Sep. 12, 2019
Tribute to Patricia S. Hight
It is our honor to pay tribute to Patricia S. “Pat” Hight, a recent apprentice in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. We learned via her Facebook posts and a Caring Bridge online journal that over the last several months Pat sought treatment for cancer, then recently chose to enter hospice care, riding out her last days rocking on her porch and checking the late summer progress of her garden. She died yesterday at home. Master storyteller Marideth Sisco and apprentice Patricia Hight tell tales at the 2017 Backyard Concert Series in Jefferson City. Mo. Photo credit: Deborah A. Bailey Pat…
May 18, 2019
Tribute to Becky Walstrom
The storytelling community in Missouri and beyond grieves at the unexpected loss of Becky Walstrom earlier this week. We at the Missouri Folk Arts Program thank master storyteller, author, and community scholar Dr. Gladys Caines Coggswell for writing a tribute to Ms. Walstrom, which we’re sharing here in its entirety. Rebecca Sue (Hull) “Becky” Walstrom left a lasting impression on all of the lives that she touched. She was certainly one of Missouri’s invaluable treasures. She was born on April 6, 1948 in Eldon, Mo. and suddenly, shockingly left us on May 13, 2019 in…
Oct. 22, 2018
Tribute to Ann Rynearson
It seems these messages come far too often now. We were heartbroken to learn that Dr. Ann Rynearson, who retired in 2009 from International Institute St. Louis, died in late September. Ann Rynearson was influential for many years upon Missouri’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. On occasion, she served as a volunteer panelist who reviewed TAAP applications for funding. On several occasions, though, she put her cultural anthropologist hat on, seeing the artistic expressions that newcomers carried with them as they resettled in Missouri; the best of those artists, she encouraged…
Oct. 1, 2018
Tribute to Becky Schroeder
We’ve learned sad news that Becky Boies Schroeder died on September 14, 2018. What a loss! So many knew Becky and her late husband Dolf for their tireless research and support of Missouri history and culture organizations. She herself was a tenacious editor for the University of Missouri Press Missouri Heritage Readers Series, which covered just about everything Missouri–including Gladys Caines Coggswell‘s 2009 Stories from the Heart: Missouri’s African American Heritage. As her family obituary notes, Becky Schroeder was “acutely modest” and “widely honored.” It was our honor…
Sep. 11, 2018
Tribute to Betty Curry
We were sad to learn that Betty Curry died recently. Mrs. Curry and her late husband Roger Curry were widely recognized as keepers of an Ozark white oak basket making tradition. Both Mr. and Mrs. Curry inherited the tradition from long lines of ancestors (Gibsons of Arkansas in his family and Missouri Derryberrys in hers).* Photo credit: Fieldworker Jeanette Lowry (on behalf of the Missouri Cultural Heritage Center–MFAP’s precursor) took the photo below at the Curry home workshop in July 1986 for archival purposes. Mrs. Curry carried on the tradition until fairly recently, according to a 2015 article by …
Aug. 28, 2018
Tribute to Lawrence Schuler
Lawrence Schuler (center) dances a waltz with his great-niece Jody at the Old Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival in 2010.Photo credit: Lisa Higgins We were sad to hear that Lawrence Schuler, one of the Ava Dancers, passed away August 23 at his home in Texas. Over the years, we often saw Mr. Schuler dancing at events (like Bethel Youth Fiddle Camp and Old-Time Music, Ozark Heritage Festival) with his late sister Edna Mae Davis, his niece Cathy Marriott, his sister Evelyn Pruitt, and other family members and friends. They have always been up to…
April 19, 2018
Tribute to Joseph Frank Patrickus II
We at the Missouri Folk Arts Program were incredibly sad to learn that Joseph Frank Patrickus, II (Joe) died on Tuesday, April 17, 2018. Joe was an old friend of the Missouri Folk Arts Program, even before it was called the Missouri Folk Arts Program. He was an early participant in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, where he taught apprentices Joseph F. Patrickus, III and Franklin Holler in 1987, the third year of the program. Joe went on to teach more apprentices, including his daughter Kate, between 1989 and 2007. The Missouri Folk Arts Program…
Oct. 31, 2017
Tribute to Jennie Cummings
We were so incredibly sad to hear the news that our friend and colleague Jennie Cummings, founding director of the Mountain View Cowboy Poetry Gathering, died October 29. The obituary posted below hits on her many accomplishments, including being the matriarch to her family. photo courtesy of funeral home Lisa Higgins wrote a letter of support for Jennie’s nomination for the Missouri Arts Council‘s 2015 Leadership in the Arts Award. Here’s an excerpt: “When one thinks of the Leadership in the Arts Award, it might seem unusual to put Cummings in the same company…
Aug. 14, 2017
Tribute to John White
With a heavy heart, we share that old-time North Missouri fiddler John T. White of Hallsville died on Saturday, August 12, 2017. Born in Ethel, Mo., in Macon County, John White told our Folk Arts Specialist Deborah Bailey that he first learned fiddle from his family; his mother, father, and grandfather were all accomplished fiddlers. In 2004, John said: “Most of my early experience was in Shelby, Macon, and Monroe counties playing for square dances. I have played in barn lofts, on flatbed trucks parked on the street, in school houses, at fair grounds, in churches, and community centers to…
Aug. 8, 2017
Tribute to John W. Glenn
We are saddened to learn today that master blacksmith John W. Glenn of St. Joseph, Mo., died on Saturday, August 5, 2017. Mr. Glenn is one of the rarer master artists in the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program–one who led several apprenticeships over the years (between 1996-2007). photo courtesy of funeral home Mr. Glenn learning blacksmithing from his father, then trained further as a teenager at St. Joe’s Benton High School Annex before serving as head blacksmith for the 714th Railway Battalion. Blacksmithing is a tradition that Mr. Glenn passed on to several apprentices in TAAP and beyond, including his…