The Landons move to Baldwin St., where at age 6 or 7 Kenneth met a girl named Jean Kitchen, whom he refers to as his first great female love, and was pleased to play with her.
Kenneth tells about his birth, how his father and a friend were negligent in letting his mother struggle alone upstairs giving birth to him, and how she expressed her anger to get the men's attention.
Kenneth tells about his father's courtship with Mae, how he had a problem falling asleep unexpectedly and how he used whiskey to stay awake. Mae eventually referred him to a doctor for treatment.
Kenneth tells about his mother's family and his frequent train trips to Brooklyn to his mother's home. Margaret gives the birth dates for Kenneth's parents and for each of their children.
Kenneth tells about the houses he lived in as a child: the house in which he was born, the houses on N. Main St., Park Ave., Baldwin St., and Randolph St., as well as some of the events associated with the time they were in each one of them.
The Landon's went to Siam for the second time in 1932. Margaret wanted to make their new home attractive, and was told to look in Nagasaki for a tea set. They found a wonderful place and purchased a set, with the business man being trusted to send…
Kenneth received a letter from a French scholar who was writing his dissertation at the University of Paris, asking if Kenneth could provide him with copies of the economic plan and other documents. Kenneth sent him the documents and the scholar's…
Kenneth and Bill Donovan went up to the extreme northern part of Thailand for the repatriation of the KMT troops. Both the previous ambassador, Ed Stanton, and the ambassador to Burma, David Key, had been told to assure their respective governments…
In his youth, Merle Cochran had spent time in France, and he had acquired a magnificent set of French furniture. When he finished his assignment in Djakarta, he sold that furniture to the government for a fancy price, enough to finance his retirement…
Kenneth remembers the first time he went to the theater, at age eight or nine. Mr. Jenkins, a printer for The Evening Republican, and Bobby Jenkins took him there. He recalls being photographed wearing the dress of Alice Jenkins after a party and…
Kenneth on his first encounter with graft and corruption. He was about 11 years old and went with Jimmy, a 15 years old, to a movie. The girl that was selling the tickets liked Jimmy and so gave them two tickets before she turned around to take them…
Kenneth sings a song from his childhood. He mentions that it just came to mind as he was washing the dishes the other day, and Margaret was surprised to that she had never heard it before. Kenneth is quite amused by the way that things that have been…
Kenneth can't remember ever taking a book home in high school. His memory was that his grades in High School were not good, but going through his records he was surprised to discover that he had excellent grades. He also tells about him learning to…
Kenneth interjects to explains that he is one of few people whose tonsils simply dissolved. The doctor had told him that he needed to have them removed, which Kenneth didn't want to do, and fortunately at a later visit the tonsils were nowhere to be…
Kenneth recalls his first visit to the dentist. It was for an extensive work including multiple teeth removal and filings. The dentist wouldn't tell Kenneth, who was 7 or 8 at the time, what he was going to do, so Kenneth refused to cooperate. They…
The area where Kenneth and his family lived was infested with black snakes, and often the kids would find them curled up in their clothes at the river where they used to go swimming. One day one of the children caught a six-foot snake for the Barnum…
Sunday afternoon walks were an institution. After church you would have a heavy dinner and go for a walk as a family and call on somebody. Children were not allowed games or anything like that. In the evening you would go again at church.
Miss McCabe, Kenneth's Sunday School teacher, wanted all her boys to become preachers. One day she announced that Theodore Borrel was going to become a minister and asked Kenneth why he didn't want to become one. Shortly after, two of Theodore's…
Saturday was pay day and everyone would dress up and go to downtown. Kenneth would watch the men gambling and quickly learned the best way to win. He remembers gambling, playing the role of the banker and winning consistently.
Kenneth took a job at Erie Railroad at about age fourteen. His could have been turned down because of his weak physical appearance, but because Brad was his father the foreman took him on. Kenneth recalls working in the storehouse, driving truck.
One of Kenneth's friends was Stinky Altenburg. His sister became one of the prostitutes in the town, but the other sisters were very proper. Kenneth and Stinky and other friends would hang out in town very often. Stinky became a successful lawyer.
