SUGAR'S SHENANIGANS

Sugar's name in real life is Shirley Fisher.  My family has been after me for many months to begin a blog about my life.  Well, shenanigans have been a large part of my life and the nickname Sugar has been with me all my life.  Some people may not have known my real first name.  When someone asked me what my name was I would merely answer "Sugar Warren" (maiden name).  

The family asked me to relate things from my earliest childhood to the present.  Wow, that'll take a long time, telling you "stuff" from 84 years ago to the present time.  They also said the contents don't have to be in any special order.  Good!! I have their permission to just ramble on about anything I remember.  Since I'm the oldest member of the whole family, no one can contest whether or not parts are true.  This is going to be fun.  So, here goes!!

On October 27, 1935, I was born at home at 2457 Lawn Avenue, Kansas City, MO.  It was the middle of the Great Depression.  Several family members lived together in the 2-story home and pooled their money to pay the rent.  My mother's parents, Jim and Anna Frances Yeo Peppard, Anna's sister, Ruth Hazel Yeo, my parents and my older sister, Anna Marie Warren, who was six years older than me.  

Anna Marie was shown the new baby as a surprise.  After being an only child for six years Anna didn't like this newcomer and proceeded to show her jealousy in several ways, mostly by cutting off my long auburn curls many times during my life.  One time she even put me in her bicycle basket and took me to the nearby barbershop.  She told the barber that Mom sent her there and that Dad would stop on his way home from work to pay him.  I guess there was quite a ruckus in our house later that day.

On November 5, 1936, tragedy struck our family.  My grandmother Anna suffered a massive cerebral stroke just three months after her 50th birthday.  The entire family was devastated and the shock so severe that eventually my dad moved us to an apartment at 14th and Benton Boulevard.  My mother was an only child and couldn't cope with losing her mother so suddenly.  Slowly she began to heal.  

When I was three and a half we welcomed a newcomer to the family and they named him Thomas Joseph Warren.  When he was a little older he would say his full name was Tommy Tooter Joseph, Junior Warren.  Draw your own conclusion as to what his second name was about.  Now we needed more living space so my parents rented another house at 24?? Chelsea Avenue.  After a year we rented another house a block west at 2457 Lister Avenue.  In 1939 Mom and Dad finally became homeowners at 2520 Cypress, where I lived until 1956 because a certain young man swept me off my feet at age 15 and a few years later I changed my name to Shirley Fisher.  By far the smartest decision of my life.

SCHOOL YEARS

Anna, Tommy and I all graduated from St. Michael's Catholic school at 24th and Brighton, KCMO, and all three of us were enrolled at East High School, 20th and Van Brunt Boulevard.  We were taught by the nuns - Sisters of no-Mercy we would later say.  They were known as the strictest order of nuns, but we survived.  My kindergarten teacher, Sister Mary Pauline, was the exception.  She was very patient.  With the help of our Assistant Pastor Father Taney our class put on several plays attended by many parishioners.  One was a Tom Thumb wedding and, being the littlest person in the school, I was chosen to be the flower girl.  A picture of the wedding party hangs on my bedroom wall now.

Another play was "Mammy's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread", in which we all wore black-face and my mother braided my hair along wires that stuck out all over my head.  It would never have been done in today's world.  But this was 1944-45, long before desegregation.  It was also nearing the end of World War 2.  And that, my friends is another whole story.

WORLD WAR 2

All the young men in the country were being drafted into the army to fight and finally conquer the enemies - Japan and Germany.  My dad wasn't eligible for the draft because of his age - in his 30s - and the fact that he was married with three children.  But he was "drafted" to work at the North American Bomber plant in Fairfax, Kansas, using his skills as a tool and die maker.  After the war it was converted to the BOP plant, building Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac automobiles, and Dad went back to the Ford Motor Company, where he had worked for about five years before the war and retired after reaching his 30th anniversary with the company.

I remember the war years very clearly.  At Mass each Sunday a white flag was placed and a star showing which young men from our parish died in the war.  So sad for the families who lost their sons.  The family across the street from us, The Hults family, had five sons serving overseas and all five boys returned home safely.  Time to stop.  Will let you know more later.  Only 80 years left.