Picture Show Lady / Unsung Star in Pacific History / Flowers, Books, Parks, City Planning and Lifelong Champion of the Handicapped

By Pauline Masson – 

In Pacific, Eleanor Hirth was probably best known as the picture show lady, wife of Henry K. “Kenny” Hirth, second generation owner/operator of the Royal Theater. Newspapers unfailingly identified her as “Mrs. Henry Hirth.” No first names for ladies in those days, no matter how accomplished or well connected.

The Pacific Transcript posted frequent snippets of “Mrs. Henry Hirth” sitting on a swing on her St. Louis Street front porch with her son Billy. But in reality, when we look at how much she did, she probably didn’t sit much. She was a dynamo, a life force that inspired her friends, family and acquaintance to look to the good all around us.

She was a popular member of the powerful Pacific Garden Club that shaped Pacific culture in the 1950s and 60s, launching the first Pacific library, convincing the Frisco Railroad to clean up the crumbling depot, providing the labor to landscape three small city parks, winning national recognition for a local “Clean Up, Paint Up, Fix Up” campaign, and persuading the City of Pacific to create a planning and zoning board to clarify what could be built where.

Eleanor was skilled at creating original flower arrangements, like the one pictured above, which she perfected when she and eight other Garden Club members completed a five-week course in flower arranging taught by a Webster Groves master florist.

For 20 years she chaired the Pacific Red Cross blood drive. Her obituary noted that she was instrumental in starting kindergarten in Pacific schools. In 1965 the Pacific Jayces named her its Outstanding Young Woman of the year. And in 1969 she was in charge of the breakfast at the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri Convention at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis.

What went largely unnoticed among her prominent friends and contemporaries was that behind the scenes she was working every week of her life to educate and enhance the lives of severely handicapped youngsters in Franklin County.

Eleanor was born in Robertsville, February 27, 1930, the third child (second daughter) of John and Helen Kern’s thirteen children, which undoubtedly molded her as an accomplished care giver.

Her daughter Georgia Clark remembers that she loved flowers, recalling that her mother always had flowers all over the house, in pots and in the ground. But Georgia had no memory of the years when Eleanor campaigned for and volunteered at a school for the severely handicapped in Franklin County.

“I had no idea she did this!”  Georgia said. “She had six handicapped boys in the family. They were severly handicapped and couldn’t walk. Her sister, Betty Pich had two handicapped boys.”

I learned about this in one paragraph in the Pacific Garden Club history that described Eleanor’s work at the Autumn Hill School for the severely handicapped in Union. I telephoned the Autumn Hill School and had wonderfully friendly chat. The staff loved the idea of recognition for one of its volunteers but sadly didn’t remember Eleanor. They did recall the five decades that a lady named Pam Whitlock who lived in Catawissa worked at the School. She might remember Eleanor, they said.

The Whitlock name in Catawissa was familiar, so I telephoned Pam Whitlock to ask if she remembered Eleanor Hirth who volunteered at Autumn Hill School.

“Remember her?” I could hear her exhale. “She was my aunt,” she said. “We both volunteered at the school, but I worked there for – – – – forever.”

In 1957 the State of Missouri passed a law establishing state schools for severely handicapped students in Missouri. It was Eleanor’s moment.

Pam Whitlock had memories of the years when Eleanor, and her sister and brother in law, Betty and John Pich made trips to Jefferson City to lobby legislators and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to establish a school for the severely handicapped in Franklin County. 

“Eleanor held rummage sales, to raise money for the school,” Pam said. “ My Mom Ruth helped her with the rummage sales.”

In 1962 the state board of education opened a school for the severely handicapped in Union to serve kindergarten through twelfth grades and Eleanor added it to her busy routine. As a teen, Pam Whitlock, too, would join the volunteers at what was then identified as the State School for the handicapped.

“When I turned 16 and could drive, I drove the kids to school. I think it first opened in the Old Union High School. It was moved several times,” Pam said. “I drove for the school for 18 years, four years in a car before they got buses. And I was an aide there for 42 years.“

When DESE representatives took Eleanor and her sister Betty – its most loyal advocates for education for the handicapped – up to the location where a permanent school building was to be erected, it was in the fall and the hill top was awash in fall colors. DESE visitors accepted Betty and Eleanor’s suggested name for the new school – Autumn Hill School – and the road where it was located, Autumn Hill Road.

“Eleanor came to the school every week,” Pam said. “The kids had to be potty trained and Eleanor worked with the mothers to help get the kids ready for school.”

“She brought flowers and showed the aides how to teach the children to make things with their hands,” Pam recalled. This was a Garden Therapy Project, sponsored by the Pacific Garden Club, that not only provided all the supplies and taught crafts using flowers but also also helped the students plant easily planted and quickly grown plants, like sweet potatoes, so they could have the joy of growing something.

For Mother’s Day Eleanor brought every student a bouquet of flowers to give to their mothers. But her most endearing contribution was that once a week she piled a group of students into her station wagon, followed by Pam in a car full of students, and took them bowling. It was a thrilling experience for handicapped youngsters who Eleanor urged and coached to participate, encouraging them with the promise that it would make their arms and legs stronger. The students were also invited to free movies at the Royal Theater once a week and were treated to free popcorn and soda.

Today Autumn Hill School is one of 35 Missouri schools for the severely handicapped. There are 114 counties in the state and Franklin County got one of the 35 schools, thanks largely to Eleanor and her family. Today, Autumn Hill has a student body of 37 students in grades k-12 that are served by a staff of six teachers, 14 aides, three occupational therapists, one physical therapist, one vision/O&M therapist, and a school nurse, cook and custodian.

Neither the Meramec Valley R-III school district, nor DESE kept records of the campaigns that led to kindergarten in Pacific schools or the establishment of education for the severely handicapped in Franklin County.

Without the Pacific Garden Club’s thorough and exacting record of Eleanor’s work in flowers, the welfare of wild birds, horticulture education for children and adults, park development, city planning, and above all, real education for disabled children, a large swathe of our history would be lost. 

Because of their work we know that Pacific has a heritage of citizens partnering with the school district, the railroad, the city and the state to build our hometown atmosphere. If we are not doing enough of that today, we could celebrate March as Women’s History Month by taking a page from Eleanor’s biography and do our individual part to make Pacific what we want it to be.

The Pacific Garden Club official history listed the accomplishments of one of the club’s members. Eleanor Hirth: Charter member and past president Pacific Garden Club; Member Presbyterian Church; Secretary of the Pacific PTA; Instrumental in starting kindergarten in Pacific schools; Helped form Pacific Fire District auxiliary; Chaired Red Cross Blood Drive for 20 years; 1965 Jaycees Outstanding Young Woman; American Legion Auxiliary; Catalyst for Formation of Autumn Hill School for Severely Disabled students; With her husband Kennry, owned and operated the Royal Theater for 36 years; Mother of William Hirth and Georgia Hirth Clark.