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!