Awards

News Of Neighbors

By Rachel Boxdorfer

April–May 2010

Historical April–May 2010 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

The 7th District Police Partnership held their 5th Annual Office of the Year Awards Luncheon at The Pageant on February 25th, 2010. At the awards, the officers of the month throughout the year are recognized for their outstanding bravery and service, topped off with honoring the office of the year.

This year, as in the past, neighborhood resident, Police Officer Mike Butler, was honored.

He was the Officer of the Month for July 2009, and then, was awarded Police Officer of the Year for 2009 in the 7th District. Officer Butler was nominated by his coworkers for his work with nuisance properties in the 7th District.

In addition to his outstanding service as a police officer, Officer Butler serves his community.

He works to provide students at Ford Elementary School with new bikes for academic achievements and was featured this past year with Mike Bush from KSDK for the over 50 bikes he presented to the students.

During the holidays, Officer Butler donates his personal time and solicits food donations from local businesses to make sure over 100 families have a very special Christmas dinner. Officer Butler has been a member of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for over 22 years and sets a fine example to all of us on how to help our community. St. Louis lost a neighborhood historian on January 26th. Jean Fahey Eberle passed away at the age of 85. Jean was a longtime Parkview resident who had grown up in Parkview and then lived there and raised her children in Parkview.

In her final years, Jean lived in Shrewsbury.

She was an active member of St. Roch Parish for years and years, including serving as the volunteer librarian.

She also served on the board of directors for the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council. Having written many books about St. Louis neighborhoods, perhaps her greatest gift and achievement for our neighborhood was her book, originally written in1979, “Urban Oasis: 75 Years in Parkview, a St. Louis Private Place” and was co-authored with Judith Phelps Little.

The book was updated for Parkview’s centennial celebration in 2005, “Parkview: A Saint Louis Urban Oasis 1905-2005.” It is a truly beautiful book filled with so much valuable and fascinating information.

The book probably graces many coffee tables and libraries throughout our neighborhood. Traveling the globe over the winter was Dan Schesch of the 6000 block of McPherson. Okay, maybe not the globe, but Dan did travel to China and had a very exciting trip.

The trip included a 19 day small group tour of Beijing, Xian, Lhasa (Tibet), Chongqing, a Yangtze River cruise, and Shanghai, and 11 days with St. Louis friends working in Beijing, we also visited Nanjing, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Dan invites neighbors who would like to know more about his trip to visit his web site at http://jdr2.net/ travel/chinatrip.htm. Dan is pictured here (in his Skinker DeBaliviere sweatshirt!) with friends who grew up in St. Louis and now live in Beijing. Dan Hudspeth of DGH Services reported that “DGH is now EPA” certified in working on older homes with lead paint.

According to Dan, this is in compliance with a new law coming due in April for contractors to have the certification. Dan is a longtime resident of the 6000 block of McPherson and also serves as President of Rosedale Neighbors and Treasurer of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council. Dan is one of our many second generation residents, having grown up on the 6000 block of Westminster. Alex Shaffer, a resident of the 6000 block of Westminster Place since ‘76, has retired from his job as a research biologist at Pfizer, Inc., and is at home most days, in the basement that he water-proofed and repainted, building, among other things, a small Italian harpsichord (his second!).

We wish Alex a very happy retirement! Parker Stus, son of Paul and Jaina Stus of the 6100 block of Westminster, was part of a school-wide SHOE DRIVE FOR HAITI, which raised over 5,000 shoes, including quite a few from Westminster. Parker, who is seven years old and in the first grade at Word of Life Lutheran School, brought in 140 shoes from donations in his neighborhood drive. Great job Parker! And congratulations to six of the Webelos from St. Roch who earned their Arrow of Light Award on Scout Sunday in February.

The Arrow of Light Award is the highest honor you can earn in Cub Scouts.

The proud recipients were: Mitchell Stephens, William Kramer, Eric Webster, Elia Barker, Christian Boxdorfer, and Joe Schwartz. That’s all the news for this issue. Until next time, happy spring! Do you have some news to share?

Please send your items to Rachel Boxdorfer at rboxdorfer@prudentialalliance. com with the subject line “News of Neighbors”. Thank you!