Reflecting on the past, while looking toward the future
As we close out 2023 and the observance of our 75th anniversary, the staff of Rural Missouri would like to thank our readers for welcoming us into your homes, both figuratively and literally for those of you we featured.
We’d also like to share this image from the December 1949 edition of what was then called the Rural Electric Missourian. It may look a little dated — and the circulation has increased dramatically — but the sentiment hasn’t changed in all of those years.
Like the editors past, we hope for nothing but the best for all of you in the years to come. Looking back at those old editions, we saw many stories that warmed our hearts.
There were messages of hope, stories of people helping their neighbors through difficult times and plenty of photos showing the happy, smiling faces of rural kids.
Elsewhere those past editors told stories of how electric cooperatives worked long days and nights to ensure the holiday lights shined brightly thanks to the much anticipated coming of electricity to rural Missouri.
“There was coffee and doughnuts and ever’body left feeling like they were part of a big thing with power lines reachin’ clear across the state … which they was,” read the tongue-in-cheek December 1966 message shared in an editorial on the energizing of new transmission lines.
When we travel the state today we witness the legacy of those “pioneers of power” in the twinkling lights that shine so brightly on rural homes, barns and even tractors. Nothing looks as good decked out in red and green as a small town, especially one that has an electric co-op ready to help decorate with its bucket trucks.
Marching bands add to the festivities just like they always have, braving chilly weather to play Christmas favorites through frozen instruments. Recipes for holiday treats get shared, some passed down from these pages.
This truly is the most wonderful time of year.
On behalf of the current staff — Sara, Mary, Megan, Paul, Angie, Jim and Mike — and in the spirit of all of the editors past, we’d like to once again send you “our best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.”