The new Marideth Sisco Community Education Fund at West Plains is named for an alumna who passed away this May. Sisco ’86 was a radio personality, singer, songwriter, author, retired journalist and expert on this region. The fund will bring in speakers, and her work will be displayed on campus.

Editor’s note: Sisco passed away as this issue was being produced. We were able to speak with her prior to her passing.

Marideth Sisco ’86 had captivated audiences since she was 3.

As a toddler in 1946, she stood on an ice cream freezer at an auction and sang to a crowd for the first time. Sisco grew up to be a well-known journalist, radio personality and singer based in West Plains, Missouri. She was known for her storytelling and ability to capture the flavor of the Ozarks.

The Butterfield, Missouri, native also appeared in the movie “Winter’s Bone” — which was nominated for an Academy Award — and sang on its soundtrack.

Through writing and music, Sisco preserved local history up until her passing this May.

In 2018, Sisco received the Quill Award for lifetime achievement from the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame. In 2025, she received the Living Traditions Fellow Award from the Missouri Folk Arts Program.

Now, her own story is being preserved by Missouri State University-West Plains with the Marideth Sisco Community Education Fund.

HER FRIENDS ESTABLISHED THIS FUND THAT WILL BENEFIT THE OZARKS
This endowed fund was made possible by the generosity of West Plains married couple Mary Bischoff and John Kaiser. The two, who have an antiques and book shop, befriended Sisco more than two decades ago.

“We think she’s a fantastic person and are so glad she’s getting this recognition,” Bischoff said. “We appreciate the work she has done preserving things that would be lost otherwise.”

The endowment will be used primarily for the Ozarks Heritage Research Center’s monthly speaker series.

A display case in the center on the West Plains campus will also house Sisco’s work, including books, news articles, CDs, awards, paintings and “Winter’s Bone” materials. Sisco was honored by the gesture.

“I am very happy with that,” Sisco said. “It surprises me that my name would have an effect but I am glad it does.”

MUSIC WAS AN EARLY LOVE; SHE FOUND JOURNALISM AT MO STATE
Sisco’s dad’s family were gospel singers. They’d burst into song at gatherings. Her mom sang harmony, so her parents would drive down the road and sing together. Those are some of her earlier music memories.

“I grew up like that, just singing, not really knowing much about instruments,” she said.

She moved around as a kid. Sisco tells it like it is — a trait she shared with her father. More than once it cost him his job, so they had to move as he changed work.

Roughly around middle school, she lived in California and went to the symphony in San Francisco.

“Had I heard a symphony? No. I hadn’t heard an orchestra. I had no idea. I sat down and that music just came over me and I thought, ‘Oh, my, I have to live in this world. Somehow, I have to find a place in this world,’” she said.

Sisco carved out her own place singing folk music.

In her 20s, she would return to California and eke out a living by singing.

Her father died a year after she moved there, so she moved her mom to California. Soon after, her mom was diagnosed with bone cancer.

She took her mom home so she could pass away in the Ozarks. Her parents died four months apart. Sisco then returned to the West Coast and worked in a factory.

In 1976, she returned to the Ozarks when other family members became ill.

“I didn’t intend to stay, but somehow I did,” she said.

A teenage injury to Sisco’s left hand increasingly limited her ability to do manual work. Surgery a decade prior had failed to help her, and it got to the point that she had to deliver newspapers for a living, but she didn’t know how she’d support herself long-term.

Then she met with a vocational rehab counselor who offered to help send her back to college. Sisco studied design and photography at then-Southwest Missouri State University.

Her last semester in college, she took a journalism class with Dale Freeman. “Ten minutes in the class, I said, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

RETIRING FROM NEWSPAPERS; STARTING A REGULAR RADIO SHOW
After graduation in 1986, she applied for journalism jobs and landed one at the West Plains Daily Quill. “If I had landed right straight in heaven, I couldn’t have landed a better job,” Sisco said. “I had more fun than I ever had in my whole life. I understood the culture that I was going into because I’m out here in the deep Ozarks. The pay wasn’t much. But after a while, you just didn’t care.”

She worked at the Quill until her retirement in 2005 after a quadruple bypass the year before.

In 2007, she debuted a new radio program on KSMU called “These Ozarks Hills.”

Originally, the idea was for her to interview people in the Ozarks. However, a few months in Sisco ran out of people to interview — so she just talked and told stories. The format was a hit. The monthly program had run ever since at 7:45 a.m. on the first Friday of the month.

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER LEADS TO HER HOLLYWOOD STORY
In 2008, movie producers were in town scouting locations for “Winter’s Bone.” The film was based on the novel by West Plains author Daniel Woodrell. Woodrell’s wife suggested they go see some local music.

Sisco was there singing with people she calls the “right folks.” She sang a sad ballad called “Wind and Rain.”

Two years later, the producer called Sisco.

“She said, ‘We just can’t get that one song out of our heads. Could you do that for the movie?’ I said, ‘God, I’d love to record it for the movie.’ She said, ‘No, no. We have a little part written in the movie.’ I said, ‘No, wait, wait, wait. I’m not an actor,’ and she said, ‘It’s OK. You just have to sing.’ I can do that. So, they signed us up,” Sisco said.

She and the other performers with her named themselves the Blackberry Winter Band for the soundtrack.

After the film, audiences were fascinated with the Ozarks. Sisco and the band performed in New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles and the Torino International Film Festival in Italy.

CENTER CONSIDERED “A PERFECT LOCATION FOR HER MATERIALS”
Bischoff and Kaiser moved to West Plains in 2004 and first heard Sisco perform at the Yellow House Community Arts Center.

At first, Bischoff was starstruck: Sisco is a local celebrity. But once Bischoff talked to her, she realized how down-to-earth the artist was. The couple loved hearing her sing and tell stories. They sought out her performances.

“I could sit and listen to her for hours,” Bischoff said. Kaiser added: “You never hear the same story twice. There are so many.”

Their friendship grew over the years.

They have spent a lot of time together, including Thanksgiving dinners. Sisco and Kaiser shared a mutual interest in gardening.

And when Sisco was seriously ill recently before her passing, the couple organized food delivery for her. The storyteller had her share of medical issues, but she faced it with Ozarks grit. Sisco had previously survived car accidents, uterine cancer, failed surgeries, a quadruple bypass and more.

In honor of their friendship, Bischoff and Kaiser wanted to support a fund to acknowledge Sisco’s contributions to the area.

“She was a woman of many talents. Writing. Singing. Storytelling,” Bischoff said. “We loved her and considered ourselves lucky to be in her circle.”

• Sponsors speakers, professional conferences and workshops.
• Promotes educational resources, particularly for the region’s communities.
• Collaborates with partners from outside the university, including other institutions focusing on the Ozarks.
• Serves as a repository for scholars and authors, especially those who focus on the eastern Ozarks.