A Father's Legacy / A Lasting Heritage

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...