Lemuel Kurtz Green – 2014 Inductee

(On this date, August 17, 2014, the Osborne County Hall of Fame is pleased to present to the world the first of the five members of the new OCHF Class of 2014)

Husband and wife: Adaline and Lemuel Green.

Lemuel Kurtz Green was born November 1, 1860, at Stovers Town, Blair County, Pennsylvania.  The son of Phineas and Nancy (Kurtz) Green, he moved with his parents in 1877 to a farm near Bull City (now Alton), Kansas.

 

“A fervent Methodist with a solid work ethic, Lemuel attended the local school, and his first job aside from that of the home farm was that of workman in a saw mill and corn mill. In compensation he received his board and eleven dollars a month, but his pay was largely in cornmeal, sorghum molasses and cottonwood lumber. About the time that Lemuel engaged in this work his father needed a shovel to dig a well for the home farm, and as cash for the purchase was lacking, Lemuel approached Hiram Bull, who had been a distinguished union officer in the Civil War and who was then engaged in business in Bull City, the town he co-founded. Bull listened to the talk of Lemuel and readily agreed to extend him the requested credit in the purchase of the shovel.” – From a letter by Adaline Green to Orville Guttery, May 22, 1934.

 

Lemuel was then employed four years for William Bush at the Alton Roller Mill, located a mile south of Bull City on the South Fork Solomon River.

In 1882 Lemuel moved to Graham County, Kansas, where he claimed a homestead and a timber claim and lived in a sod house. The next year he married Adaline Dirstine in Osborne County.  They would raise two children, Ralph and Lawrence, to adulthood.

Lemuel proved up on his two claims and then traded them for a flour mill in Lenora, Kansas. Three years later he turned his interest in this mill over to his father and his brother, Irvin, and in 1890 returned to Bull City, now called Alton, and purchased the Alton mill from his former employer, William Bush. Lemuel operated this flour mill for the next 12 years, serving on the Alton city council as well as mayor.

 

Advertisement in the Alton Empire newspaper of October 2, 1890.

 

Advertisement in the Alton Empire newspaper of October 15, 1891.

 

“We are told that L. K. Green sold the old mill property, including the feed grinder, to Hollis Snyder and one of the Emrick’s, of Mt. Ayr. Alton Empire, January 23, 1902, Page 5.

 

“When L. K. Green, of Alton, after looking the state over with a view to erecting a large flouring mill, decided that Osborne, Kansas was the most desirable place, his wisdom was applauded by the businessmen of this city.  The reasons for his choice were obvious. In the center of a fine wheat producing section, with no flouring mill of any size close at hand, and with a railway company lending its cooperation, there is no great wonder at Mr. Green’s selection. After surmounting some difficulties in the way of securing a proper mill site, in which the citizens of Osborne gave generous financial aid, the Solomon Valley Milling Company was organized February 15, 1902, with the following officers: President, L. K. Green; secretary and treasurer, C. W. Landis; directors, F. W. Gaunt and S. J. Hibbs, of Alton, Allen Clark, L. K. Green and C. W. Landis . . .

“Upon the completion of the organization of the company, steps were immediately taken toward the erection of one of the finest flouring mills in this section. A short description of this mill, which is fast nearing a finished state, will prove of interest to the readers of this issue of the Farmer. The total ground dimensions of this building are 64 x 72 feet. The main part of the building is 32×56 feet, with three stories and a basement. The warehouse will have a capacity often minded, and withal a good business man, carloads of manufactured products, and he seems to have been fitted by nature the mill will have a wheat storage capacity of 30,000 bushels. The engine and boiler room will be in a detached stone building, thus lessening the danger from fire. The motive power will be furnished by a steel boiler, 5 x 16 feet in size, of a high pressure type and carrying 160 pounds working pressure. The engine is a Corliss compound condensing, with 130 horse power.  The mill will have a capacity of 200 barrels per day, and will be equipped with five wheat cleaners, nine stands of rolls, eight purifiers, three sieve bolting machines, and all the other necessary appliances . . .

“The company is putting in a full rye grinding outfit, and will make the manufacturing of rye flour a specialty. It expects also to do a large custom business, although of course its main dependence will be export trade. The product of this mill will be high patent flour of the very finest quality, strictly straight grade and a fancy baker’s grade. Work is being rapidly pushed on the building, and it is expected that it will be completed and in operation sometime between July 1 and 15. With an eye to business, the Missouri Pacific railway has already put in a switch 600 feet long for the exclusive use of this mill . . . Osborne County Farmer, May 15, 1902, Page 12.

