Question: Looking back, what was something cool you were able to do in your career?
Answer: “I wanted to drive in my career. I drove the fire engine in my work with the fire department, I drove Mayor Tucker for a few years, I drove aerial trucks, gas wagons, you name it. I remember interviewing to drive the mayor and I went into his office and he said, ‘Send the rest of them home, I like this kid.’ I met a lot of politicians and different people in my time driving for him. I picked up John F. Kennedy one time with his wife Jackie when he was running for president and I took him to the Chase hotel because he had a big speech that night. So, while I was waiting for the mayor to take him home in the big limousine, and I saw a guy standing on the corner and thought, ‘Geez, that looks like Harry Truman!’ He was standing by himself on the corner, so I got out and walked up to him and sure enough it was Truman. I was in the 17th Construction Battalion during World War II in the Pacific and fought at Peleliu, so I thanked him and wanted to make sure he was okay since he was by himself. I ended up talking to him and shooting the breeze for a while until his ride showed up, and he told me if I ever was out in Independence (MO) that I could come knock on the door anytime. Anyways, the mayor came out finally and I told him what had happened, and he said, ‘You were talking to him? I couldn’t get near him!’ Truman was a pretty good guy and so was the mayor. But after doing that for a while, I really wanted to get back into the fire department. It was an exciting job and I had wanted to be a fireman since I was a kid you know, ringing the bell, the sirens, going through the red lights and that sort of thing. I didn’t live too far from the fire house growing up, so I’d always go see them heading out and hang around.” – Larry Boehm, resident Friendship Village Chesterfield
#WeAreFriendshipVillage #seniorliving #retirementcommunity #FVatHome #assistedliving #MemoryCare
The above photo and text are part of a year-long project we call We Are Friendship Village. We are posting these photos and brief interviews to our website’s blog section every day as we talk with residents at Friendship Village Chesterfield and Friendship Village Sunset Hills. The idea is to give a short introduction to the residents who make up our wonderful senior living communities and give you a peek at something you might not know about them!
At this year’s end, we will publish A BOOK featuring all the great residents who participated. AND PARTICIPANTS get A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK! During this year, we will also be sharing these photos and stories on Facebook and other social media such as Instagram, so look for them and please follow the hashtag #WeAreFriendshipVillage to stay current with the project!
We think it’s a great chance to share a bit about who we are! Residents’ participation takes less than ten minutes, so it won’t take much time to be a part of it and we think everyone will enjoy getting to know their neighbors and friends a little bit better!
If interested in participating (or know someone else who might be), feel free to give us a call at (314) 270-7837 or email at nagysteve@fvstl.com or drop by the marketing suites in Sunset Hills or Chesterfield. We have 365 of these to do over the course of the year, so everyone is welcome!
We look forward to seeing you as we get to share insights about the senior living residents who are making our Friendship Village retirement communities so great!
Thanks again!