Historical February–March 2011 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Happy New Year!
I hope that your holidays were enjoyable and allowed you to spend a lot of time with friends and family. Traditions are such a big part of the holiday celebrations and that is certainly true for the 6100 and 6000 blocks of McPherson. Every December neighbors on those blocks gather at the barricade to sing Christmas Carols door to door and raise money for the St. Louis Christmas Carol Association. Despite bitter cold this year, the tradition continued – the 38th year! David Schmid began the tradition and unfortunately was not able to join the carolers as he was recuperating at the time in a rehab facility, so neighbors took the caroling to him. David enjoyed the visit very much and sang along with his neighbors. Betty Burke of the 6000 block of McPherson provided home made chocolate chip cookies for the group. Later, the carolers met to continue caroling in the neighborhood, despite bitter cold, and then enjoyed hot chocolate and more cookies at the Boxdorfer house. David is now home and we wish him the very best! Special kudos go out to Jon Barton of the 6100 block of Westminster. Jon, who is an attorney with Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C. has been named one of the 2011 St. Louis Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”. Jon’s profile appears in the January 28th issue of the St. Louis Business Journal. Susanne and Len Knese of the 6100 block of Kingsbury are enjoying the company of a special house guest for a year. Susanne’s cousin, Dr. Steffi Ludwig is working on her third year residency at the Wash U BJC OBGYN lab. Further news from 6100 Kingsbury is that Susanne Knese and Cindy Ormsby have put together a ladies Bunco group to get the women of the block together. Fun! Many of us in the neighborhood have been sad to hear that longtime residents (since 1994), Betul Ozmat and Billy Handmaker will be moving this summer. Billy, who has been leading Crossroads College Prep for 15 years, has accepted the position as the head of the Bosque School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Betul has also served our community working at Washington University and has been the 28th Ward Committee Woman since 2006.
We wish the entire family the best of luck in this exciting move, and hope they will come back for visits in the old neighborhood. Mary and Peter Schmit, formerly of the 6100 block of McPherson, but still neighbors in their hearts, reported that they were heading to Mississippi in December for their annual trip to visit their good friend Brother Pius, a Christian Brother Administrator of a poor, small parish, St. Gabriel. Every year they put out the call for donations of pots, pans, jewelry, and clothes and take it down to the parish. Mary says they will be collecting all kinds of items next year to take down to be sold to raise money for parish programs like a senior center, GED classes, sewing classes, and more. And the Leathers-Dahl family, of the 6100 block of McPherson, vacationed between Christmas and New Years in Lake City, Minnesota on Lake Pepin. Ellen Leathers reports that it is the home of water skiing, circa 1928 and is beautiful! Longtime chair of our Historic District Review Committee, Katie Kurtz of 61xx Kingsbury, has stepped down as chair, having recruited Nancy Hohmann to chair that committee. Many thanks to her for providing education about and implementation of the standards that preserve the unique architectural aspects of the neighborhood.
On the 5700 block of DeGiverville, Mrs. Laverne Fleming has passed away. Jo Ann Vatcha reports that, a few days before Christmas, she had purchased one of the “Celebrating Skinker-DeBaliviere” books about the history of the neighborhood, just before her passing.
As another of our long-time residents, Mrs. Fleming no doubt had her own favorite memories of living in our great neighborhood. Our condolences to all these families. Congrats go out to Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council Vice President, Michael Noble and his bride, Angie Ranson.
They celebrated a fall wedding and reside on the 5700 block of McPherson. And a huge thank you goes out to all the neighbors who turned out for the Skinker DeBaliviere Bowling Party on Monday, January 17th. Neighbors of all ages enjoyed the afternoon and over $1,000 was raised.
The fundraising committee is planning another bowling day for the President’s Day holiday on February 21st. 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!
Original photograph caption
Neighbors brought Christmas caroling to David Schmid during recuperation. Descriptive caption supplied; photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2011.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: Source David Schmid spelling retained rather than silently harmonized.
Original source: SD_Times2011_02.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
