A Father's Legacy / A Lasting Heritage

When I was 15 years old, my family and I would ALWAYS go to 5 o'clock Saturday evening mass at St. Cletus Church in St. Charles and then head out to dinner. We had two "go to" places in St. Charles. The first was "Bonanza" at the corner of West Clay and Duchesne and the second was "The County Seat Restaurant" located at the corner of West Clay and First Capitol. "Bonanza" was a typical steakhouse kind of place and fashioned after the popular 60's western TV show. You would walk into the front door and get immediately into a line that wrapped around the perimeter of the dining room. The walls of the small hallway were lined with older western photos, bridles, spurs and other assorted leather goods. As you got closer to the front of the restaurant, you could place your order to one of the lovely female servers who would relay your order to one of the male cooks in the back working over an open flame! It all seems so dramatic. My Dad...

Saturdays were our chore day and Mernie and I had to clean the house every single Saturday before we could go outside to play. We had to vacuum and dust the entire house plus clean the bathrooms. We also had to do the dishes each night and we would take turns "washing" or "drying" the dishes. Mom had a set of copper bottomed pans and if she used them to cook, we had to use this special cleaner to make them shine again. We would take turns doing the dusting or doing the vacuuming. I much preferred to vacuum because I felt like I could do it faster. If you did the dusting, you had to pick up everything off of the tables and then dust. It seemed like it would take forever to pick it up, dust the tables and the put it all back. I felt like I could fly through the house with the vacuum and get it all done quickly. I remember that I knew exactly how far the vacuum would reach from one outlet to another. I knew when I was done with one room that I could plug in t...

I think that I only got into one fist fight as a kid. It was with Tom Stiegemeier and it happened behind Hudson's Chiropractic clinic off of Kingshighway. There was also a florist shop in the same building and I remember the empty flower boxes being in the alleyway. We were walking home from 7th grade and he said something mean about my Dad. I think he called him a "Pig" - which was a derogatory term for a policeman. I remember that I got so mad at him that I swung around and hit him square in the jaw and I felt like I broke my hand. I had never punched someone before and it scared me to death. I immediately started crying - I was just so upset and mad that I guess that I didn't know how to handle those emotions. Tom swung back at me and I avoid the punch but then he grabbed me and we started wrestling to the ground. I remember that I got my coat really dirty and I was scared that I would get into trouble because of my coat. I have absolutely no recollection...

I always thought that Mom was a very good cook. I remember fried hamburgers in the skillet, eating breakfast steaks, pork chops, spaghetti, liver & onions! and my favorite was meat loaf. We used to all sit down at the kitchen table and say our blessing. We had to ask if we could get up from the table and be excused. "May I please be excused from the table?"....We would say a very Catholic dinner blessing - "Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." Our food was very good and I remember having a lot of food - or what seemed like a lot. We always had meats, potatoes and vegetables. They were put into bowls and served on the table. We would eat spaghetti and Mom would make garlic bread. If we were ever still hungry, we could eat a butter bread or a gravy bread. Those were used to fill us up. We drank milk with our meals and tea - sometimes. We used to have "junk suppers...

We didn't have too many pets when I was growing up. We got a rooster one year for Easter. We appropriately named him "Easter". We kept him in the garage until he started waking us up in the mornings! We gave him to a farmer down in Boschertown to raise and keep on his farm. We used to keep turtles frequently when we would find them in the neighborhood yards. We had a few hamsters but nothing too exciting. When we were in early junior high school years, we finally convince Mom and Dad to let us get a dog. I don't even remember where we got the dog from but we got a small poodle and terrier mix. She was black and grey colored and we named her Pepper. She was a great dog - very friendly and playful but I didn't care much about her. I guess that I was too young to be concerned with a dog. Pepper kind of became Mom's dog....Pepper loved Mom and Mom took care of her most of the time. We used to drive through McDonalds and get a plain hamburger for her a...

My earliest memory of going to a baseball game was when I went with my Dad and my Uncle Donnie. I remember that we went to see the Pirates play and that I was very young. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. I remember walking up to the stadium and holding my Dad's hand and feeling like I could only see everyone's knees. We got inside the stadium and we were seated in the upper deck in the outfield. The grass seemed so green and the colors all seemed so vibrant. I remember the red of the Cardinals jerseys and their bright red hats. I also remember the bright yellow of the Pirates jerseys and their dark black caps. Everything seemed so bright and colorful. I got a hot dog to eat and a thing of popcorn that was in a cardboard container that could be used as a megaphone after the popcorn was gone. Baseball has always been a great connector in my family. It was something that I was able to share with my Dad and Grandpa and then also with my girls. I have great mem...

I became a Christian on January 1, 1980. I started dating Lori Bernard on December 21, 1979 and she invited me to attend a New Year's Eve Communion Service. I had already promised some friends that I would meet them at a New Year's Party at Vicky Holliday's House but decided to go to the church service first and then head over to the party. I didn't know anyone there except Lori but I wanted to impress her since we had just started dating. I don't remember much about the service but I wore my SCHS Letterman's jacket and had my hands buried deep in those pockets. One of the guys leading the service asked everyone to bow their heads and he started to pray. He said that there was someone in the room that needed to surrender his heart to God. That person was very popular with his friends but never really had a close relationship with God. He wanted to give that person a chance to make his life right with God before he took communion. I remember that I blurt...

