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Politics & Government

Meet Eureka's Alderwoman: Marilyn Leistner

Leistner's seen the best and worst the area offers. This is the first in a series of features that profile Eureka's board of aldermen. Check back each day this week for the next feature.

If Marilyn Leistner seems unflappable during , it’s because she’s seen much worse in her political career. In 1981 Leistner was elected mayor of Times Beach, MO. Eighteen months later, the town was discovered to be contaminated by dioxin, and less than a month after that, the Meramec River flooded the entire town. From being mayor, Leistner suddenly found herself named trustee of an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund waste site, featured in everything from People magazine to the Proceedings of the Third Annual Hazardous Materials Management Conference.

“It was that experience, and some encouragement from friends to use what I learned there to best serve the community of Eureka,” recalled Leistner.

Life is a little calmer now for Leistner, who also works as a greeter at in Eureka. She enjoys playing with her grandchildren (“They are a joy to be around!”), sometimes making her favorite banana cream pudding for them, and dotes on her cat, Precious.

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Visitors will discover her collection of owls from throughout the world, including statues made of meerschaum, jade, lava and other materials.

Leistner recently finished reading Heaven is for Real, the story of a four-year old’s near-death experience. “An awesome book,” she said. “I would recommend it to everyone.” 

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Despite her trials at Times Beach, Leistner, who grew up in Valley Park, MO, has stayed faithful to the Meramec Valley, and loves Eureka, and the city’s rich history. “The city got its name when a railroad engineer came around the bend and saw some flat ground, as opposed to the hills that they had been blasting their way through, to get here,” she likes to tell visitors. “He said, ‘Eureka,’ (I found it!) and thus the name of the city of Eureka.”

A member of the , she said she loves “going through all the old photos and researching the history of my community.”

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