The Many Adventures of Kay and Jean

Email from Mary Farley 

January 2, 2022

Jean tells me that Kay taught her to be a better swimmer.  She also taught her how to dive.  She taught her how to drive --with Dad's permission.  Jean says she still parallel parks the way Kay taught her.

Kay challenged her to get better playing tennis by playing with her in the bus barns at the football field.  They were open ended stalls and worked perfectly to practice returning the ball.  They drew lines on the back wall at the height of a tennis net =height of the racket plus the head of the tennis racket turned sideways 90 degrees.  The floor was concrete, and the sides of the barn stalls were solid.  They were about the size of a tennis court from the net to the service line.  One Christmas we got tennis rackets for gifts and went to the tennis courts a half block from the house and played tennis on a warm, sunny, Christmas day.  Kay was a fierce competitor, and I am sure Jean 'felt' her good-looking legs after some of those sessions.  (Dad occasionally went down there and hit his handballs).

Kay also taught us and probably some of you what a "heart stopping moment was".  She was a bit of what we call "an adrenaline junky".  Kay rode bikes down a very steep incline on a slope about 1/2 block from our house.  Large rocks and depressions from old tree removal pocked the slope.  Kay started at the top and went down the hill hands free on her bike and if she occasionally got airborne it was even better.  I saw her stand on her bike seat one time and let go for a couple of seconds, that felt like an eternity to me. She took snow sleds down 101st street as fast as she could and more than once blew through the barrier at the bottom of the hill.

Kay and Jean took tumbling and gymnastics at a school down the block.  Kay got pretty good at handstands.  Jean says she broke the mirror in the door in the North bedroom upstairs while practicing one time.  On another occasion she was practicing in the South bedroom upstairs and removed the grate from the cold air return register and dared herself to miss it.  She didn't.  The damage from Kay putting her leg through the dining room ceiling is still evident.   Dad and Jim tried to repair it with a plaster patch, but it is a very crude looking job.  

She led Jean across the railroad trestle, 30 feet above the Sammamish River.  Of course, they carefully listened for approaching trains by putting their ears to the rails.  The trestle was composed of rails and crossties that were a pretty big step for the teenagers.  Jean says they just made it one time before the train came.  A young boy died after he fell from the trestle and drowned in 1986.

Jean and Kay lived in an apartment on 11th Avenue in the University District for a while.  Jean told me about one night when the moon was full, and they decided to go swimming in Green Lake.  Kay of course started swimming out further and further into the lake.  Jean kept her in sight and went into the water to make sure she could still see her, but lost sight of her in the darkness.  She still remembers how scared she was.

Jerry was going to college in Spokane, at Gonzaga and invited Kay and Jean to come over for a dance.  So, they drove to Spokane.  I don't know what time of year it was.

Jean took Kay to the Canalis Restuarant in Seattle for her 21st birthday. It was almost certainly the most expensive place in town in 1967.   Kay and Jean were driving our grandmother's 1956 Buick that had several unique features due to a couple of accidents.  It was red and cream colored.  One of the front doors was green. It may have had an additional color on the right rear panel.  It looked well-loved as the Valet parking left it parked outside the front doors of Canalis for the duration of their meal.  Jean says she spent about $200.00 for the meal.  Equivalent to $1,590.65 in 2021 dollars !!! according to the currency calculator.  I forgot to ask Jean what they were wearing.