Dea Hoover grew up in Vandalia attending Van-Far high school and watching her mother run the Vandalia Firestone.
“I graduated from Van-Far in 1989 and I was overinvolved,” says …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous website, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
Dea Hoover grew up in Vandalia attending Van-Far High School and watching her mother run the Vandalia Firestone.
“I graduated from Van-Far in 1989 and I was overinvolved,” says Hoover. “I was student council president, band secretary, National Honor Society, marching band, concert band… You know, all the stuff you typically do when you’re in a small town and want to stay busy.”
Hoover was a first generation college student attending Washington University in 1989 as a business major.
“I got into Wash U, early decision, and I was a business major and an English minor because I wanted to get a job when I got out,” says Hoover. “I always loved my English and my history classes.”
Hoover earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has been through several different careers starting out in retail, selling cars at a Saturn dealership, and eventually becoming a tour director.
“9/11 happened and everything changed,” says Hoover. “I started a tour company from scratch.”
Combining her fascination with history, and educational background in business, Hoover started “Are we there yet”, a tour company out of St. Louis in 2005. In 2008, she expanded her business after purchasing Discover St. Louis, another tour company.
“It kind of put me in a different zone in tourism because it was more localized which really turned out to be good,” says Hoover. “Being from Missouri, of course I took people from Hannibal and Ste. Genevieve to Hermann.”
Her immersion into the world of tourism gave her a leg up when it came time to pursue her love of English.
Hoover is now a Best Selling author for Reedy Press in St Louis publishing two books based largely in local tourism. Her first book, STL Scavenger: The Ultimate Guide to St. Louis’s Hidden Treasures is a scavenger hunt book published in May, 2021.
“(STL) Scavenger is a game book and I think that’s attractive to people,” says Hoover.
Hannibal: A Walk through History was supposed to be the first book she wrote but it got put on the back burner. It was eventually published in June, 2022.
“Hannibal was the second book in the series for the ‘Walking Tour' books,” says Hoover.
Her newest book, which is in the works right now, is another ‘Walking Tour’ installment titled, Hermannn: A Walk through History. The book is expected to be out in March 2025.
“I’m a bibliophile,” says Hoover. “I dig books.”
