MOTHER OF GOOD COUNSEL HOME
6825 NATURAL BRIDGE ROAD
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 63121
314-383-4765
www.mogch.org
May 2007
Volume 9, Issue 5
A Few Words from Sister M. Stephanie
History of Normandy
Dear Friends:
What a great time we are having with our
75th Jubilee festivities. The ground-breaking
ceremony was beautiful. What a delight it was
to be joined by so many faithful friends, benefactors, families, and staff. Although the wind
was gusting, the sun was shining and not a
drop of rain fell!
This month, we are looking forward to celebrating Our Mother of Good Counsel at a Mass
on Mother’s Day, May 13th, celebrated by His
Excellency, the Most Reverend Raymond
Burke. Mass will start at 10:00 am, and will
be followed by a brunch in the Activity Hall.
All are invited to take part in this celebration.
As the renovation of the Home draws near,
we implore the counsel of Mary, our Blessed
Mother. As John Paul II stated in his encyclical, Mater Redemptoris, “The Church … sees
Mary deeply rooted in humanity's history, in
man's eternal vocation according to the providential plan which God has made for him from
eternity.”
Since its founding, the Mother of Good
Counsel Home has tried to fulfill God’s plan for
us. We earnestly call upon Our Mother of Good
Counsel to continue to provide guidance as the
Home prepares for another 75 years.
The grounds of Mother of Good Counsel Home were most likely
once occupied by Native American Shawnee and Pottawatomie families. Northwoods, Missouri, was a popular Indian campground and the
site of many Native American councils. William Clark, superintendent
of Indian Affairs, territorial governor, and famous explorer, lived in
Northwoods.
Northwoods is one of more than a dozen small cities incorporated
in an area of North St. Louis County known as Normandy. This area is
one of the oldest communities in St. Louis County, and one rich in
history. It was named Normandy by a pioneer from France.
Jean Baptiste Charles Lucas emigrated from France to the U.S. in
1784 carrying a letter of introduction from Benjamin Franklin. He became a U.S. citizen and was active in Jeffersonian Democratic politics.
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson appointed Lucas a territorial judge
and land commissioner in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. He
and his family tied up their keel and flat boats at the thriving river city
of St. Louis in September 1805. At the time, St. Louis had a population
of 2,780. For his government work, Lucas was given land in southeast
Missouri that was destroyed by the New Madrid earthquake in 1811.
The government compensated him with about 1,000 acres northwest
of St. Louis. He named his new home Normandy because it reminded
him of the family’s homeland in Normandy, France. Upon seeing the
rolling green hills and springs, Lucas is quoted as saying, “Why, I have
a Normandy of my own!” Lucas built a home in 1815 on the site now
occupied by the Incarnate Word Academy. The Incarnate Word Convent was built about 1910, and the Academy opened in 1932 in the
convent building.
When Lucas first rode out to inspect his new holdings, he saw the
intersection of the old Florissant road and what became known as the
Natural Bridge Plank Road. The eastern end of the plank road passed
over a stone ledge or “natural bridge” of limestone rock about 100 feet
high. Under the rock was a spring, which later gave its name to Spring
Avenue in St. Louis. Construction of Natural Bridge Plank Road, which
followed an old Native American trail, was begun in 1852.
J. B. C. Lucas’ son, Charles Lucas, was killed in a duel with U.S.
Senator Thomas Hart Benton in 1817. Lucas’ land holdings in Normandy were given to Anne Lucas Hunt, his sister. Lucas Hunt Road is
named for the Lucas and Hunt families. The two families gave many
gifts of land to Catholic institutions—so many that Normandy became
known as the “Rome of St. Louis County.”
Normandy remained an area of county estates for a century. The
only major developments consisted of Catholic institutions: the German St. Vincent’s Orphan Home, St. Vincent’s Sanitarium, Marillac
Sincerely,
Sister M. Stephanie
(Continued on page 4)
News from Home is a monthly newsletter from Mother of Good Counsel Nursing Home for its residents and staff, families, and friends.
NEWS FROM HOME
MILESTONES
Birthdays, New
Residents,
and Departures
Welcome to
New Residents
Father John Gambon
2
Take Your Best Shot
In May of 1888, the first KODAK camera went on
sale, with the slogan, “You press the button we do the
rest.” This was the birth of snapshot photography, as
millions of amateur picture-takers know it today. On
the naming of KODAK, George Eastman said, “The letter ‘K’ had
been a favorite with me – it seems a strong, incisive sort of letter. It
became a question of trying out a great number of combinations of
letters that made words starting and ending with ‘K.’”
