Audio Description: The Stella Mural by Sandra Pemberton
Press play and discover Sandra Pemberton's painting The Stella Mural. Hear a detailed description of the artwork, descriptions of the colors and forms in the painting, and how the artist made the work. (Close captions available on video.)
The Stella Mural, Sandra Pemberton, 2021, Exterior Paint
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The Stella Mural by Sandra Pemberton was painted in 2021 on the northwest facing exterior wall of the concrete community storm shelter located at Stella’s Veterans Memorial Park. It is a 10 foot by 30 foot rectangular mural with figures outside the rectangle on the left and right edges. These figures frame the history of Stella between some of the community's most prominent members. Overall, it tells the story of the businesses and citizens who helped make the small village a thriving community.
Starting with the figures outside the left side of the mural, we see two figures standing with a baby wrapped in a dark grey blanket. The figure on the left is a tall doctor with greying hair in a white doctor’s coat and black trousers. To their right is a nurse with shoulder-length, auburn hair in gentle waves, she looks directly out at the viewer as she cradles the baby. She wears a long, white dress and on her head is a white nurse’s cap with a dark band across it signifying that she is a registered nurse. The doctor stands in profile looking down at the infant while he uses a stethoscope to listen to the chest of the baby. The doctor is Dr. Clarence C. Cardwell, who was born on a farm near Stella. When he left for medical school, he promised his father that he would return to the rural area to serve people who often died due to their inability to reach medical care. Beginning with a two room house for a hospital in 1919, the doctor grew the hospital, with the help of his wife Ida McPherson Cardwell, into a 100-bed capacity hospital and clinic before his death in 1956. The young nurse in the mural is Cynthia Strong who lived for many years in the Stella area and provided home health care to many residents over the years. The infant is the mother of Sandra Pemberton, who was born at Stella’s Cardwell Hospital, and represents the hundreds of healthy infants born over the years in the Stella area thanks to the hospital. The hospital remained open until 1977 and, eventually, the building was torn down. In 2006, the site was redeveloped into Stella’s Veterans Memorial Park, a space dedicated to veterans from the Stella area and the location of this mural.
Moving to the figures just outside the mural’s right side, an older man with gray hair and a full gray beard is seated in a wooden, straight back chair with his hands resting gently in his lap. He is dressed in a black suit and vest with a white shirt. At his right stands a young child with bright blue eyes and long blond hair tied back with a blue hair ribbon which comes to a bow at the top of her head. She is dressed in a blue dress with puffed sleeves at the shoulder and a golden broach is pinned across her collar above four white buttons. This is Moses Eagle and his granddaughter Stella. Moses was an early settler whose family arrived in the area in 1844. In October 1880, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad sold a section of land along Indian Creek to him and it was here that the village of Stella began. In 1884, Moses and another settler Calvin Lentz applied for a post office for the growing community naming the community Stella after Moses’ granddaughter.
Moving to the right along the building’s side, we pass a door on the building before coming to the last painted figures outside of the rectangular portion of the mural. Flying freely and majestically are two large American Bald Eagles. They are impressive birds with brown bodies, white heads and tails, and bright yellow feet and beaks. The pair float free of the mural representing the generations of bald eagles who have freely patrolled the skies over the small town of Stella. The community hosts an annual Eagle Days event, typically held at the Veterans Memorial Park in late winter, where visitors can observe bald eagles in their natural habitat.
Moving into the main body of the mural, in the lower right hand corner is a large, blue sign adorned with an oval containing a scene of an eagle soaring over the waters of Indian Creek. Light blue designs are painted on either side of the scene and around the top of the oval white letters move along the shape’s outline and read, “Where Eagles Soar.” Below this oval, larger white letters fill out the bottom of the sign and read, “The Village of Stella, Settled 1844.” The actual sign itself sets along the highway welcoming visitors to modern day Stella.
