Former Chesterfield Residents Who Found WWII Medals Adjusting to New Home

This article was written and reported by Patch Editor Gregg Palermo

Chad and Justine Froelker were sitting in the driveway of their just-purchased home in Creve Coeur, and someone else sauntered in, wanting to know about their story.

The young couple is used to this treatment by now, and gladly sat down with the visitor, even if they wish he was there to buy something at their garage sale and not just there as a reporter.

The Froelkers have been thrust into a mild spotlight since they bought the home in the 400 block of North Mason Road along with all the home's contents. Those contents included a shadow box of military medals and a uniform, that got attention when they were discovered at a Chesterfield Goodwill location. Those items are being reunited with family members.

But what you might not know is what else the Froelkers found at the home, or more to the point, how much. When they walked in, they said they found stuff from the floor to the ceiling on both floors. Enough to fill six 17-foot trailer loads to send to Goodwill, 4 30-yard dumpsters, 400 rubber gloves and around 100 masks.

Justine said they wanted to leave their Chesterfield home near Clarkson and Baxter so they could add a swimming pool where they could host their friends' families.

"We just started looking and found this," she said. Chad said they'd looked at a neighboring property too, but kept looking at this one because they liked the layout. Either one would have been a complete gut rehab, but they couldn't have known that the one they'd choose would come with such a backstory after the fact.

"It seems like there's a story associated with everything," Chad said. "It's hard to describe it, it's just a feeling I guess." There was so much stuff still left for the garage sale that there were no pricetags, and you could name your price.

"It took us forever to get it pulled out too. The first groups of people that came through we were still dragging stuff out and they'd buy stuff, we'd drag more stuff out. It's finally to the point now where you can actually see everything," Chad said. 

The couple hopes to have the renovation done in about three months, so they can start building their own story in their new home.

"It's a great location, a great house, the bones of the house are great, a great property on an acre of land in the middle of St. Louis ... can't really beat that," Justine said.