He Didn’t Realize How Poor They Were
Kinison grew up in Middle America, living on the upper floor of a large ramshackle church that his parents bought when they became preachers. “My folks spoke in tongues,” Kinison recalled. “They laid hands-on people. They really believed in healing.”
He also said that he never realized they were so poor until he grew up. “It was pretty humiliating for me as a kid,” he said. “I never had friends over because I was so ashamed of the way we lived.” But the kid made the best of it.