High school, the Flash and Okenfuss Hardware

            Bobby went up the hill to Ste. Gen. High School, where he would meet lifetime friends like Gene Allen, Francis Basler and of course, Norma Jean Samples.  He was working too, for a while at the Flash, which then had both a restaurant and service station.  He would work the service station on the late shift, putting in a full day at school and then eight hours at the Flash.  He talked about meeting Mort and Walker Cooper, brothers who played for the Cardinals.  They stopped at the gas station on the way for a hunting trip.   One day, Max Okenfuss stopped by.  Max had a hardware store in town.  It was located in the building on the corner across from my office.  He suggested Dad come to work for him part time after school and on Saturdays, and he would give him time to participate in sports.  Dad said during football season, when he would come in Saturday morning, Max would call him back to his office and they would rehash the highlights of the previous night's game.  He referred to Max as his "guardian angel".  Not long after he told that story at dinner after a Silvanus meeting, I was asked to give a speech and used this example, comparing Max to George Bailey in "Its a Wonderful Life".  There is also a story about going out in the truck with another employee and knocking down someone's chicken house.  The details escape me, maybe someone can embellish that. 

            Dad was the quarterback of the football team.  At first, his coach was Pete Baechle, who I think was also the principal and the physics teacher.   Herman Baechle, another one of the charter Hall of Fame members and a classmate, was Pete's son.  They had fun, it seems.  The senior year season, a new coach arrived.  Bill Strange was a veteran and had been an All-State blocking back at Warrensburg (that's how I remember Dad saying it).  Pete took him around and introduced him to Dad, "this is your quarterback", to which Strange said, "he's not very big".  Pete replied, "Oh, he plays from the eyes up."  One day at practice, Strange dressed out in full pads.  He picked up a ball and directed the players to tackle him, then started running.  Dad said he came at him and dived at Strange's feet.  Somehow, his hand hooked one of Strange's cleats and flipped it, causing Strange to take a hard fall.  Dad always said it was just luck.   I think they were 5-5 that season.  I recall him talking about a game with Crystal City.  The Dragons managed to tie the game with a touchdown just as time ran out.  They were so excited to avoid a loss and headed for the lockeroom in high spirits.  The officials came and brought them back from the lockeroom to kick the extra point.  The successful PAT brought a victory over the Hornets.  One game day, Dad and a buddy skipped school and went hunting.  Dad showed up for the game and played.  It wasn't until after the game that Coach Strange asked if he went to school that day as had been required in order to play.   Dad implied that oversight was deliberate. 

            I don't remember much discussion about Dad and Mom dating.  No car.  They walked.  Dad would walk from Third Street to Ridgeway and then they would walk to the Orris, or whatever.  They also talked about going to Christian Endeavour.   Kathryn Ernst, whose family owned the Herald newspaper, and who later was my second grade teacher, led the group.  They would visit different churches and learn about them, sing hymns and get exposed to other faiths and traditions. 

            Dad also played basketball.  However, his senior year, he got in a fight in practice.  The school superintendant's son was a sophomore and a good player.  Dad was guarding him and young Jackson was backing in toward the basket.  Dad got frustrated and told Jackson he would deck him if he did that again.  Jackson did, and he did.  At the subsequent meeting, the message was that they couldn't be teammates any more and since Jackson had the talent and years to go, Dad would be dismissed from the team.  This might have been the best season in Ste. Gen. basketball history.  The team won its regional and went to the state tournament.  This is in the time when the high school basketball program was organized as a "Sweet Sixteen" and the Dragons were one of the sixteen teams that went to State.  Dad said the senior players felt bad that he would miss this experience, so they arranged for him to act as the manager for the team.   

            Dad said several times that when he got to his senior year, he only needed a couple of credits to graduate, so he had a plan to take a couple of easy classes and not work too hard.  Mr. Baechle had other ideas and made sure that his schedule included some challenges, like        his physics class.  There was one student, Robert Bruss, who basically took over the class.  He would correct Mr. Baechle from time to time and seemed to have a better grasp of the material than the teacher.  He was the son of the Lutheran pastor and went on the an electrical engineering degree at Washington University.  At graduation, Dad said Pete Baechle handed him a diploma and said "I never thought you would make it."   When he got to Robert Bruss, Mr. Baechle said "this is one student I didn't teach a thing."

FAMILY

            Valentine and Teresa Rottler lived at the corner of Third and Roberts streets in Ste. Genevieve.  The oldest boy, also named Valentine, but went by Pat.  There were three girls, Ruth, Verneal and Betty.  Robert was born March 13, 1930 and Thomas came seven years later.  Dad had lots of stories about his childhood, making it sound pretty carefree - something like Tom Sawyer.  One was about his sister and cousin Bernadine Pinkley sneaking some cigarettes and gave him one to smoke.  When the parents came to catch them, the girls disappeared, leaving little Bobby to face the music.  He talked about tagging along with Grandma White, a black lady who was a midwife.  He would haul her gear around in his wagon. 

 

            His dad worked as a brewmaster at the old Ste. Genevieve Brewery just down the street, but that came to an end with Prohibition.  Then he was the custodian at the county courthouse.   That might be the connection that led to young Bobby bringing meals ( or a meal) to a condemned prisoner at the county jail.  This apparently was the fellow who was the last man hanged for murder in the state of Missouri.   Valentine was considerably older than Teresa and he died in 1942.   Obviously, this led to a number of consequences.  Everyone but little Tom went to work.  Pat was in the Navy.  The girls waited tables.  Dad made it to his freshman year at Valle when, one day the nun in charge called him in and kicked him out for lack of tuition payments.   Grandma Rottler cooked for other families and took in laundry as well.

            Dad found time to excel in the Boy Scouts.  He was in Troop 404 and was the troop's second Eagle Scout.  He got to go to Philmont camp in New Mexico.  There are two stories related to Philmont.  In one, his burro drank all the water and all Dad had was Spam - he never ate Spam again.  In the other, he and another scout were very hungry (one story and the other may dovetail) and came upon some kind of a cabin, where they found a pan of peach cobbler, which they ate.

 

Introduction

      There is no way this is the whole story.  Please accept this as an invitation.  Feel free to fill in the blanks or correct my errors, then share with everyone, who can do likewise.  This can work sort of like our own little Wikipedia.  I said I would do this back in December 2006.  Its taken me almost seven years to start.  I can't imagine I will remember everything.  I didn't pay enough attention when I was a kid.  The opportunity to be involved in board meetings with Silvanus and the Bank of Bloomsdale gave me the chance to hear a lot of stories that I had missed or ignored before.  Everyone has had different experiences that will fill out and expand this story and we need them all.