dsmWeekly - May 21, 2025

Pvt. Merle D. Hay, a 21-year-old farm mechanic from Glidden was the first. He was killed in northern France on Nov. 3, 1917, during the war’s first battle that involved U.S. troops. Hay and two others died before dawn in hand-to-hand combat when 500 Germans overran their position.

Two days later, Hay’s death was front-page news in Iowa, prompting suggestions that his birthday, June 30, be made a state holiday. Instead, on Nov. 17, Des Moines Mayor John MacVicar declared that 58th Street, which leads north to Camp Dodge, would be renamed Merle Hay Road.

The next renaming occurred four months later, after two local enlistees died on March 5, 1918.

Capt. Harrison Cummins McHenry (left), 27, and Cpl. Donald H. MacRae, 22, members of the 168th Infantry, were among 19 Americans killed when Germans bombarded trenches near Badonviller in eastern France. McHenry was crushed when a trench shelter collapsed; MacRae was shot while climbing over a machine gun.

McHenry was well known. A football and track star at West High School and Drake University, he earned a law degree from Drake in 1914. His mother had served as president of P.E.O. International, and his uncle was the former Iowa Gov. Albert Cummins who was a U.S. senator when his nephew died overseas.

MacRae was a North High graduate who had worked at Chase & West, a furniture store that sold Victrola record players and long-playing discs (better known as LPs).

Six days after McHenry and MacRae were killed, the Polk County supervisors voted to attach the young men’s names to parts of the White Pole Road (now Highway 6). McHenry Road ran from the east edge of Polk County to the Des Moines city limits, and MacRae Road ran from the west city limits to the county’s western border.

The following Sunday, March 17, Mayor MacVicar announced at a memorial service that two city parks also would be renamed: Good Park, on the city’s north side became McHenry Park, and South Park along S.W. Ninth Street became MacRae Park.

Another notable local died May 27. Capt. Edward O. Fleur, 45, was a victim of a German gas attack that killed 30. Fleur was the commander of MacRae’s machine gun unit and had been a manager at the furniture store where MacRae worked.

Three weeks after Fleur’s death, friends suggested renaming a city park in his honor. That didn’t happen, but two years later, city officials renamed a road that ran south from the city. Fourteen years later, in 1933, Fleur Drive became the home of the city’s third airport park, which grew to become Des Moines International Airport.

Capt. Fleur is buried at Woodland Cemetery, across the lane from his wife, Minnie, who worked as a county recorder and led the effort to build the World War I monument on University Avenue atop the east bank of the Des Moines River. Since wives weren’t allowed to be buried with the soldiers, the Fleurs’ across-the-street arrangement was the closest they could get.

Find more local history in Elbert's Backstories at dsmmagazine.com.

Dancers perform at CelebrAsian, which showcases entertainment, music, food and more. (Photo: Tina Intarapanont)

BEST BET

CelebrAsian is in full bloom

Spend a day at Western Gateway Park celebrating Asian cultures. From 11 a.m.-10 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, Iowa's largest Asian American event will showcase authentic food, cultural exhibits, live entertainment and family-friendly activities. Immerse yourself in delicious food and exciting traditions as you experience rich Asian heritage in the Heartland. The city’s best-named festival (from the folks who brought us the annual Pho King Cook-Off) livens up the park with music, dancing, cultural exhibits and food. So. Much. Tasty. Food.

CelebrAsian is organized by the Iowa Asian Alliance, an organization devoted to embracing cultural diversity and strengthening communities across Iowa. They promote business and economic growth, provide educational opportunities and leadership development, and foster cultural and community vitality.

The Week Ahead

Spring Into Summer Concert Series, 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Principal Park. The ballpark springs to life with a rock show on Friday night, headlined by The Pork Tornadoes, and a country show on Saturday, with headliner Canaan Smith.

Decoration Day and Baseball, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Living History Farms in Urbandale. Learn about the post-Civil War origins of Memorial Day during a ceremony and procession, followed by a genteel game of 1870s baseball.

The Oz Escape, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Des Moines Performing Arts. Travel through a self-guided adventure through Des Moines, solve puzzles and meet characters as you explore the city.

