A Photo Worth a 1,000 Farewells
Second Cousins and Lou Brock Superfans Receive Surprise as They Pay Last Respects to the Cardinals’ Legend
By Karen Cernich Dickhut
As they were leaving the visitation for Cardinals’ legend Lou Brock Friday evening, Sept. 11, second cousins Susan Harms, Washington, and Nancy K. Wood, New Haven, joked that they might end up on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the next day. A photographer had snapped a photo of them on their way out of the Layne Renaissance Chapel in Jennings, where Brock’s public visitation was held.
Still, when the ladies saw the photo — Harms with her arm around Wood’s shoulders, appearing to console her, and both of them wearing Cardinals jerseys — as a six-column spread above the fold on the front page of the early Sunday, Sept. 13, edition under the headline “Farewell to an Icon,” it caught them by surprise.
But nothing could have been more perfect. It was a fitting end to a relationship these two Brock superfans felt they had with the Hall of Fame player.
Harms’ home office is filled with Cardinals’ memorabilia and souvenirs related to many players, but a shadowbox showcasing photos of her with Brock alongside an autographed Brock T-shirt and hat, which he personally gave her when they met on a Cardinals cruise in 1998, is the centerpiece of her collection.
‘I Always Admired Him’
Harms, the daughter of Frank and Ruth Wood and a 1977 graduate of Washington High School, grew up on Cardinals baseball. She remembers her family listening to games on the radio and going to Busch Stadium whenever they could to watch the game live.
Brock, who played left field for the Cardinals from 1964 to 1979, was easily her favorite.
“I just liked the way he played,” Harms said. “And I always admired him. I thought he was a classy guy.
“Tickets for the bleacher seats were $1 and parking was $1 too,” she recalled. “We had to wait in line the day of the game, because you couldn’t get bleacher seats ahead of time. It was first-come, first-served. You weren’t assigned a seat. You could sit anywhere . . . We’d always sit in the left field bleachers and cheer for Lou.”
Harms and Wood, a 1978 graduate of Washington High School, were at the Cardinals game against the Chicago Cubs Aug. 13, 1979, when Brock made his 3,000th hit. They worked together at The Diamonds restaurant at Highways 44 and 100; Wood’s dad, Glen, was the manager then.
“He was a huge baseball fan, always talked the game,” Harms said. “Another lady there, Miss Lee, was the cashier. She loved Cardinals baseball too. We had to be at work at 5 a.m., so we couldn’t stay up late to watch the games, but Miss Lee always did.”
Knowing Brock was close to his 3,000th hit, the cousins planned to go to the game, and they convinced Glen Wood and Miss Lee to come along too. They were in the bleacher seats chanting “Lou! Lou! Lou!” when Brock made history.
Harms’ most prized Lou Brock memorabilia includes several photos she had taken with the legendary Cardinals left fielder when she went on a Cardinals' cruise with him, as well as a T-shirt he autographed and a baseball hat he personally gave to her.
‘It’s Like He Was My Best Friend’
Harms got to know Brock personally when she went on the Cardinals cruise where he was one of the featured alumni. She hadn’t planned to go — she worked in education, and January wasn’t a good time to take a week of vacation — but as soon as she learned Brock would be there, she knew she had to find a way to make it work.
Harms remembers feeling extremely nervous about meeting Brock, fearing he might not live up to her high expectations.
“I was so afraid that I might find out he wasn’t as nice and amazing as I thought he was,” she said.
In reality, he was so much better.
“We had our first meeting where they introduce the alumni . . . and I walked up to introduce myself . . . Hi Mr. Brock. I’m Susan Harms; I’m a huge fan of yours, so if there’s ever any time on here when I’m obnoxious and you want to say, ‘Get away!’ you won’t hurt my feelings, but I have so many stories I want to share with you. And he looked at me and said, ‘Your mom has already told me all about you.’ So that was a good start.”
From that point on, Brock and his wife, Jackie, treated Harms and her husband, Steve, like old friends.
“I remember at one dinner, they came walking over to us and asked if we wanted to go to the midnight buffet with them,” Harms said. “It was like he was my best friend.
