Gourmet chef James Love didn’t do much of the everyday cooking for his wife and four children, but when he did, it was memorable.
“Every once in a while you might get something out of him,” said his oldest child, Roxanne Epley, 57, of Valles Mines. “He used to make French onion soup from scratch that would just make your toes curl, it was so good.”
Mr. Love died Aug. 20 at age 77 of complications from diabetic neuropathy.
He grew up in Kimmswick in a house across from the original St. Joseph Catholic Church.
“He didn’t graduate from high school,” his daughter said. “He got his GED later.”
Mr. Love, who worked all over the St. Louis area as a chef, started in the food industry as a teen, working his way up from the bottom rung.
“He started as a pot washer, working for his dad, Marion, who was a chef,” Roxanne said. “After three months, he got promoted to apprentice, and that lasted for three years.”
Mr. Love met his future wife, Barbara Scheid, while she was a student at Lindbergh High School.
“They met a Teen Town in south St. Louis,” Roxanne said. “They were married in 1960, a year after she graduated.”
Mr. Love’s first job as a chef was at the Algonquin Country Club in Webster Groves. He and his wife would have four children in 10 years, and he worked at a series of restaurants, hotels, theaters and private clubs.
“He worked under chefs at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, the Old Warson Country Club and the Westwood Country Club,” Roxanne said. “He also worked as a banquet chef at the airport Marriott, and as executive chef at Top of the Sevens in Clayton.”
Roxanne said the family moved around a lot in those days, following her father’s work.
“I remember going to California in an old Maverick, so he could work at USC in Santa Barbara,” she said. “But we were only out there about six months. It was another world, and we were from the Midwest and just didn’t fit in. So we came back here and settled for good in Kimmswick around 1970.”
Mr. Love worked as the food and beverage director at what was then the University of Missouri in Rolla, commuting from home. He also did stints as general manager at the
Bull Shed Restaurant in St. Louis and as a chef in the Rendezvous Room at the Missouri Athletic Club.
For several years, Mr. Love was the executive chef at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, working with celebrities like Barry Manilow, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Loretta Lynn and even Alice Cooper, who signed a photo of himself with the chef.
“I remember my dad saying, out of all the celebrities he prepared meals for, Red Skelton was his favorite,” Roxanne said. “He was very nice and would always compliment Dad on his food.”
Roxanne said her father perfected his culinary skills patiently over the years.
“He never shared any of his recipes. His favorites were gourmet meals, like prime rib, shrimp, that kind of thing,” she said. “And he was not about low-fat or low-calorie; everything was rich and delicious.
“I called it cooking once, and boy, he jumped on me right away. He said he was a creator. He created meals. He was not a cook; he was a chef.”
Roxanne said one of the highlights of her father’s career came in a contest in Las Vegas in 1988, when he was named first runner-up among a group of chefs from all over the country.
In 1974, Mr. Love opened his own catering business.
“Everything was done by hand, from scratch,” Roxanne said. “We all helped with the catering, and my mom was the flower arranger. L and S Catering operated from 1974 until 1980, and it was an almost every weekend thing.”
Mr. Love relaxed away from the job by bass fishing and helping his father with an extensive garden.
After Mr. Love retired in 1999, he picked up a few odd jobs, including a gig dressed as a Civil War general.
“He used to chef for the Old House (Restaurant) there in Kimmswick,” Roxanne said. “When they brought the Robert E. Lee in, the owner approached him about helping add a little atmosphere. He would greet the diners, walk around and talk to them, ask how they were liking the food. I think he really enjoyed it.”
Diabetic neuropathy put Mr. Love in a wheelchair about seven years ago, and he went into the Georgian Gardens nursing home in Potosi in 2011, shortly before the death of his wife.
“He fell out of his wheelchair this summer, and they took him to St. Anthony’s (Medical Center in south St. Louis County) for a while,” Roxanne said. “They think he had some mini-strokes.”
After going back to the nursing home, he was found comatose in his room and taken to Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City and then transferred to Fountainbleau Nursing Home.
“Basically, all these health issues were starting to snowball, and it just finally caught up with him,” his daughter said.
Roxanne said her father will be remembered for his work ethic.
“He worked very hard and I don’t think he ever had any complaints about his food,” she said. “His skills, his presentation – he did ice carving; he made French pastry. He could do so many things, and he put so much pride in everything he did.”