Lucille Hendrix

Lucille was the youngest of the Jeter children, and she was a beauty. "She had long, thick, dark hair, which was straight, and a beautiful wide smile," recalled her best friend, Loreen Lockett. Lucille was proper and a bit immature, so the family was shocked when she became pregnant not long after dating Al. When they married, Al was too poor to initially buy her a ring.

Poverty also marked Lucille's life when Al was drafted and she was left in Seattle to fend for herself. She found work as a waitress in the unruly Jackson Street club scene, where she lied about her age. In clubs like the infamous Bucket of Blood, she served drinks and occasionally provided part of the entertainment. "She would sing," her sister Delores Hall recalled, "and men would give her tips because she was such a good singer."

Lucille soon became part of what hipsters called "the Main Stem." "That was the term used to describe where everything was happening," noted Bob Summerrise, one of Seattle's first black DJs, who owned a record store in the neighborhood. In clubs like the Black & Tan, the Rocking Chair and the Little Harlem, a colorful and rich alternative world existed, unseen by white Seattle. To Lucille Jeter Hendrix, working on Jackson Street was a life-changing event. The district became her milieu, and she was never again completely comfortable in more staid society.