WEDDINGS

BY MADELEINE LEROUX

Family has always been the top priority for Sara Allen and Jacob Gibson. So, as the couple celebrated their nuptials with loved ones at the Missouri United Methodist Church, with a reception at The Atrium on Tenth, it was the family moments that stood out most.

“We were incredibly thankful that so many traveled so far to help us celebrate in Columbia, where we first met,” Sara says. They were especially pleased to be able to spend time with Jacob’s grandparents, who recently celebrated their 70th anniversary.

While there was no specific theme, the couple says it was important that the day feel classy with a touch of spunk. One particularly treasured moment was created when Sara’s family danced to “Family Tradition” by Hank Williams, which is known in the family as “their song.”

“We knew we wanted the day to be beautiful, without losing sight of entering into the gift of marriage, and we are so thankful for those who made it a possibility,” Sara says.

Catherine Rhodes Photography

To submit your wedding for consideration, send information and photos to mleroux@insidecolumbia.net. Include your and your spouse's names, occupations, wedding date, location and your photographer's name. Sara Allen and Jacob Gibson were married April 9 at the Missouri United Methodist Church.

McClure is a local engineering firm, providing a nationwide impact. It provides professional engineering services to public and private clients from coast to coast. One of the newest local projects by Celeste Spickert, a professional engineer for McClure, is a three-story structure for the University of Missouri FarmHouse Fraternity.

Walking through the front door under the front balcony you are greeted by a grand stairway and a large meeting room. The steel framed building includes a first floor that is perfectly suited to be a social gathering area, along with an exterior patio that was made for entertaining. The building also includes a living space, residential rooms, a kitchen and dining area and study areas.

This project, which should be completed in the next couple months, had an accelerated design process that saw many challenges, including in getting the right materials, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Spickert’s team managed to put together an early structural steel package and foundation package that allowed construction to begin before the entire design team was finished.

Spickert has 19 years of experience and says the best part of working on a project is the people involved and being able to help clients “bring their vision to life.” It was Spickert’s love of math and figuring out how pieces go together that first attracted her to structural engineering. It’s been an interesting journey for her, considering how the engineering industry, and especially McClure itself, has evolved for women, she says. “Twenty years ago, there was a stigma of ‘you have to keep up with the guys’ and now females in the industry are treated much better,” Spickert says. That’s particularly clear at McClure, where Spickert says they’ve fostered an environment that is very welcoming to female employees. “They respect my family time, and they understand women’s needs and try to help balance as much as possible.” she says. The team at McClure thinks beyond concrete and steel, creating innovative structures that impress with both design and functionality. McClure restores buildings to their former glory and adapts historical buildings to a modern world. The team says their goal is to bring your ideas to life and rely on them for speed and responsiveness when fast action is critical to the success of your project. They say the goal is to build ideas together. The team has provided structural services on a range of high-profile projects including hotels in Las Vegas, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado, the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami and multi-story collegiate dorms with rooftop pools throughout the Midwest.

to get your job from concept to completion. Sometimes it’s solving a challenge before it becomes an obstacle. Sometimes it’s helping you navigate opportunities, even funding and selling the job throughout the process. Always it’s adding value and imagining what’s possible. We’re engineers, yes – but also visioneers, driven to make lives better.