Category: 2016 Biographies

Shannon LaNier

“Energetic~Personable~Inspiring~Spiritually Grounded~Witty~Engaging”

Shannon is all that and more!  The Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival has enjoyed watching Shannon grow in both his career and in his family.  When Shannon first started attending the festival he didn’t have any children and now he has three beautiful kids and is the co-host of a cable program named “Arise Entertainment 360”!  Shannon will receive an Ella Dickey Literacy Award during the festival and also will serve as a panelist on the “U.S. Presidents from Virginia” panel on Saturday at 2:20 PM.  (Marshfield Assembly of God Church)

Click to read more about Shannon

Jordan Wood

Jordan Wood will be painting live during the festival, painting historical figures throughout the festival events.

Jordan Wood is an Irish American artist who began his art training under his father at an early age.  His first major project was assisting in the creation of a 4,000 sq ft mural portraying inner New York City at the age of 4.  He has since assisted and managed in the production of visual works of art ranging from murals, realistic portraiture, décor art, graphics and log design.  Jordan paints in various styles.  His current works are expressive with bold colors and energetic impasto brushstrokes.  His passion lies in creating inspired works that entertain the senses and stir the emotions.  Whether it be color, texture, mood, or memory, it is his goal to spark conversation and interaction between people through the universal language that is visual art.

Rob Rains

Rob Rains is the author of 33 books, most about the Cardinals, with the most recent entitled, “Taking Flight: the St. Louis Cardinals and the Building of Baseball’s Best Franchise” published in April by Triumph Books. A 35-year veteran of sports journalism, Rains currently is the editor of STLSportsPage.com, a St. Louis based website covering the Cardinals, Blues, the University of Missouri and other St. Louis sports. 

Most of Rains’ books have been about the Cardinals, including biographies or autobiographies of Jack Buck, Tony La Russa, Mark McGwire, Ozzie Smith, Albert Pujols and Red Schoendienst.

Rains does a weekly appearance on NewsTalk 97.1 in St. Louis and is a frequent guest with Ned Reynolds on The Sports Reporters of Jock 97 in Springfield, where he grew up. Rains is a former Cardinals beat writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and was one of the founding writers of USA Today Baseball Weekly, (now Sports Weekly) covering the National League.

A lifetime member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Rains is a voter in the annual Baseball Hall of Fame elections. He also serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Communications at Webster University in St. Louis. He and his wife Sally have two grown sons, B.J. and Mike.

Finley River Boys

The band will be performing at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum Luncheon on Friday afternoon.

Meet the Band

 Brad Reynolds – Springfield, MO – Upright Bass

Band Manager and on the Board of Directors for the Greater Ozarks Bluegrass Society.

Brad started his musical life as a young man with the “Lifesavers Choir” from the Assemblies of God Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Brad spent many years touring and performing with music groups from SAGU, Waxahachie, TX including the internationally renowned “Harvesters”, “Divine Touch” and “Free Spirit”.  In these groups, Brad sang tenor and was the founder of “Free Spirit” These groups toured nationally with many large concert events including: Jesus Rocky Mountain, Christ for the Nations, The Billy Graham Crusades, as well as hundreds of churches all across the country.  Brad has opened for such acclaimed Christian Artists as Russ Taff, Dallas Holm & Praise, Andrus Blackwood and Company, The Archers, and many, many more.    Brad has also toured and sang background vocals as part of “The New Men of the West, for Western Music Hall of Fame Member, Rex Allen, Jr.; Johnny Western; Charlie Rich Jr.  Lacy J Dalton, and Bix Crary.  Brad now sings and plays upright Bass for Acoustic Essays, and is a proud member of the Greater Ozarks Bluegrass Society, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPGBMA).

