Ed and Jan

Growing up in Laclede Town my folks both tended bar across the street from our townhouse at a place called The Coach and Four Pub. Ed and Jan Eldredge owned the place. It was a great place to be a kid. I got autographed photos from the likes of Lou Brock. My folks knew everyone.

A few years later, when my folks split up, my dad would take my brother and me for the day. We’d make it as far as the Pub. It was okay though, we had a lot of friends in Laclede Town. My mom would be furious when she caught him. My brother and I became bar flies at an early age.

Ed used to park his race boats out in front of the bar. They looked like space ships to us. They were so sleek and modern.

My dad was famous for making every experience an adventure. The first boat race of Ed’s we went to he decided we needed a better vantage point.

He found a crop duster with a small Cessna on a grass runway in his back yard. He talked the guy into flying us over the race for a better look.

This was my first time flying. I have flown in small Cessnas thousands of times since.

Jan and Ed had a small piece of property at a lake in Illinois. We used to picnic, swim and fish there in the summers. I once swam the length of it to get to a general store at a public beach on the other side.

I used to play poker with the adults. They’d get mad at my folks for letting me in the game. I had a lot of beginner’s luck.

My dad and his friend Joan swam across the lake one summer afternoon. When Joan got to the other side my dad wasn’t with her. They found him tangled in weeds at the bottom of the lake.

Ed became a completely different person after a stroke. They moved to some small town to retire. 

The Laclede Town paper I got this pick from has stories about Dick Gregory and others. I’ve been promising my Laclede Town FaceBook group I’d scan all my publications but it’s going to be a huge undertaking. I will get to it, I promise.