First, Patricia

I am currently editing my mother's book which she wrote in the last few years of her life.  I have plans to publish it in the near future for extended family and local history buffs in the area where she grew up.  This is an excerpt from the beginning chapters...

Kathleen Karyl Kenyon
The earliest photo we have of Mom
Taken circa Summer 1934
Note the hand holding her in place!

FIRST, PATRICIA

Seeing as I’m starting at the very beginning of Kathleen’s life, this tale must begin with Patricia Ann as she arrived before Kathleen.  On Thursday, September 29, 1932, the first Patricia Ann Kenyon was born. She was born into the family of Harriet and Charles Kenyon who already had a family of seven children, four girls and three boys.  It was a very short life of which I have no memory and to the best of my knowledge she only existed for a very few days.  She was born at home in a small log house in Purdy Valley, Greenfield Township, Monroe County, Wisconsin.  Due to the BUB syndrome, busy, unconcern, and booze, the doctor who should have attended her birth was negligent, he never arrived until well after the fact.  Some say he stopped at a well-known still on his way to the delivery.

Two of Patricia’s older sisters, Doris and Veva, were the villains in that poor baby’s life.  They took advantage of the fact that the doctor who should have attended her birth was rather haphazard in carrying out his duties, and used that knowledge to eliminate Patricia.  At the time of her birth, both Doris and Veva were students at Tomah High School. They stayed in Tomah with Charlie’s Aunt Cora Monday through Friday. Charlie would take them to Tomah on Monday and bring them back to the farm on Friday. 

They spent their weekends at home on the farm.  The first time they saw their baby sister, she was one day old.  They each had one reoccurring thought that popped into their minds over and over that first weekend of Patricia’s life. “Patricia Ann had to go.”  That same thought remained the following week when they were back in Tomah. 

Both of them knew and strongly disliked another Patricia.  Their beautiful baby sister was not a Patricia.  Patricia Ann had to go.   They made their secret plan, plotted their dirty deed, and transferred their thoughts into action.  To insure success, they had to keep their plan secret. Outside interference could stop their plan cold.  Action first. Talk later.

The first step was to visit the derelict doctor.  As they suspected he had been negligent one more time. He had not sent the birth certificate into the state or even filled it out. Those two innocent appearing young ladies took advantage of the doctor’s negligence.  They told him that Hattie and Charlie had changed their minds and now wanted to name the child Kathleen Karyl.  The doctor believed them and eventually sent the birth certificate in with the name, Kathleen Karyl.  

Success!  Their plan had come to fruition.  There is no record of Patricia’s existence or a grave marker to distinguish her brief life. She just disappeared.  No one heard of Patricia Ann Kenyon again for some eleven or twelve years, until the second Patricia Ann Kenyon arrived, when Glen and Dolores gave that name to their first child.

Now the Kathleen who emerged, I remember well.  In fact she and I became very close during the ensuing years.  Her beginnings might be questionable, but she is the only immaculate creation since Mary that I have ever heard of.  She wasn’t even born; she was created out of whole cloth and was already five days old on the day of her creation.  The rest of this narrative will be devoted to her life and her memories.

The Villains

Doris and Veva Kenyon
Taken circa "the time of the crime"

The notification that the birth was registered, finally arriving over a month after Kathleen's birth.

© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt

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