Person:Kathleen Pearce (1)

Pansy was only four years old when her mother died and thirteen when her father died. She was raised by her older sisters and brothers. Her only memory of her mother was when she was lifted her up to "kiss her mother goodbye" in the casket. As a result she would never let any of her children or grandchildren go to a funeral. She became a teacher whe n she finished school and taught school in and around the Carrollton, Texas area. It was the custom for the teacher to stay at the various homes of her pupils. She met Marsh at a Camp

Meeting. A napkin found in her possessions has a notation "The most wonderful weekend of my life." She and Marsh were married February 22, 1902 and lived with his widowed mother, Charlotte Kennedy, until the family moved to Ft . Worth in 1914. One of her sister-in-lawsremembered that she loved to read so much that she even read while she was doing the dishes. She taught both her oldest children at home until the move to Ft. Worth. A letter to Ruth and James from their grandmother Charlotte Kennedy told them how lucky they were to be able to go to school. She was a very religiou s person and read her bible daily. She taught Sunday School and Bible School and was a member of the Ladies Society of the First Congregational Church. When they finally moved into their own home on May St. in Ft. Worth, they fit right in to the neighborhood. There was a little family owned store on the corner and the neighborhood children were the same ages. Ruth met her future husbandWade Marrs, whose family the Proccers, lived across the street. The family walked to church and sometimes downtown as well. Her hair was originally very dark brown, but turned gray before she was 30 years old. She was about 5'5" tall with beautiful purple eyes, hence her nickname "Pansy". When her older sister, May Choice, was ill and dying in 1948 she stayed with her and at that time found that she had originally been named Jeannie after her father's sister. She had thought it was Jennie which she didn't like. She had changed her name Kathleen and this is how she was known. Her grandchildren dubbed her "Katie" and that stuck. She worked at the polls at every election counting votes. She never got over the death of her youngest child Baby Jack. She saved one of his little toys for years. She and Marsh raised her oldest granddaughter Barbara from the time she was 2 years old. Katie attended every PTA meeting and assisted her in her studies. She took her to church and Sunday School and took care of her until Barbara was about 10 years old when Barbara moved to Grand Prairie with her mother, father and youngest sister. About 2 years before Marsh died, he converted the house into two apartments and built a garage apartment in

the back of the house intending this to be some income when he retired. Unfortunately he didn't live to enjoy retirement. Katie visited his grave at Greenwood Cemetery every week. Being left a widow, Kathleen was able to support h erself with the rent from these apartments. In 1949 her sister, Juanita's (Jonnie) husband, Charles Bennett died so

she asked her sister to move in with her. They lived together until 1959 when being unable to care for herself or her sister, she went to live with her oldest daughter Ruth in Olympia, Washington. Juanita was placed in a nursing home where she later died. Katie never drank

alcohol and didn't like either chicken or watermelon. She didn't chew gum because herfather had paid her a dollar not to chew gum for a year and she never cared for it after that. She used to tell of squeezing the juice out of the watermelon to use as "medicine" for her dolls. She told of when she was a child, and made paper dolls out of figures in the catalog. Instead of changing the clothes which weren't available at that time, she cut out different dolls for each change of clothing so the clean shaven man in his pajamas might have a beard in his work clothes. etc. When they became old and flimsy she said she would "color them purple and green and throw them in the fireplace". She knew many rhymes and stories which she used to tell her enthralled grandchildrenand was never too busy to sit down and read a story. She could do any math problem in her head, quote scripture, sing a song or spell any word. She had a low melodious voice and sang while she hung out washing on the clothes line. One of her favorite hymns was "His Eye is On The Sparrow". As she got older senile dementia set in and her short term memory was very poor. She died in a nursing home in Olympia attended by her daughter Ruth.