Framing Mother’s Day
With Deepest Sympathy
Mrs. Margaret Sweeney
Mrs. Edythe Cody
May Birthdays
• Mothers have been honored with festivals and tribute
days since ancient Greek and Roman times.
• Virtually every country celebrates a day in honor of
mothers, but not all do so in May.
• The original US promoter of a celebration for mothers
was Julia Ward Howe, who wrote a Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870 as
a call for peace and disarmament.
• Anna Jarvis eventually took up the cause, and the first memorial day
for mothers was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on May 10, 1908.
• Congress officially designated the 2nd Sunday in May as Mother’s Day
in 1914. Mother’s Day is widely reported as the peak day of the year for
long distance telephone calls.
Residents
Mrs. Mary Helen Vezeau - 2
Mr. Albert Seibert - 25
Staff
DeWanda Elliott - 5
Margaret Wilson - 9
Kiara Bates - 10
Marva Belger - 11
Christina Williams - 20
Bianca Page - 25
Gloria Thomas - 30
Lily-of-the-Valley is the May flower. It is also known
as Our Lady’s Tears because, according to legend, the
tears Mary shed at the cross turned in to Lilies-of-theValley.
By tradition, Lilies-of-the-Valley are sold on the
streets of France on May 1. Since 1982, the Lily-of-the-Valley has
been the national flower of Finland. It is also the official flower of
the Alpha Delta Phi, Pi Kappa Alpha Kappa Sigma and Delta Omicron fraternities and the Alpha Epsilon Phi and Alpha Phi sororities.
The Lily-of-the-Valley is a very fragrant plant and is highly
prized for making perfume. Lily-of-the-Valley water was once considered so precious that it was kept in gold or silver containers.
Sunday
May 13, 2007
3
NEWS FROM HOME
Cinco de Mayo Pot-Luck
&
Trivia
Saturday, May 5th
12:00 noon - 2:30 pm
Activity Hall
All MOGCH residents, family, and friends
are invited to join us for Mexican food and
fun. The Home will provide a Mexican casserole, nachos, drinks, and dessert. Family and
friends are asked to bring a casserole or
salad to share. If you plan to attend, please
RSVP to the Receptionist or Rhonda Hansen
no later than, Thursday, May 3rd.
The meal will begin at noon and several
rounds of trivia will begin following the meal.
Mother’s Day Mass
10:00 a.m.
Sunday, May 13th
All MOGCH residents, family,
and friends are invited to join us
for brunch in the Activity Hall
following Mass.
Quilt Raffle & Craft Show
10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Hallway near Activity Hall
May Crowning
May 14th
2:00 p.m.
MOGCH Chapel
Prayer Requests
The Rosary Group would like to pray the
Rosary for individuals who request their
prayers. If you would like the group to say a
Rosary for you or a special intention, please contact
Rhonda Hansen, Sue Loubek, or www.mogch.org.
Help Us Recycle
Clothing: A collection container that looks
like a miniature yellow barn is located in the
parking lot to the rear of the Home. If you
have clothing to donate, please drop the donation in the “Barn”.
Used printer cartridges (Laser and ink jet);
Cell phones (Condition or age doesn't matter): If you have cell phones and/or printer
cartridges, please drop them off at the front
desk or give them directly to Rhonda Hansen.
Your support is greatly appreciated!
Refreshments will be served in
the Training Center following the
service.
“Strawberry Month”
Strawberry treats will be served on
the following days: May 21st, 23rd,
& 25th
Book Club
The Activity Department has started
a book discussion group. They meet two
times weekly (see calendar for dates)
and listen to a book on tape. After each
chapter, the group has a discussion. If you would
like to participate, please notify any of the Activity Staff Members.
May Coming Events
Kentucky Derby Party - 2nd
May Crowning - 14th
Cinco de Mayo Pot-Luck - 5th
Birthday Party - 9th
Mother’s
Day Brunch - 13th
Bowling - 16th
Sing-A-Long - 18th
Treat Week - 21st - 25th
4
NEWS FROM HOME
Motherhouse, Passionist Fathers Preparatory Seminary, St.
Francis Colored Orphan Home, and, later, the Cenacle Retreat
House and Mt. Providence Boys School. Three country clubs
also were founded: Normandie, Glen Echo and Norwood.
During the 1800s, Anne Lucas Hunt also gave parcels of
land to two Catholic groups still represented in Normandy: the
Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Jesuit fathers for a mission parish, named for Hunt’s patron saint, St. Ann. The famous Native American missionary Jesuit Father Peter J. De
Smet was pastor of St. Ann’s Parish for a time. The Sisters of
the Good Shepherd operated the Normandy Post Office beginning in 1886.
