Kirkwood resident David McCoy was so inspired when he learned of Kirkwood Early Childhood Center's (KECC) Parents as Teachers (PAT) program that he has spent more than a decade helping bring PAT families the Christmas they deserve. For the past 14 years, McCoy has overseen donations to PAT families in Kirkwood made through a holiday drive at Chaminade where he is a teacher. Students collect gifts and money to send to families in the Kirkwood School District who need assistance.  McCoy and Chaminade have adopted 11 PAT families this year. "Most of them are single-parent families and otherwise …

Stephanie Patton had to grow up fast. At age 5 the Kirkwood resident was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes. Now 18, Patton hopes to raise awareness about the disease as she eyes the title of Miss Missouri.  The lifelong Kirkwood resident and senior at St. Joseph's Academy will compete for the Miss Missouri title in June after recently winning Miss Chesterfield Valley.  "Each constant is supposed to have a platform that she wants to raise awareness about. Mine is of course raising diabetes awareness and finding a cure in my lifetime," Patton said. She follows …

Antona Brent Smith, a Kirkwood businesswoman and Kirkwood School District parent, was invited to attend the PhD Project Conference Nov. 14-16 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. The PhD Project is an an award-winning program to create diversity in management. The PhD Project was created in 1994 to address the severe under-representation of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans in management by diversifying the front of the classroom-the business school faculty. A diverse faculty encourages more minorities to pursue business degrees, thereby increasing the pool of minority …

J.D. Frailey will never forget mile number 19 of the 1982 St. Louis Marathon. That's when when a "wave of a tingling weirdness” washed over his body. It was his first 26.2-mile race. “I was hoping to be killed by a lightning bolt,” Frailey, 60, of Glendale, said jokingly. Frailey completed the race in 3 hours, 21 minutes, despite taking walks after his body hit the wall. Afterward, he swore he would never run a marathon again. But the runner has broken that promise to himself 49 times. On Sunday, Frailey will travel to Huntington, West Virginia, to finish a goal that he's spent years working …

A trip to New York City took an unexpected turn for Nancy Kaiser McGee, owner of Downtown Kirkwood's Fun in the Sun Sports. McGee had planned to run in the New York City Marathon Sunday. When she boarded her plane Friday, the marathon was still on despite the effects of Hurricane Sandy. When she touched down, however, the race had been cancelled, the Wall Street Journal reports. The publication caught up with McGee and other runners who found themselves in New York City ready to run but also eager to lend a hand to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. McGee was among hundreds of runners who sprung…

Dogs can be subjected to a lot when kids are in the house: dress-up, tight hugs, pulled ears, painted toe nails. Sometimes it can be a lot for a dog to take. Watching her daughter Hallie play with the family dog Gigi when Hallie was 6 years old inspired Des Peres resident and Westchester Elementary School mom Kathy Brandt to publish Gigi and Her Girl, a tale that teaches the importance of respect as told from the point-of-view of both a girl and her dog. In the book, Gigi, a very gentle puppy, endures endless hugging, hoisting, dragging and dress-ups, as well as love, according to Brandt. "…

It took a broken chair for Kathy Collier-Paul to decide once and for all to get healthy. “I was as low as I’d ever been,” said Collier-Paul, describing how she broke a chair when she sat down at her daughter’s dance class three years ago. “At that moment, it just came together and I realized I’m either going to die fat or do something about it.” That was the start of a new life for Collier-Paul, a longtime teacher at Westchester Elementary in Kirkwood. Through healthy eating and regular exercise, she has lost 128 pounds since then and not only changed her life but inspired others along the …

Wayne Hubb’s co-workers are two of his best friends. And they seem happy to work for just kibble and a pat on the head. Horseshoe and Zoe work alongside Hubb as the official gatekeepers at Treecourt Unleashed Dog Adventure Park on Marshall Road, just beyond the Kirkwood city limits. Horseshoe, a German shorthaired pointer, and Zoe, a beagle-blue heeler mix, are on hand daily to greet visitors and old friends with a sniff and a wag. They also help test the temperament of new canine visitors. “We’ve got a really good mix that comes out,” Hubb said. “We have over 300 dogs that come out here, all…

Officer Dan McCune has only been with the Kirkwood Police Department a few months, but already he feels at home. That’s partly because of the response he’s gotten from the community to a fundraiser he’s organizing to help his parents with their mounting medical bills. “It’s been unbelievable,” said McCune, who worked for 14 years for the Ferguson Police Department. “Every business I’ve been to has just rallied around me. It just reaffirmed that I made the right move by coming to Kirkwood. I love Kirkwood.” McCune, 39, grew up in Florissant with an older brother and younger sister. Their …

Twenty years after founding the Kirkwood Children’s Chorale to train schoolchildren in the do-re-mi’s, it still warms Mimi Steele’s heart to hear their voices blend in harmony. “I just love the ‘a-ha’ moment when they know they sound good and they know they’ve got it right,” Steele said. “I just love being able to lead them to the realization that they can sing well.” Steele was an elementary school music teacher when she teamed up with the children’s music director at her church to give talented Kirkwood area children a unique choral experience. “What we realized was that many children in …

