Amazair ‘Mack’ McAllister, who turned bugs into business in Kansas City, dies at 86

Editor’s note: This feature is part of a weekly focus from The Star meant to highlight and remember the lives of Black Kansas Citians who have died.

It all began with some pests scuttling through a home where Amazair “Mack” McAllister was visiting with a friend. For many, the sight would elicit an involuntary shriek or perhaps a swift move to the next room. Mack saw an opportunity.

The college dropout, then scraping by as a Hertz employee, grabbed a few aluminum cans of pesticide and returned to the Kansas City residence, according to his second-born son, Byron McAllister, 62. He carefully sprayed a mist of toxins where the insects would have come in, along edges and openings. He did the same for another person he knew with a pest problem, and then another, and another before signing up for extermination classes, got the proper certifications.

In 1956, the Standard Exterminating Company was born. It was slow going at first. Family pitched in to help him run the fledgling enterprise, including his sons who in the hot and muggy summers would lug around cans nearly as big as they were.

His small business wasn’t a flashy one, performing the grimy but necessary work that bug-averse homeowners would rather pay to avoid.

But Mack, always with a sly smile, would tell his children he had no problem with undesirable pests like cockroaches.

“He would say, ‘If roaches had lips, I’d kiss em’,” Byron said during a phone call, chuckling. “It kind of got me. I couldn’t understand what he was talking about. But it was because they were — it was his money.”

Mack, whose tireless work ethic and endless drive helped him turn his little family business into a Kansas City staple serving homeowners as well as churches, schools and offices, died Dec. 26 following a years-long battle with leukemia, family said. He was 86.

In the month that has passed since his death, his surviving family members have heard from scores of community members who remember him not only for how he helped them get rid of their unwanted guests, but for doing it with his signature warmth and care. He was known for following up with customers weeks after he left, making sure everything was OK.

He felt proud of building what has become one of the oldest Black-owned businesses in Kansas City; a certificate he received in the early 2000’s after 50 years of service hung in his office.

All of his success, he felt, was rooted in where he came from, growing up in the 1930’s south.

“They were raised to do hard work from the time they were kids,” said Amazair McAllister Jr., his first-born son.

Mack was born on June 13, 1935 in Morrilton, Arkansas, the sixth of eight children. They lived on a roughly 400-acre farm, with pens of cattle, pigs and chickens, next to a field of flowing white cotton. The land had been in their family for three generations.

Their great-grandfather, the son of a slave-owner and a slave, migrated from South Carolina to Arkansas with his sister after the civil war, around 1878. The pair had managed to put together enough money to buy about 2,000 acres, planting their family’s flag firmly in a new land where they could strive for more than their parents had.

Mack’s ancestors set an example of resilience that continued with his own parents, who managed the farm through the economic turbulence of a post-Depression America and the invasive racism of Jim Crow laws.

Mack left home at 16 for Kansas City and all its opportunities, ready to have something of his own like his ancestors had. He didn’t know what yet.

“I really don’t know whether he had any specific ideas about what he was going to do,” Amazair McAllister Jr. said. “But he just wanted to work hard and be a success.”

He went to Lincoln Junior College for one year before joining the workforce full-time, working long hours at Hertz to put food on the table. He had enough by the time he was 19 to make a childhood dream come true — he bought a Cadillac convertible; luxuriously black with a white top.

After becoming a licensed exterminator, he kept his job at Hertz while operating the family business with the help of two of his brothers. His wife, Sammie Bishop, handled the business finances.

The two divorced when their kids were young, but remained close friends and partners in parenting. Mack brought his sons on assignments with him, on the weekends and in the summers, so he could spend more time with them while at the same time teach them about the business.

The two brothers weren’t crazy about pests, but like their father, they thought about it like businessmen.

“We got paid so it was OK,” Amazair McAllister Jr. said.

When his sons saw him doing what he loved — whether it was seeding plants out on the farm, or walked through someone’s home for a pest problem — they felt he radiated charisma. He was in his element in those worlds, always getting into conversations with people and cracking jokes. Byron McAllister said he was somewhat of a workaholic.

But about four or five years ago he had to stop working due to his worsening leukemia, which he had been diagnosed with about 15 years earlier and was at first able to manage. In recent months, as he was in and out of a rehabilitation facility, his sons spent as much time with him as he could.