I got saved on the night of January 1, 1980 and went home that night and pulled out a HUGE old 1800's King James Bible to read. I got home that night at about 1:30am and stayed up all night reading the Bible. I found an old Bible in an box of auction items and started reading it soon after. I actually have both of those Bibles today and have kept them all of these years. The very first Bible that was given to me was one that my parents gave me as a High School graduation present. That Bible was given to me by them in the middle of May 1980 and they wrote to me in the first pages of the Bible. Again, I still have that one too. I have it on a shelf in my basement and keep so many little keepsakes inside. A memorable bookmark that Mom gave me....clippings, photos, funeral cards. Lots of little mementos of special times and experiences. I have two other Bibles that mean a lot to me too...I have a green one that was given to me by Ray & Jeanne Bernard. It is a Men's...

Like I have mentioned in earlier posts, I went to a LOT of different grade schools growing up. I started at George M. Null Elementary School and went to Kindergarten, first and second grade there. We lived on Headland Street and I took the bus to school all three of those years. I went to third grade at the First United Methodist Church while Coverdell School was being built. We took the bus to Third Grade also. When Coverdell opened at the beginning of my 4th Grade year, we were only a few block away and we would walk down Concordia Hill to get to school but then we moved in the middle of my 4th grade year and I transferred to Powell Terrace. Powell Terrace was close and we would walk there too....I loved going to Powell Terrace School and I had great friends there....I went to school there for the rest of my 4th grade year and my Fifth Grade. We moved again to Madison Street and the school district would not allow me to stay at Powell Terrace and I had to transfer to Benton fo...

I'm not sure why but I have never really enjoyed Valentine's Day. It always seemed anti-climactic and it just seemed like a sad day instead of one that was full of fun and romantic love. My most memorable Valentines have been ones that I received from Katie and Maggie. Handmade ones that they created at school or with scrap papers - pink, red and white cut out hearts and their own handwriting across construction paper. They were always very genuine and real - filled with love and purpose - rather than a created or contrived "love" that felt like Hallmark created a day to sell cards and candy instead of a love that was real and genuine. Right after Melissa and I got married in January of 2004, we went to Mexico in the middle of February on a missions trip to Tijuana, Mexico. We spent a week at an orphanage there - Rancho de Sus Ninos - and helped build a new bunkhouse and storage area in an enormous barn. We had only been married for about 2 weeks and it was t...

There have been different times in my life when I felt that God had something very special for me to accomplish. I actually applied to be the full time Youth Pastor at First Assembly under Pastor Williams but I am so glad that he didn't even interview me. I wasn't qualified but loved being the interim pastor. I served as the interim Youth Pastor for almost a year. Special calling? I don't know that I would say that I ever felt extra special or that I needed to do something special. When I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would be healed and that the whole experience would serve as as testimony. I was afraid of going through the process and didn't want to be sick...I also didn't want to be a "sick Grandpa". I remember watching my Dad spend time with Katie, Maggie and all of the other Grandkids - and him not being able to do a lot with them because he was always sick. Mom spent most of the time with the ki...

I almost laughed out loud when I first read this question. We grew up very Catholic and the thought of the priest or a pastor actually coming to your home was just a crazy thought. Right after I accepted Christ as my Savior at 18, I remember that the pastor at First Assembly - Manual Shoults - wanted to come over to our house and visit with me and my parents. My Dad was absolutely opposed to him coming over and wanted nothing to do with him. I think that they scheduled a time to come over and my Dad left the house just before the scheduled time. Needless to say, it didn't go well with Dad! The only other time that I remember a pastor coming to the house was just after Maggie got out of the hospital. I remember Pastor Williams coming over to pray with us and lay hands on Maggie. I have absolutely no other recollection of a pastor or missionary coming to the house.

The only times that I ever remember feeling afraid were at night and in the dark. And only at our house on Madison Street. The upstairs of that house did not have any heating or air conditioning. It was unbelievably hot in the summer months and freezing cold in the winter months. During the winter, I would put a full sleeping bag on my bed and sleep inside the sleeping bag under all of my covers. You could see your breath in our rooms and it was so cold. I definitely remember laying in bed and shivering as I tried to go to sleep. While I was laying there in my bed, I used to watch the shadows of the tree branches dance across my ceiling. There was a street light directly across the street from my house so it cast shadows into my bedroom windows. At the back of my room was a door that lead into the attic area. It was a regular full sized door and the attic space was tall enough that you could walk into it. As I laid in bed at night, I would imagine that there was someone ...

