The Couch family was
the family my mother grew up in and it was the family I spent a great deal of
time with. They came from Wales to the US and owned a farm. My grandmother was
a Sweeney and they came from Ireland.
My great grandmother
was Eulah Lewis Couch, born 1857. She lived with my Aunt Ivy in Richmond
Heights, a short drive from Maplewood.
My grandpa visited her every week and took me along. We called my great
grandma “Muzzer”.
She was born before
the Civil War and lived most of her life on the family farm. She was a treasure
trove of information about life in the US during and after the Civil War and
the changes we encountered through the Industrial Revolution. She was in her
90s, but still gardened with Aunt Ivy. Their entire yard was full of flowers,
vegetables, herbs and plants.
My Aunt Ivy never
married. She just looked after Muzzer. After Muzzer died, Ivy married a
neighbor who was a widower named Wyatt and they lived well into their 90s.
Spinsters who were family caretakers were common in the 1950s.
My grandfather was Leo
B Couch was born in 1886. He was a Physician and Surgeon.
My grandmother was
Maybelle Sweeny Couch was born in 1891. She had been an Opera Singer.
My mother was Maria
Adina Couch Leahy born 1915. She was a very popular “flapper”.
My grandfather grew up
on the family farm and was home schooled.
When he was age 11 in 1897, he took a factory job to earn money to hire
a science tutor. When he was age 16 in
1902, he entered Barnes Medical College. He graduated at the top of his class
in 1905 at age 19. He was appointed
Professor of Internal Medicine at Barnes upon graduation with an MD. He
completed his surgical residency in 1907 at age 21 and opened his practice at
Grand Avenue and Arsenal Street in St. Louis
He met my grandmother
at the 1904 World’s Fair and they married in 1909. Their first son Leo was born
in 1911. Their second son Winford was born in 1913. Their third child was a
daughter, Maria Adina born in 1915. She was my mother.
Every Friday, my
grandfather would go downstairs from his office to the pharmacy to buy the
medicine he needed for his charity practice.
Every Saturday morning, he would drive to Praire du Rocher Illinois to
do house calls. These poor farmers
always paid him in produce, so on Saturday night he would come home with
bushels of fruit, vegetables, corn, potatoes and occasionally a live chicken or
two. They knew he had a big family and although they had little money, they
could pay for his expenses with produce.
By 1932, they had 12
children, 8 boys and 4 girls. They lived in a large 3 story house in Maplewood,
in St. Louis County Mo. The 8 boys all slept in a dormitory on the third floor.
The 4 girls occupied a large bedroom on the second story across the sitting
room from my grandparents bedroom.
My 2 oldest uncles,
Leo and Winford fought in World War II and died in World War II. They were in
their 30s. They started a Jazz band and played their way through college. They
would have had remarkable lives had they lived. My other uncles, Tom, Bob and
Norbert served in the US Army during the occupation after the war and were not
allowed to serve in combat because we had already lost 2 family members to the
war.
I remember being 2
years old and standing in front of the big Radio hearing that we had just won
the war in Europe. I also remember being 2 and traveling on the train from St.
Louis to Hallettsville Texas. I was not happy.
I was wearing my dark blue sailor suit and was weaving up to the dining
car. I crashed into Ethel Waters, the singer and movie star and said: “I’m a
drunken sailor.” She told my mom I belonged on the stage. I quipped “and it
leaves at 4pm”. Later I spent a lot of time on a stage.
I remember being 3
years old, sitting in the kitchen helping my Aunt Ilene make Christmas cookies.
She told me she was 94 years old as she changed her voice to sound old and I
would laugh. Our anise cookies were exceptional.
I remember being 4
years old, sitting at the piano with my Uncle Billy teaching me how to play by
ear. I remember Uncles Billy and Carl washing the dishes after dinner as they
listened to the ballgame on the radio. They would yell and scream and really
get into the game. They were big Cardinal fans.
I remember being 5
years old, visiting with Uncles Bob, Tom and Norbert, sitting by the fireplace
or on the porch and keeping up with their conversations. I remember visiting
with Aunts Rita and Leah in their room.
I remember them nursing me through the mumps, measles and chicken pox. I
remember being taken on the dates my Aunt Leah had with her boyfriend Jack
Gantz and remember being the ring-bearer for their wedding. Jack graduated from
St. Louis U Med School and was very close to my grandpa. My Aunt Leah found him
by trolling in the Med School library. Years later, my 6 kids would spend time
with their 7 kids at each other’s houses.
My Aunts, Uncles, Mom
and Dad were all privileged and good looking.
My Uncles and Aunts
were my baby sitters and play mates. Although we lived away from St. Louis from
1945 to 1951, we drove back to St. Louis and visited them every year.
In 1951, My Dad moved
to Brussels Belgium to run Volkart Brothers and my mom, my brother and I moved
back to St. Louis. We lived in the family apartment building several blocks
away from my grandparent’s family home.
In 1956, we bought a
home across the street from my grandparents. My mom worked as an Accountant, so
I was a “latch-key” free-range kid, but I spent a lot of time with my aunts and
uncles and grandparents.
Illness struck the
Couch family when my uncles began to show signs of muscular atrophy. My
grandfather had been injured when he turned on the street lights and the switch
arced. After that, all of his boys showed signs of atrophy. They could all walk
and do things, but they were clearly disabled. The 3 youngest boys were
extremely thin and frail. They never married. The 3 older boys looked normal
and 2 of them did marry and had children. One of their children did develop
atrophy and died during his teens. None of the other children were affected.
2 of my 3 aunts did
marry. One of them had 7 children who were all healthy. My Aunt Ilene remained
single and she became the caregiver for the family.