 

Lemuel started experimenting with electricity by wiring his home and lighting it with electric current from the mill. He then installed electric lights, an early electric washing machine and even an unsuccessful electric-powered dishwasher.  Lemuel followed this by stringing wires for lighting homes within a mile of his mill at Osborne.  Convinced of the potential for electric power, he sold his flour milling operations in Osborne in 1908 and purchased the Concordia Electric Light Company for the princely sum of $21,500.  This company owned the H. M. Spalding hydroelectric plant on the Republican River. Lemuel soon installed transmission lines to serve several nearby towns. To help finance the system, he convinced local voters to approve bonds to build the transmission lines. His construction crew often included his two sons, Ralph and Lawrence.

Prior to Green’s purchase the company generated power only dawn to midnight and was closed on Sundays. Green bought power from another flour mill and began selling power to neighboring towns. Within a matter of years, L.K. Green & Sons Electric Light and Power was serving 22 communities in northern Kansas.

In 1916 Lemuel sold the Concordia plant for $550,000. With this cash he then bought the Reeder Light, Ice & Fuel Company in Pleasant Hill, Missouri and with his sons formed the Green Power & Light Company. Lemuel then built Baldwin Lake, which was used for hydroelectric power as well as provide water for the community.

In 1922, looking to expand with a generating plant at Clinton, Missouri, Lemuel took the company public under the name West Missouri Power Company. The company would expand through southwest Missouri.

After four years he sold this company to the Fitkin Group again, which merged with the Missouri Public Service Company.  Later this company became UtiliCorp, which later became Aquila, and now is part of Great Plains Energy, currently one of the largest utility companies in the world.

In his later years Lemuel retired to Escondido, California where he bought a 2,000-acre orange grove.

The Lemuel Green home in Escondido, California.

Another view of the Lemuel Green home.

Lemuel Green passed away on July 5, 1930, in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, and was laid to rest in Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City.  He now joins his son Ralph Jerome Green in the Osborne County Hall of Fame.

The 1930 death certificate for Lemuel Green.

 

SOURCES:  Alton Empire, January 23, 1902; Osborne County Farmer, May 15, 1902; Western Empire newspaper, June 13, 1895; Illuminating the Frontier, https://www.blackhillscorp.com/sites/default/files/bhc-ilwe-ch1.pdf; Aquila, http://www.wikipedia.org; Tales of a Town Named Bull City, Orville Guttery & edited by Von Rothenberger, Ad Astra Publishing, 2011); Bliss Van Gundy, “Osborne County Pioneers”, Osborne County Farmer, April 15, 1971.

Thomas Marshall Walker – 2013 Inductee

(On this date, October 7, 2013, the Osborne County Hall of Fame is pleased to present to the world for the first time anywhere the third of the five members of the new OCHF Class of 2013)

Thomas Marshall Walker was born on a farm in Owen County, Kentucky, August 15, 1846.  His family became identified with Kentucky when it was a new western state.  His grandfather, William B. Walker, was born in England and came to this country with an older brother.  In Kentucky William located at Lexington, and became superintendent of the cloth manufacturing plant in which Henry Clay was financially interested.  William had learned the trade of weaver at Manchester, England.

Thomas was the fifth in a family of seven children born to Delville and Lucinda (Sparks) Walker, both of whom were natives of Kentucky.  Delville Walker was a prosperous farmer.  On the slavery issue he took a firm stand on the side of abolition and became one of the early members of the Republican Party.

Thomas spent his boyhood on a Kentucky farm until he was fourteen.  One story maintains that and he had only the advantages of a country school, while another states that he was educated by a private teacher.  Upon leaving home he joined an older brother in Shelby County, Kentucky, and while there had further advantages of school attendance for six months.  Like many successful Americans Thomas’ beginning in commercial life was of the humblest.  Working in a store at wages of $10 a month, sweeping the floor, building fires, and performing numberless other duties, he gained by that apprenticeship a knowledge of business which came to flower in later years in Kansas.  After three years Thomas became associated with his brother in a general store and tobacco warehouse, where he remained five years.  With this experience as the foundation, and such capital and credit as his work enabled him to acquire, he then set up in business in Kentucky as a general merchant on his own account.  Thomas finally removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and became member of the firm of Reed & Walker, wholesale produce and provisions.  The business was in a fair way to prosperity but after three years Thomas found his health so undermined that he concluded to follow professional advice and seek new opportunities in the West.

