Robert Edward Cobb (1942-1997) Newspaper Publisher and Spanish and Journalism Instruction at Maryville High School

Posted on July 22, 2026 by roger

The above photo is from the 1967 Maryvillian

Robert E. Cobb was a journalism teacher at the high school at the time.  His son Phil Cobb purchased the Forum from Gatehouse Media in 2013, making Maryville one of the few cities in the country to have a locally owned newspaper. He sold it to the Garners in 2012 and then reacquired it in February 2026.  Robert was once city editor for the Forum.  He once owned the Albany Ledger, Stanberry Headlight and King City Tri-County News.

Cobb suffered with polio and walked with a cane, but that did not stop him from coaching.

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Photographer Orval Nicholas Heywood 1920-2017

Posted on July 22, 2026 by roger

Orval Heywood took many historic photos of Maryville in the 1950s through the 1980s and was also the main photographer for the Forum and Maryville High School yearbook.

While he took thousands of photos, there are relatively few of him during his heyday.  This photo is from the 1967 Maryvillian.   Robert E. Cobb was a journalism teacher at the high school at the time.  His son Phil Cobb purchased the Forum from Gatehouse Media in 2013, making Maryville one of the few cities in the country to have a locally owned newspaper. He sold it to the Garners in 2012 and then reacquired it in February 2026.

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Barney (1911-1975) and Murial Alcott (1911-2008) Forum Newspaper and Teaching Icons

Posted on July 21, 2026 by roger

Here’s the story of Barney Alcott, editor/publisher of the Forum and Murial McDonald Alcott (Spoofhound and Bearcat teacher) who met in Michigan, graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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Chester Arthur Bristow (CA Bristow) (1904-1990) Principal at Maryville High School from 1943 to 1964

Posted on July 19, 2026 by roger

C.A. Bristow was Maryville’s longest tenured high school principal

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Maryville High School’s First “Mr. Schneider Bandleader”

Posted on July 19, 2026 by roger

Maryville High School has had two “Mr. Schneiders”  as its band leader.  The most famous is Lee T. Schneider, from Andrew County, who led the band from 1960 to  1992.   From 1943 to 1945, Maryville had Erwin Schneider from St. Louis (he had earlier taught at Skidmore at age 21 in his first job after graduating from Northwest in 1941. Erwin was married to a woman from Andrew County who was the Apple Blossom Queen in St. Joseph in 1939.  She also attended Northwest, and during Erwin’s tenure in Maryville, was an assistant to Principal Bistrow.

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Marching Spoofhounds Perform at Soggy KC Chiefs Opening Game at Arrowhead on September 16, 1973

Posted on July 14, 2026 by roger

On September 16, 1973, the marching Spoofhounds were supposed to be part of a 12-band, 1,600-person concert at Arrowhead supporting Chase band founder Bill Chase for the season-opening Kansas City Chiefs game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.  Arrowhead had sold out, and for the first time ever, the Chiefs lifted the local broadcast blackout. 

However, rainy weather caused about 16,000 no-shows, and the Chiefs complained about lost revenue.  It also played havoc with the music plans, although things cleared for the Marching Spoofhounds’ halftime.

The above image is based on a Kansas City Times photo published September 17, 1973 which showed the  bands on the field.  The original online image is dark and the AI lightened image doesn’t properly show the dramatic effect on the Band Day.

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Stand Up Comic Kathleen Madigan on Noodling (hand fishing) in Missouri

Posted on July 6, 2026 by roger

Kathleen Madigan of Florissant, Missouri has a hilarious stand up on the Missouri tradition of noodling (hand fishing).

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Walter Cronkite’s Dogs in 1930 and 1975

Posted on June 29, 2026 by roger

Amazingly, Maryville plays a role in the history of Walter Cronkite’s dogs!

Specifically, the dogs are terriers belonging to CBS Newscaster Walter Cronkite’s father, Walter Leland Cronkite, Sr., who was a dentist in St. Joseph, where the newscaster was born in November 1916.

The history gets a little complicated since divorces and other marriages are involved, and I will get into that with more detail in a separate article, but this article focuses on the dogs.

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First Kindergarten Class (in Nothwest Missouri Administration Building) 1911

Posted on June 26, 2026 by roger

The first public school kindergarten class in Maryville (and probably Nodaway County) and was held in the Administration — creating a situation where Maryville students could attend all classes from Kindergarten through college bachelors degree in one building.

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Nodaway Valley Bank President Frederick Paul Robinson (1875-1936)

Posted on June 24, 2026 by roger

 

Caption from Forum on : Fred P. Robinson, president of  Nodaway Valley Bank until 1936,when he died, is shown in about 1886 on his high wheeler bicycle.  Picture was furnished by  Mrs. Edward W. Gray, Long Beach, Cal. 

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