Bob and Sharon Dierberg At Chesterfield Council Meeting

Bob Dierberg and wife Sharon showed up to a Chesterfield City Council meeting Monday, when Mayor Bruce Geiger recognized them for their service to the city through their chain of Dierbergs grocery stores.

Monday, Feb. 6 was proclaimed "Dierbergs Four Seasons Day" in Chesterfield.

Dierberg started his first store 45 years ago on Olive Boulevard and Woods Mill Road at Four Seasons shopping center, after working for his uncle's grocery in Creve Coeur, and returning from college at University of Missouri at Columbia.

That first Dierbergs store is still open, and typically busy. Current Store Manager Mike Haney accompanied the Dierberg couple to the council meeting.

Bob and Sharon Dierberg said they met at the store during Bob's first year in business, when Sharon asked for help finding a powdered orange drink named Tang.

"Showing the young lady the Tang—that was just customer service that we had been doing for many years," Bob Dierberg quipped.

Sharon Dierberg said: "That's a true story. I didn't know who he was, I just wanted the Tang."

Bob Dierberg said they were married the following year, 1968, and went on to have four children and now have six grandchildren.

He said his children now are responsible for running most of the grocery business.

Geiger read off a proclamation. In summary it noted:

• there are now 23 stores in the St. Louis area
• they employ some 5,000 people
• Dierbergs' headquarters is in Chesterfield
• two stores are in Chesterfield
• Dierberg opened the store 45 years ago in Chesterfield
• it survived a tornado that blew past the store the night before it opened
• Bob Dierberg's mother and father worked as cashier and customer service to help open the store
• Bob and Sharon met at the first store
• Chesterfield is proud the store has played a significant role in developing the city and the Dierbergs business.

The store opened January 25, 1967. During preparation the night before, store staff had to hold and lock the doors of the store due to winds. Later, Dierberg discovered it was an E4 tornado that just missed the store and hit homes to the west of it, in River Bend Estates.

Bob Dierberg said one of the store workers went home to St. Ann's where the tornado had also touched down, and found his house destroyed.