Murphysboro tradition has a wonderfully Du Quoin twist

For years, the Murphysboro American newspaper, participating merchants and the Murphysboro Community High School have participated in a downtown promotion called "Miss Merry Christmas."

With that said, part of the promotion involves the high school administration nominating a very high quality senior stand-out as Miss Merry Christmas, who receives $100 as part of that honor.

As it happens, this year's standout is Bria Ciganovich, the 17-year-old daughter of David Ciganovich of Croessman Wholesale Co. in Du Quoin and wife Cynthia, assistant controller for the SIU Foundation. The family lives in Murphysboro.

Bria is an honor student at MHS who has already been accepted by both the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri to attend college. She will major in nursing and healthcare. At MHS she is a member of the Key Club, the Beta Club (admission requires a high GPA) and the National Honor Society. She letters in cross country, volleyball, basketball and track.

Croessman Wholesale Co. at 7 West Main Street in Du Quoin is historic and has been operated by the George Ciganovich family for 52 years. Purchased from Vic Croessman in 1962, it is the food services and paper and vending products company of choice in southern Illinois doing business from Anna, Ill. all the way over to the Metro East area. It supplies schools, the corrections system and area restaurants, employing seven people. Its business hours are 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.