Saturday, January 29, 2022. Beloved husband of Linda L. Kuelker (nee Nirelli); dear father of Shawn (Kelly Friedrich) McCauley, Kevin (Jessica) Kuelker, Kasey (Edward) Bickel, Jason (Rebecca) McCauley and Ali Kuelker Moore; dear grandfather of Kiyan, Austin (Abby), Aaliyah, Aaydin, Avery, Annistyn, Owen, Ellie, Cameron, Alexa, Mason, Valentino and Giovanni; our dear brother-in-law, uncle and friend.
His life goals encompassed spending time with family and enjoying his hobbies. His acheivments include founding the St. Louis Record Show, serving in Vietnam and representing the community as an attorney. He was a pinball wizard and biggest Cardinal fan you will ever meet.
Services: Funeral from Kutis Affton Chapel, 10151 Gravois, Monday, February 7, 12 noon. Interment J.B. National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions to A.H.C. (Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood), 301 Route 17 North,Suite 800, Rutherford, New Jersey 07070 and referrence “Carl Kuelker in honor of Abby Nirelli” for the donation. https://www.cureahc.org/donate Visitation Sunday, 2-8 p.m.
I was shocked when I found out about Carl. He was a friend and neighbor growing up in Ferguson. He was very close to my brother, Ken McCuistion, growing up, who passed away 14 months ago. He was a tremendous help to me when my brother was in the hospital. I’m so sorry for your loss. He will be missed.
So sorry for your loss, Linda. You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
A close friend he will be deeply missed..
Karl was one of the attorneys in the St. Louis Juvenile Court when I started practicing there right out of law school. He was a mentor. We were colleagues and stayed in touch with each other after leaving Juvenile Court. My condolences to his family.
So sorry to hear about Carl “Skip” – he was our family attorney. He also went to school with my sister from his Lutheran High Central years. May he rest in peace. He was a very nice guy and he helped me with a legal issue many years ago that saved my marriage.
My deepest condolences Linda, to you and your family. I am sick, so did not make it to the services. Carl was a treasure and will be deeply missed.
You have my deepest sympathy. Carl will be missed by all who knew him. We were friends in sunday school and confirmation. We double dated in high school and college. Carl was my go-to lawyer when it came to traffic court. We lost touch after I joined the marine corps in 1966, but caught up again in 1972. Hard to keep up after children arrive. Looking at the grandchildren count Christmas must have been a busy time. Condolences.
Gayle and I were friends with Carl since 1978. I could write for 24 hours and still not tell all the great stories about our adventures in the world of record collecting. Carl was a recordaholic and his passion for 45s was well known across the country. He also was a serious collector of records, pinball machines and high quality books especially leather-bound ones. He treasured all of the items in his collection but would gladly part with any of them when he discovered how valuable some of them had become. I am the same way.
Carl handled some of our legal proceedings and it was great to always have him on our side. He also went with us to Chicago many times to sell and buy at the Chicago Record Convention. I will dearly miss all of the “friendly” insults Carl hurled my way at times. He liked calling me a cheapskate, a chiseler and one of his favorite expressions, a “dollar boy”. He also would make fun of me because he knew “The Music Man” was one of my favorite movies. He was not a big fan of musicals. He also relentlessly would say I was always looking for Sophie Tucker and Martin Denny LPs because I thought they were the best ones you could buy. He really like to kid me. (At least, I hope he was kidding).
The last time I saw Carl was at the end of October last year. I met him at Lion’s Choice on Olive for lunch and to buy 3 cartons of plastic LP sleeves. I had not seen him for a while because I was laying low in this bad COVID period and I had not attended the St. Louis Record Show for many months. To mark the occasion, I gave him 2 presents. Before I unveiled them to him, I told him I had a few gifts for him to mark our many years of friendship. I then proudly gave him a DVD of “The Music Man” and an autographed LP of “Sophie Tucker’s Greatest Hits”. He got a good laugh and put them in his trunk. I was hoping he would always keep them as a treasured memento of me but I am sure they were on his table for sale at the November record show.
However, Carl would also sometimes pay me compliments. His main one was he said I was one of the “best of a bad lot” referring to my place among record collectors and dealers. That may seem like a wisecrack to you but if you knew about record people, that was indeed something to be proud of.
Gayle and I want to extend our deepest sympathy to Linda and all of Carl’s family. It’s going to take a long time for it to finally sink in that he won’t be around anymore. But memories do not die and I will always have them to cherish.
Bill & Gayle Miller
I still can’t come to accepting Carl has passed ,my deepest sympathy to the family , Mr. Kuelker was a Godsend for myself with legal issues, I last seen before past Xmas, He mentioned the arrival of a new grandson and his name , we talked briefly about retirement, he was a very proud Dad and Grandfather, loss for words, I know he will be deeply missed by many , May he Rest In Peace