Bonnie Leathers

Soon after joining Lowe and Campbell, I noticed a gentlemen worked on the first floor that seemed to finding excuses to come to the second floor – the floor I worked on.  Actually, Jack was very popular with the other women at Lowe and Campbell.  Fortunately, he didn’t seem to show much interest in anyone else.

Every year, the company had a bowling league party and dance.  I went with my girlfriend, Ernestine. I didn’t bowl but did enjoy dancing with Jack.  He offered to drive me home but I insisted on driving home with Ernestine.  A couple of days later Jack asked me for our first date – the wedding of his friend Stan Aufdenberg.

After attending Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, I met a Marine named David Ellington.  My mother was divorced at the time and was dating David Ellington’s father. We dated several months before getting married in 1947.  Soon after getting married, we moved to New Bern, North Carolina the home of Camp Lejeune.  While in New Bern, I worked at the J C Penney store.

We then moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia where David attended officer’s candidate school at Quantico.  It was here that my first son David was born on April 20, 1949.  When David was six weeks old, we both flew back to Kansas City. It was here that I moved in with my parents on Wood Avenue and subsequently filed for divorce.

I then took an office job at Lowell and Campbell, a sporting goods distributor in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.  My aunt Mita was the manager of the factory store and helped me secure the job.  I worked as an administrative support person in the credit department.  Soon after, the company was purchased by Wilson Sporting Goods.  It was here that I started dating a retail manager named Jack Leathers.

Jack was popular with all of the “girls” at work.  He was very handsome and one of his best asset s was that he was raised to be polite to women.  He always held the car door for you, etc.  Lowe and Campbell would have a bowling party every year with dancing, etc.  It was the highlight party of the year and almost everyone went.   I went with my girl friend, who also worked at Lowe and Campbell, Ernestine Ward.  Jack and I danced several dances and then he wanted to take me home.  I was spending the night with my girlfriend Ernestine so of course I turned him down.

Several weeks later he asked my out on a date and we went to his good friend Stan and Marilyn Aufdemberge’s wedding.  Jack and I dated for several months but not steady as I had a couple of other boyfriends.  On our dates we usually went to a movie or sometimes his friends would have a party and we would attend.  In 1950 Jack was drafted to serve in the military.  He joined the Army and was an MP there.  We wrote letters back and forth and finally he got a leave to come home on a furlough.  His Mother lived in the Country Club area of Kansas City, Mo. and I lived in the suburbs of Kansas City, Kansas.  As fate would have it, the Missouri river flooded in July 1951.  He was on one side of the river and I was on the other side.  The Intercity Viaduct was closed except for emergency vehicles so there was no way to get together.  As fate would have it, a good friend of my Mother’s, Bruce Baldwin, was a special deputy and he had a pass to drive over the viaduct.  Bruce owned a motorcycle shop so he gave me a ride over the flooded bottoms on the back of his motorcycle.  My aunt Laura lived a block from Jack’s Mother’s house so I stayed with her for the next few days so Jack and I could see each other while he was on leave.

My Aunt Lena and her family lived in Argentine, Kansas City, Ks., and her house was flooded completely up to the attic.  They all stayed with my family for several months.   Shortly after Jack’s leave he was stationed in Augsburg, Germany.  We corresponded almost every day while he was away, which was about a year.

Jack was discharged from the Army in 1952 and we were married August 1, 1953 in Bonfils Chapel at the Frank Lloyd Wright Church, Community Christian Church on the Plaza with Dr.  Pippin officiating.  Ernestine Ward was my Maid of Honor and Dick Rollert was the Best Man.  I didn’t have any Bride Maids but Jack had several Groomsmen.  Bob Leathers, Dick Tucker, Bill Stephens, and Bob Fountain.  Our reception was at the President Hotel.  The next morning Jack and I left for our Honeymoon to Grandview Lodger in Brainard, Minnesota.  It was located on a beautiful lake and they had nice cabins to stay in.  The food was fabulous.  The weather was not warm so we didn’t do much swimming but they had a lot of other things to do.  ONe day e went into Brainard and did some shopping.  The first and only time I was ever on a horse was there.  I have never been so scared in my life.  We met another couple there who was from Kansas City and got married on the same day that we did.  What a coincidence.  We had a cute little cabin and had a wonderful time.

We had a great apartment on the Plaza.  409 W. 46th Street.  The first party we had was there.   We had a Halloween Party and invited all of our good friends.  We all dressed up in costumes.  I was a football player (costume from Lowe and Campbell).  Jack was a cheerleader.  I have some pictures of that party.  We had such a good time!  (So nice to be young!).  We had to live on the Plaza as that was the popular place at that time.

After Jack went into the Army, I left Lowe and Campbell (Wilson Sporting Goods) and went to work for General Motors (BOP) in Fairfax.  Again I did secretarial work.  I made some great new friends there   At that time they were making the F84 Thunderjet.  I was working there when Jack was discharged from the Army.

I had both a younger sister and brother.

My sister, Shirley Ann, was born on January 16, 1933.

My brother, Harold Lee, was born on July 18, 1937.

