Almost twenty years in one place and you get to know a person.
In Bill Hannah’s case, he got to know an entire law firm.
Hannah spent 19 years working as the superintendent and security guard at the Greenleaf & Crosby building on Laura Street, the home of the Foley & Lardner law firm for over a decade.
But now that Foley & Lardner has moved into space in Independent Square, the building is empty and Hannah is taking the opportunity to retire.
“What I’ll miss most is the people,” said Hannah. “We’re like a family here.”
As if on cue, one Foley & Lardner employee walks into the lobby — en route to cleaning out her office — and greets Hannah with open arms.
“Miss you already,” Hannah says to her as they greet each other with a hug.
He has plenty of friends outside the building as well including his daughter, who works in a nearby cafe.
“I guess that’s what happens when you stay as long as I have,” he said, waving at a passerby on the street. “You become a part of the place yourself.”
Now that he has time off, Hannah is thinking about taking a cruise.
He might even return to Italy, where he was stationed during his Navy days, and where he met his wife, Enza.
“I’ve been thinking about going back,” he said. “I lived all over when in the Navy — Italy, Spain, Guam.
“I was a flight deck chief in the Navy, and when I came here I couldn’t find another flight deck,” he said, “but I found this old building.”
Hannah, a St. Louis native, has seen a lot of change in his two decades Downtown. The Landing went up, the Rhodes building and the Coliseum went down. And Laura Street, with its several restaurants and redone Elks Building, has gone through a major facelift.
Working at the Greenleaf building might not have always been as exciting as his military tour of Europe and the world, but there were some moments of adrenaline-pumping action.
One summer several years ago, the air conditioner in the building was running hot. It turned out that someone was scaling the walls, and stealing the copper off of the units.
“He was like Spiderman,” said Hannah. “He was stealing copper from our building, and from the church [Snyder Memorial] next door. We tried greasing the pipes to keep him from climbing up. He was working harder than 10 men.”
Eventually Hannah was able to apprehend the man; he chased him down the street and caught him.
For a man who’s been on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week for nearly 20 years, taking time off might be harder than it should be.
“After I take some time off, I’ll probably sign back on with Kaiser [Fred Kaiser Management, which manages both the Greenleaf and Saxelby buildings] and help fill in when they need me.”