Downtown Kirkwood is dark and cold at 5:30 a.m. this time of year, but that doesn’t stop a group of women from hitting the streets three times a week for their regular five-mile run. “It’s just so nice to start off your morning with what I consider a group of sisters,” said Deb Tata, 60, of Des Peres. “I’ve lived in a lot of different places and run with a lot of different people but this is a very special group.” Tata is one of about half a dozen area women who have been getting together to run three mornings a week for more than five years. They run year-round, in heat, humidity, cold, rain…

When 93-year-old Blanton Whitmire went to science class back in the Depression, his little high school in the mountains of North Carolina didn’t have so much as a microscope. But thanks to his generosity, students at Kirkwood High School – and soon Joplin High School – have top-notch scientific research equipment the likes of which colleges don’t even have. The Glendale resident is the founder of a chemical company, Whitmire Research Laboratories, which was an innovator in the pest-control industry. He is passionate about helping today’s students get real-world experiences in science at an …

Teenagers from a Des Peres church are using puppets to share God’s love in the community. For six years now, high school students at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church have flocked to the puppet ministry, called H.I.S. (Hands in Service) Puppeteers. They practice regularly and travel to churches and nursing homes throughout the St. Louis area to praise God and share his love through puppets, music and dance. Jamie Striler, 17, of Kirkwood, is one of them. A senior at Lutheran South High School, she has been a member of the puppet troupe for four years. “I like just watching the children getting …

Andrew Tessier is on a roll. He has rolled along the Great Wall of China, in front of a palace in Sweden, in the Sistine Chapel and through a honky-tonk in Nashville. Now the 34-year-old Des Peres man is trying to use his trademark party move – a “barrel roll” -- to raise money for a good cause. “I thought, why don’t we try to take this idea, as ridiculous as it sounds, and try to help an organization that needs help and give back to the community,” Tessier said. So Tessier launched a website called Barrelrollman.com to share videos of his stunts around the world, promote group “roll offs” …

A modern-day “town crier” has built up a following for his editorialized emails about Kirkwood issues. “Kmail” goes out regularly to more than 1,700 addresses, keeping Keith Williams’ readers informed about city council decisions, zoning issues and other local dealings that affect them. For Williams, the retired owner of a company that made tools for the mining industry, it’s a hobby that he enjoys -- even though keeping the address list up-to-date can be quite a headache for the 84-year-old Kirkwood man. “I can’t help myself when I get stirred up, when I see something that I think is not …

When dozens of volunteers descended on a red brick home in south St. Louis this month armed with paintbrushes, hammers and cleaning supplies, they left behind more than just a spruced-up home for a family in need. They left such a large measure of love that Terry Edwards says her family of 16 will feel their energy for a long time to come. “They didn’t feel like strangers,” she said. “They felt like one big happy family working together to improve the life of another. I’m still in awe. I felt the love and I still feel it today and that feeling is sustaining.” Some 140 volunteers from the …

It’s never far from her mind – the possibility that one of her family members serving as a state trooper could be killed in the line of duty. That’s why supporting The MASTERS – the highway patrol’s emergency relief society – is so important to Beth Knight, who counts three brothers among its officers. “It’s very near and dear to my heart,” the 41-year-old Des Peres woman said. Since its inception in 1931, 29 Missouri State Highway Patrol members have been killed in the line of duty. Troop C, which covers 11 counties in the St. Louis area, has suffered three fatalities in the past six years, …

C.J. Sanders learned he had a knack for pumpkin carving during his college days 32 years ago when he won first place in a carving contest. "Back then, I wanted and needed the money, so I set out to win," said Sanders, of CJ's Produce at the Kirkwood Farmers' Market. For the college competition, he sculpted King Tut and secured the $25 grand prize. Since then, he has carved thousands of the orange cultivars. In fact, last year alone Sanders said he sculptured more than 2,300 pumpkins. Sanders' artistic background was shaped by studying art in St. Louis, at the Kansas City Art Institute and in …

A longtime Kirkwood resident who has fed countless Pioneer sports fans over three decades is the inspiration behind a nonprofit organization aimed at helping kids play youth sports. Thomas Watkins, a 71-year-old grandfather, is a fixture behind the grill at Friday night football games at Lyons Field, even though his own six sons and a daughter have long since graduated. Watkins, a 36-year member of Pioneer Boosters Inc., believes that playing sports helps keep kids from heading down the wrong path in life. So come Friday night, at the Pioneers’ home game against Parkway West, you’ll likely …

At a ceremony on Wednesday at North Kirkwood Middle School, 85-year-old cafeteria worker Mary Binggeli was recognized as the St. Louis County regional winner for the Mers Goodwill Outstanding Older Worker of the Year contest.  Binggeli has worked for Chartwells School Dining Services in the Kirkwood School District for 15 years. Terri Whitaker, Chartwell’s Director of Food & Nutrition Services for the Kirkwood School District, nominated Binggeli. Whitaker describes Binggeli as “a woman that we all look up to. She always has a smile and hug for everyone and can work circles around all her co-…