When twenty-five years of age Thomas went to Colorado.  He left there in 1876 and went to St. Louis, Missouri, and three years later arrived within the borders of Kansas in 1879.  He traveled by railroad as far as Hays City and then drove across the country to what was known as “Bull City,” a locality named after Hiram C. Bull, a famous Kansan who subsequently came to tragic end when gored by his pet elk.  The Central Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad was just being extended to Bull City, and that point was considered a favorable location for business and had already attracted about 100 inhabitants when Thomas joined his fortunes with the town.  Bull City is now the town of Alton in Osborne County.  Thomas set up in business as a general merchant and attempted to supply all the varied demands of a frontier community.  He proved equal to the situation, and the store he conducted at Alton proved the foundation of his success.   Thomas later served as Alton mayor and was the principal resident of Alton in the years after the death of Hiram Bull.  In Osborne County during the lean years that followed his early settlement there he showed the quality of his public spirit and his practical charity by extending credit to many who were absolutely dependent upon their crops for a livelihood, and when weather conditions prevented the harvest such people would have touched the extremities of misery but for his intervention.  Thomas also began investing in land and became the owner of very large cattle ranches in Osborne, Rooks, and Graham Counties in Kansas, and was also one of the first men to plant alfalfa in the western part of the state.

From merchandising and farming Thomas’ participation in banking followed almost naturally.  In 1884 he embarked in the banking business by founding the Bull City Bank.  In 1889 Thomas bought the First National Bank of Osborne, Kansas, and served as its president for fifteen years, when he sold the institution.

In 1885 Thomas married Carrie Nixon, a daughter of John and Matilda (McConnell) Nixon, Smith County farmers.  Carrie was born, reared and educated in Chicago, Illinois, and was a lady of culture and refinement who also possessed good business qualifications.  Two children graced their union: Thomas Delville, who died at the age of eighteen; and Henrie O., later the wife of William A. Carlisle and engaged with him in the lumber business in Washington, Kansas.

After moving to Atchison, Kansas in 1901 Thomas acquired the interests of Mr. Fox in the McPike & Fox Drug Company.  That same year he was voted treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the McPike Drug Company of Kansas City, Missouri.  In 1917 he bought the controlling interest in the McPike Drug Company, and became its president.  In 1903 Thomas bought an interest in and was made president of the Savings Bank of Atchison, the oldest state bank in the state.  From 1907 until his death he served as director of the Commerce Trust Company of Kansas City, Missouri, having been one of its charter members and organizers.  He also served as president of the Globe Surety Company of Kansas City and as a director of the Thomas Trust Company, also of Kansas City.  Thomas was also president of the First National Bank of Hoxie, Kansas, of the Citizens State Bank of Selden, and numerous other financial interests.

From the time he cast his first vote, Thomas was a stanch adherent of the Republican Party and worked in its interests, but considered himself to be never tied by party allegiance in local elections, as he believed in putting the man with the best qualifications into office, regardless of party, and thus securing the best local government. Thomas was active in both the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks fraternal organizations, and held chairs in both lodges.

In 1930 Thomas came across a famous relic from his days in Bull City/Alton, Kansas, and took it upon himself to save a valuable piece of Osborne County history.  The following account of the incident was related by Alton resident Orville Grant Guttery in his book Tales of a Town Named Bull City (Ad Astra Publishing, 2011, ppgs. 40-41).

*  *  *  *  *

“A few years after the Elk killed the three men at Bull City, and while T. M. Walker had a drug store [in Atchison, Kansas], a traveling man from a drug house came into his store and said ‘T. M., there is a man in [Muscotah] who has a drug store and he has bought more than he can pay for.  I wish you would go over and buy him out.’  The traveling man and T. M. knew each other well; he said he would go and look over the store.

“He bought it, [accepted] the invoice and paid for the goods, then said to the man in charge (the owner), ‘You go ahead and run this store and when you get any money you pay me what I have in it and it is yours,’ for which the man was thankful.