Despite their
difficulties, the Couch house was one big party. We spent Sundays with them
that started with Mass, a roast beef dinner at noon, then we played monopoly
and pinochle and had newspaper reading visiting sessions with my uncles.
Grandpa always had a bridge game going in the living room. Jesuits grandpa met
on house calls from St. Louis U were there for bridge every Sunday afternoon.
They had a big train
set I would set up to circle the first floor. I would make highballs and open
beer bottles in the open pantry, put them on the train cars and send them to
the bridge tables in the living room and toot the whistle. The bridge players
would take the fresh drinks and place the empty bottles on the train. I would then send the train through the
living room, down the hall and through the kitchen back to the pantry.
There was a grand
piano in the living room I played, but my uncle Billy was the pianist. He
played by ear and could play everything. My favorite thing was to gather around
the piano with my aunts and uncles and sing in harmony. Each Christmas, we
would go to midnight Mass, come home and have a dinner and go to the living
room to sing around the piano until dawn.
On July 4th,
we would sit in grandpa’s back yard and watch the fireworks at Maplewood High
across the road. One of my uncles and I
would walk down the back yard to walk to White Castle at the intersection of
Manchester and Big Bend and carry sacks of them back to hand out to the family.
Grandpa maintained a
tiny one-shot golf course down the length of the back yard next to the rose
bushes and Iris beds. We would pitch the golf ball with a 5 iron to the cup and
put it in. There were occasional “holes in one”, but the real plan was to sink
our first put.
I remember being 10
years old and reading the Sunday paper with my uncles on the front porch. On
the front page I saw a picture of a bombed out car and the headline that a
Union President had been assassinated. I asked my uncles how this could
happen. They said “Mafia” in one voice.
I said: “So the Mafia is in the Unions?” They all said “Yes” in one voice. My
response was “We’re doing this all wrong”. They all said “Yes” in one voice. My
interest in becoming a Personnel Director was born.
I was raised with
adults, so I learned to act like an adult at an early age. We all called
grandpa “Dad” and grandma “Mom”. I called my mom “Dina”. I had tons of friends
in grade school and spent lots of my time with them after school and in the
summertime. I was a boy scout, played softball, baseball and football,
basketball, tennis and hung out with all groups from my grade school class. I
learned how to play the piano, bugle, trumpet and guitar. I spent my childhood
on my bike and rode all over Maplewood to see friends. But after 5pm
was family time.
As I entered high
school, I was drawn to many interests. I started my Rock Band in 1957 and my Uncle
Francis booked our first job and drove us to the band job. Francis and I had
often taken off to night spots to listen to Jazz. I remember going to the
Debaliviere Strip to hear the Herb Drury Trio. I got up at the age of 14 and
sang Bluesette like Mel Torme. They
predicted I would be a singer. Later when I was 30 and I was a singer, I went
by to see the Trio. They remembered my visit when I was 14.
My brother Bob was
only 5 years younger than Uncle Francis. He got Bob a gas station job when he
was in high school and introduced him to all of his friends. They all ran
around together for years. Bob and I were like the continuation of the Couch
family boys in many ways.
Geneology, Couch
Family, Maplewood, St. Louis Mo.
Leo B Couch 1886 Head
Maybelle A Couch 1891
Wife
Leo B Couch 1911 Son
Winford S Couch 1913
Son
Maria A Couch 1915
Daughter
Ilean C Couch 1917
Daughter
Thomas M Couch 1919
Son
Robert J Couch Leo 1921
Son
Carl B Couch 1923 Son
Norbert C Couch 1925
Son
Rita T Couch 1926
Daughter
Leah M Couch 1927
Daughter
William R Couch 1930
Son
Francis X Couch 1932
Son
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ivy B Couch Richmond
Heights, St Louis, MO 1886 Head Eulah
Couch Richmond Heights, St Louis, MO 1857 Mother
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of my uncles on both sides of the family attended and
graduated from CBC. My brother Bob and I graduated from CBC and so did all of
our cousins.
Christian Brothers College (CBC) was founded in St. Louis
in 1850. In 1855 is was chartered as a college and was the feeder school to the
local seminary. It moved to Clayton Road
in 1922 and became a military academy.
All of the girls in our
family attended and graduated from Nerinx Hall.
In 1924, Nerinx Hall began
educating young women in the Lockwood family home in Webster
Groves, Missouri, graduating its
first class in May 1925. It was owned and operated by the Sister of Loretto,
founded in 1812.
All
of the Couch girls attended and graduated from Webster College Webster, founded in 1915: in St. Louis, It
was owned and operated by the Sisters of Loretto.
Most of my uncles attended
and graduated from St. Louis University. I graduated in 1965.
St Louis
University was founded in 1818 by Bishop Louis Dubourg, a Jesuit, who was
appointed Bishop of the Louisiana Territory in 1812.
My aunts and uncles all
attended and graduated from Immaculate Conception School. This was the Couch
family parish and grade school. I graduated from Immaculate Conception School
in 1957.
Immaculate Conception Parish
was established in Maplewood, St Louis Mo. in 1905 and the grade school opened
in 1906. The new church, rectory, convent and school were dedicated in 1925.
The convent was staffed with Sisters of Loretto Nuns from Webster College.
I was
blessed to be part of this amazing family. My grandfather died at age 76 in
1962. My grandmother died at age 77 in 1968. Some of my Aunts and Uncles died
in their 50s. Others made it to their 60s and 70s and a few made it to their
80s as did my parents.
The most
striking lesson I learned from the Couch family was the joy the felt and
spread, despite being disabled. They certainly didn’t act disabled. Spending
time with them was great fun. Many of my uncles would not live full lives,
would not have careers or families, but they never showed a shred of regret,
anger or bitterness. Their focus was on accepting their plight, making the best
of it, having fun, doing good and keeping their faith in God.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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