|
Progressions
|
|
My great grandparents all came to the northern St. Louis area in the late 1800's, now more than 100 years ago, half from Ireland and half from Germany. My mother grew up in St. Louis near Wellston. My father was born and raised in Baden, in Calvary Cemetery. Yes, I said "in" Calvary Cemetery. Dad's grandfather was a cemetery employee and raised his family within its boundaries. Did you know Calvary Cemetery land was once owned by Senator Henry Clay, promoter of the Missouri Compromise that brought Missouri into the United States in 1821 as a slave state? My father and his siblings attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, which at that time was located just outside the cemetery boundaries, next door to Holy Cross School. Holy Cross was for German Americans and Mount Carmel was for Irish Americans. As a young couple, my father was a phone company installer and my mother was a long distance operator, jobs that I suspect were not open to African Americans until at least 20 years later. I was born shortly after Dad left for service with the Army Air Corps during World War II. When he returned home after the war, we moved to a two-family flat in Walnut Park, two blocks from the cemetery. My great aunt and her husband, an Irishman who worked for Calvary as a gravedigger, lived downstairs. I loved hanging around their kitchen and listening to Uncle Jim's heavy, teasing brogue. When I was nine, we moved to another home in Walnut Park. It was, and still is, on a great wide street with large lots. We had seven apple trees and a large tomato garden, which provided my Mom with ingredients for her wonderful applesauce and chili sauce. From my second floor bedroom, through the trees, I could sometimes see the red-hot ammunition material being cooled as it passed in open cars through the high, open wings of the Small Arms Plant on Goodfellow. Homes in the Walnut Park area were generally unavailable to African Americans until after passage of the Fair Housing Act in the late 60's. While living in Walnut Park, I was one of three "city" girls who were members of a 4-H club near Shackelford and New Halls Ferry Roads. Riding out to meetings along Halls Ferry Road north of the City, the scene was almost all farmland. In the mid-50's, Cross Keys (New Halls Ferry and Lindbergh) was a four-way stop sign intersection where each road was two lanes wide. My husband and I lived in Dellwood for almost twenty years and happily raised our sons there. After adding on to that home several times, we built our current home, which is out in the 4-H Club territory I had visited as a pre-teen. New subdivisions continue to be built here where the value of most homes is well above average. Capable and professional black and white residents participate in the life of the community. After high school, I had worked as a secretary and attended St. Louis U.'s Evening Division until marriage. When my youngest son was pre-school age, I was able to return to college, first at Florissant Valley and then at UM-St. Louis. In high school (1961), career suggestions for women, in addition to their marriage and motherhood, were usually limited to secretary, teacher, or nurse. Thirteen years later, at community college, I learned that women's career choices were many, but the best fit for me would be systems analyst or CPA. A Florissant Valley teacher served as a catalyst for a deeper understanding of my Catholic faith and a UM-St. Louis class awakened my latent social justice instincts. Progressions: Descendants of European immigrants -- from separate churches and schools to full integration. The U.S. -- from world wars to regional wars to a cold war to relative peace. African Americans -- from slavery to freedom to equal rights. Despite the head start of European Americans, many blacks are already fully participating in the economy. Women have many more career choices. The North County landscape has changed from farmland to suburbia and the community has progressed from racial blandness to ethnic diversity. We are all works in progress, spiritually, socially, and economically. Through people, experiences, and institutions of the northern St. Louis area, God has blessed my own progressions. May we all continue to be blessings for each other. Peggy Kruse, St. Norbert Catholic Church, North County This column was originally written for the Opinion Shaper column of the North County Journal. A slightly edited version was printed in the Journal June 14, 2000. Return to: |