A little bit about me…

Born at St John's Hospital, in 1962, we lived in Wellston till I was 4 then moved to Hillsdale on 67th St. for the remainder of my childhood. I graduated Normandy Senior High in 1980. My most influential teachers were my 1st grade, 6th grade, and World History-Mr. Masterson.

             My dad was a laborer for the Teamster's Local 688, many a vacations were spent at Camp Pevely, and my love of Horses came from there. My mom was a Homemaker, till the later 70's, and then when she did go to work it was with Landmark Bank in Wellston-now known as Regions. She moved to St. Ann shortly after she began working for the Division of Family Services, Local 6355 on Page, where she retired from about 15 yrs ago. My grandmother, spent her entire career working with the General's, at the Federal Record Center Building on Page, after my grandpa passed when I was 5 from Asbestos Cancer. Both of my grandfathers were in the Original Union Local 709, my grandpa Percy Dufrenne was well known amongst them and how my Dad got into 709 before it became 688.

             In high school I played 4 yrs. of Volleyball, did Shot Putt & Discus Throw for Track, and was manager for the Basketball Team (5'4"), I sang high soprano in the choir...Our marching band got to march in the Orange Bowl Parade, and the choir got to sing in the Daytona Band Shell on Daytona Beach, Fl.

             As a child, we spent most of our time shopping at Northwest Plaza-"The biggest and the Best"-if anyone remembers that theme song. NWP use to be the largest mall in the United States at one time. We ate many a meal in the old Woolworth's Cafeteria-I loved that BBQ sandwich. Typically, if we were not at NWP, we were at Northland, Jamestown or Riverroads Shopping Malls. Though some of my favorite memories were going to Holiday Hill Amusement Park and the Drive In's - we hit most of the Drive-Ins North Twin, 270, 66, 4 Screen and my favorite Airway Twin.

             My 1st job was an Asst. Dispatcher for the Hillsdale Police Dept. at 15 1/2- a summer program the City of Hillsdale participated in, for the youth.

             My favorite job as a teenager though had to be working for the Airway Twin Drive-In. This St. Ann favorite use to be located, across from where our New Waffle House is being built now. The people who lived in the house at the back of the drive-in use to take care of it after hours and quite a few of our St. Ann Police Officers got their start in security patrolling the drive-in, kicking out the kids caught hiding in the trunks and keeping the customers safe. What great memories I have from working there. It was a sad day, when myself & fellow employees had to clean up for the last time at Airway, we sent her out right though at the end of the night lighting up the bill board & entry way-that we now enjoy nightly as the "Airway Girl" (Shop n Save) sign.

             My best friend met her 1st husband there, and prior to meeting my own husband, I resided with them in St. Ann on Krem Ct.

             I knew then that this was the area I wanted to bring my own kids up in someday and when I met my, "Mr. Dream Come True......" that is exactly what we have done.

             Our concerns then, (I should say mine as my husband graduated Ritenour) were only the school district as the home we located was perfect & of course, I was a Normandy graduate. (When I was in school Normandy & Ritenour were at the top of the ladder in schools to attend-and we were very competitive against each other-anyone remember the Wagon Wheel game?) In ’80 when I graduated…Normandy won it!

             We checked out Ritenour and were quite happy with all the information we learned about them, and still are. 

            We moved in April 7th, of 1992. Which is kinda funny as I started work with the Airway Drive-In on April 1st as a teen, years before. As it turned out, I was Elected Alderman Ward 2 on April 5th as well...

             When I decided to accept the offer to be a Crew Chief with Wendy's Restaurant on Page, I had no idea it would develop into my career for the next 23 yrs. Most do not consider the fast food manager to be a very educated position. However, in my time with Wendy's and Hardee's, I attended many Management Training Courses, etc...

Being the General Manager is exactly like running your own business. One has to develop and meet their own Profit and Loss Statement's(budgets), figure out how to make a profit through proper management of Labor costs, Food cost's, Repairs & Maintenance, Utilities, etc...

The GM must track and maintain their own Inventory, Accounts Payable/Accounts Receivable, they are held accountable for their Human Resource skills- hiring, turnover rate, proper paperwork/personnel manual and signage, etc...