They spent Thanksgiving with him, bringing him back to his family home in Arkansas to see relatives for the first time since the pandemic began. They sat around the table with him for the big turkey feast, and relished little moments of familiarity around the home.

There was a night where his dad, a devout fan of TV westerns like “Gunsmoke” and “Raw Hide,” was watching one of his programs with rapt attention. Amazair McAllister Jr. tried to get him to change the channel to something else, like old times.

Mack passed away about a month later after he had been improving in rehab. His death took the family by surprise.

The memory of that trip, and of how happy it made their father, sticks with them.

“Everyone who’s still alive from our family on his side was there — they came,” Amazair McAllister Jr. said. “I’m so glad that they did because we didn’t know that was gonna be the last time we’d all be together.”

Mack is survived by Amazair Jr. and Byron, as well as two sons, Jermaine McAllister and Rodney Chriswell, he had after his divorce; brothers, William McAllister and James McAllister; seven grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Other remembrances

Rosetta Johnson

Rosetta Johnson, a mother and professional caretaker who overcame a brief period of paralysis in the 1990s to be able to walk again, died Dec. 10, 2021, according to a Thatcher’s Funeral Home obituary. She was 84.

Johnson was born on August 16, 1937 in a small town in Arkansas, the first of 10 children. They later moved to Kansas City, Kansas, where she attended Madden Temple COGIC, the beginning of her lifelong commitment to Christianity.

As an adult, she moved back into the family home where she grew up. She had seven children and began her career as a housekeeper in hotels before she decided nursing would be a better fit. She was a certified nurse’s assistant for more than 35 years.

In the 1990s, she moved to California to be with her older daughters, which was also when she was impacted by a medical condition that caused paralysis from the waist down. She worked hard in physical therapy, unsure if she would ever walk again, until one day her legs were able to carry her again.

Johnson was described in the obituary as a social butterfly who cared deeply about people and was passionate about her hobbies, from dancing, to reading, to riding roller coasters. She also fought for racial justice and LGBTQ rights.

She’s survived by her five daughters, Elaine, Easter, Iva Jean, Toni Marie and Darlene; sons, Theodus and Marquette; 19 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and several nieces and nephews.

Gladys Fischer

Gladys Fischer, a mother, grandmother and educator who had a passion for board games, died January 25, according to a Thatcher’s Funeral Home obituary. She was 100.

Fischer was born on January 18, 1922 in Quindaro, Kansas, the obituary says. She knew how to work hard from the time she was a young girl, with a job in a small cafe in the 18th and Vine district in Kansas City.

She married Charles Fischer on December 1, 1945, and they had one daughter, who preceded her in death. She later moved to Los Angeles and worked in the city school district for 30 years.

After her retirement, she moved back closer to home to Kansas City. She became a dedicated member of the Metropolitan Baptist Temple, taking part in Sunday school and prayer meetings.

She was described in the obituary as a big fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and of board games — Bingo was her favorite game to play — who loved her family above all else. She adored her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to the obituary.

She’s survived by two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a nephew, niece and first cousin.

Maxine Jones

Maxine Jones, a skilled accountant who worked several jobs at Fort Leavenworth Military Base and raised three children on her own, died January 25, according to a Thatcher’s Funeral Home obituary. She was 86.

She was born on October 16, 1935, in New Hebron, Mississippi, the obituary said. She graduated from her high school as the class valedictorian and went on to attend community college and then business school, learning the ins and outs of accounting, data processing and mathematics.

On October 12, 1957, she married Paul Clifton Jones Sr. and they had three children. Less than a year after their third child was born, however, her husband died, leaving her to raise her children by herself. Her determination and grit helped her juggle being a mother and working full-time.

She first was a group leader at the Sunflower Ammunition Plant in De Soto, Kansas, training new employees, the obituary said. Her next job was at the Fort Leavenworth Military Base, where she had several roles including military pay clerk, equal employment opportunity counselor and accounting technician.

She was a member of the Calvary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas, and also volunteered her time with the Kansas City Kansas Police Citizen’s Academy. She loved to play games, such as dominoes, po-keno and Spades; her favorite was bid-whist, and she was a member of a club that held competitions. She was also an ardent fisher and gardener.

She’s survived by her three siblings, Jennie Craft, Rachel Vaughn and Dan Simmons; children, Mazine Paulette Howell, Paul Clifton Jones Jr. and Ernest Paul Jones; 14 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.