News Of Neighbors

Historical September–October 2021 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.

Hello neighbors!

I hope you have had a wonderful summer in what continues to be a bit of a crazy world. Let’s catch up today with some of our neighbors and see what they have been up to these past few months. First of all, news from the Trudy Busch-Valentine School of Nursing at Saint Louis University about Cristina McGroarty of the 6100 block of Kingsbury. Cristina received the Fr. James Veltrie, S.J. Cura Personalis Faculty Excellence Award.

This award is given every year to a faculty member who humbly exemplifies extraordinary commitment to the spiritual and intellectual development of members of the SLU community. Congratulations Cristina! Cristina lives on the 6100 block of Kingsbury with her husband Sean and their children. Moving on to more good news, it’s a boy! Rich and Emily Stenberg of the 6000 block of Washington welcomed their third child Calvin Richard on June 1. Calvin joins older siblings Martha and Soren. Cleo Woods of the 6000 block of Westminster retired from the St. Louis City Assessor’s office after 27 years of service. Well done Cleo, enjoy your retirement! And as the circle of life continues, we lost a couple of long time neighbors over the summer. Peter Schmit, formerly of the 6100 McPherson passed away on July 1st. Peter was married to his wife Mary for 43 years and was a former Christian Brother for 30 years and was a member of the Quicumque Club and C.O.P. (Couples of Prayer) through St. Peter’s ACTS. And on July 15th, Art Santen, also formerly of the 6100 block of McPherson passed away at the age of 87. Art was a collector extraordinaire – look him up on Youtube!

He was active socially and generous with his volunteer work.

His obituary summed up many of his activities and career; Pressman at Post Dispatch, Star and Globe; Very Active Member of St. Roch Church; Knights of Columbus; Skinker-DeBaliviere Newspaper; Neighborhood Halloween Party Founder/Chair for 50 years; Troop 98 BSA Treasurer; Rosarian Club; Founding member of Just-For-Openers; Volleyball; Bridge; U.S. Army Veteran. For anyone in the neighborhood, who as a child on Halloween dressed in costume hoping to win a prize at the neighborhood pre-trick or treating party, or any parent who took their child to the festivities, it is Art Santen that you have to thank. Art was the man behind the party, the costume prizes, and the booking of the entertainment.

He also saw to it that neighbors were out making sure children crossed streets safely during our trick or treating hours.

I know for me, I will always think of Art on Halloween. Our condolences go to Art’s family, especially his children; Steve, Susan, and Scott.

There will be a memorial mass at St. Roch Church on Monday, October 18th at 10:00 a.m.

The family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to St. Roch Church. Jason Yi, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and resident of the 6100 block of Kingsbury, has joined the scientific advisory board of the Angelman Syndrome Foundation, an organization that supports research on this rare disorder.

His expertise on UBE3A, the protein that is lacking in individuals with Angelman syndrome, will advance the board’s work of helping to guide the research strategy for the organization. Angelman syndrome affects about one in every 20,000 people and individuals experience severe developmental delays, seizures, a lack of verbal communication and challenging issues with sleep.

I am hoping to hear from some of our neighbors about graduations this year.

I know some students were able to graduate in person again, while others still did so virtually.

We would love to hear about it and see photos.

I am now putting on my proud mom hat and congratulating two of my children.

My son, Christian Boxdorfer graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry Studies in May.

He completed an internship with a company called Stranded South in New Orleans over the summer. And my daughter Gretchen Boxdorfer defended her thesis in July and received her Master of Arts in Mathematics. at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

The topic of her thesis was “a new approach to Boolean networks”.

An upside of the use of Zoom in education during the pandemic is that our family was able to watch her defense live from St. Louis and New Orleans. And the very proud father of both of them is my husband, Matt Boxdorfer (can’t leave him out)! That’s all the news I have today and I hope more of you will reach out to me with your news about your family or your neighbors.

In the meantime, be well. Times are difficult so please be kind to others and check on your neighbors. See you around the neighborhood! 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”.

We love to hear about neighbors accomplishments, awards, travels, weddings, anniversaries, births, and more!

Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, September–October 2021.

Read this article in the original newspaper issue.

Original source: SD_Times2021_09.pdf, printed page(s) 3; PDF page(s) 2.