News Of Neighbors

Historical April–May 2012 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

Happy Spring. . . or at least it sure seems like spring! I’m not sure we really had a winter, and at this point, I hope it stays that way (and that you are not reading this article during a spring snow storm). It’s been fun the past few months to see some of our neighbors in the news or busy with other publications. One such neighbor is Ligaya Figueras, of the 6100 block of Washington, who many of you know is now with Sauce Magazine. Ligaya’s articles continue to keep us in the know on restaurants and trends, as well as tease our appetites with everything from Perogies to Bourbon drinks!

She has also had some appearances on KWMU radio, talking about what else but food! Keep up the good work Ligaya!

Another neighbor making news recently was Len Knese, President of National Sales Company. NSC is a distributor of mechanical, plumbing and H-VAC supplies. And on March 7th, they celebrated their ribbon cutting in a refurbished warehouse on Delmar, the first company to move into developer Paul McKee’s two-square mile development zone. Len and his wife Susanne live on the 6100 block of Kingsbury with their two daughters (and previously lived on the 6100 block of Washington). Congratulations to them both and to NSC.

Also on the 6100 block of Kingsbury, we would like to welcome new neighbors Ryan and Nocole Harris who moved from Soulard last August.

The two attorneys are already making news here in the neighborhood and adding to the population with the birth of their beautiful daughter on January 20th, Emma Nicole. Emma weighed in at 7lbs, 11 oz. Both Ryan and Nicole are runners and love that they have Forest Park in their own backyard. Congratulations and welcome to the entire family! Lynn Weir Wagner (daughter of Marj and Brad Weir of 61XX Westminster) and her husband John Wagner introduced their son, Joseph Bradley Wagner, on January 25!

He weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 inches tall. Did you happen to see Alive Magazine’s “Buzz List 2012”, highlighting St. Louis’ most influential people, organizations and ideas?

The article included people from all types of businesses; culinary, film, music, and even World Series MVP, David Freese.

Also included in the list was Skinker Debaliviere’s Faith Sandler, Executive Director of the The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. Faith has been the Executive Director for 22 years.

The Foundation provides interest free loans and grants to students in need. Much of the fundraising is through the two popular Scholar Shop locations. Faith and her husband Michael Holohan and two children Claire and Pete live on the 6000 block of Westminster. Often checking in with us from his travels is Dan Schesch of the 6000 block of McPherson.

In September Dan traveled to five countries in central Europe; Poland, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, as part of an organized tour.

According to Dan, “beyond the tour’s itinerary, befitting from our Skinker DeBaliviere diversity, neighbors with Polish and Czech backgrounds suggested places to see and restaurants, places which I never would have known about.

It made my experience much richer, thank you.” Dan has a web site about his trip, http://jdr2.net/ travel/europe/eur2011.htm if you would like to learn more about his trip, he is happy to share his experience. Thanks Dan! Regular readers know my least favorite part of writing this column is having to say goodbye to some of the wonderful people who have made Skinker DeBaliviere home.

But I realize it is important and am reminded each time I do it of what makes this neighborhood so wonderful. Yes, we have gorgeous architecture, we are located near spectacular things like Forest Park and The Loop.

But what has always made this neighborhood stand out is the people. And for that reason, I believe we must acknowledge our losses and cherish the memories we have of those who have made Skinker DeBaliviere a home.

A sad loss from the neighborhood was the passing of Shirley Polk on the 5700 block of DeGiverville. Shirley passed away on February 29th. Shirley was famous for the picnics she organized for neighborhood children and her work with the neighborhood food drive.

She worked hard at both for years and also served for many years on the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council Board of Directors.

She published a cook book which she was always happy to share and also kept tabs on what was happening on her block.

In recent years, every time I passed her on her street, she would have some type of news about what was happening on her street, who was new, etc… She too will be missed and we are so thankful for all her talents she shared with us. Attention garden fans, gardening season is upon us.

If you have never visited the community gardens in our neighborhood, add it to your next walk in the neighborhood and enjoy viewing the works of our residents during the growing season. Skinker DeBaliviere has two community gardens, the McPherson Community Garden (on the 6000 block of McPherson) and the 1035 Community Garden (on the 5800 block of Westminster across the street from Lucier Park and Hamilton Elementary School). Like the names suggest, they are places where you can spend time with your Skinker DeBaliviere neighbors and where you can grow some food to put on your table. For more information you can call Andy Cross (314-721-6060) or Mark Banaszak (314-863-0965), although at this point I believe both gardens have a waiting list for garden space.

Also – be sure to mark your calendar for the SDCC Garden Tour on Saturday morning, June 2nd. Do you have news to share?

Please send your submissions via email with the subject line News of Neighbors to rachelb@sdtimes.org or drop off a note to the attention of Rachel Boxdorfer at the Skinker DeBaliviere office. Be sure to mark it “News of Neighbors”. Happy New Year everyone!

Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April–May 2012.

Read this article in the original newspaper issue.

Archival transcription note: Polk death reported February 29 versus March 1 in separate obituary. Printed Nocole/Nicole, befitting and Happy New Year closing retained as source variants.

Original source: SD_Times2012_04.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.