Bill Crider – Springfield, MO – Guitar

Bill started playing guitar at age 8 with his family’s band in Southern Illinois.   While in High School, he was the guitarist and lead singer for a Southern Illinois gospel quarter, “The Gospel Messengers” and spent his Senior Summer in the far northern reaches of Canada, providing the music for his church’s sponsored Missionary.  Bill then headed west to Arizona where he performed at many local Country & Western Clubs, winning several local talent shows, and soon after joined the internationally award winning “Spirit of Phoenix Chorus”, the premier performing group of the Phoenix Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, competing on the international stage.   During this time Bill met Western Music Hall of Fame Member, Rex Allen Jr. and became part of Rex’s backup group, “the New Men of the West”.  With this group, Bill toured and sang backup vocal for Rex, as well as fellow Western Music Hall of Famer, Johnny Western, Charlie Rich Jr. Bix Crary and Lacy J. Dalton.  Bill later relocated back to the Midwest, settling in the Heart of the Ozarks, Springfield, MO and currently sings and plays guitar for Acoustic Essays.  He is a proud member of the Greater Ozark Bluegrass Society, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America, (SPGBMA), and the International Country Gospel Music Association.

Brett Dudenhoeffer – Marshfield, MO – Fiddle

When Brett was 4 years old, a “fiddle and a bow” topped his Christmas list.  In the years that followed, Brett’s love for music intensified.  He began making public appearances when he was 6 years old and he recorded his first album.  At age 9 Brett was featured in the March/April edition of “The Ozark Mountaineer” magazine.  At age 10 he won the “2010 Most Outstanding Young Fiddler” award at the American Heritage Music Festival in Grove, OK.  Brett’s fiddling has been featured in numerous Missouri venues to include contests, festivals, county fairs, benefits, music shows, school functions, and church events.  He has made guest appearances on the Mickey Gilley Show and the Joey Riley Show in Branson.  The last 2 years he has played the National Anthem to open MSU’s Lady Bears and men’s Bears basketball games as well as the Springfield Cardinals baseball games.  This year Brett also played the National Anthem for the Missouri Tigers Men’s Basketball game in Columbia MO.   Brett is a regular performer at Luttrell’s Live Music Show in Springfield, and a frequent performer at Prater’s Ozark Hills Theater in Lebanon, MO.  Brett is also a member of a young group of fiddlers called The Possum Holler Fiddlers, a young fiddle group from Missouri that has performed at the White House in 2012 and  2014. In the last 6 years Brett has recorded 5 full length cd’s. His latest titled “In His Element”  Brett now plays fiddle and sings with Finley River Boys.

Alan Johnston – Ozark, Mo. – Banjo

Alan started playing guitar at 10 years old.  He later switched to banjo with his family’s Bluegrass Gospel band, playing throughout the Southwestern Missouri region.  After Alan graduated High School he joined the U. S. Air Force and spent 26 years active duty serving in many of the Military Operations over the last few decades.  While in the Military, he played guitar in Church Ministries, and started doing more Tech work; organizing Talent Shows at military bases.  He also played with the Variety group “The Beyanamme Band” in Turkey, and he has played with regional Texas bands “The Texas Outlaws” and “The Buckshot Band”.  After his military service, he moved back to the Ozarks to pursue his love of Bluegrass Music.  His recent projects were playing Banjo and Guitar with “Route 66” and “The Lost Hill Bluegrass Band”, both from Springfield Mo.   He leads Bluegrass Gospel Church in Ozark, and plays Guitar for other services.  He is a multi-instrumentalist/vocalist that has played with many local bands and Venues in the area.  He is a member of the Greater Ozarks Bluegrass Society (GOBS) in Springfield Mo.

 

 

Lynda Johnson Robb

Lynda Johnson RobbRobb’s passionate interest in children’s literature led her more than 50 years ago to volunteer to read to children in hospitals, where she discovered that many children wanted and needed books so badly that hospital staff let them take home the books she brought to read. This experience prompted her involvement in 1968 to become a founding board member of Reading is Fundamental.  Robb worked on the board of RIF until 2013.

From 1996 until 2001, she served as the Chairman of the RIF Board of Directors. She has traveled nationwide to rally community and business support for RIF programs and to meet with the local volunteers who operate RIF programs. “My fellow RIF volunteers tell me that they are motivated today by the same reward I’ve been fortunate enough to experience since RIF’s early days—the look on children’s faces when they’re selecting RIF books or when someone is reading to them and the deep satisfaction of helping children develop a love for reading that will serve them throughout their lives,” she said.

