Tenth in a series

Famous black St. Louisans buried at St. Peter's

(Editor's note: This is the 10th in a series about famous St. Louisans buried in local cemeteries. Information for this article is from St. Louisan Kevin Amsler's book, "Final Resting Place: The Lives and Deaths of Famous St. Louisans.")

Many St. Louis sports personalities were among those buried in Resurrection Cemetery. Included are many associated with the St. Louis Blues hockey team but others included baseball, soccer and sports writing personalities.

Others buried there included St. Louis' first local TV personality and the longest-serving St. Louis alderman.

Opened in 1929, the cemetery was first named New St. Peter and Paul Cemetery. It was opened after original St. Peter and Paul Cemetery accepted no further burials in 1928.

Later, the new cemetery's name was changed to Resurrection Cemetery. It's located at 6901 MacKenzie Road.

(You can read about famous St. Louisans included in previous articles in this series. Go to the YSL.com home page and click on Past Stories and check October, 2006; November, 2006; December, 2006; January, 2007; February, 2007, March, 2007, April, 2007, May 2007 and or June, 2007).

(To buy Mr. Amsler's book, visit a local bookstore or visit www.STL-Books.com.)

Among the St. Louisans buried in Resurrection Cemetery were:

 

Joe Hoerner
(1936-1996)

Joe Hoerner was a left-handed reliever who appeared in nearly 500 games during his baseball career. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals for four years and appeared in both the 1967 and 1968 World Series.

He had a major league record of 39-34 with 99 saves and a 2.99 ERA.

His tombstone in Section 40 is red granite with a cardinal bird on each side.

 

 

Bob Gassoff
(1953-1977)

Bob Gassoff was noted as a tough and aggressive defenseman for the St. Louis Blues hockey team.

In four years with the Blues, he played in 250 games and amassed nearly 900 penalty minutes. He scored only 11 goals.

But, his sports career was cut short after only four years in 1977. He was attending a post-season party at the home of teammate Garry Unger when his motorcycle collided with another vehicle.

Gassoff's No.3 jersey was retired and he's buried in Section 40.

 

 

Doug Wickenheiser
(1961-1999)

Doug Wickenheiser was another St. Louis Blues player who died young. He was traded to the Blues in 1983 and is best known for his winning goal in overtime to win Game 6 in the 1986 playoffs against the Calgary Flames.

After retiring in 1994, he had surgery on his wrist to remove a cancerous cyst. However, three years later, the cancer returned in his lungs. He died in 1999 at age 37.

He is buried in Section 43, near the small St. Vincent De-Paul chapel.

 

 

Lynn Patrick
(1912-1980)

Lynn Patrick came to St. Louis in 1967 to be the first coach and general manager for the expansion St. Louis Blues.

Patrick had had a successful career as a player and coach for the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins.

Patrick died in 1980 when he suffered a heart attack while driving home from a Blues game. His car hit a fire hydrant near the Arena and he died at nearby Deaconess Hospital.

He is buried in Section 48.

Dan Kelly
(1936-1989)

Dan Kelly became the "Voice of the Blues" during his 20 years of broadcasting Blues hockey games. His signature phrase was, "He shoots….he scores."

A native of Canada, he made a name for himself in hockey announcing there before coming to St. Louis.

KMOX founder Robert Hyland said of Kelly, "In my opinion, he was the greatest or, at least, one of the two greatest hockey broadcasters ever."

Hospitalized in 1988, Kelly died Feb. 10, 1989. He is in Section 43.

Frank "Pee Wee" Wallace
(1922-1979)

Frank Wallace is a local sports hero whose name isn't very familiar. That's because his fame came in international soccer, which in his day wasn't very popular in the U.S.

But, he was one of five St. Louisans who were a part of one of the biggest upsets in world soccer. The U.S. team beat heavily favored England, 1-0, in the 1950 World Cup.

The team's exploits were revisited in the 2005 movie, "Game of Their Lives."

He was inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Game in 1976. He's buried in Section 48.

Bob Burnes
(1914-1995)

Bob Burnes wrote a sports column for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper for more than 40 years. He's nickname was "The Benchwarmer."

It was estimated he had written over 15,000 stories in his newspaper career, which started in 1935. He also premiered on KMOX in 1953 as the first host of "Sports Open Line."

He died in 1995, just three days before his 81st birthday. He's buried in Section 42.

In his final column in 1984, he wrote:

"It has been fun; it had been the greatest experience of my life. If in some small way it has brightened a day, added a word of explanation, espoused a cause or exposed a fraud, I have had ample reward."

Charlotte Peters
(1912-1988)

Charlotte Peters started out her broadcast career by winning an amateur talent contest sponsored by KSD-TV. Before she was done, she earned a title as "first lady of St. Louis television."

After her talent win, she auditioned for and became a regular cast member for "To the Ladies." It was the first local daytime TV show in St. Louis.

She became a popular entertainment figure with "The Charlotte Peters Show" from 1956 to 1964. She interviewed many Hollywood entertainers when they came to town. Among them were Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis.

Her son, Mike Peters is a Pulitzer-prize cartoonist and creator of the comic strip, "Mother Goose and Grimm."

Ms. Peters died at age 75. She is buried in Section 42.

Albert "Red" Villa
(1909-1990)

Albert "Red" Villa began his political career as St. Louis alderman in 1953. Before he retired, his 37 years in office was the longest aldermanic term in local history.

He died of cancer at age 81. When he was buried in Section 13, he had one of his trademark cigars in his coat pocket.