Mrs. Jean Klages

"Jean" Jeanette Klages (neeNilhaus), 102, died Tues., Dec. 25 Wife of Henry "Bud"Klages, mother of Diane Warhover and AllanKlages, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. She was preceded in death by her brother Russell Nilhas. Visitation will be 3 to 9 pm Friday at Zeigenhein& Sons Funeral Home,7027 Gravois Ave.Memorial Mass will be 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Cecilia Catholic Church, 5418 Louisiana Ave. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Manor Grove Nursing Home, 711 S. Kirkwood Rd., 63122. Jean Klages danced. She danced on the linoleum kitchen floor of her home on Louisiana Street in South St. Louis. She danced at the weddings of her children, Diane and Allan, and her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, the most recent while she was using a walker to get around. Jean Klages danced on stage, too, with a group of high-kicking women known as the Missouri Rockets. We know them today as the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. The Missouri Rockets chorus line was founded in 1925, just four years after the opening of the opulent Missouri Theatre on Grand Avenue, a block from what would become Powell Symphony Hall. The troupe, which moved to New York in 1932, became known for its precision routines, including the gravity defying leg kick line dance that still defines the Rockettes today. Klages' last dance was only with her eyes, seated next to her daughter at a Christmas Day family brunch. She died a couple hours later. She was 102. Jeannette Nilhas was born July 16, 1910, to Albert and Anna Nilhas. She grew up in a flat near the corner of Osage and Minnesota. It was in this largely German neighborhood where she would meet Henry "Bud"Klages. In her 90s, she could still point out the building where Bud bought some hooch during one date - it was Prohibition, after all. It was also the Roaring ‘20s, even in St. Louis. A photo during her Rockets days shows her holding a vase on her head, long strands of beads around her neck, and a dress that defined the flapper style. She was a skinny thing with a big smile. She was a Rocket until she became a Klages. Bud and Jean married in 1930 and later moved to a house in the 6000 block of Louisiana St., a short walk from Carondelet Park, where she would live for the next seven decades. She would witness the FBI's neighborhood sweeps in search of Nazi sympathizers during World War II, the dissection of a community in the name of progress and concrete in Interstate 55, and the waves of immigrants from other countries such as Bosnia. She retired from JC Penney in South St. Louis in 1980but volunteered at Alexian Brothers Hospital diner. A yellowed envelope and letter, dated 1986, described these things she wanted known at her death: her affiliation with the Red Cross during World War II; her membership in AARP Local 2912; and her long participation with the St. Cecilia Catholic Church's Women's Auxiliary and Quilting groups. It didn't mention, but should have, that Klages was a league bowler most her life. When she gave it up at age 96, it was a near thing as to whether the ball had enough force to knock over a pin, but when it did, other women would cheer as if she had rolled a strike. She never truly gave up dancing. At a reception for the marriage of a great-granddaughter in 2009, Klages first danced in her chair, feet tapping to music born generations after her prime. Then she danced standing up, one hand on a table for balance, the other up in the air as if to say: Gravity, you haven't caught me yet. Finally, grandson Bill stepped her out onto the dance floor. Other grandchildren joined. Soon, a whole family was on the floor, doing the two-step (or un-step; not all carried the Klages dance gene). She didn't kick high. But she still had rhythm. She was still a Rocket. December 28, 2012
03:00 pm - 09:00 pm
John L. Ziegenhein & Sons
7027 Gravois Avenue
December 29, 2012
09:00 am - 10:00 am
St. Cecelia Catholic Church
5418 Louisiana Avenue