The Villas at St. James residents LeRoy Raeber, FRONT, LEFT, and his sister Glady, FRONT, RIGHT, were interviewed for the Vintage Voices 100 Tour on Monday, Oct. 20. Photos by Matt Wilson A brother and sister at The Villas at St. James in Breese will be featured on a documentary featuring centenarians.
Jack York is going around the country on the Vintage Voices 100 Tour, which is a nationwide storytelling initiative produced by TaleGate, LLC in collaboration with Dash Media.
The tour made a stop in Breese on Monday, Oct. 20, and York interviewed 105-year-old LeRoy Raeber and his 95-year-old sister Glady.
LeRoy and Glady both told their stories while riding in the Vintage Voices van that was equipped with GoPro cameras. During the van ride, LeRoy and Glady reminisced about their lives and families. It was the first time ever the Vintage Voices Tour had a brother and sister in the van.
The tour visited Meridian Senior Living communities across Missouri and Illinois on Oct. 20. They stopped at The Assisted Living at the Meadowlands in O'Fallon, Missouri, before heading to The Villas at St. James. The Meadowlands hosted a visit to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post to honor a veteran centenarian's service.
LeRoy is a World War II veteran and is believed to be the oldest living male in Breese.
"There really is no secret to getting the age I am at," LeRoy said. "You just have to stay off the booze and cigarettes and live a normal life."
LeRoy said he has enjoyed living at The Villas at St. James.
"Everything is new here and it's a good place to be," he said. "There are lots of people to talk to."
LeRoy said he enjoys eating and going outside and watching the cars go by.
The Vintage Voices van started down Jamestown Road where both LeRoy and Glady pointed out the house where their mother was born in 1898.
LeRoy talked about his memories of growing up in the Great Depression. He was a paper boy in a town of 700 people. He won a trip to Niagara Falls when he was 13 years old. LeRoy had to sell 15 subscriptions to get the trip. He only had 14 subscriptions, and talked his dad into buying the 15th subscription.
He said a lot of people didn't go to high school during the Great Depression. There were only 18 students in Leroy's high school.
LeRoy's dad owned a plumbing and heating business in Breese. He took over the business in 1934.
LeRoy is the first person interviewed in the Vintage Voices project who was on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II. He enlisted in the military on Oct. 16, 1942. He was in the Navy for three years and three days and was with the 62nd battalion as a third class petty officer.
LeRoy talked about his time overseas during the tour in the van. He saw the Iwo Jima flag after it was planted.
Glady said the family got letters from LeRoy, but they were few and far between. The family would write letters to him every day, but it took LeRoy forever to get the letters, and he probably never received some of them.
She said everybody talked about the war during that time.
"Every place you went at the time, they were talking about the war," Glady said. "Anytime you went into a store, the music was something patriotic."
LeRoy said his first marriage was when he was still in the service overseas during a 10-day leave. He said it was a small wedding. He didn't see his wife again until he got a 30-day leave.
Glady said LeRoy was always pretty good to her even though she would aggravate him. She would run away with a piece of candy that she didn't want him to have and he would chase her.
"He has always been there for me and looked after me," Glady said. "He has looked over the whole family a lot."
Toward the end of the tour, LeRoy showed his former house, which is by the current Mater Dei Catholic High School. They built the house in 1969 and paid $290 for the lot.
Before ending the tour at The Villas at St. James, the van stopped at Dairy King where owner Michele Maue served Glady and LeRoy ice cream.
The Vintage Voices project, which began in 2022, is nearing the completion of its three-year journey.
All Vintage Voices interviews are recorded and shared across TaleGate and Vintage Voices social media channels.
