Remarkable Missourians

Ginger Rogers was born as Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence in 1911, and she spent her early years in Independence and Kansas City. Ginger is best remembered for movies made with dancing partner Fred Astaire. She is famously credited for doing everything Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.

Patrick Weston has overcome long odds to survive, live, and thrive throughout his life. This is his story.

Lieutenant Harold George Schrier, a Missourian, led a group of US Marines up Mount Suribachi and, on this date, planted a flag at her top signaling the great victory at Iwo Jima. Schrier was born at Corder, MO and want to school at Lexington, MO.

William Greenleaf Eliot died on this day. He was a co-founder of Eliot Seminary which became Washington University. He was the grandfather of St. Louis author, T.S. Eliot.

Dan, who builds Tangley calliopes today, is a quiet, religious man who methodically crafts “better, stronger” replicas of Norman’s ingenious, mechanical music contraptions in the shop behind his rural northeast Missouri home.

It’s no wonder that a writer like Kate would be drawn to the story of Ella Kate, the “Missouri Giantess.” Born in LaGrange in 1872, Ella stood eight-feet-four inches when fully grown and wore size 24 shoes.

America’s number one talk show host who hails from Cape Girardeau. I’m talking about Paul Harvey, whose daily broadcast The Rest of the Story aired on more than 1,100 radio stations for thirty-plus years.

Whether she’s Europe or doing interviews with magazines like Vogue, Angel Olsen confounds people when they discover she’s from St. Louis.