Behind the large sign stands the white wood frame, Gothic Revival style, United Methodist Church built in 1888 with pointed-arched stained glass windows, a tall bell tower with a rose window (a circular stained glass window) and door below, and a steeply pitched, black roof. It was the first church built in Stella. To the left, three women walk arm in arm, their backs to the viewer, making their way towards the church on a dirt path. Moving left to right, one is in a white jacket and black pants, another in a black T-shirt and pants, and the third wears grey pants and a pink long sleeved top with a blue and yellow floral design. To their right is a man facing right and leaning with both hands on a cane in front of him. He wears khaki-brown, knee-length cargo shorts, a red, short-sleeved T-shirt, and a ball cap. Behind him is the walkway and steps into the church flanked by green grass and bushes. Climbing up the church steps are three individuals - the Dalbom family. The father Chuck Dalbom is dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt. His arm protectively clutches his wife Doris’ lower back on his right as she climbs the steps. She is wearing a dark blue dress with dark hair that falls above her shoulders. Directly to their left is their young daughter Dora in a short white dress. The Dalbom family were very active in the community. They purchased and restored the Lentz-Carter building and saw that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
To the left of the three women, and moving into the center of this portion of the mural, is a two-seater, black cloth top, blue Model T. Its front fenders curve up over the front wood spoke tires, move downward along the side of the vehicle to the step plate, and then scwoop backwards to go over the rear wheels. The front of the vehicle has a brass radiator with two large head lamps mounted on each side, the Ford logo is in the upper center. The hood extends backward to the wind screen with a side light mounted on each side of it. The wheels are partially lost in clouds of dust as the car makes its way down the dirt street.
Behind the wheel of the Model T sits a man in a light colored duster coat and seated next to him is a man in a black suit and white shirt. They are doctors Harold Lentz (in the passenger's seat), a man born in Stella who went on to serve five years in the Medical Corps, and James Robert Carter, a Medical Corps Acting Chief of Surgery, during WWII who returned to Stella after the war. James, the driver, joined the staff of the nearby Sale Hospital in Neosho upon his return.
Parked to the Model T’s right, its profile filling the bottom left of this portion of the mural, is a shiny, white and yellow, mid-1950's, Ford Fairlane with its distinctive tail fins. The front of the Fairlane faces the bottom left of the mural and the headlights are not visible to the viewer. In front of the car stands an older man with black hair and a full, black beard with his hands resting on the hood of the car. He is dressed in a black, 1900’s era suit with a white shirt and is wearing a military medal on his lapel which represents the many veterans who have called Stella their home over the years.
Directly behind him is the Lentz-Carter building. It is a white frame, rectangular, two-story building with a gabled roof and narrow parapet. There are two windows with blue shutters on the front of the second story and one window is visible along the side of the building's upper floor. The lower story is a storefront with a recessed entry way that has large, four-pane, display windows that flank a pair of double doors which lead from the store to a raised, grey, concrete porch. On the long side of the building is a sign reading “Lentz-Carter Café.” Originally the Lentz-Carter Merchandise Store, the site is the oldest commercial building in the community. Over time, the building has received restoration and remodeling and has been home to various businesses.
On the porch, three men are seated in the shade on a bench. It was here that local people gathered for years to enjoy a cold drink from the store and exchange local gossip and news of the day. All three men wear dark, baseball caps on their heads. The man on the left wears a blue shirt with rolled up long sleeves, blue jeans, and dark shoes. To his right is a man wearing a grey T-shirt and blue jeans. His ankles are crossed and he wears dark shoes. The final man wears a blue T-shirt and knee-length, khaki shorts with brown sandals.
A fourth man, holding a dark jacket draped over his left arm and dressed in charcoal-colored pants and a long-sleeved, white shirt, is seated along the front of the porch, his legs dangling over the edge. He is looking to his right, extending his hand to a small, tan dog seated on the porch near him.
Next to the Lentz-Carter building, is a bricked, two-story, flat-top building with a symmetrical facade design. The upper floor has two tall, narrow, two-pane, wooden-frame windows that overlook the flat, overhanging porch below. This is the Stella Post Office and from the top right corner of the building flies a large, red, white, and blue American flag on a short pole. Under the porch of the post office, five women are at a round table covered with a white cloth. They are Mayor Norma Westcott and four council women: Cleta Cardwell, Jewell Prine, Cora Edmondson, and Vera Hinton. They were the first all-female city administration in the state of Missouri. It supposedly started out as a joke - someone facetiously added their names on a public board listing candidates - but the women actually won the election. This was in November of 1950.
In front of the women at the table, a shiny, black buggy races past kicking up dark clouds of dirt. It is being pulled by a majestic, dark brown horse with a windswept mane and tail wearing black blinders. Seated in the buggy are two men wearing dark suits and hats.
Behind the buggy stands a man in dark clothing with a dark horse to his left and right. They look on in interest at the fast moving buggy in front of them. Moving behind them in the distance, we see the white, wood-frame, three-story, grist mill built in 1867 by Moses Eagle. There are windows running the length of the side of the building on each floor. At the end of the building are three large, dark openings - one on each story in a vertical line. Windows flank the opening on the second floor. The mill is surrounded by green grasses and trees. Here early settlers of the area gathered to have their grain ground into meal and catch up on local news. They are represented by shadowy silhouettes gathered on the porch at the end of the mill and silhouettes of workers that can be seen looking out of the openings of the upper floors.