Wilson P. Hunt, who married Anne Lucas Hunt after her first
husband, Theodore Hunt died in 1832, built the historic Hunt
House, a colonial frame home that still stands at 7717 Natural
Bridge Road. The McLaughlin Group, a real estate firm, currently occupies the original Hunt House.
The first steam railroad was built through Normandy and a
station was located at the intersection of Natural Bridge and
Florissant roads. Two streetcar lines also ran through Normandy. In all, more than 50 streetcar lines operated out of St.
Louis at the turn of the century.
In 1884, only 200 persons paid property taxes on about 10
square miles of the area. But taxes became a problem for the
owners of the large country estates, who subdivided their land
in the 1890s into what eventually became a cluster of villages
and cities. Normandy began to lose its rural character in the
early 1920s. The small villages and cities grew rapidly during
the 1920s and 1930s. The city of Normandy itself was incorporated on Good Friday in 1945. The Normandy State Bank contributed much to the growth of the area under the leadership of
its founder and president, William MacDonald.
The Normandy School District had to construct new schools
and expand existing ones at a fast pace to keep up the rapid
growth of students. For example, the McKinley School, 2100
Lucas Hunt Road, was built originally as a four-room brick
building in 1907. The cost of $25,000 was covered by the district’s first bond election. By 1908, four more rooms were
added, and expansions continued for the next 30 to 40 years.
The Jefferson School, 4315 Cardwell, was constructed in the
late 1930s in anticipated of continued growth of Pasadena Hills
and Pasadena Park. It cost $130,000 and was built with assistance from the Works Projects Administration (WPA), established by the federal government to relieve the economic impact of the Great Depression. The Normandy Junior High
School building was started in 1932 and completed in 1934.
The Normandy School District issued $200,000 in bonds in
1923 to purchase the Eden Seminary from the German Evangelical Society for use as a high school. About 300 students
enrolled on the first day. By 1929, the school had become too
small and voters approved the building of a gymnasium by the
WPA. The gym had an unusual curved amphitheater for seating on three sides, and was considered state-of-the-art at the
time. With the gym’s opening began an annual Christmas Basketball Tournament where Bill Bradley, “Easy” Ed McCauley
and Bob Ferry played.
A class of 1946 graduate, Ted Drewes, started his frozen
custard business on Natural Bridge Road, and later moved to
two new locations. Ted Drewes’ Frozen Custard has since become a St. Louis landmark.
Normandy was the first school district in the St. Louis area
to voluntarily integrate schools. During the 1950s, African
American high school students living on Whitney in Pagedale
had attended Douglas School in Webster Groves. Superintendent Ward Barnes accepted these students as well as students
from the Robertson area for enrollment in the Normandy district.
The University of Missouri-St. Louis acquired land from the
Normandy School District in 1964 for its campus. The site of
the campus was once the fashionable Bellerive Country Club.
The Thies Farm has been the home of more than five generations of the Thies Family. Johann Heimrich Thies and his
wife, Marie Broeker, both born in 1840 and married in 1860,
were the first owners of the family business. H. Wilhelm Thies,
the oldest son, built and developed the land into a fruit and
vegetable farm. Fruits and vegetables were hauled to the market in St. Louis by horse and buggy. The Thies Farm market
located on Hanley Road still supplies the Normandy neighborhood with fresh produce.
The Evangelical Children’s Home was founded in 1858 and
provided a home and education for more than 2,000 orphans
during its first 50 years. This was the first children’s home in
the country founded by the former Evangelical Church, and is
still the only child care agency of the United Church of Christ
west of the Mississippi River.
The Drehmann-Harral Funeral Home, 7733 Natural Bridge,
opened at 1905 Union Avenue in St. Louis in 1925, and moved
to its present location in January 1965. Elmer C. Drehmann
started working at the home in 1927, and was named president
in 1944. The Shepard Funeral Home, founded in 1906 by
Letha and Elmer Shepard at 5921 Easton Avenue, opened a
new Shepard Chapel at 9255 Natural Bridge in 1963.
The Logan College of Chiropractic was founded in 1935 by
Hugh B. Logan, and moved to Normandy in late 1936.
The St. Louis County Library, Natural Bridge Branch,
opened on June 13, 1951, at 6814 Natural Bridge Road. It
served as the headquarters for the county library until 1960,
when a new building was completed on Lindbergh Boulevard.
News from Home is a monthly newsletter from Mother of Good Counsel Nursing Home for its residents and staff, families, and friends.