“This hat he gave me,” she said, gesturing to the shadowbox and explaining Brock gave one to her and two other fans whom he selected to be part of his team for a horse racing game on the cruise.”
About 10 years ago, Harms took her son, Zach, to meet Brock when he was autographing items as part of the All-Star Game festivities in St. Louis.
“I just really wanted Zach to meet him. I said, ‘I don’t know if you remember me, we were on the cruise together’ . . . ‘Oh, yeah! Susan!’ he said. That was nice.”
She remembers another time telling Brock how whenever she was at a Cardinals’ game chanting “Lou! Lou! Lou!” with the crowd, and he would turn to tip his hat at them, “I always knew you were looking right at me.
“ ‘Oh, Susan, I was!’ he told me. He was just so personable that way, such a joy,” Harms said.
Wood had a similar experience during a chance meeting with Brock at the St. Louis airport. She happened to be wearing a Cardinals shirt, and when she saw him not 100 yards away from her, she approached him about posing for a photo.
“He was talking with another guy, so I stood there waiting patiently, and as soon as that guy walked away, Lou turned to me and said, ‘I saw you get off the plane with that Cardinals shirt on.’ And he seemed so excited to see me wearing a Cardinals shirt, even though we were in St. Louis,” Wood recalled.
Brock posed for a photo with her, and then they headed separately to baggage claim, where Wood had a chance to look at the photo her daughter had taken of them using her smartphone. She didn’t think it turned out very good, so she approached Brock again to ask about retaking it. Of course, he agreed.
That’s just how he was — always so accommodating and loving to fans, Wood said.
Harms remembers an event she attended where Brock had been scheduled as a featured guest with fellow Cardinals alum Keith Hernandez, but Brock had to cancel when he ended up sick and in the hospital. But then he surprised everyone by making a brief appearance anyway. He showed up in a wheelchair, straight from the hospital.
“He was a man of his word,” Harms said. “He stayed for a little while, then left to go back to the hospital. He was one of a kind!”
Spur of the Moment Farewell
Harms and Wood hadn’t been planning to attend the public visitation for Brock that Friday. Wood had suggested they visit Brock’s statue at Lindenwood University that evening to leave their condolences. They were both wearing shorts with their Brock jerseys, and Wood had flip flops on her feet.
But after leaving the statue, Wood suddenly suggested they drive past the mortuary, which was only about a 20-minute drive.
“Let’s just go!” she told Harms. So they did.
Wood’s sister Ellen Kluesner said the TV news showed a line of people wrapped around the building waiting to get inside, so the two didn’t think they would even get out of their car. They just wanted to be as close as possible and be part of the moment.
“As we walked out, I put my arm around Nancy and said, ‘I’m so glad we did this,’ and I guess that’s when the photographer snapped the photo,” Harms said.
But when they arrived at the mortuary, there was no line and the parking lot was nearly empty. They drove past a couple of times to be sure. When they saw a man leaving, Harms asked him what it was like inside and he encouraged them to go in, said they were dressed just fine. There were no family members inside at that time, around 6:30 p.m.
“We trudged into the service, and we signed the guest book,” Harms said, noting the coffin was open and there were only about 10 other people in the room. “Nancy walked up, and I walked next to her. They had a TV screen up on the side showing some of his highlights, and all of a sudden the video comes up of his 3000th hit. We couldn’t believe it. Nancy and I just grabbed each other’s hand and said, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ ”
They took a seat and watched the highlights for a while.
“As we walked out, I put my arm around Nancy and said, ‘I’m so glad we did this,’ and I guess that’s when the photographer snapped the photo,” Harms said.
The next morning, Harms went out to her front yard to collect her Saturday issue of the Post-Dispatch and, after looking through it, thought, Oh, well, we didn’t make the print issue. At least the photo had been posted to a gallery on the Post’s website.
It was a friend who had seen the early Sunday issue and alerted Harms to the front-page photo.
Seeing it was special, and Harms felt a warmth inside, as if the photo was their final tribute to Brock.
“I am so glad we went,” she said.