Kristi (Lee) Young

Ancestors

Daughter of Talbert Lee and Helen Peggy (Young) Lee

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Biography

I, Kristi Knight Lee Young, am the youngest child of Helen and Talbert Lee who hailed from the Bootheel area of Missouri. I have 3 older sisters; P____ ___ ___ ______, Billie Jean Lee, ____ _____ ___ _________, and then myself. My parents had 2 girls and then 9 years later they had two more. P____ and Billie were so much fun and took care of L____ and I while mom and dad worked chopping cotton and gin work. The first 2 daughters were named for popular or family names but when "L____" was born Talbert insisted that she be named after his mother.... Talbert's mother's name was Mary Malinda Stone Lee, so my sister was named M___ L____ L__, but she was called L___. When I was born Helen insisted that I be named after her mother, Ollie Ethyl Knight. Talbert would not let her name me Ollie Ethyl, he said it sounded like some sort of gasoline. So they named me Kristi Knight Lee. My best friend growing up giggled and said, "Once a king always a king, but once a Knight is enough!"

At this writing one of my sisters-the second oldest- sweet, obstinate Billie has deceased. She never married but had one beloved son, S A L. P____, the eldest married (J__) F____ W_____ and had 3 daughters. L____ married R__ C_______ and they have 2 daughters, I married R W Y and we have 3 children; a daughter and 2 sons. However, I claim S A L as my own because his mom has passed and his father has never met him.

I am a retired teacher-Reading Specialist, and I love to research family history. My other hobbies are reading, loving dogs, sewing and loving my children and grandchildren.

My father, Talbert Lee (no middle name), was a WWII veteran. He was a Navy CB-Construction Battalion. He witnessed the loading of Little Man and Fat Boy on Tinian Island [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXD_fzrcE20 ]. At some point he serviced the Memphis Belle for war bond tours and being from the bootheel area of Missouri near Tennessee he and his crowd new this lady. So, Talbert serviced the two most famous airplanes in American history; The Memphis Belle, and The Enola Gay and both planes from two different conflicts. While living in Enid, Oklahoma (705 West Cherokee) he worked at Vance Air Force as a civil servant. During this time he built an airplane in our backyard, assembled it and flew it to Oklahoma City (He was a skilled private pilot) my mom and I along. He was commissioned to build this airplane for the president of Tinker Air Force Base, I think his name was Truman Miller. My mother was close friends with Truman's wife-Marie Miller [1]. Marie Miller started an air service company called Serve-Air. She had also flown with Amelia Earhart in a helicopter if I recall correctly. The Millers had many residences: Enid, Oklahoma City and Lakeland, Florida. They shipped fresh citrus every Christmas (it arrived in a wooden crate filled with excelsior and you had to open it with a tire iron.)

We then moved to Kansas City where my father worked for Trans World Airlines. Helen managed The office of a company called Ross Manufacturing. We first lived in Gladstone, Missouri. Helen enrolled L____ at Antioch Junior High, and she enrolled me at Linden West Elementary. Within the first year we moved to a home in Liberty (39 Eastwood Lane and then 826 Marilyn). Helen died soon after we moved to Liberty, Missouri and it was a shock to the entire family.

Those days were the finest of Air Transportation. My first airplane ride was upon a Connie, a TWA Constellation. She was a propellor airplane with large windows. You dressed up to travel by air in those days and were served a meal with silverware and china. Talbert was well known and well liked. After his retirement from TWA he would come to visit me as I was a student at (then called) Memphis State University. The Memphis Belle sat in disrepair at a location near the Penal Farm or the Armory. We would drive out there and my dad would hook his fingers in the chain link fence and stare at her. He wanted to get in and touch that plane and fix her up. It was a sad salute goodbye to an old friend and respected aircraft. Years later, after I was married, the Memphis Belle was finally restored and located in a pyramid shaped building on Mud Island in Memphis. Some cousins and my family visited this display one time. The old veterans who escorted the tours would proudly say, "I flew a plane like this. Not this one! But it was a plane like this." My cousin Kim turned to me and said, "Kristi, just think, your dad worked on THIS plane, not one just like it! THIS plane."

My life rolled along with love and joy because Talbert was the best father ever! After I lost my mother, I gained 3 mothers disguised as my sisters. I attended Linden West Elementary, Manor Hill Elementary, Liberty Junior High, Liberty High School, Memphis State University (it is now called The University of Memphis), The University of Missouri - Kansas City graduating with a Bachelor's Degree and lifetime teaching certificate, and The University of Kansas (Edwards Campus and the main campus in Lawrence) graduating with a Master's Degree - Reading Specialist. I also received a certification called English as a Second Language from Northwest University, Liberty campus. My first teaching job was in East Lynne, Missouri as a 3rd grade teacher. Our mascot was the Cougars. I taught at Claude Huyck Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas when RWY and I moved from Missouri to Kansas for his work as a purchasing agent for the Kansas City, Kansas School District. We then moved back to my home town of Liberty, Missouri. I taught at Lewis and Clark Elementary but soon took a job at Linden West Elementary-mascot? Cougars! I told my husband RWY, "Well, I am right back where I started! You see-my mother had enrolled me at LInden West when we first moved to Gladstone. I was so glad to be working and finishing out my career at Linden West because my beloved mother, Helen, had walked these halls. At my retirement I noted that I had traveled from from east to west in my career. I began my teaching at EAST Lynn Elementary and finished at Linden WEST Elementary. The symmetry and of EAST to WEST, both schools with an "L" name (Lynne and Linden) AND, I began my career as a Cougar and ended my career as a Cougar. I also briefly taught at Bell Prairie and Fox Hill Elementary schools but did not get to close out the school year because of the Covid Pandemic. I certainly retired at the best time. Along the way I also taught Sunday School, and Catholic religious education (where I discovered that protestants and Catholics have slightly different Ten Commandments).

Some personal favorites: I was a Pom-Pon girl in high school, and during that time I tried out for the Chiefettes drill team. I made it past the first 2 cuts, but in the end my high kick was just not high enough. I have lived a Christian life and have belonged to many churches both protestant and Catholic. I have many beloved dogs and rabbits (Blackie a Cocker Spaniel, King a German Shepard, Annabell and Pataray -white bunnies, Susie, Tony, Candy and many Chihuahua puppies. Miss Muffet and Ralphie -Cocker Spaniels, Patteray the second- a flop eared bunny, Jenny-a cocker/poodle mix, Charlie, Haley, Moxxie, Stubby, and Friday- (all rescue dogs and of questionable parentage) all waiting for me in Heaven. I should have named them all after the books of the Bible and then I could still recall the order of the Books in the Old Testament and earn my Sunday School sticker.

Our families were very close on both the Lee side and the Young side - we did not "vacation" in those days, you went to visit family. We were close with all of our aunts and uncles along with scores of cousins. It is my mission to remember these fine people and record what I can of our existence.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Kristi Lee at registration.