couple, who have three daughters and seven grandchildren, was planning to visit one…

Lucille Giffone, Washington, recently published her book “The Shape Rebellion,” a children’s book teaching geometry and life skills. It’s her fifth published children’s book and her first with Austin Macauley Publishers. She previously published “Putting the Onions to Sleep” in 2019 and “Nat…

Young Farmers Continue Area’s Rich Livestock Tradition

For Americans of European ancestry, Ellis Island is where their families’ journeys to discover the country began. For Neal Moore, 48, Ellis Island, with its iconic Statue of Liberty, will be where his journey ends.

Last November, on opening weekend of firearm deer season, Mandy Yeager spent her Saturday helping the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) in its effort to test deer for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a degenerative brain disease that’s contagious and deadly. 

All the world’s a stage, Shakespeare said. Even, according to the St. Francis Borgia theater department, the computer screens in audience members’ homes. The department just wrapped its first-ever virtual play, “The Internet is Distract—OH LOOK A KITTEN!” written by Ian McWethy. There were t…

Eight miles north of Washington in Marthasvillle, a multi-generational family farm is proving once again to be a popular destination for families anxious to get outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The 2020 Vacation Culture School (VCS) is on — and online. The third annual program organized by “Neighbors United — Undoing Racism” and Peace Lutheran Church will take place Sunday, Sept. 20, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Zoom. Register at Facebook.com/neighborsunitedmissouri or by emailing vacati…

The Missouri might be grander, the Meramec more scenic, but when it comes to rare mussel species, few rivers are stronger than the Bourbeuse.

A century ago, longtime Washington resident Katherine Graham was born near Fort Smith, Ark., just east of the Oklahoma border. Today she is the oldest living graduate of St. Francis Borgia High School and just celebrated her 100th birthday July 26.

Vicky Webster, 54, is a mom of two, a prescription delivery driver for The Medicine Shoppe in Pacific and now a two-time published author. Webster’s story, “Phone Call from Heaven,” appears in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Listen to Your Dreams,” which published in August.

Pacific Police Officer Stephanie Kelly recently befriended teenager Jeremy Lohan. Lohan, who is on the autism spectrum, loves trains and was filming the train tracks near First Street in Pacific when he met Kelly in August.

The Washington Police Department is expanding its outreach to home-schooled children this year by offering a free Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program to the Hope Homeschool Co-Op.

Professional bodybuilder Nadia Wyatt is a two-time IFBB Olympia medal winner from Washington. She has over 30,000 Instagram followers and has been profiled for Muscle and Fitness magazine.