Historical November–December 2013 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Summer flew by and Autumn is here. And our neighbors continue to be busy with their lives. Here’s a peek at some of the recent events in the lives of some of our neighbors.
Please be sure to share your news when you have time! Faith Sandler of the 6000 block of Westminster received the 2013 Executive Leadership Award of Excellence from the National College Access Network at the 2013 National Conference in Nashville. Faith is the Executive Director of The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. Kathleen Merlo of the 6300 block of Westminster in Parkview has been named Chief Operating Officer for the University Medical Group at Saint Louis University Hospital. Congratulations Kathy! Jeff Schoenfeld, son of King and Dee Schoenfeld of the 6100 block of Westminster, will be moving to South Korea to teach English in a public school in Chang-won near the south coast. Jeff was a student at St. Roch and New City School, graduating from Metro High School and Webster University, and working at Left Bank Books handling author events.
He has been living in Portland, OR, on the staff of Powell’s Books for several years.
His parents hope that the Korean weather is a welcome change from Portland’s and will visit him before he leaves the country.
We always love to welcome new neighbors and especially love happy news about our neighbors.
Here is a double scoop as we welcome S. Joshua and Victoria Swamidass who moved on to the 6100 block of McPherson in September and celebrated their wedding on October 18th at Grace and Peace Fellowship. Joshua is a professor at Washington University in the Pathology Department and Victoria works for Express Scripts. Welcome and congratulations! Congratulations to Westminster neighbors and WU genetics researchers Ryan Bogdan and Arpana Agrawal on their recent marriage.
The ceremony celebrated their two cultures in grand style and was featured in the October issue of Alive Magazine.
As writer Mary Beard wrote, “the result was a big-band, swingthemed evening with Indian customs sprinkled throughout.” You can see it all on the Alive website!
All of us know that one of the greatest things about this neighborhood is the people!
We know and enjoy our neighbors. Proof of this has been happening regularly on the 6100 block of McPherson.
They have begun a new (warmer weather) tradition of Friday night pizza parties! Neighbors gather on the block bringing beverages and order pizza while kids play.
A recent event had 40 adults who were completely outnumbered by children playing on the block and enjoying the festivities. Neighbors from other streets have been joining in on the fun too!
The Westminster neighbors held their sixth block party on October 6.
The fun extended way into the evening as kids and adults enjoyed the music, entertainment of a magician and a great potluck dinner and drinks.
The planning committee, energized by Mary Powell, Jaina Stus, Gale Fitzpatrick, Marj Weir, and others, did another great job of planning the ultimate block party. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family of Steve Laury of the 6300 block of Waterman. Steve passed away peacefully at home August 20, 2013. Steve passed away at much too young an age.
His life was celebrated at a memorial service at St. Roch Church on Saturday, August 31.
The neighborhood also lost another long time resident, Katja Buckley, formerly of the 6000 block of Westminster. Katja passed away on August 26.
She and husband Michael had been married 62 years and raised their children in the neighborhood. Kingsbury residents Leonard Knese and Susanne Jersa Knese were honored as “Very Important Volunteers” by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, recognizing the generous contributions made by their National Sales Company, which handles commercial plumbing and HVAC products.
This past winter, NSC provided furnace repair/replacements to two families struggling with severe health and financial problems. Susanne also serves as head of the Women of St. Roch and has teamed with Heather Hoganson to write a new column for the TIMES called Kids Corner. Parkview residents Mark and Chanaya Jacobs celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary with family atop the Moonrise Hotel with brunch and the one of the best views in St. Louis! And speaking of the Loop, Joe Edwards was honored with the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award from Landmarks Association of St. Louis, including the following: “His work stands out as a superb case study of how historic preservation goes hand-in-hand with community revitalization… Historic preservation is not just about protecting buildings.
It is about protecting buildings and the neighborhoods they comprise so that residents and communities can benefit from beautiful, unique places. Joe’s work exemplifies this ethos and stands as a shining example of what can be achieved when people commit themselves to the protection and improvement of historic neighborhoods.” 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”.
Original photograph caption
Jeff Schoenfeld.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, November–December 2013.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2013_11.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 3.