We are met with Health Inspections Quarterly, Fire Inspections, etc...

I even learned a lot about Equipment Maintenance thru talking to my repair men, and Pest Control talking to the guy who performed this for me.

This job was quite the challenge and very fun it incorporated everything, I loved...Math, Staying Busy, People, -unfortunately an ankle injury (triple break) ended my ability to continue in this field-as if one is to do the job properly, I would compare it to being a Tennis player, constantly switching motion left-right, forward-backward on your feet all day and the ankle just could not handle that any longer. (That’s what i get for trying to show off, on my daughter's 1st Kindergarten skate night) I get the same rewards in what I do now, just not quite as much running around.

             My family, - 2 beautiful daughters and a husband who is supportive and that I Love with all my heart.

             My oldest, Stephanie, now a teacher, on Jan. 27, 2011 signed with Kentucky Christian University to play as their Ds on their Volleyball Team. This year 11/15/14 she served up the Match Point "ACE" for the 1st ever KCU National Championship Title. 

Her choice of career: Early Childhood Education and K-5, she also graduated with a minor in Bible. Her college team (the Lady Knight’s) have been to National’s every year of her attendance there and she has been on the President’s list every semester of her attendance. She entered the Teacher’s College of the University on time and was elected President of the Teachers Organization called Phi Chi Delta. This past summer she passed both of her Praxis Exams on her 1st try. She graduated in May of 2015 and returned to St. Ann to seek employment as a Teacher. During the summer this past year was promoted to Overland's Summer Camp as Assistant Camp Director, got the position of Assistant Volleyball Coach with Ritenour Senior High School and is currently in her 4th year of teaching for Ritenour at Marvin Elementary, 1st Graders. She continued her community involvement thru coaching volleyball on a club team and is the Lead Ell teacher for her grade level.

             My youngest, Jessica graduated Ritenour High School 2015, her teacher's told me she will probably be a counselor/psychologist when she grows up because she always likes to help everyone else, even at a cost to herself. She was accepted to UMSL and studied Psychology there, but it turns out her passion is numbers. She works for Jarrell Construction in Accounts Payable. She was on Ritenours Varsity team all 4 years. She's quite the little setter but for Ritenour she has been their Libero, her teammates voted her Captain, for the last 2 seasons and she was voted Best Defensive Player all 4 years.

             As I said above, my husband, Chris, is "My Dream Come True..." ask me sometime and I will tell you the story, but it is too long to place here. However, yes he is the 2nd cousin of the St. Louis City-Mayor Poelker, who is probably best known for his days as Comptroller of St. Louis City. Pretty much, if the last name of someone you may know is Poelker, they are related to us.

             I don't know how much more you may want to hear about my life, but as you can tell, I have spent most of it here in St. Ann and St Louis County (my apartment years were either Pre - Maryland Heights or St Ann as well)-one way or another-which is why I care so much to attempt to assist in working to make it a better place to live and work.

Today I can say St. Ann is indeed on its way to recovery, we may still have much more work to do, but thanks to the involvement of you its dedicated citizens we have seen much success. Now I would like to take my experience and continue my work to help our communities at a greater level.

             I don’t pretend like I know exactly what to do, but I will continue to use my past experiences and your advice/questions/concerns-to guide my way thru it. I will not be a politician. You cannot say one thing and do another in my book. And if I don't know something I am not afraid to admit it, but I will follow up with someone that does know the answer.

             A good leader does not need to know all the answers...but they do have to know how to find them. I was once afraid to coach volleyball, I knew how to play it, but not coach it. One of St. Ann's prior swim coaches taught me how to coach it, and that led to me having my own club... Thanks Coach Gerke

St Ann and I have worked together for the last 8 years, looking back at where we started, and seeing where we are now…. it’s happening in St. Ann!

Congratulations, St. Ann…all your hard work is paying off….

I hope I can gain your support and the support of others, in my work towards the future. I will aggressively work with both parties to push thru the success of the entire region...it must happen NOW, this next election is very important to District 2 and St Louis County as a whole. We must bring jobs and families back to our region.