The story told by the mural ends high above the mill where thermals, columns of rising warm air, rise from the valley floor and hill side and form white, cumulus clouds that fill the bright blue sky. Here a pair of bald eagles soar high above the village. Stella is located at the confluence of four watersheds: Indian Creek, Shoal Creek, Big Sugar River, and Elk River. Each fall, as water sources freeze in the north, bald eagles migrate south from their nesting areas in the north to find food and water. From December through February each year many Eagles winter in Stella finding open water and plentiful food that will sustain them during the harsh winter months. Stella celebrates their return each year with the Stella Eagle Day held in Veteran's Memorial Park.
The mural was dedicated to Chuck and Doris Dalbom in 2022 to honor their community involvement in Stella and in memory of Chuck who passed away shortly before the dedication of the mural took place. At the very bottom of the mural, below the Model T car, it reads “Dedicated to Chuck and Doris Dalbom and family” in dark, script-style letters.
Starting with the figures outside the left side of the mural, we see two figures standing with a baby wrapped in a dark grey blanket. The figure on the left is a tall doctor with greying hair in a white doctor’s coat and black trousers. To their right is a nurse with shoulder-length, auburn hair in gentle waves, she looks directly out at the viewer as she cradles the baby. She wears a long, white dress and on her head is a white nurse’s cap with a dark band across it signifying that she is a registered nurse. The doctor stands in profile looking down at the infant while he uses a stethoscope to listen to the chest of the baby. The doctor is Dr. Clarence C. Cardwell, who was born on a farm near Stella. When he left for medical school, he promised his father that he would return to the rural area to serve people who often died due to their inability to reach medical care. Beginning with a two room house for a hospital in 1919, the doctor grew the hospital, with the help of his wife Ida McPherson Cardwell, into a 100-bed capacity hospital and clinic before his death in 1956. The young nurse in the mural is Cynthia Strong who lived for many years in the Stella area and provided home health care to many residents over the years. The infant is the mother of Sandra Pemberton, who was born at Stella’s Cardwell Hospital, and represents the hundreds of healthy infants born over the years in the Stella area thanks to the hospital. The hospital remained open until 1977 and, eventually, the building was torn down. In 2006, the site was redeveloped into Stella’s Veterans Memorial Park, a space dedicated to veterans from the Stella area and the location of this mural.
Moving to the figures just outside the mural’s right side, an older man with gray hair and a full gray beard is seated in a wooden, straight back chair with his hands resting gently in his lap. He is dressed in a black suit and vest with a white shirt. At his right stands a young child with bright blue eyes and long blond hair tied back with a blue hair ribbon which comes to a bow at the top of her head. She is dressed in a blue dress with puffed sleeves at the shoulder and a golden broach is pinned across her collar above four white buttons. This is Moses Eagle and his granddaughter Stella. Moses was an early settler whose family arrived in the area in 1844. In October 1880, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad sold a section of land along Indian Creek to him and it was here that the village of Stella began. In 1884, Moses and another settler Calvin Lentz applied for a post office for the growing community naming the community Stella after Moses’ granddaughter.
Moving to the right along the building’s side, we pass a door on the building before coming to the last painted figures outside of the rectangular portion of the mural. Flying freely and majestically are two large American Bald Eagles. They are impressive birds with brown bodies, white heads and tails, and bright yellow feet and beaks. The pair float free of the mural representing the generations of bald eagles who have freely patrolled the skies over the small town of Stella. The community hosts an annual Eagle Days event, typically held at the Veterans Memorial Park in late winter, where visitors can observe bald eagles in their natural habitat.
Moving into the main body of the mural, in the lower right hand corner is a large, blue sign adorned with an oval containing a scene of an eagle soaring over the waters of Indian Creek. Light blue designs are painted on either side of the scene and around the top of the oval white letters move along the shape’s outline and read, “Where Eagles Soar.” Below this oval, larger white letters fill out the bottom of the sign and read, “The Village of Stella, Settled 1844.” The actual sign itself sets along the highway welcoming visitors to modern day Stella.
