Valerie Schremp loved playing in the woods behind her home in Oakville. When her mother told her not to play in the creek in the woods, she naturally played in the creek. It was the kind of thing you’d expect from someone who grew up to be a journalist. Today, she writes as Valerie Schremp Hahn for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Valerie is one of more than two dozen St. Louisans I’ve interviewed for my book Growing Up St. Louis with the help of the St. Louis Public Library. During October, I talked to people who walked into open interview sessions at the library’s Buder, Carpenter, Schlafly and Julia Davis branches. Now, I’m about 22 people away from my goal of interviewing 100.
I interviewed Valerie on Saturday, Nov. 5 at the Carpenter Branch, as her mostly patient kids Alice and Leo waited in a children’s section of the library. I also talked to Mary Schroeder about going to picnics for Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Florissant in the 1950s. No matter who I interview, I always end as a friend. I think you will, too, after the book comes out.
Jim Merkel the Writer 