Home of Donna Clifford, MRH Family Dentistry Knocked Down, Hauled Away

Donna Clifford, owner of the Maplewood house that , watched as her home was knocked down and crushed with a 1-ton shovel on Wednesday morning.

The heavy equipment started its work at 7 a.m., breaking the house into small pieces and loading it into truck after truck to be hauled away. Clifford had sold the lot, and the house needed to be removed for the new owner to build on.

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Clifford and her son, Charles, reminisced as they watched pieces of furniture tumbling out. They saw part of an X-ray machine from her husband, Charles’ dental office, , and talked about how sneaky he was with a Novocain needle.

“Dad walked in to do a checkup, and he checked my teeth and said everything is OK,” Charles said. “Twenty minutes later my mouth is numb. I didn’t even know he shot me with Novocain. Dad was the best.”

He said he and his brother, Doug, had hoped to come back and fix up the house to what it once was.

“Never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Take it in stride, and just remember the good times.”

He said watching the house come down would be cool, if it wasn’t his house.

His sister, Brenda Lacy, said it was probably the biggest mess Maplewood had ever seen.

Donna Clifford saw a cedar chest she knew was full of quilts, the headboard of her bed and an orange velour chair her husband, Charles, used to sit in.

She watched for, but didn’t see, a curved oak display case and her husband’s iron baby bed.

Clifford had seen enough after the demolition had worked its way through her bedroom. She said her goodbyes, and said she’d be back that evening after dinner.

She planned on one last visit Thursday morning, then she and her daughter would get Ted Drewes ice cream for a party for all the family members in Florida, and leave St. Louis for good.