PBX Operator

My Mother (Aldine) was a PBX Operator. She learned the occupation at the American Red Cross in Kansas City Missouri at a very young age. It may even have been her first job.

She went on to work at the Kansas City Hall, (Where my Grandfather was the Garage Superintendant) the Coca Cola Company (boy do I wish I had just a few of the promotional items she brought home!), and then the Veterans Hospital in Kansas City.

Once we moved to California, she went to work for the Retail Clerks Union Dental Office on Hollywood Blvd. She worked there for over 10 years.

I never heard her express an interest in doing any other type of work. Her job, and the places where she
worked, played a very big part in our lives.

Rats!

My Grandparents (Thomas Earl Garrett and Grace Garrett) house on Jefferson St. (and the houses surrounding it), were literally infested with rats. You could set a jillion traps and not be rid of the rats!

Now we are not talking cute little field mice here, but big huge rats!

It was so bad that there was a ‘stick’ in a corner of each room (usually from the bottom of an old window blind), to beat them off with!

In fact, my half-sister Donna Fuqua was badly bitten by one of them in the middle of the afternoon while taking a nap (I remember it well – though I was younger than she was.) In her sleep, she had let her hand dangle out of the crib slats, and a rat almost bit off one of her fingers.
I remember her screaming, crying, and her Mother, Irene Fuqua, rushing to pick her up. Her hand was bleeding profusely. It was such a bad bite; they even took her to a doctor (a rare event for such a poverty household.) Her hand was bandaged for days.

Loretto Academy, Kansas City, MO

Though no one in my family was Catholic, I attended this all-girl Catholic School from about 1950-1957 (ages 4-8). It was a majestic old building at 1111 W. 39th St. Kansas City, Missouri.

I ended up going to Loretto Academy because, having been at home with my Grandparents, Grace & Thomas ‘Earl’ Garrett, for my first 4 years; I did not tolerate any other day care my Mother tried!

I do not know if we moved to the 39th St. apartment (a whole other story), which was just down the street from Loretto Academy, before or after I started school there.

The Sisters at Loretto Academy were patient, loving, and above all, teachers. I soaked it up like the proverbial sponge. I was shown a way of life I hadn’t seen at home. Academically, I did very well there (I still have the report cards), which wasn’t the case once I left.

Our uniforms consisted of a white blouse topped by a blue jumper. (Me at about age 6) -------->

In the few short years I spent there, (with my Mother’s permission) I was baptized Catholic, went to first confession and first communion. I also gained a deep faith, which I have kept the rest of my life, though I remained the only Catholic in my immediate family.

I have only fond memories of Loretto Academy, and often wondered what my life might have been like had I gone to that school till I graduated.

Oh, but I DID graduate from Loretto Academy! I graduated from kindergarten! Here is the picture to prove it.

2110 Jefferson St., Kansas City, MO

Was the address of the two-story house, in a definitely poorer section of town that my adopted grandparents, Thomas Earl Garrett and Grace Garrett owned.

I do not know if my adoptive Grandparents ‘operated’ a Boarding House, rented out rooms, or just let those in need stay, but at any given time, a lot of people lived there such as Irene Fuqua and two of her children (older than I) Dale and Donna Fuqua in one room, my Mom, Dad, and I in another. At various times, many lived there and became my ‘extended’ family if not actually related in some way.

I think I lived there, with my illegally (or a poor person’s adoption) adopted Parents Aldine Estes and Clyde Estes, until I was 4 or 5 years old.

Indeed, I was born there, on the dining room table, caught by a doctor who was smoking a cigar during my birth, of Irene Fuqua (Later, Irene Taber; check out ancestry.com). It was a Tuesday mid afternoon and there was a snowstorm going on outside. I was immediately handed over to my adoptive Mother Aldine Estes (Though my ‘natural’ mother, Irene was an integral part of my life until way into my adult years.).

I was named after someone, but now the reason is unknown: Evelyn Ann Estes.

Since my Mother worked mostly full time, my beloved adoptive Grandparents guided my first years.

I have many ‘stories’ or remembrances about that house that I hope to relate in this memoir!