Page 190 - Always Virginia

178 Virginia Day Fritscher

Jack: But what address was that where you lived when you
were a girl?
Mary Pearl: 7800 Minnesota. My Dad [John Patrick Lawler]
raised the roof, a kind of attic like, and there were rooms up there
and two more rooms down the stairs. We had a nice big home for
the five of us and our parents.

Jack: Was that the house where the roof caught on fire while
you were taking a bath?

Mary Pearl: No, that was in Cannon’s house [we rented in
Jacksonville] after we were married and had Virginia and all of
them. [1932] I don’t know how it started. It was a gas stove. I don’t
really know...I was in the bathroom taking a bath to tell you the
truth and I really never did.

Virginia: I was doing the dishes and the flames started
shooting.

Mary Pearl: And Daddy took the pan of dishwater, some
greasy water, and poured it on it and, of course, that made it
worse. So the firemen came down. They were all gonna rush right
in through the front room and I wouldn’t let them. I said, “Go
around to the other door [the kitchen door]. Daddy never did get
over that. [She laughs.] He said, “Mom would rather see the house
burn down than let the firemen dirty her living room.” [Much
laughter.] I said, “I’d just house-cleaned.” I wasn’t gonna let them
in. I was a character, I guess. [Laughs.] Oh, my.

Jack: Tell me about where you lived on Pershing Avenue. What
that apartment was like. [5536 Pershing Avenue]

Mary Pearl: [She tells instead of Kansas Street.] It was beauti-
ful, brand new. We were the first ones to live in it [1912]. They called
them the “Bridal Flats.” There were fourteen units, and there really
were all just newly married couples that lived there. We had, I don’t