Behind the large sign stands the white wood frame, Gothic Revival style, United Methodist Church built in 1888 with pointed-arched stained glass windows, a tall bell tower with a rose window (a circular stained glass window) and door below, and a steeply pitched, black roof. It was the first church built in Stella. To the left, three women walk arm in arm, their backs to the viewer, making their way towards the church on a dirt path. Moving left to right, one is in a white jacket and black pants, another in a black T-shirt and pants, and the third wears grey pants and a pink long sleeved top with a blue and yellow floral design. To their right is a man facing right and leaning with both hands on a cane in front of him. He wears khaki-brown, knee-length cargo shorts, a red, short-sleeved T-shirt, and a ball cap. Behind him is the walkway and steps into the church flanked by green grass and bushes. Climbing up the church steps are three individuals - the Dalbom family. The father Chuck Dalbom is dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt. His arm protectively clutches his wife Doris’ lower back on his right as she climbs the steps. She is wearing a dark blue dress with dark hair that falls above her shoulders. Directly to their left is their young daughter Dora in a short white dress. The Dalbom family were very active in the community. They purchased and restored the Lentz-Carter building and saw that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
To the left of the three women, and moving into the center of this portion of the mural, is a two-seater, black cloth top, blue Model T. Its front fenders curve up over the front wood spoke tires, move downward along the side of the vehicle to the step plate, and then scwoop backwards to go over the rear wheels. The front of the vehicle has a brass radiator with two large head lamps mounted on each side, the Ford logo is in the upper center. The hood extends backward to the wind screen with a side light mounted on each side of it. The wheels are partially lost in clouds of dust as the car makes its way down the dirt street.
Behind the wheel of the Model T sits a man in a light colored duster coat and seated next to him is a man in a black suit and white shirt. They are doctors Harold Lentz (in the passenger's seat), a man born in Stella who went on to serve five years in the Medical Corps, and James Robert Carter, a Medical Corps Acting Chief of Surgery, during WWII who returned to Stella after the war. James, the driver, joined the staff of the nearby Sale Hospital in Neosho upon his return.
Parked to the Model T’s right, its profile filling the bottom left of this portion of the mural, is a shiny, white and yellow, mid-1950's, Ford Fairlane with its distinctive tail fins. The front of the Fairlane faces the bottom left of the mural and the headlights are not visible to the viewer. In front of the car stands an older man with black hair and a full, black beard with his hands resting on the hood of the car. He is dressed in a black, 1900’s era suit with a white shirt and is wearing a military medal on his lapel which represents the many veterans who have called Stella their home over the years.
Directly behind him is the Lentz-Carter building. It is a white frame, rectangular, two-story building with a gabled roof and narrow parapet. There are two windows with blue shutters on the front of the second story and one window is visible along the side of the building's upper floor. The lower story is a storefront with a recessed entry way that has large, four-pane, display windows that flank a pair of double doors which lead from the store to a raised, grey, concrete porch. On the long side of the building is a sign reading “Lentz-Carter Café.” Originally the Lentz-Carter Merchandise Store, the site is the oldest commercial building in the community. Over time, the building has received restoration and remodeling and has been home to various businesses.
On the porch, three men are seated in the shade on a bench. It was here that local people gathered for years to enjoy a cold drink from the store and exchange local gossip and news of the day. All three men wear dark, baseball caps on their heads. The man on the left wears a blue shirt with rolled up long sleeves, blue jeans, and dark shoes. To his right is a man wearing a grey T-shirt and blue jeans. His ankles are crossed and he wears dark shoes. The final man wears a blue T-shirt and knee-length, khaki shorts with brown sandals.
A fourth man, holding a dark jacket draped over his left arm and dressed in charcoal-colored pants and a long-sleeved, white shirt, is seated along the front of the porch, his legs dangling over the edge. He is looking to his right, extending his hand to a small, tan dog seated on the porch near him.
Next to the Lentz-Carter building, is a bricked, two-story, flat-top building with a symmetrical facade design. The upper floor has two tall, narrow, two-pane, wooden-frame windows that overlook the flat, overhanging porch below. This is the Stella Post Office and from the top right corner of the building flies a large, red, white, and blue American flag on a short pole. Under the porch of the post office, five women are at a round table covered with a white cloth. They are Mayor Norma Westcott and four council women: Cleta Cardwell, Jewell Prine, Cora Edmondson, and Vera Hinton. They were the first all-female city administration in the state of Missouri. It supposedly started out as a joke - someone facetiously added their names on a public board listing candidates - but the women actually won the election. This was in November of 1950.
