Crayon apron

When our children were growing up they were invited to many birthday parties and that gets expensive, especially on a newspaper reporter's salary and with five children. I learned to make crayon aprons. It took very little material, was fast to make and I only needed to buy a box of crayons and a color book and the birthday person seemed to like them. It had a large pocket divided in 16 little pockets at the bottom where you put the crayons, One afternoon Ray and I were invited to a party for Thomas Hart Benton. I think at Randall Jessee's (a member of WDAF news team). At that time Ray wrote the noon newscast before he went to his regular job at the KC Times. The KC Star owned WDAF. The invitation was at the Jessee home. It had a PS that said it was some three-year-old's birthday. I knew I could not attend as I did not have a baby sitter. At the last moment before Ray left he stuck a crayon apron in his pocket (unwrapped. When he got to the party he gave the thre-year-old the crayon apron. He was the only one who had brought her a gift. She was very happy.