Earl Frederick Graham

    Earl Fredrick Graham was born July 12, 1905 in Rosedale.  He was "cute" and fun-loving.  He married young (we were at 501 S. W. Bl'vd) a cute girl, Daisy.  My cousin, Emerson recalled Daisy saying she couldn't imagine being married to one man her whole life.  She wasn't.  Earl had wander-lust and traveled quite a bit, either by jalopy or in box cars. 

    Earl and younger brother, Louis were born mechanics and loved automobiles.  The backyard was full of cars in various stages of repair.  No law against it then.

    On one trip, Earl wound up at the Thompson home in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  He wooed and won their 14 year-old daughter.  Annis, a pretty brunette.  Their first child was cute Jackie Neal.  

    We had moved to 1406 37th Avenue, when Earl first brought Annis and Jackie to the Grahams.  She and I played paper dolls on the dining-room floor.

    Latter, he also brought her brothers, Jesie and Caleb.  Iva (who had told Anna's sister Cora and her son, Troy there were nice boarding houses in Rosedale, didn't seem to mind these boarders.

    Caleb got a crush on me and Annis teased him about it.  Annis and Earl had a second son, Harrison Earl named for her father.  He was always called "Babe".  They lived on the road going the other direction from where Burketts lived.  August 7, 1938, Caleb and I were at this little house, when we were shooed out to the yard.  Annis gave birth to Donna Delores.

    I got mad at Caleb and hit him for no reason at all.  He didn't seem to mind.  He was seventeen and I was fourteen.  

    Caleb went into F.D.R.'s CCC Camp.  

    Annis was no housekeeper  or laundress.  But, to be fair they didn't have much.  They divorced.

    Uncle Earl enlisted in the Navy when World War II began.

    Caleb was stationed at an Army base in Alaska.  Annis suggested I write to him.

    All her life, Lorean Fisk had loved Earl.  She has one sister Harriet who openly adored her tall husband, Dave Swineheart.  Lorean waited for Earl

    Betty and I, walking from High School used to stop in at the Fisk's home.  Mrs. Fisk served us her heavenly home-made bread.  It beat the second-day bread we'd buy at Rushton's Barkery, also, along S.W. Bl'vd.

    Earl and Lorean did marry and lived in rural homes in Missouri.

    1974, our last trip as a family, your father, Brad and I went to see Henry and Margaret (Hatch in Arkansas), then the Truman Library and Earl.  They came out to meet us in this hickory-nut groove.  Uncle Earl and I hugged and we both cried.  A sign said their house was "Green Acres."  Then, on to Kansas City, briefly. 

     "Babe" died in an accident, while in the armed service at a young age.

    Earl died in Jackson County, Missouri in April, 1977.  This is the last time I saw him and Aunt Mary, too.  Maybe, others of my immediate family.  

    We did see Uncle Anthony Nugent in his old mansion on exclusive Rockhill Road.  We spoke of collaborating on a book.  Last time I saw him.  Also, Emmet and Mary Nugent.  Bill cut short our trip to get back to N.C.  He was cold, preoccupied.

    written by:  Dorothy Nugent Hatch