I will start with Grandma Bredensteiner. As a little boy, I don't have a ton of memories about going to Grandma Bredensteiner's house very much. She was a little tiny lady with big glasses. She didn't have much hair and always wore a dark wig. She had a little head shake - maybe Parkinson's? - and she would put her hands up to her face and hold her chin with her fingers. I remember her looking at me and her head shaking a little bit but her eyes would never leave me. She was very gentle - firm but gentle - and had lots and lots of love. I remember her hugging me and hold me on her lap as a very young child. She had a great laugh and I can still hear her laughter in my mind. Grandma didn't drive and would walk everywhere. She lived at 309 Clark Street and would walk down to the hospital to eat occasionally. I can remember driving down First Capitol Drive and seeing Grandma in the windows as she was sitting there eating dinner. I can also remember drivin...

When I was born, my parents brought me home to 1148 South Benton Street. I have very little memory of this home except for the backyard and a brick bbq pit located in the backyard. I have a few memories of the basement and a few other things but not many real memories. I remember crawling around the backyard with a stick in my hands and my Dad pretending to be rabbit hunting with me....I had on a hooded sweatshirt and we were "army crawling" around the yard and were trying to sneak up on rabbits that were back there. I remember looking up at my Dad and seeing his black rimmed glasses right next to me and I can still feel his strong arm across my back as I held tightly to my stick (pretend gun!) and wait for the rabbits to jump out. I also remember that our basement had a cellar door access with steps that lead out to the backyard. I remember opening the door that led upstairs and seeing a snake laying on the floor of stairwell. Mom grabbed me and picked me up and w...

Like I mentioned before, I really enjoyed my PSR classes and remember learning different Catholic prayers - the Apostle's Creed, The Our Father and Hail Mary. I was very diligent at learning and praying my Rosary and would say one every night as a young boy. I enjoyed it and felt a closeness with God. As I got older, I remember feeling a little disconnected from God and having questions about why I needed to go to confession and ask a priest to forgive my sins. Confession was not difficult but it felt hollow to me and I remember asking my Mom if there was a way for me to just go straight to God and cut out the middle guy....she laughed at my question but said that I could always go straight to God and talk to him at anytime. The very first time that I can remember praying directly to God and having Him hear me was on December 31, 1979. It was the night that I got saved and accepted Jesus as my own Savior. I can take you to the exact spot on the floor where it happened and ...

Without any question, my favorite sport was baseball and I would do just about anything to be outside and playing ball. From my earliest memories, I can remember having a bat in my hands and playing catch, throwing ball, or practicing somehow. I used to take a rubber ball and bounce it off of the steps in my backyard and practice catching it on short hops or pop flies. I would take the ball and throw it onto our roof and then wait for it to pop off and catch it in the air. I would turn my back on the ball and the spin around to try and catch it quickly - trying to make my reaction time quicker and catch it without knowing where it was going. My dad and I used to play this game called "Nine Pitch" in our backyard. We measured off the exact distance for a pitcher and he would get down in a catcher's stance on the sidewalk and I would pitch to him. The object of the game was to get 9 straight strikes and end the inning with three outs. That didn't happen too oft...

For most of my childhood, I don't remember Mom working but I know that she had a job most of the time. She was always there and always a help to Mernie and me. She had a job down on Main Street at the Credit Bureau as a skip tracer. She would work with credit collectors and help them trace down people who owed others money. I remember being in the car with Dad and dropping her off at work. I don't think that she worked there a long time but I remember the green door where she would go inside. I also remember Mom doing some cleaning jobs early in the morning. She had a job cleaning a bar on Main Street called "Aniello's". It was located near the corner of Main and First Capitol and I think it is an antique store now?? We used to get up early on Saturdays and Sundays and I would go down there with her to vacuum and wipe down tables. She did it for some extra money when Dad was going through the Police Academy. I remember going with her to help and I wou...

Dad was a hard worker and a very good employee. As a young boy, I remember him leaving the house in coveralls or work cloths. As I got older, I remember him getting dressed in nice pants, a short sleeved white shirt and a tie. He worked at McDonnell Douglas Aircraft and worked at the location in St. Charles called Conductron. It was an aerospace unit that made missiles and bombs for the government. He also worked on some space program things and was part of the SkyLab team at Conductron. I also remember him telling me that he helped do some testing work and design work on the cars that went up to the top of the Arch in Downtown St. Louis. When I was in Second or Third Grade, I remember that Dad came home one day and told us that he had lost his job at Conductron and that they had "laid him off". I remember that Mom and Dad seemed nervous but I really didn't understand what it meant. Shortly after this time, I remember Dad going to the Police Department and gett...

I remember vividly going to Mass every Sunday. I loved going to church and our Catholic services interested me from a very early age. When I was very little, we were members at Borromeo Church but then moved to St. Cletus when we moved to the house on Headland. St. Cletus was a new parish and was full of younger families. The church was not big and cathedral-looking but was a very simple church. Very basic pews and a tiled floor. Our parish priest was Father Brauner and he was an older man but I always liked him. Sermons in the Catholic Church were pretty short - about 10 minutes or so. The church services were always about 45 minutes long - total. I haven't been to a Catholic Mass in several years but I think that I could still recite all of the prayers and order of services. My parents both went to Catholic grade school and then Catholic High School. They really couldn't afford to send me to private school so I attended all public schools. As part of our Catholi...