Fr. Griesedieck Tells All About His Hard-Drinking, Privileged Life at the Sunset Hills Family 'Farm'

A good bottle of beer bridged the gap for me in California, when I came across a photographer whose Uncle Eddie is Father Ed Griesedieck, an heir to the St. Louis Falstaff beer brewing company.

The Monsignor, 80, told the Sunset Hills Historical Society Feb. 28 about life on the former family estate in Sunset Hills, surrounded now by Tapawingo National Golf Club and serious McMansion housing developments. His niece Judy, the photographer, now lives in St. Paul, MN and we reconnected recently, thanks to Fr. Ed.

Griesedieck spoke fondly of his young years on the 230 acres of natural hills and ravines along the Meramec River, on his Grandfather “Papa Joe” Griesedieck’s farm, summer home and eventually permanent residence. It was also the site of Falstaff company picnics of nearly 1,000 employees in the 1930s. It was also the place where Griesedieck and his brothers partied in their heyday, near the river.

Ed Griesedieck wasn't always a Catholic priest. He graduated from Cornell University in 1952, (St. Louis style:  Chaminade High School) followed by a stint in ROTC, then sailing, partying, drinking and a few years in the 1950s of working in the family brewery’s human relations department. After his father died in 1938 and his mom a few years later, his older sister lived in the family castle for a few years beginning in 1948. Family lore reveals a rattlesnake bite nearly killing her husband that influenced their decision to leave the family homestead.

About this time, Ed gave up the beer drinking and uncovered his calling to the priesthood. He says today, the Holy Spirit is his “new wine.”

After taming his own drinking demons, it was always Father Griesedieck’s dream that the family farm would provide a haven for priest retreats, especially for those in recovery from addiction.

Looking back through forty years of sobriety, Fr. Griesedieck said he still has a personal interest in the fate of the former family estate and the Paraclete Fathers’ ownership of it. He deeded the first 34 acres to them in the 1960s and later agreed to give up the rest of it.

The Paraclete Fathers is an order of priests who minister to troubled priests. They used the homestead from the 1960s through the 1980s for spiritual counseling and priests in recovery from addiction--typically alcohol, he said.

Against the wishes of an understanding with Griesedieck, the Paracletes then sold off parcels of the property to housing developers and what became Tapawingo. Remaining today is the original home or "castle" and tower, and the chapel, which is a memorial to his late mother, Mary McDonnell Griesedieck.

The property is currently owned by Sunset Hills resident Al Moore, who purchased it for about $2 million in 2006. Moore's son said recently they hope to preserve the historic nature of the property.

Jim Reed, now Curator of Archives & Library at History San José, former St. Louisan and former head librarian at Missouri Botanical Gardens, sent along information that the Griesedieck family-Falstaff Brewing Company purchased the former Frederickburg beer plant in San Jose (photo), and later moved that operation to San Francisco. 

However, according to Fr. Griesedieck, it was the hurried expansion of Falstaff during the '50s and '60s that brought about its demise.

So, some may know Uncle Eddie as the Monsignor Griesedieck. Today, he is associate spiritual director at Kenrick Seminary, the same place that wouldn’t accept him for study in the 1950s. He is also a liaison for Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Yes, the monsignor believes “Papa Joe’s” family farm is now in the hands of Providence.

“I believe in the Providence of life,” Fr. Griesedieck said.