I spent many hours with my grandmother McDaniel, my grandfather McDaniel and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins.    My mother had two sisters, Leona (Lena) and Marguerite (Mita) and three half-brothers whose father passed away when they were very young.   Mary Minroot, married my grandfather, Joseph Van Goethem. and they had three girls.    My mother’s half-brothers were named Frank, Gus and Pete.  Frank had one son Frankie, who sometimes lived with us as his father was not too reliable.  Frankie was such a nice Cousin and we all enjoyed him.  I went to Roosevelt Grade School.  I was born at home on April 15, 1931 to Harold Leonard McDaniel and Anna Louise VanGoethem McDaniel in Kansas City, Kansas.  I was the first child born to them and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  I was born during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  My grandfather McDaniel (Bobo) named me Bonnie Lean which is an Irish name meaning “pretty”.  My grandfather was born in Ireland and came to the United States when he was 19 years old.  He came with his Brother Ynyr wno settled in Chicago  and a Sister who settled in Canada.  My Granddfather worked for the Wonder Bakery as a salesman   I remember we had a large photograph of him on our piano and it showed him holding his Wonder Bread Case and it said “25 Years Anniversary”  Later, after my grandfather had passed away my Dad went to work at Wonder Bakery.  Sorry to say that is where he met my step mother,  Daisy.

I went to only one grade school, Roosevelt Grade school – the same school my dad attended.  It had 8 grades so we didn’t have middle school.  You went right from grade school to high school.  I remember in grade school that every morning the students would line up in the hall outside of the classrooms facing the American flag and say the pledge of allegiance.  The Second World War was declared when I was 10 years old.  I remember President Franklin Roosevelt came on the radio and said that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor.  It was December 7, 1941. The United States had declared war on Japan and Germany.   That was such a frightening thing to hear.  We had so much rationing then.  Each person had a ration book with certain stamps in it so certain things were not available unless you had a stamp in your book for it.  Gasoline was rationed so you could only get enough gas for you to go to work.  There was no gas for just driving around. Also, you could not get tires for your car as the rubber was needed for the war.  Also, everyone collected any tinfoil they could find and made it into a ball to be used for the war effort.   We could only buy one pair of leather shoes a year.  The shoes you had to buy if you didn’t have a victory stamp were terrible.  I don’t know what they were made of but they just fell apart after a few wearings.  Living in the war years was very frightening for everyone.  My Mother and Father were getting a divorce during this time so my mother had to work and take care of three kids.  My dad worked for the Wonder Bakery at this time and that is where he met my future stepmother, Daisy.  Our family had a lot of turmoil and heartbreak then.  I won’t go into the specifics of the divorce and the fact my dad left his three kids and wife and took up with this woman.  Incidentally she worked at Wonder Bread also.  In later years I did make up with my dad and got along with Daisy but only for my dads sake.  They moved to California after the war was over and I did go visit them once.  I took my brother Harold, with me and we rode the ElCapitan Santa Fe train.  It was an express train so you didn’t have to get off until you arrived at your destination.  Dad and Daisy met us at the train station in Los Angeles.  I was a big movie star fan at that time.  My idol was Van Johnson.  One day a daughter of one of dad and Daisies friends and I took the bus to Hollywood to see some movie stars.  Paramount and another studio, I can’t think of the name, were there next to each other.  If you stood outside the gates of the studio you could possibly get some autographs of some stars.  We both had our autograph book and we got several stars autograph and I have pictures of me with some of them and also several autographs of some of the stars of the time.  I am sure most of the stars would not be well known now but I knew who they were.  I still have my autograph book so if you are interested in who I saw, just look it up.  We stayed there all day and later in the day my friend wanted to go home.  I wanted to stay.  I told her  to go on home and I would stay and go home later.  We rode a bus.  She went home without me and I went home later.  I didn’t have any trouble getting to dad and dasies place but I have never seen my dad so mad.  My dad had a very even temper but when he got mad, he got mad.  Now I can understand why he was so mad but at the time I didn’t.  After that little trip he would never let me go out with my friend.

This is the story of Bonnie Jean McDaniel Leathers.

I was born on April 15, 1931 at our home in Kansas City, Kansas.  I was the first child of my parents Ann Louise (Van Goethem) and Harold Leonard McDaniel.  I attended Roosevelt Grade School.  I had two siblings.  Sister Shirley Ann and brother Harold Lee.  My sister was 16 months younger than I was and my brother was five years younger.   The principal was Maude Gray who also had taught my Dad, and my two Aunts.    We lived about a block from the school so I could walk to school every day.  I always went home for lunch as we did not have a cafeteria at school.  My grandparents were Samuel John and Zenia.  My grandfather was born in Ireland and came here when he was 18 years old.  He was a butcher for the Jones Store Company.  That is where he met my grandmother.  My grandparents lived close also and when I started kindergarten I would leave school during class and go to my grandparents’ house so my grandfather would have to take me back to school.  He worked for the Wonder Bread Bakery and had a delivery route so he went to work very early in the morning so he was home early in the day.  My grandmother, Zenia had tuberculosis so she was bedfast for most of my young childhood.  My grandmother was very tiny and petite.  She had dark hair and wore a size 2 shoe.  I was very ckose to my grandmother and grandfather McDaniel.  My mothers parents were Joseph and Mary VanGoethem and my grandfather was born in Belgium and came here when he was 18 years old.  My grandmother Mary was born in Belgium and came here when she was 6 years old.  I was not as close to them as I was to my Dad’s parents.  My sister and brother and I would hide in my grandfathers car when he was going out and jump up and say “we want candy”  He would always act surprised to see us and he would give us all five cents and take us to the candy store and we each picked out five cents worth of candy.  Then you could get a whole bag full for 5 cents.  Those were the good old days.