The 124th birthday of Lamar's most famous native son, President Harry S Truman, was celebrated Thursday.
Each year when May 8 arrives, I think back to the centennial observance of his birth, on May 8, 1984. The next big anniversary of the birthdate, the 125th, will be held next year.
The centennial observance included musical performances by country stars Rex Allen Jr., Grandpa Jones and Jana Jae, as well as a keynote speech by Lt. Gov. Kenneth Rothman, but for me, and for many of those who attended the festivities, the highlight was the first performance of the Truman Pageant.
The community came together for the event, beginning months before. After some early planning meetings on the pageant, it was agreed that I would write the pageant, and I quickly decided it should be centered on life in the city of Lamar on May 8, 1884. I received much of my information through two valuable resources, historian Marvin VanGilder's The Story of Barton County, and the archives of the Lamar Democrat, where I worked as managing editor at that time.
The Lamar Art League and the Masons painted and constructed the sets, which showed the Lamar square as it was a century earlier. Marilyn McCarter compiled period music, including, of course, "The Missouri Waltz," to alternate with the narration of the pageant.
The Pageant Committee, which included Nell Finley and Rita Embry of the Truman Birthplace, Barton County Clerk Bonda Rawlings, and Lamar Community Betterment Director Genevieve Guinn, among others, recruited community members to play the roles of the townspeople.
Claude Oscar Adams, who raised mules, agreed to play the role of John Truman, the president's father, who was a mule trader. Mayor Gerald Gilkey played the mayor, attorney Edison Kaderly, played a lawyer, R-1 Board President Ronnie Means and Superintendent Glenn Williams played the heads of the school, the rowdy young people who got into a fight included a then-unknown teenager named Bubs Hohulin, who would later serve five terms in the Missouri House of Representatives.
I was the pageant narrator.
We began to worry as storm clouds gathered over the Lamar High School football field the night of the performance. We had good reason to worry. The rain began as the performance started and was steady to heavy throughout. The stadium was packed and I don't recall many leaving despite the elements.
By the time the pageant concluded, the set was ruined, but on the whole, the pageant was a success.
Fortunately, someone taped that first performance, so somewhere a record of it still exists. It did not take long to decide that the pageant should be held again, but it took a few years for the second performance to take place. In the meantime, a mini-performance of it was given at the Truman Birthplace a few years later with Rep. Jerry Burch, D-Walker, providing the narration.
The second real performance of the pageant took place in 1989, if memory serves me correctly. This time, permanent sets were built, and many of the same people agreed to recreate their roles from the 1984 version. Again, it was a success, and plans were made for the pageant to be held on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, that never happened; as of next year 20 years will have passed without a performance of the pageant. Many of those who were in the first pageant, including Mayor Gilkey, are no longer with us. An attempt to revive the pageant took place in the '90s, but it was cut off, purportedly because I was the one who wrote it.
An unsuccessful attempt at a different Truman Pageant was performed in May 1997 in the Thiebaud Auditorium. People still wanted to see the original, but another decade has passed and it still has not happened.
Obviously, I am biased when it comes to the original Truman Pageant. I wrote it in such a way that it could be performed annually and get the entire Lamar community involved. On the two occasions when it was performed, that is exactly what happened.
Now with the 125th anniversary of Harry Truman's birth rapidly approaching, I want to renew my appeal to bring back the original Truman Pageant. The set is still there, many of the people who participated in the original are still around.
Please get the message to the Barton County Chamber of Commerce, the Lamar Democrat, and whoever else is involved in the planning of next year's activities: It is time to bring back the original Truman Pageant.
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