Central Iowa Blues Society Spring Fest, 2-7:30 p.m. Sunday, The Cellar Winery in Madrid. Celebrate the blues at this free, family-friendly music festival. Settle in for a picnic and enjoy the lineup of The Janeys, Kevin Burt & Friends and The Cold Stares.

Art Night, 6-8 p.m. Monday, 515 Brewing Company. Art is for all, no need for experience. Make a collage on wood at the upcoming event and unleash your inner artist.

Game day: The Rook Room Game Lounge & Cafe is set to open at 7 a.m. May 31, at 300 S.W. Fifth Street, after its founders Tony Tandeski and Annelise Tarnowski (pictured) launched it as a pop-up operation almost six years ago. The new space (formerly occupied by St. Kilda) will offer 700-plus board games, puzzles and tabletop role-playing games, as well as food and various game-themed cocktails and coffee drinks. "Creating a place to play for gamers of all types has always been that goal we’ve been shooting for," Tandeski said in a statement. "We’ve been building an audience over the last six years, and now we’re excited to finally invite them, along with everyone else, into the space they’ve been telling us they want from the very beginning."

Traveling circus: The Venardos Circus, a nationally touring circus group, will stop in Altoona for a string of performances at the Outlets of Des Moines during June 5-15. Performances weave together theater, music and classic big top acts like trapeze, knife throwing, juggling and more. Tickets are available online.

Incoming comedy: Comedian Hannah Berner brings her “None of My Business Tour” to Des Moines’ Hoyt Sherman Place on Dec. 5. Her debut comedy special “We Ride at Dawn” premiered at No. 2 on Netflix. Tickets go on sale Thursday.

By Kyle Heim

Your chatbot therapist will see you now.

While they might still be years away from providing traditional therapy, artificially intelligent chatbots could play a pivotal role in mental health care in the future, according to Ryan Crane, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Iowa.

Crane, along with Joshua Larson, generative AI developer at Hilos and co-founder of Numinous Games; Jon Lensing, CEO of OpenLoop; and Ciara Lewis, director of Des Moines University’s Student Counseling Center, explained some of the opportunities and challenges of AI’s expansion in mental health care during dsm magazine’s Lifting the Veil panel discussion in June 2024.

Crane said it will be important to train the software, which uses large language models, so it doesn’t share clinically or medically inaccurate information or react inappropriately to a patient’s deeply personal disclosure.

“This is not six or 12 months out; this is far out,” Crane said of AI therapy. In the meantime, he added, people are already experimenting with various AI chat programs.

“Even though it sounds kind of dystopian and kind of weird and kind of uncomfortable for us, currently, I do see a future where some really highly refined AI-type chatbots are providing some kind of therapy,” Crane said. “And the reason that I like this or the reason that doesn’t freak me out and make me go Orwellian, is because of access. A lot of young people are way more comfortable online than we are.”

Larson said the evolution of technology within mental health care in the past five years started with therapy sessions on Zoom when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everyday life. Soon enough, health care providers were allowed to send prescriptions directly to a patient’s local pharmacy.

Now some AI companions check in on patients on a daily basis, whereas traditional therapists might be available for just once a week.

“These AI companions are checking in every few hours,” Larson said. “‘Hey, how are you feeling right now? Did this work out for you? Did you try this new tactic that you discussed in your last session?’ That’s pulling down stuff from the care plans of the therapist and then kind of bringing that back into the daily living of these patients.”

On the flip side, if organizations and companies start to rely too heavily on technology-based applications, it could eventually limit overall access to mental health services, Lewis said.

She believes overdependence on AI mental health delivery could shrink the mental health workforce.

“Could that actually reduce in-person access even more for the people that really do benefit from that one-on-one, in-person connection?” she said.

See more of what the panelists had to say about the future of mental health care, and the pros and cons of AI use in the field, in the online recap.

May is Mental Health Month, so we’ll be sharing mental health-focused stories in this newsletter all month long. For more on mental health awareness, programs and resources, see our current Lifting the Veil publication.