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's father was mean to his family but nice to other people. He treated his wife and kids harshly. Mae had no pocket money and the kids had no allowance unless they worked for it. At age fifteen Kenneth confronted his father and challenge him to…
Kenneth tells about his parents' relationship with each other, their fights in the middle of the night over issues of marital intimacy, probably because his father treated his mother harshly. He tells about one night when his father was weeping and…
Margaret recalls the coming of J. O. Buswell to the presidency at Wheaton College, replacing interim President Welsh who wanted to keep the position. She tells how Buswell's involvement in College Church split the congregation. Buswell himself was…
Kenneth tells about his dog, Jimmy, who was a very special dog from a prestigious kennel in England. The dog was originally a gift to Kenneth's father, but Kenneth always considered Jimmy to be his dog. Kenneth's father was the only member of the…
John Aiken decided that the mission would not work among the Chinese in Siam, only with the Siamese. This was a mistake because the Chinese in Siam were perfectly Siamese and were open to missionaries. They were the most powerful people in the…
During the two week evangelistic meetings there happened an incident at the Methodist church which divided the congregation into two groups. Kenneth got involved and one night he had all the people at his evangelistic meeting go to the Methodist…
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…
Kenneth (age 6 or 7) and his older brother made a propeller at their father's railroad shop. He tells of how they got into trouble again with the motorman (whom the propeller almost hit). The kids vanished but were eventually found.
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…
Brad took his son, Kenneth, on a visit to his older brother, Henry, in Washington D.C. Brad's first job was in Washington, so he wanted to see the city again after many years. He also wanted to show Kenneth the great painting of Commodore…
Kenneth continues on his parents' visit. They were planning to travel further East, and Kenneth wasn't sure they would come back his way, so he took them on another visit to the house of Billy Irwin, Kenneth's roomate.
Kenneth and Margaret say that their "period of adjustment" to living together was perfectly natural. They had gone to school together for two years, sat in the same classes, eaten together in the dinning room, shared visits back and forth with their…
Kenneth and Margaret went to talk with missionaries from Siam to prepare for their assignment. With Kenneth, Jr. they discuss missionary training and new ideas in preparing missionaries.
In February Kenneth wrote that he and Margaret had been officially appointed to Siam. The plan was for them to depart in August, about a month before Margaret gave birth to their first child. Margaret reads a list of the items they were advised to…
Kenneth and Margaret arrived in Princeton and drove through the city, proudly admiring its beautiful streets, with their truck full of baggage. Kenneth couldn't believe how much stuff Margaret owned.
Kenneth accidentally met Mr. Lindsay Hadley on campus and invited him over for dinner without knowing who he was. They had a good conversation (though a bit discouraging as to the Landons missionary plans) at the dinner table. It turned out that…
Kenneth tells of the time he and Margaret were driving home at night, and they almost had a head-on collision with a huge car coming at a very high speed. Kenneth managed to instantly get their small car out of the road. The two of them couldn't…
Kenneth and Margaret didn't see each other from the fall of 1924 to the summer of 1926, when they got married. Kenneth wanted to get married a year earlier, and he believed he could support her. They frequently wrote letters to each other during…
After their wedding Kenneth and Margaret spent the next day in Chicago. They had lunch at the LaSalle Hotel where they were staying, and an early supper near the dock, where they were to board the boat that was going to take them across Lake…
Kenneth and Margaret make final remarks on the taping. They thank Kip for doing the recordings. Kenneth says "thank you" in Thai, and states that they have great appreciation for the records.
Kenneth tells of the background to his appointment at the State Department. There had been a number of inquiries before the call from Washington. Kenneth wasn't interested in most of them. He tells how Mortimer Graves, secretary of the Council of…
While Kenneth was traveling in Bangkok in 1960, Prime Minister Sarit requested Kenneth for breakfast. Through the course of the breakfast, Sarit talked quite highly of Kenneth. As it turns out, the entire thing was televised, and many invitations…
