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 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 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 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…
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 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…
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…
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 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.
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 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 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.
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.
The Landons' moved to Randolph St. when Kenneth was about seven and a half years old. He was playing baseball and later began to run into gang battles.
Kenneth dressed up as a girl for a party, went to play baseball with his brother and a friend after the party, still wearing the girl clothes, and was mistaken for a girl by men watching the baseball game
Kenneth talks about his love for ham, which he would eat a lot and carry around in his pocket for snack. He tells about his use of zippers, which a man at an old shack had invented.
Kenneth's tells about his boyhood friends and fighting, how he got beaten up so often, how he developed attack strategies that made it too costly for those who could and wanted to beat him up.
Kenneth and his brother built an elaborated tree house across the street from 710 Walnut St., ran an aerial to the tree house and put electrified wires around it to prevent "unauthorized" access to it. He tells how the tree house became the locus of…
Kenneth and his family traveled to Niagara Falls and the boys had to eat fig newtons, which Kenneth came to love very much. He would eat fig newtons in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
Kenneth talks about his friendship with the kids of the people on the Landons' side of the street and how he became a graceful dancer. He tells of dance parties they held at each other's houses and the lasting friendship that ensued. Kenneth…
Mae became sick and the doctor asked that she take stout to fortify her blood. Kenneth was asked to receive the keg from the brewer when it came. The keg was delivered but Kenneth lost control of it while trying to bring it down to the basement.…
The Landon brothers got in a furious fight in which Kenneth's brother ran after him until he vanished away for the rest of the day. The boys were alone that day so Mae, their mother, who usually protects Kenneth could not help. Kenneth was gone for…
