Still more Gunter Pest Management history…

After most of Reggie’s sales jobs and his candy company faltered, he became an inspector for Kansas City’s welfare dept. This was in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The job entailed inspecting bars and night clubs at night, seeking out under-age patrons. He never looked at this job as his career, but it kept him going until something better came along. The thing he liked best about the job was that he was allowed to carry a gun and a badge, which he placed in the front windshield of his car whenever we would need to park downtown, like in front of Municipal Auditorium where all the big events were held at that time. About the same time, Reggie’s first cousin, Roy Gunter, started treating homes at Lake Lotawana for bugs. Roy lived in Overland Park, just West of 75th & Metcalf at the time. I only met Roy a few times and was only a child at the time, but I remember that Roy was a big fat guy with a large personality to match. Roy was extremely out of shape and had a hard time keeping up with the rigors of doing pest control, like going up and down stairs, as well as climbing into attics and crawl spaces. As Roy Gunter’s health declined, he enlisted Reggie Gunter to ride with him and help him on the jobs. Reggie saw it as an opportunity to own his own company and to work for himself. Within a few years, Roy gave all his clients to Reggie and retired. There were probably only 50 clients, but it was a start. The only problem, was that Reggie was still working for the Welfare Department and “moonlighting” with his Pest Control job. The city found out about his “side” job and wrote him a termination letter. Reggie always looked at this termination letter as being the lemons for making lemonade. He framed the letter and always proudly posted this letter on the bulletin board over his desk to remind him of the life-changing impact it had. Whether he was ready or not, Reggie realized that he was now a full time “Bugman.”