Beth's Memories

Moving to Webster Groves was a big adjustment for all of us. Not only were we all recovering from the divorce, but we were living as a smaller family in a smaller space and a smaller community.   However, Mom's sense of enthusiasm made the transition much smoother.  Her love of St. Louis was apparent and she was eager to share. She introduced her kids to every nook and cranny of the city. There were visits to her old favorites, the places her children had heard stories about… the lagoon in Forest Park where she had ice-skated as a teen.  And Busch's Grove where she had eaten in dining gazebos on dates.  There was Crown Candy Kitchen and her old house on North and South, with her childhood stories of Jack and Jean.

After Mom introduced us to her past favorites, she went to work acquiring new ones.  She became a regular at Soulard Market on Saturday mornings shopping for fresh produce and spices and cheese. She was never intimidated by the impatient cheese man or the grouchy farmer who wanted no one touching his shiny fruit display.  She packed up picnics for Lone Elk State Park, and she wandered cracked riverbeds of the Mississippi during droughts.  She read up on local history and set off to find the places she had learned about.

Mom was an example to us of how to be positive and move forward.  We watched her reunite with old childhood friends and take initiative in gaining new ones through her work and hobbies.  The little duplex that seemed so quiet and dull when we first moved in soon came to life with poker parties and pre-Opera dinners.   The three of us shared our friends with each other, while the phone rang off the hook and the smell of sourdough bread filled the kitchen, and Ted the dog escaped out of second-floor windows. 

The fun and chaos of our busy lives filled that funny little place for four years.  Then all at once both of us kids graduated.  Dave was off to college and I was married.  Luckily, Mom's life was full with work and interests and friends.  As she has said a million times over the years, "I am never bored."