MOM AND DAD were both farm kids raised in the Missouri Ozarks, Mom was among twelve siblings and Dad one of eleven. The aftermath of WWII eventually drew them and many siblings into the closest big city, St. Louis, for jobs and the beginnings of their own families. So, I grew up in that city’s northside, a hardscrabble neighborhood a mile from the old Sportsman’s Park, now an area largely bulldozed and abandoned.
Our next-door neighbors, Gib and Helen, had no kids. Since our family had lots, we were always welcomed into their home and brought along on and . I devoured them both, never quite understanding my city-boy fascination, but never denying it, either.
