It is possible to be thankful every moment, every
day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,
every day. It takes practice and humility. It
takes vision and civility. Hi and welcome back
to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast that features
real people from all walks of life talking about
childhood experiences that have impacted them
even to this very day as an adult. I'm your host,
Jay Rehak. And like you, I've had my share of
childhood experiences that continue to be a part
of my life. Some of them good, some of them not
so good. Still, I'd like to believe that by telling
these stories and hearing these stories, we get
to know each other just a little bit better.
Tell Me What Happened is sponsored by Sideline
Inc. Publishing, publishers of quality books,
including Scott Summa's timely Don't Act Like
the President. available on Amazon .com or wherever
quality books are sold. Tell Me What Happened
is also sponsored by laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver
.com and record your laughter. We'll keep it
for you now and forever. It's free and your grandchildren,
your great -grandchildren, and many people you
even know right now will appreciate it. That's
laughsaver .com. Today I have as my guest, a
great friend of mine, a great educational leader.
She is the longest serving Chicago public school
principal, Dr. Joyce Kenner. Welcome Dr. Kenner
and thank you for being on the show. You are
so welcome. It's my honor to be on the show and
share my childhood story with the listening audience.
So I'm just gonna jump right into my story. And
my story really is about how I grew up. I am
one of a triplet. I have an identical twin sister
and a brother, and then I have an older sister.
My parents were 20 years old, my mom and 18,
my dad, when they had the triplets. So you could
imagine, just think about it, if you were 18
years old, you are now responsible for four young
people. and a wife and what that looked like.
My mom said that my dad, after we were born,
he left for a couple of days and they did not
see him trying to figure out how do I support
this family. So eventually, my parents decided
at a very, very young age to open record stores
and it was called Jimmy's Records and Gifts.
and eventually they were able to open three locations.
But I vividly remember the first location. It
was on Broadway Avenue. I'm from Dayton, Ohio.
It was a big deal back then to open up a record
store because at that time we were playing records,
vinyl records on record players and people would
come into the record store and obviously ask
for a particular record. We also sold tickets
to events and so back then in the day the big
hits people who came into the record store were
artists like James Brown, the Jackson Five, although
they didn't come into the record store, we sold
tickets for that event and we were actually able
through the promoter to get backstage passes
to at least see the Jackson Five. We weren't
introduced to them, but we were backstage watching
them prepare to go on stage. We sold tickets
to Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Evelyn Champagne
King, and I think those of you who are my age
and I'm 64 years of age would know who those
artists are. But that is really what helped shape
my life as a professional and as a human being.
Believe it or not, I started at 11 years old
back in the late 60s when they first opened up
the record stores. My oldest sister was 14 years
old. And believe it or not, my parents trained
us to handle those record stores at that very
young age. They would not leave us often, but
they would leave us to man the stores while they
ran their errands or what it might be. And I
just remember vividly people walking into the
store and them asking for specific records. But
what they would say was, you guys, do you have
a record that goes da -da -da? And I'm saying
in my mind as an 11 -year -old, What are they
talking about? My brother was better at trying
to identify the records than we were but believe
it or not people would walk into the store and
ask for Records by just two or three notes. It
was amazing that we were able to address their
particular needs at that time, but It shaped
my life by being able to interact with people
understanding that the customer really was right
all the time. And it just was a great experience
that we had at the record stores or in the record
stores. I spoke to my sister today, one of the
Triplet sisters today. And she said, I told her
about the podcast and she said, Joyce, don't
forget to tell them about making change. And
she is, today, she majored in mathematics in
college, but today she is a CFO of a school district.
And I really believe one of the reasons that
my sister is a CFO is because of the experiences
at the record store. And she said, don't forget
to tell them, we learned to count change back
in the day. And now they use computers to count
the change. But in our mind, we would calculate
what the change needed to be when people gave
us monies to purchase their various items. And
to us, that was a big thing. Right now to us,
young people don't know how to count because
they rely on their cell phones or their computers
to add. But that impacted her and obviously that
shaped her life. Me interacting with the customer
and understanding what their needs were. I think
that shaped my life and it shaped what I am doing
today. I think the students and the faculty and
staff at Whitney Young are my customers and I
need to do everything that I possibly can to
ensure that their needs are being met on a daily
basis. And my parents sold jewelry in the record
stores as well and people would come in there
and say, I want this piece of jewelry, or I want
that piece of jewelry. And we would change the
clips of the earrings to non -pierced ears. And
so we would have this utensil that you'd have
to use to change the earrings. And I know some
of you, again, who grew up, when I grew up, understand
that you had pierced earrings and non -pierced
earrings. And my parents just sold a lot of those
items. in order to survive and support our families.
That record store was very, very successful on
Broadway, and they opened a second store on Salem
Avenue, and then the major accomplishment for
two black people at that young age, they opened
a store downtown. So could you imagine a black
person at their early ages, in the 30s, opening
up a record store in the downtown area of Dayton.
