At the turn of the century, Frank Kernen owned a Tavern on Preston Highway near Eastern Parkway in Louisville, Kentucky. With his family, he resided in the living quarters above his establishment.
When Mr. Kernen lost his wife Rosina to tuberculosis, he purchased for her the first of the family’s burial plots available in newly opened Evergreen Cemetery. The Cemetery was located farther south from his Tavern on Preston Highway.
To help raise his three sons and one daughter, Mr. Kernen hired a Nursemaid who soon discovered the Kernen children each had incredible abilities and strong wills. She would later recount that one son could play cards before he could walk. One son could recall verbatim the long-winded stories farmer customers told. If the daughter did not want to go to school, she would go off and ride her horse and one son always took first place at the annual turkey shoot.\
After seeing the Kernen children accompany their father on many hunting trips with his farmer friends, the Nursemaid spoke words that would become legends in the family history. “There’s a gun in every corner and anyone can shoot it!”