Former Crystal City Mayor Harold Vance loved his family, was dedicated to his community and kept a positive outlook on life for nearly a century.
“He told us, ‘I’ve had a good life, had a good job (at the old PPG glass factory) and had the best bosses anybody could ask for,’” said his youngest daughter, Tina Blum.
Mr. Vance died March 8 at age 95.
He grew up in De Soto and as a teenager hitchhiked or walked to his job as a dishwasher at the Summit Cafe outside town. Although he left school after about the eighth grade to go to work with his father in construction, his family says education was very important to him.
“When he received his machinist certification later in life, it was a source of immense pride,” oldest daughter Roxanna McVey said. “He made it possible for me to attend college so my life would be enriched, and I am grateful.”
Mr. Vance met Hilma Weiss at the Artesian Club in Herculaneum and the two were married in February 1949. They settled in Crystal City, where he worked at PPG, and welcomed daughters Roxanna (now McVey) in 1953, Debbie (Marler) in 1954 and Tina in 1958.
“He was very active in our lives,” Debbie said. “He would brush our hair. He would get down on the carpet with us and play Old Maid or other card games. He never missed our sports and activities. We knew when he was there.”
“Everybody knew when he was there,” Tina interjected, and the sisters laughed.
“He had three rules,” Debbie continued. “One: Don’t make friends with the beagles – those were his hunting dogs. Two: Don’t touch the gun cabinet. And three: Come straight home from school.”
The girls remember their mother driving to the PPG plant to pick Mr. Vance up after his shift.
“We could recognize him from a distance by his distinctive walk and signature red and black plaid flannel shirt,” Roxanna said.
She also recalled her dad coming home from a midnight shift with goodies from the Bauman Bakery to eat while they watched cartoons.
Mr. Vance also was known as the neighborhood “bike fixer.”
“He was an avid hunter and fisherman,” Tina said. “Deer, squirrel, pheasant and antelope, and he so much enjoyed opening day of trout season at Montauk.”
The family vacationed in Branson, in Florida and all over the West.
Mr. Vance was elected to the Crystal City Council in 1957, and as his family grew, so did his involvement in community activities.
“He was asked to be part of the PPG plant fire brigade, which led to his being a volunteer firefighter with the city,” Tina said.
Mr. Vance chaired the city Street Board and its Building Committee and served as a police judge.
He was on the Library Board and, during his term as mayor, cast the deciding vote to move the library from a small room at City Hall to its current location on Mississippi Ave.
He headed the Park Board during the late 1960s, when the city applied for and received the grant that made the Municipal Pool possible.
Mr. Vance faced some challenges as well as triumphs – his divorce in 1972, the disastrous flood of 1973.
“He had a quote he always said: ‘He might fail, but he tried his best,’” son-in-law Tim Marler said. “You couldn’t tell him he couldn’t do something; he’d find a way.”
In 1974 Mr. Vance married Marian “Sue” Naumann, and they settled in Pevely for a few years before moving to Panama City Beach in Florida, where Mr. Vance indulged his passion for gardening. He and Sue traveled extensively and enjoyed entertaining. He was active in the community there, too, and built a covered school bus shelter for neighborhood children.
Following the death of his wife, Mr. Vance returned in 2009 to Crystal City, where he maintained an enormous flower garden, planting about 700 flowers each year.
“He’d say, ‘Flowers love company – go get another flat,’” Debbie said.
Mr. Vance was a lifelong animal lover.
“He filled 15 bird feeders a day as long as he could – and after he couldn’t, Deb did,” Tina said. “He fed his critters morning and evening – foxes, squirrels, opossums, coons, skunks, deer, stray cats. He bought 50-pound bags of peanuts. He bought feed, and he bought and cooked leg quarters.”
Mr. Vance puttered around his backyard, rarely without his trademark cigar or pipe, keeping his favorites until they were worn and tape-mended, their stems nearly bitten in half. Up until a few years ago, he still attended the occasional City Council meeting.
“He loved his kaffeeklatsch at White Grill,” Tina said. “But he said cell phones and Google killed the fun. He hated that those things did away with the discussions.”
Mr. Vance enjoyed good health until well into his 90s and was grateful to the family and hospice workers who helped him out when his body finally began to run down.
“Dad’s wishes were to be at home for the rest of his life, if possible,” Tina said. “We honored those wishes, and he was honored with a peaceful, painless death overlooking his parklike backyard.
“He always said thank you to anyone who helped him. My father was a grateful man.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.