97-year-old has wealth of stories to share

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- Altheda Schmelig is the doyenne of Altenburg housekeepers. The oldest of eight children, at age 15 she left Altenburg for St. Louis to try to make money for her destitute family. It was just before the Great Depression, and her father was a teacher. Eventually she found a job cooking for the May family, who owned the Famous-Barr department stores. Her childhood friend Agnes went to work for the Busch family of brewery fame.

Now 97, Schmelig said the Great Depression made you appreciate what you have.

In her first job in St. Louis she worked for a wealthy family whose members had all lost their jobs. She was supposed to sweep the sidewalks before breakfast and slept in an unheated room on the third floor. "I was gone from there very fast," she said.

She also worked for a family headed by socialites who drank and held parties and had a seven-car garage. One day great excitement took hold of the house. "They were getting ready to go downtown to try out toilet seats," Schmelig chortled.

Butter had to be prepared in balls or baskets or in the shape of a calla lily. Christmas dinner took two or three days to prepare. The kitchen had three ovens.

The butler dropped the turkey one Christmas after getting drunk cleaning up unfinished drinks in the living room. The bird split open so she started stuffing cornbread dressing back in and covered the gash with orange slices. After dinner, her mistress complimented her cooking. "She said it was the most magnificent turkey she had ever seen in her life." The woman just laughed when Schmelig confessed the truth.

Schmelig came by her cooking abilities naturally. Her great-grandmother had come from Germany to the U.S. to work as a cook. "It's something you do because it tastes good," she said.

But she didn't really like the work. "You don't think much of yourself when you're doing that kind of work," she said. "You're kind of looked down on."

She worked in St. Louis for eight years before meeting her husband, Milton. "After I got married I was free at last," she said.

Schmelig and her husband, now deceased, moved from St. Louis to Altenburg 13 years ago. "I used to fantasize about living in the country," she said.

She has five grandchildren. Her brother, Ray Littke, was Missouri's highest ranking ace in World War II. He was credited with destroying 23 1/2 enemy planes and three German "buzz bombs" over the English Channel. He died in 1949 en route to an airshow.

She has outlived all her younger brothers except for Ralph, who also lives in Altenburg. "Altenburg is a unique place," she said.