Stories from Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Betty Lou was born Nov. 9, 1924, near Swea City, Iowa, to Lue and Stella Bishop. She passed from this life Feb. 23, 2015. At the age of 5 her family moved to Missouri. Graduating from Walker High School in 1943, she married Roy Hawkins on June 5, 1945, in Fort Scott, Kan. ...

Troy Commodore "Bill" Hensley, 92, Nevada, Mo., died Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, at Moore-Few Care Center, in Nevada. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 27, at the United Methodist Church, in Nevada. Interment will follow in Newton Burial Park. The family will receive friends from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Ferry Funeral Home...

Elmer Junior "Jim" Garrett, 84, Nevada, Mo., died Monday, Feb. 23, 2015, at his home in Nevada. A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m., Friday, Feb. 27, at Ferry Funeral Home, in Nevada. View obituary and send condolences online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com...

Name: Steve Reed School: Cottey College Position: Director of Public Information What inspired you to become an educator? I actually began as a secondary English and journalism teacher in the early 1980s. This was before the days of minimum salaries, however, and after five years, I decided to pick a related field that paid better. ...

Nevada Daily Mail Since his childhood, Heath Baker, 27, has held on to a collection of hobbies and now continues to find success in them on a national level. Born and raised in Nevada, Baker says he was shy as a toddler, but by the age of six years old began performing and competing with a new-found talent: lip-synching...

Nevada Daily Mail In recent months, Nevada Regional Medical Center's long-term care administrative officer Steve Branstetter has been able to tell the hospital board during its monthly meeting that the long-term facilities have been making money. But at the financial committee meeting Monday, he was forced to announce that the two facilities had lost money during the month of January...

WILLARD ---- The Sheldon Panthers boys basketball team was defeated by top-seeded Walnut Grove 67-34 in the opening round of the Class 1 District 5 Missouri boys basketball tournament, Saturday morning. The Panthers ended their season 10-12. The Sheldon Lady Panthers were also ousted Saturday, falling to No. 1 seed Walnut Grove 79-25. The Lady Panthers finish the year 2-20...

The seventh-seeded Hume Hornets were unseated from the Class 1 District 7 Missouri boys basketball tournament by second-seeded Appleton City, Monday night. Hume trailed 32-10 at halftime, eventually falling 55-34. Hume finishes their season 3-20.

In a game more exciting than the final score might hint, the Cottey Comets advanced to the NJCAA post-season semi-finals by defeating the visiting Wentworth Red Dragons 67-58 on Tuesday night. The Comets will take on North Central College Thursday at 1 p.m., at Ozark Christian College in Joplin. When Cottey met a week ago, they lost by one in the waning seconds of the contest...

Nevada Daily Mail The Nevada Tigers boys basketball team nearly picked off Sedalia Smith-Cotton with a late comeback, but fell short in the final frantic minutes, losing 59-51. After trailing by 17 points in the third quarter, the Tigers awakened and made a game of it, thanks in large part to the offensive spark provided by senior Matt Sommer and freshman Clay Gayman...

Nevada Daily Mail Chalk up another blowout victory for the 2014-15 Nevada Lady Tigers basketball team. Playing in front of a home crowd Tuesday night at Wynn Gym, the Lady Tigers thrashed Sedalia Smith-Cotton 61-31. The final margin of victory wasn't indicative of the pummeling Smith-Cotton took, as Nevada led by as much as 37 early in the fourth quarter. Lady Tigers center Rilie Good put on a low-post offensive clinic, scoring at-will, primarily from the right block...