Chalkboard Thoughts

       Loretta Jean Davis was born on March 27th, 1954 to Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Davis. She was called Jeannie by her friends and family.    She lived east of Akron with her parents in the Kent neighborhood. Loretta was called Jeannie by her friends and family. She graduated from Field High School in 1973.    She worked at Superior Key Data Company. She was hoping to go to Kent State and take business courses and help her mother with her accounting work. She had plans and dreams for her future.   On September 28th 1975, she came home from a date. She decided to go back out and get something to eat. Her parents were asleep but the 21 year old left a note, just in case, and went to go get some food.    One of her friends’ said she probably went to Borden Burger. She went there fairly often.    She never returned. She was found stabbed to death further east of her home on Congress Lake Road ...

      Karen Bentz was born on August 1st 1951.    At the age of 15, she had a child that she named Lori. Her parents were pitching in to help raise Lori. The toddler lived with them.    Karen was unable to graduate from Central High School with her 1969 graduating class but she still wore her class ring. In those days if you got pregnant you weren’t usually allowed to come to school. It didn’t matter if you were raped or if the child was the product of consensual sex. The mother of the child always got the shame and blame and the lifelong consequences. No high school graduation. No college. Any career goals were out the window.    Karen Bentz left her parent’s home at 56 Jewett Street to walk four blocks to her apartment. It was Tuesday April 28th, 1970. She had stopped by her parent’s home to pick up a clean work uniform.    Karen worked 4 hours each day at one job at The Red Barn and another 7 hours at ...

       Mollie Pearson was born in Sylacauga, Alabama in 1951. That’s a tiny town southeast of Birmingham in central Alabama.    She moved to Akron, Ohio with her family when she was a toddler.     As a teenager she worked summers at John Graf Farms harvesting onions. Many Midwestern kids can probably identify with that. I grew up in a rural area in southern Indiana and did a lot of farm work for extra money. I used to help put up hay and I picked blackberries and sold quarts of berries to neighbors. The 1970’s were pretty bleak economic times and if you could find a way to earn a little money you felt pretty lucky.    Mollie graduated from Central High School in 1970.    She lived with her family at 1884 Second Street in Akron. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Y.C. Pearson. Her siblings included four brothers James Edward, Danny, Ernest, James and a sister named Mrs. Lola Wilson.    On November 24th, 1970,...