“A golden hearted woman with a sharp tongue and a keen wit.” That’s how Lula Naff was described in the Nashville Tennessean in the 1960 obituary for “America’s most picturesque theater manager.”

Betty Gibson never went to New York.

Affton High School may be one of the most underestimated public high schools in the region. There’s a Hollywood connection: John Goodman is among its alumni, and the building itself made an appearance in a major motion picture, 2009’s “Up in the Air,” with Affton playing the role of fictiona…

Last Sunday morning, when I woke up to freezing rain glazing the neighborhood, my first thought was of gratitude: Thankful I was able to squeeze into the last pew at St. Elizabeth’s 4:30 p.m. mass the night before and didn’t have to go anywhere.

A follow-up column, about a good neighbor. The best of neighbors, actually.

A young man never forgets his first love, even if that first love keeps breaking his heart, time and time and time again.

“So many people came through St. Louis in the 1800s,” genealogist Ann Carter Fleming said. “They may have stopped here for a year or two, they may have just passed through, but somehow they left their footprint in St. Louis.”

For the first time in recent memory, we’re facing back-to-back weekend snow storms. If you haven’t already, you might want to get to the grocery store to stock up on milk, bread and eggs.

Streaming. It’s a word you hear a lot these days pertaining to our in-home entertainment. As if, for example, you spent the holiday break streaming nine seasons of “The Office” on Netflix.

I did my share of questionable things in college, but this was the first: Taking a 100-level chemistry class with my brother, Rick, a senior who needed a science credit to fulfill his graduation requirements.

One of the most unheralded and under-appreciated natural attractions in our region is Edward “Ted” and Pat Jones Confluence Point, the wetlands state park that marks the spot where the Missouri River flows into the mighty Mississippi.

It’s all just stuff, really, the trappings of holiday decorating. Bows and baubles, knickknacks and nativities, luminaria and lights. Some years, that’s how it seems, when the bustle gets the best of us and we can’t find the energy to haul it all out. Until you hear stories like this one:

In 1988, Bruce Willis went from TV wisecracker to international movie star thanks to a movie called “Die Hard.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it. An office Christmas party in a downtown L.A. high-rise. An international gang of thieves. A hero who saves the day with the help of a lovable, donut-eat…

My first newspaper beat was covering a scrappy young women’s basketball team that liked to shoot from all over the court, before the 3-point shot was even a thing. They didn’t make ’em all, but they loved trying

At some point this weekend, we’ll haul the Christmas boxes from the basement and begin the holiday transformation of our home. I know many spent Thanksgiving weekend shedding fall colors, but I like to wait until the calendar hits December. Nothing says “home for the holidays” to the college…

Two of the most prized recipes in my kitchen are for desserts I’ve never made.

Each year, the Times publishes an honor roll of hometown businesses, ranked by years of operation. Annually among the top is Morgenthaler’s Drapery Cleaners, a St. Louis-area business since 1894.

One of the first things Jack McCarthy and I did together was watch a college football game. Just under 48 hours old, he and I watched the hapless Missouri Tigers take on Nebraska on the second Saturday in November 1996.

I once had the privilege of breathing the same air as Elie Wiesel: humanitarian, Nobel laureate, Holocaust survivor.

Just before Christmas last year, we wrote about Wil Ohler, student of Lindbergh High, goalkeeper of soccer, collector of nutcrackers. Wil had been diagnosed eight months earlier with T-cell leukemia, but he was fighting by spreading joy. He had used the occasion of his 17th birthday to distr…