Remembering Little Flower
by Heidi Brown

We arrived in St. Louis in July 1995, fresh from New York City. It was my first trip to the Midwest. We came because my husband, Mike, accepted a promising medical research position at Washington University School of Medicine. We had two young daughters, Krista, who was 2 1/2 years old, and Sierra, who was barely 3 months old. What a fine pickle – a strange place, no family to lean on, and 21 hours to any East Coast beach! What were we thinking? I remember that first week after Mike found a house to rent on Clayton Road. We walked through the neighborhood around Little Flower, getting a feel for our new surroundings.

Then we found ourselves on the steps of the Little Flower Church, a beautiful sanctuary in the round. I also remember the first Mass I ever attended at Little Flower during those early weeks in St. Louis. As I looked around at all the faces, I did not recognize a single person and I felt so alone, so far from home, so sad that tears came to my eyes. We had no idea at that time what a great part of our lives Little Flower Parish would become.

Almost as soon as the dust settled, we involved ourselves in parish life. Mike became a lector and a Eucharistic minister, and I was asked to write an occasional article for The Spirit. I had no idea when I said “yes” how much joy I would derive from getting to know the people and events I wrote about. God blessed us with a third daughter, Rachel, who was baptized at Little Flower. Shortly after her birth, we moved to a little house on Boland Place. At the same time, Krista began Kindergarten at Little Flower School and Mike joined the School Board. I became a room mother, like so many parents before me. It seemed the more we were willing to give, the more Little Flower asked of us. And, as we agreed to give more of ourselves, we also learned more about all of the amazing and wonderful people of this parish. So many give so much of themselves to volunteer in the school, coach the children’s sports teams, care for the church, provide for the needy, run the parish organizations, teach RCIA, sing in the choir, plan for the school picnic and the fall festival, drive the hay ride, monitor the playground, walk with children in their parade, decorate floats, and tie shoe laces. The list goes on and on.

I recently attended my last Little Flower Mass, at least for a while. Looking around at all the faces, tears came to my eyes. Different tears from those first ones I shed when we moved here. The Little Flower parish community welcomed and supported us and will always live in our hearts. You have become part of our family, just as we have become part of yours. Thank you for making Little Flower our home. We will miss you. May God bless you.