It was a huge deal for them to be able to open
that. And so customers would come in by the droves.
My parents were able to support our family very,
very well by those three stores. And at one point
we had all three stores and we were trying to
manage those three stores. as a family, my sister
might have been at one, my brother might have
been at one and then I might have been at the
third store and in all the summers we had jobs.
Could you imagine back in the early 70s when
I was in high school they paid us a hundred dollars
a week which was a lot of money for a high school
student back in the early 70s. So I remember,
you know, we were very money conscious. My father
was money conscious. I would buy Louis Vuitton
purses as a sophomore, junior in high school.
And honestly, not bragging, but I wouldn't think
anything about it. I worked hard. I was very
focused, very frugal about my dollars, but I
also liked nice things. And so I would save some
money. and then I would spend some money, and
that's what our parents taught us, always have
money for a rainy day, and that also helped shape
my life today. So I have money for a rainy day,
I spend a little bit, I save a little bit, but
I do treat myself every now and then, and I still
buy nice purses. I had a great childhood growing
up, growing up with young parents, who could
relate to us and understand what we were going
through as young people and being able to interact
with us. But those record stores obviously taught
us how to count money, how to interact with people,
how to deal with those people who were stars
and not when they came into the record shop not
having Google eyes like, oh my God, here comes.
James Brown, you know, those kinds of things
we learned when those people came through the
record store. We were taught to be professionals
at a young age. They would come in with huge
entourages, and sometimes they would have to
get the police to stand in the parking lot to
make sure that they controlled the crowds. And
back in the day... the artist would sit behind
one of our counters in the record store and they
would actually sign autographs and the line would
be around the record store and we would have
to maintain order we'd have to as young people
quiet the audience and say hey your time is coming
we'll only be a few minutes they're still signing
autographs but you will be able to sign your
autograph obviously things have changed over
time, Kmart built a store right next to our second
store on Salem Avenue. So you could imagine what
that did to the mom and pop business. I think
we lasted probably three or four years after
Kmart built next to us, but we as a small black
business could not compete with a Kmart. because
you could go to Kmart, buy your clothes, buy
your albums, and then cassette tapes came in
before we started selling cassette tapes, and
that really was the end of Jimmy's record stores
as we knew it when cassette tapes came in. So
that is my story, that is what impacted my life,
what molded me as a human being. And right now
at Whitney Young, I really try to be a great
leader. I try to listen to what people are asking
me. I've been principal at Whitney Young for
26 years, been at Whitney Young for 31 in totality.
And there is a reason for me being there. And
I just think that our record shops and my parents,
my mom and my dad shaped me to become the person
that I have become today. Again, it's my honor
to do this podcast, and I hope that you learned
a little bit about Joyce Kenner, principal of
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. Thank you.
That was great, Doc. I just have one question
for you. If your parents had had quadruplets
instead of triplets, would they have had four
record stores? I don't think that they had three
record stores because it was triplets. Three
record stores was enough we could handle. Yeah,
I don't know if they would have opened a fourth
store. Three stores were an awful lot back then
in which we tried to maintain all three of those.
All right, well, thank you. It was great. It
is great to learn more about you. From now on,
every time I go to a teacher faculty meeting,
when I go to a faculty meeting, I'm going to
imagine you as an 11 -year -old sort of taking
control of everything, depending who's there.
Because I know one of the things that you know
is that there are different types of people.
And you are a master at being able to look at
people as James Brown or not James Brown, just
good people or whatever. boosters to come in
that were selling hot items. We would have drug
addicts to come in the record store. We would
have rich people to come in the record store.
We would have average below, it did not matter.
They were coming in to purchase records and they
were not coming in to solidify a friendship or
a relationship. And so in my mind, everybody
was the same. And I try to treat everybody at
Whitney Young the same. So I think maybe that's
where I got the way that I deal with people.
Maybe I got it from those experiences. All right.
Well, thank you very much. Again, it's been an
honor to listen to you, Doc. I always like to
learn more about you. You're welcome. You have
a good day. Thanks. Well, that's our show. I'd
like to thank Dr. Kenner again for coming on
the show and telling us her story. I'd also like
to thank our sponsors, Sidelining Publishing,
as well as laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver
.com to record your laughter. It's free on your
grandchildren, and your friends, and everybody
you'll know will appreciate it. That's laughsaver
.com. Now, before I say goodbye, I'd like to
remind you that we're going to end this show,
as we often do, with Susan Salador's classic,
Every Moment, Every Day. Ask Alexa to play Susan
Salador. So until next time, this is Jay Rehack
asking you all to stay safe out there and try
not to hurt anybody. It is possible to be thankful
every moment every day It is possible to be thankful
every moment, every day.