Anna Kennard in 1935 A FORGOTTEN POET: ANNA KENNARD
by Gail Kennard
Anna Kennard was my paternal aunt, my father, architect Robert Kennard’s, oldest sister. Until recently, none of us in the family knew her as a poet. Then, an uncovered poem titled “Compensation” led us to recognize her in a new light and ponder what might have been.
For more than a decade, I have been researching and writing a book about my father’s life and work. The Kennard family had moved to Monrovia in the early 1920s, and all four of the Kennard children graduated from Monrovia Arcadia Duarte High School. The family lived in a two-story house on East Walnut Avenue, a few blocks from where the Monrovia Historical Museum* is located today.
I first read the poem in a small faded blue three-ring notebook my father had kept with him while he was in the US military during World War II. There are about 60 pages of entries, and the oldest one is this poem by his sister, Anna. He carefully typed each line of the poem, attributed it to her, and dated the entry September 1941.
Clearly, the poem was very meaningful to him. But I did not know if or when it had ever been published. I was not even certain that Anna had written it. Neither of her two children remember her writing poetry. I reached out to the Monrovia school district, the public library, and even the Library of Congress. Then I visited the Monrovia Historical Museum, and I was assisted by volunteer, Nennette Ferris, to search through the documents in their high school collection. We found nothing. But to my surprise, a few months later, she reached out to me to say she had found the poem in the process of re-organizing their library archives. And there it was, indeed, printed and published in the Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School, English Department’s 1932-1933 Anthology, and Anna’s poem was on page one!
The message of the poem must have resonated with my father as he faced an uncertain future as a soldier in war. And today, some 90 years later, the poem carries a message that is still relevant.
COMPENSATION
By Anna Kennard, 12A
In years to come when I am tired and old,
And vagrant thoughts stir in my weary mind---
Of days too full of toil and care untold,
Of wretched jealousies and words unkind,
Of griefs too fierce to bring a comforting tear,
Of parting smiles that I no more shall see,
Of hopes that vanished like each fleeing year---
There still will shine one spark in life for me.
I’ll never let the misery and strife,
The ugly things that have been said and done,
Subtract from these last tranquil years of life
The gladness that was brought by hearts I’ve won.
Each memory of friends will be the light
That guides me bravely through the darkening night.
As a woman and African American, born in 1913, her poem speaks to the challenges she faced in her life. She wrote this poem when she was about 18 or 19 years old, a senior in high school. For her to have such insight as a young woman, no doubt helped her persevere.
In high school she was a member of the scholarship society and was one of seven high school students recognized by English teachers at Monrovia Arcadia Duarte High School; Anna Kennard was recognized for sonnet writing in 1933 [Monrovia News-Post, June 10, 1933]. She graduated from Frank Wiggins Trade School, the precursor to the Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and worked in accounting for the Los Angeles Unified School District. By the 1960s, she was “the only Negro woman employed by the Board of Education as a financial manager” according to the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper [July 19, 1962]. She persevered.
*In January 2019, the Monrovia Historical Museum hosted a program about architect Robert Kennard (1920 – 1995). My father had a distinguished career, designing more than 700 projects including public buildings, schools, colleges and residences. Here's the link to the article about that event.
by Gail Kennard
Anna Kennard was my paternal aunt, my father, architect Robert Kennard’s, oldest sister. Until recently, none of us in the family knew her as a poet. Then, an uncovered poem titled “Compensation” led us to recognize her in a new light and ponder what might have been.
For more than a decade, I have been researching and writing a book about my father’s life and work. The Kennard family had moved to Monrovia in the early 1920s, and all four of the Kennard children graduated from Monrovia Arcadia Duarte High School. The family lived in a two-story house on East Walnut Avenue, a few blocks from where the Monrovia Historical Museum* is located today.
I first read the poem in a small faded blue three-ring notebook my father had kept with him while he was in the US military during World War II. There are about 60 pages of entries, and the oldest one is this poem by his sister, Anna. He carefully typed each line of the poem, attributed it to her, and dated the entry September 1941.
Clearly, the poem was very meaningful to him. But I did not know if or when it had ever been published. I was not even certain that Anna had written it. Neither of her two children remember her writing poetry. I reached out to the Monrovia school district, the public library, and even the Library of Congress. Then I visited the Monrovia Historical Museum, and I was assisted by volunteer, Nennette Ferris, to search through the documents in their high school collection. We found nothing. But to my surprise, a few months later, she reached out to me to say she had found the poem in the process of re-organizing their library archives. And there it was, indeed, printed and published in the Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School, English Department’s 1932-1933 Anthology, and Anna’s poem was on page one!
The message of the poem must have resonated with my father as he faced an uncertain future as a soldier in war. And today, some 90 years later, the poem carries a message that is still relevant.
COMPENSATION
By Anna Kennard, 12A
In years to come when I am tired and old,
And vagrant thoughts stir in my weary mind---
Of days too full of toil and care untold,
Of wretched jealousies and words unkind,
Of griefs too fierce to bring a comforting tear,
Of parting smiles that I no more shall see,
Of hopes that vanished like each fleeing year---
There still will shine one spark in life for me.
I’ll never let the misery and strife,
The ugly things that have been said and done,
Subtract from these last tranquil years of life
The gladness that was brought by hearts I’ve won.
Each memory of friends will be the light
That guides me bravely through the darkening night.
As a woman and African American, born in 1913, her poem speaks to the challenges she faced in her life. She wrote this poem when she was about 18 or 19 years old, a senior in high school. For her to have such insight as a young woman, no doubt helped her persevere.
In high school she was a member of the scholarship society and was one of seven high school students recognized by English teachers at Monrovia Arcadia Duarte High School; Anna Kennard was recognized for sonnet writing in 1933 [Monrovia News-Post, June 10, 1933]. She graduated from Frank Wiggins Trade School, the precursor to the Los Angeles Trade Technical College, and worked in accounting for the Los Angeles Unified School District. By the 1960s, she was “the only Negro woman employed by the Board of Education as a financial manager” according to the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper [July 19, 1962]. She persevered.
*In January 2019, the Monrovia Historical Museum hosted a program about architect Robert Kennard (1920 – 1995). My father had a distinguished career, designing more than 700 projects including public buildings, schools, colleges and residences. Here's the link to the article about that event.
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