By Matthew Halverson
Photographs by Katherine Bish
He’s a fixture on Clayton Road, a shuffling, cigar-chomping icon whose enigmatic daily walks between McKnight and Price inspire a smiling curiosity among drivers and passersby. Ask a handful of them to guess who he might be, why he might do what he does, and you’re bound to get a handful of different guesses:
“I would think he owned some land or a farm here before Clayton was developed, and now he lives in some mansion. It seems like he belongs here.” —Linda Siemers, manager, Essential Elements
“He could be an undercover agent for the FBI. It would be a great front. If they ever filmed a St. Louis version of 24, he’d be our Jack Bauer.” —Jerry Meyers, owner, Ladue Markets
“I’ve always wondered about that guy. Maybe he had to walk the line for the cops and he just never stopped walking.” —Jerry Koeller, Lordo’s Diamonds
“He’s a former captain of industry, probably banking. His doctor told him he needed to get out and walk, and his wife’s at home nagging him.” —Mark Bradley, manager of the Clayprice building
Turns out, his name is Barney Brundage. He isn’t a secret agent or a retired tycoon, and he doesn’t live in a mansion. He was born on a farm in western New York and loved the snow. After graduating from Cornell University’s engineering school, he married one of the first female graduates of Harvard Law School. He retired from Emerson Electric six years ago, and now he walks, his tall frame bent, his stride shortened by a hip replacement, which mortifies him. “A lot of people stop their cars to talk to me,” he says. “They get curious about this guy trudging along Clayton Road, and they find a place to pull over.”
He talks to them, gives them directions if they ask. But don’t think for a second that he doesn’t recognize the power of maintaining a little mystery: “When I walk along Clayton, people think I’m an old man, but I’m really only 30,” he says with a wink. “Just goes to show you what a few years of cigars and whiskey and wild women will do.”
