The interesting clipping above, from the early 1940s, caught our attention as we were browsing through files recently.
If you’re not an old-timer who read “The Graphic,” it was a competitor of the Wise Buyer, published by Switzer Printing.
The text under the headline reads:
Editor’s Note – On account of the labor shortage, our photographer has been delayed in getting cuts [cutlines] for the pictures that were taken some years ago. The following pictures are the first to be received by us. Others will be published in The Leader and The Graphic as they are received.
The picture caption reads:
TOP ROW – Jimmie Burris, Webb City; David Hal and Billy Perry, Webb City; David Leonard Cruzan, Carterville; Donald Dean Minkler, Baxter Springs, Kan.; Richard Giles, Webb City; Tommy DeWitt, Webb City.
SECOND ROW – Jimmy Dale Wheeler, Webb City; Albert Williams, Joplin; James Leary Canada, Oronogo; Jerry Lee Cummins, Oronogo; Johnny Gary Rose, Webb City; Vicki Dee Branch, Webb City.
THIRD ROW – Virgil Lee and Wanda Ruth McCratic, Webb City; Bobby Joe and Jerry Thomas, Webb City; Charles Ernest and Everett Daniel Hicks, Webb City; Bobby Ray and Charlie Joe Merritt, Webb City; Minnie Ann and Robert James Thompson, Webb City; Michael and Virginia Lee Ager, Webb City.
FOURTH ROW – Howard Leo and Barbara Merlene Gilliam, Webb City; Donna Kay and Luther Gene Smith, Webb City; Geraldine and Gary Gastineau, Webb City; Patricia Ann and Danny Ray Crutcher, Webb City; Alice Jean and Dickey Ray Smith, Purcell; Jesse William and Johnny Gillard, Oronogo.
