Members Provide Support Season After Season  — Forest Park Forever

“When I was a kid in the early 1960s, we lived in Richmond Heights with no air conditioning,” Mueller says. “My parents would take us to Forest Park and put us under the spray from the fountains below the World’s Fair Pavilion. That would cool us off, and then they’d take us home to fall asleep for the night.”

Mueller’s daughter Carolyn would go on to share her father’s love of Forest Park. 

“She met her husband at the Zoo when he was the elephant keeper,” Mueller explains. “They got engaged in the Park, and they had their wedding reception here.

While working at the Saint Louis Zoo, Carolyn Mueller began writing books—including one about the walkways in Forest Park.

“Recently, we came to the Park with the photographer who shot their wedding to have family pictures taken. The weekend forecast was terrible, but 30 minutes before the shoot, the weather turned beautiful for about an hour and a half before the rain came, and we got some great photos in front of the Muny. We all love Forest Park because it’s been part of our lives in so many ways.”

And From the Tallest Trees in Springtime . . .

Larry Timberlake and his friend Ann Kibburs are always up for a walk in the Park, especially in the spring.

“That’s when everything comes to life,” says Timberlake. “I like to walk through the Kennedy Forest and take the back path from there to the Art Museum. The trees are so majestic, and one day I found a plant that smelled like mint. There’s always something new to see in the spring.”