Rural Missouri - March 2025 - 32

Left: This card written in German recognizes the Rev. Peters' ordination. It reads: " By the grace of
God I am what I am, a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. In pious remembrance of the First
Holy Mass of the priest, Frederick F. Peters, celebrated on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, June
17, 1898, in St. Mary's Church, Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri. " Above: In 1948 Rev. Peters celebrated
the 50th anniversary of his priesthood. To his right is Ozark Border President P.G. Wingo and
Manager Ansel Moore. On the left next to the post is attorney John Dalton, later governor of Missouri.
The priest joined the committee working to sign up
members for the cooperative. It wasn't unusual for clergy
to help form electric co-ops. Besides Rev. Peters, Ozark
Border's founders included Rev. F.G. Wanglin from Grandin.
At Howell-Oregon Electric, one of the original incorporators
was the Rev. Aloys Stumpf of St. Joseph in White
Church. SEMO Electric Cooperative also had a priest as
one of its original incorporators, the Rev. Hubert Eggeman
from St. Lawrence Church in New Hamburg. And the Rev.
A.V. Nicolas of Our Lady Help of Christians in Frankenstein
helped form Three Rivers Electric Cooperative.
These priests would canvass their parishioners, encouraging
them to pay the $5 membership fee and make the
projects a reality. When Ozark Border's committee met to
prepare a fi nal report on members, Rev. Peters brought
the most to the table. He would be one of the cooperative's
original incorporators and a member of the board of
directors when the co-op organized in May 1938. He was
one of three men asked to speak when the co-op's fi rst pole
was set at Ellsinore on May 2, 1939. He would serve as its
vice president for 17 years, resigning in 1955 only after his
health began to fail.
One account of his service on the board shows his infl uence
on his fellow directors: " This board is reputed to be
the only one whose meetings begin with an invocation to
ask the omniscient Father in Heaven to guide them in their
decisions and enlighten them in the correct supervision
over their 50 employees. "
A testament to how beloved the priest was even beyond
his community came when a member uprising sought to
throw out the co-op's entire board of directors - with the
exception of the priest. With his help Ozark Border grew
to be Missouri's largest electric cooperative until it was
passed by Cuivre River Electric, Troy, in the 1990s.
32 RURAL MISSOURI | MARCH 2025
Bringing electricity to his community for the fi rst time
wasn't the fi nal act for the priest. No doubt recalling his
fi rst visit to the area when it was only accessible on horseback,
he lobbied the Missouri State Highway Commission
and Dunklin County road offi cials and succeeded in bringing
a network of all-weather roads to the area.
On June 7, 1948, Father Fritz celebrated 50 years as a
priest. His golden jubilee celebration brought civic leaders,
Archbishop Joseph Ritter from St. Louis, priests from
nearly every parish from St. Louis to the Arkansas line,
relatives and friends to the village for a tribute that lasted
four days. Among the speakers were P.G. Wingo, the fi rst
president of Ozark Border's board and John Dalton, the
co-op's attorney and future governor of Missouri.
In 1949 he was elevated to the `rank` of monsignor, a title
bestowed on a priest who has distinguished himself by
exceptional service to the church. The kindly priest died on
Sept. 27, 1956, at 83 and was buried in the parish cemetery
in Glennonville. It's fi tting that his remains lie in the
village he nurtured for 56 years.
It's also fi tting that in 1999, Associated Electric Cooperative
chose a site near Glennonville for its St. Francis
Power Plant. With the addition of a second unit added in
2001, the plant can produce 501 megawatts of electricity.
It also serves as the startup plant for Associated's nearby
New Madrid Power Plant, making it a crucial link in the
power supply for electric cooperative members in Missouri
and parts of Iowa and Oklahoma.
Father Fritz would have been proud to see it come on
line to serve another generation in the village he created.
You can read more about the Rev. Peters and Glennonville
through a family history written by Ken Westhues
located at www.kwesthues.com/Petersfamily.html.

http://www.kwesthues.com/Petersfamily.html

Rural Missouri - March 2025

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