In front of the women at the table, a shiny, black buggy races past kicking up dark clouds of dirt. It is being pulled by a majestic, dark brown horse with a windswept mane and tail wearing black blinders. Seated in the buggy are two men wearing dark suits and hats.
Behind the buggy stands a man in dark clothing with a dark horse to his left and right. They look on in interest at the fast moving buggy in front of them. Moving behind them in the distance, we see the white, wood-frame, three-story, grist mill built in 1867 by Moses Eagle. There are windows running the length of the side of the building on each floor. At the end of the building are three large, dark openings - one on each story in a vertical line. Windows flank the opening on the second floor. The mill is surrounded by green grasses and trees. Here early settlers of the area gathered to have their grain ground into meal and catch up on local news. They are represented by shadowy silhouettes gathered on the porch at the end of the mill and silhouettes of workers that can be seen looking out of the openings of the upper floors.
The story told by the mural ends high above the mill where thermals, columns of rising warm air, rise from the valley floor and hill side and form white, cumulus clouds that fill the bright blue sky. Here a pair of bald eagles soar high above the village. Stella is located at the confluence of four watersheds: Indian Creek, Shoal Creek, Big Sugar River, and Elk River. Each fall, as water sources freeze in the north, bald eagles migrate south from their nesting areas in the north to find food and water. From December through February each year many Eagles winter in Stella finding open water and plentiful food that will sustain them during the harsh winter months. Stella celebrates their return each year with the Stella Eagle Day held in Veteran's Memorial Park.
The mural was dedicated to Chuck and Doris Dalbom in 2022 to honor their community involvement in Stella and in memory of Chuck who passed away shortly before the dedication of the mural took place. At the very bottom of the mural, below the Model T car, it reads “Dedicated to Chuck and Doris Dalbom and family” in dark, script-style letters.
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Mural Location
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717 Carter St.
Stella, MO 64867 |
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Additional Content
Historic Stella Photos
Lentz-Carter building History
Constructed in 1890, the Lentz-Carter building is the oldest building standing in Stella, a small town in the southwestem comer of Missouri. It is located at the south end of Ozark Sfreet, close to Indian Creek, which meanders south of the property. The building sits on a limestone foundation on the comer lot on the north edge of the property. The south edge was intentionally
left vacant for displaying farm machinery.
J.G. Lentz and James Carter opened the building in 1890 to provide the community with general goods and wares and as a market for the local farmers. In addition to serving as an outlet for essential wares and groceries, the Lentz-Carter Merchandise Store was also important as a location for social gatherings. Like most general stores of its time, locals would congregate in or outside the shop to share the news of the day. The Lentz-Carter building was also utilized as a meeting hall by the community and by organizations. For instance, its upper floor served as a Masonic lodge for over sixty years. It was such an important meeting place in southeastern Newton County that the first telephone in Stella was installed in the building.
According to the August 31,1899 Newton County News, "The hustling little town of Stella is jubilant over the completion of her telephone line to Neosho. It is a great convenience... Jas. Carter informs us that great care will be necessary to prevent injury to the instrument which has been placed in the Lentz-Carter building." Having served the community for over fifty years the Lentz-Carter General Merchandise Store closed its doors in 1940. Shortly after ( in the 1940s), the building was reused as a dry goods and shoe store on the lower floor while the Masonic Lodge continued to utilize the upper floor for thirty or more years.
left vacant for displaying farm machinery.
J.G. Lentz and James Carter opened the building in 1890 to provide the community with general goods and wares and as a market for the local farmers. In addition to serving as an outlet for essential wares and groceries, the Lentz-Carter Merchandise Store was also important as a location for social gatherings. Like most general stores of its time, locals would congregate in or outside the shop to share the news of the day. The Lentz-Carter building was also utilized as a meeting hall by the community and by organizations. For instance, its upper floor served as a Masonic lodge for over sixty years. It was such an important meeting place in southeastern Newton County that the first telephone in Stella was installed in the building.
According to the August 31,1899 Newton County News, "The hustling little town of Stella is jubilant over the completion of her telephone line to Neosho. It is a great convenience... Jas. Carter informs us that great care will be necessary to prevent injury to the instrument which has been placed in the Lentz-Carter building." Having served the community for over fifty years the Lentz-Carter General Merchandise Store closed its doors in 1940. Shortly after ( in the 1940s), the building was reused as a dry goods and shoe store on the lower floor while the Masonic Lodge continued to utilize the upper floor for thirty or more years.
The above black and white photos show the Lentz-Carter Building in 2007-2008 prior to it's restoration.
Here is the Lentz-Carter Building in 2025.