Faces & Places

"They Got Some Crazy Little Women There . . ."

So said Wilbur Harrison famously of Kansas City. Maybe that's why William Edward Gines (1898-1955) forsook his native Shreveport and headed north in 1920. Once in Kansas City, though, he married Sarah Green who had also come from Shreveport. That lasted less than six years. "Eddie" then met a beautiful dancer, Annie Florida Corrine Long (1902-1986), the defiant daughter of Rev. James William Long (1866-1945). Rev. Long was the pastor of Kansas City's Sunrise Baptist Church, then located on the West Side ("the pulpit was in Missouri; the congregation was in Kansas"). Rev. Long was none too keen on dancing; I don't know what he thought about Eddie. Anyway, Eddie and "Flo" got together and conspired to become my grandparents. As you can see, Eddie Gines was a handsome and elegant man who always wore a tie, no matter what he was doing. The quintessential "Easy Eddie," he was gregarious and loved being around people.