The Landon family eventually moves to 710 Walnut St. where Kenneth's father, Brad, would stay until 1938 or 1939. The furniture from the house would come to Kenneth and Margaret in Richmond, Indiana.
Kenneth's mother, Mae, was anemic and was told by her doctor that she should have a stout or dark beer that would help her overcome her anemia. This was standard procedure in those days. The father, Brad, was preaching against alcohol consumption and…
A story from Kenneth's childhood. It was fall, and very wintry, and very cold, but his brother, Bradley, wanted to go canoeing. To begin with, Bradley sat in the rear and Kenneth sat in the front. They paddled a number of miles before they decided to…
The brothers were actually quite close. Kenneth gave him a fine clothes brush once, and an expensive watch he had won playing craps at the railroad shop. Margaret remembers how, when she first met Kenneth, he would talk often of Bradley, and warmly.
Following Kenneth's misadventure with the stout spilling everywhere in the house, some older women from the church came to visit Mae, who never gave any explanation to the visitors about the smell of alcohol in the house. As soon as the women entered…
Mae was away and Brad decided that he and the boys (Bradley and Kenneth) were going to make pancakes. As a chemist Brad tried to analyze the mixture, throwing one after another of the ingredients and hoping to come to the perfect pancakes. He never…
Kenneth remembers Ray Pooks imposing his will at a high school track meet. He would require that the events be rescheduled so that he could participate in them all. Kenneth was amazed at this man doing everything just as he had said despite the fact…
Kenneth tells about the ATV company going bankrupt, mostly as the result of his father's poor business skills. When Kenneth left home, that was the end of manufacturing staff.
Bradley Landon was born on October 20, 1899. He was a ten-pound baby and he grew to be a very strong, handsome boy. He had a hot temper and would become very angry at people. He never was good with girls, so when he met Kathryn Lehrer Lindner he…
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…
Kenneth bought his own clothes from Cash Smith, the man who owned the clothing store. It so happened that Kenneth was the right size to model clothes, so he made money by modeling clothes for cash on Saturdays.
Kenneth remembers Mrs. D'Armant Minium, a very buxom woman with plump arms and a voice like cream. At age sixteen she became curious about having a baby, and so she had one, and then she disposed it somehow. Mae never forgave her for the baby,…
Mae Landon was a very elegant woman, always properly dressed, walked elegantly, with flashing brown eyes. She was not the kind of person who would bother to explain things to people (like in the stout story). She would sit very elegantly and never…
Kenneth and brother Bradley would hide from their father the money they earned. Their father would take it if he knew where to find it, and actually searched for it. The boys would hide their money inside the newel post on the stairs and dad couldn't…
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…
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.…
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…
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 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'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 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 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
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.
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 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.