Kirchoff Family
Edited by Ann Chrissos
William E. Kirchoff (d. 1985) married Lydia Seibert (d. 8 Feb 2001). The following is a memorial article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on 9 Feb 2001 entitled Longtime teacher.
From the family farm in Maryland Heights where she lived for more than 75 years, longtime teacher Lydia Seibert Kirchoff shared her lifetime of experiences.
Students from McKelvey Elementary School in Maryland Heights knew her as the “The Lady on the Hill” because classes were often taken to the farm on field trips. “We’d all sit at her feet, and she would tell them about what it was like when she lived there as a child,” said Gloria Dalton of Creve Coeur, a retired teacher at McKelvey. “The kids that I’ve kept up with, they seem to remember more about visiting her farm than they do about school.”
Mrs. Kirchoff died Thursday (Feb. 8, 2001) of pancreatic cancer at Delmar Gardens in Chesterfield. She was 98 and a native of St. Louis County. Mrs. Kirchoff attended the old Creve Coeur School, also known as the Spurville School, a one-room schoolhouse where she later taught. In 1922, she graduated from Clayton High School and, three months later, began teaching at Chesterfield Elementary School.
She continued teaching and serving as principal at several schools in what became the Parkway and Ladue school districts while attending summer classes at the old Central Missouri State Teachers College in Warrensburg, Mo. She eventually transferred to Washington University, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in education in 1939.
Mrs. Kirchoff also taught in schools in the Pattonville and Rockwood school districts, but her last teaching position was at Ross Elementary School in the Parkway district. She retired in 1970 after more than 40 years of teaching.
Even after she retired, she continued to volunteer as a substitute teacher and librarian at McKelvey.
Mrs. Kirchoff also had served as volunteer 4-H Club leader. Mrs. Kirchoff received the Pillar of Parkway community service award and later the Creve Coeur Citizen of Achievement Award for her historic preservation efforts in Creve Coeur and Maryland Heights.
Mrs. Kirchoff remained on her farm until 1990; the property is now the location of a YMCA.
Her husband, William E. Kirchoff, died in 1985.
Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Kriegshauser West Mortuary, 9450 Olive Boulevard. The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the mortuary chapel followed by interment at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Olivette.
Among her survivors are her son, William Kirchoff of Chesterfield: four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 4072 Lindell Boulevard, St. Louis, Mo. 63108.
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Students and teachers from the Chesterfield |