Robb fondly lists her current profession as “professional volunteer”. She has served many organizations, focusing on the condition of children and women especially on health and education. In addition to her work on behalf of RIF, she is president of the National Home Library Foundation. She also is a member of the board of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation which supports the LBJ Library and School.

She has served as a member of the Selection Board of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Her past affiliations include a presidential appointment by Jimmy Carter to serve as chair of the President’s Advisory Committee for Women (1979-1981), chair of the Virginia’s Women Cultural History Project (1982-1985), and Vice Chair of Americans Promise and chair of the Virginia Task Force on Infant Mortality. She also received a congressional appointment to serve as commissioner of the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality (1989-1996). She is currently serving on the Library of Congress Literacy Awards board.

She attended George Washington University and is an honors graduate of the University of Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. In 1992, she was inducted in the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Alpha Chapter of the District of Columbia. She received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Washington and Lee University and an honorary Doctor of Public Service from Norwich University. She is the recipient of numerous civic awards and honors.

Robb is the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson. She is married to former Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb, is the mother of three daughters, and has three grandchildren.

Ruth Moon Sanders

Will be a 2016 Recipient of the Edwin P. Hubble Medal of Initiative at the 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival.  Ruth will be honored for her work in helping preserve Plains, Georgia through the Plains Better Hometown Program.  Plains, Georgia is the hometown of President Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States.  More information to come!

Kim Fuller

Niece of President Jimmy Carter.  More information to come!

Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton DanielClifton Truman Daniel is the oldest grandson of 33rd US President Harry S. Truman and his wife, Bess. He is the son of the late author, Margaret Truman, and her husband, former New York Times Managing Editor E. Clifton Daniel Jr.

Mr. Daniel is a former journalist and public relations executive and honorary chairman of the board of the Truman Library Institute, the nonprofit partner of the Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, MO. He is the author of Growing Up With Grandpa: Memories of Harry S. Truman (1995, Birch Lane Press) and Dear Harry, Love Bess: Bess Truman’s Letters to Harry Truman, 1919-1943 (2011, Truman State University Press). He is currently at work on a book on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after visiting both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2012. 

Iris Lee Gay Jordan

Iris Lee Gay Jordan is the daughter of Confederate Civil War soldier, Lewis F. Gay!  Gay was 82 years old when Iris was born.  She was nine when her father died in 1931.

National Geographic did an article that included Iris Lee Gay Jordan’s story:  Children of Civil War Veterans Still Walk Among Us, 150 Years After the War

Lewis F. Gay
Lewis F. Gay

Iris will be interviewed on the panel, “Real Sons and Daughters of the Civil War.” This panel will consist of children of Civil War veterans.  Lewis F. Gay was a confederate veteran who served with the 4th Florida Volunteer Infantry.  Iris will be interviewed by Bertram Hayes-Davis (great, great grandson of Jefferson Davis).  The panel will be held on Friday, April 29 at 10:15 AM at the Marshfield Assembly of God.

Maggie Peterson Mancuso

Maggie is a Cherry Blossom favorite.  She has attended almost every year since 2008 and we love her gentle spirit, her happy personality and her beautiful voice.  The role Maggie is probably best known for on television is Charlene Darling on The Andy Griffith Show, but she also played a character named Doris in the 1968 episode “A Girl for Goober”.  Maggie grew up in a family that loved music and says her earliest memories were of music.  When she graduated from high school she traveled to New York with her small group called the Ja-Da Quartet.  They played several times on The Perry Como Show and The Pat Boone Show.  Later Maggie was part of a group that performed in resort areas in Las Vegs, Lake Tahoe and Reno.  Maggie read for the part of Ellie Walker on The Andy Griffith Show, but that part went to Elinor Donahue.  Then she was selected to play the role of Charlene Darling, the daughter of Brisco Darling and sister to four brothers who were played by the bluegrass band members The Dillards.  Maggie met her husband Gus Mancuso, a jazz musician, in 1968 while singing as an opening act for Andy Griffith in Lake Tahoe.

At the 3rd Annual Cherry Blossom Festival in April 2008, The Darlings received a star on the Missouri Walk of Fame in Marshfield, MO.  Dean Webb, Maggie Peterson Mancuso and Mitch Jayne were on hand to accept their star.