“As they were looking Mr. Walker saw a pair of elk horns and spoke about them, and the man said ‘those horns have a history – they are the ones taken from the elk that killed those men at Bull City.’  T. M. said, ‘I want to buy them.’  The man said, ‘You can have them.’  T. M. said, ‘I will pay for them.’  He gave $5.00 for them.

“I thought for many years I would like to have the horns from the Elk, but had no idea they were in existence.  Some years ago a statement was made that T. M. Walker had the horns.  I wrote him and he said he had the horns and would send them to us, and when we were ready to dedicate the [Bull] monument at the [Sumner] cemetery I asked Charles E. Williams to write Walker and ask about the horns.  He crated them and expressed them to C. E. Williams, prepaid.  The invoice read: ‘Shipped from Atchison, Kansas Way Bill and No. 6134 3/6  Dated 3/8/30  Shipper W. W. Blair.  Weight 190 Lbs. Freight $3.88 paid.’”

These very same elk horns can be seen today in the Osborne County Courthouse in Osborne, Kansas.

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After a long and prosperous life Thomas Marshall Walker passed away at the age of 94 on July 6, 1931 in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.  He was laid to rest in the Mount Moriah Cemetery at Kansas City.

1931 Death Certificate for Thomas M. Walker.

The entrance to Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.

The front of the Thomas M. Walker vault in the Mount Moriah Cemetery.

OTHER SOURCES:

Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas. Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago: 1900.  750 Pages.  Transcribed 2008 by Penny R. Harrell.

Pages 584-585 from Volume III, Part 1 of Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc.. . . with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence.  Standard Pub. Co. Chicago: 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar.  Transcribed December 2002 by Carolyn Ward.

A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written & compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed by Kita Redden, student from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 1-28-1999.

Richard Haynes “Dick” Wykoff – 1996 Inductee

The Great American Pastime, baseball, took on a new meaning in the lives of Osborne County citizens as they followed the storied career of one of their own, Richard Haynes Wykoff.  Richard, or “Dick” as he was universally known, was born August 10, 1903, near Beloit, Kansas.  His parents, Charles and Ethel (Haynes) Wykoff, moved to Osborne two years later, where Dick attended the local schools.

Dick possessed a rich bass and while in high school he was persuaded to enter a regional vocal contest at Fort Hays State College in Hays, Kansas.  Much to his surprise, he took second place.  He was a member of the 1923 Osborne High School football team which went unbeaten in eight games and also lettered in basketball, baseball, and track.  He once drop-kicked a football fifty-five yards against Phillipsburg.

In 1925 Wykoff tried out with the Class D Salina Millers, a professional baseball club in the Southwestern League.  He signed a contract for $175 a month as a starting pitcher.  His pitching record of 15-10 got him signed up for the 1926 season also.  In 96 games Wykoff compiled a 25-6 record, while leading the league in home runs (28) with a batting average of .380.  He also played eleven games as an outfielder, twelve games at second base, and thirty games at third.  By then major league scouts had discovered this hidden talent, and in July 1926 the Cincinnati Reds bought his contract from Salina.  It was the highest price ever paid for a Southwestern League player.

*  *  *  *  *

“In Richard Haynes Wykoff . . . the Cincinnati Reds may have picked up another Babe Ruth or a Pete Schneider.  Wykoff is primarily a right-handed pitcher, but most important of all, a jack-of-all-trades on the diamond.  He specializes in clubbing the pellet at a terrific clip.  Wykoff appears to be another Ruth or Schneider in the making for the simple reason that he can hit and play other positions in an emergency.  He demonstrated his versatility in convincing style last season.  he proved the second best pitcher in the Southwestern, and one of its most dangerous sluggers.  The dynamite he carried in his bat made him so valuable that he was used in the outfield, at second base and at third base at various times during the campaign.

“As a pitcher all that Wykoff lacks is experience.  He has all the necessary wherewithals of a successful moundsman, speed, control, a nice mixture of curves and a nifty change of pace . . . Wykoff, a lad of excellent habits – he does not smoke, drink, or chew – is five feet, ten inches tall, and weighs 175 pounds . . . .” – James J. Murphy in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 3, 1927.

*  *  *  *  *

For the 1927 season Wykoff was farmed out to the Class A Springfield (Massachusetts) Hampdens where he won 19 games and was recalled by the Reds before the end of the season.  In 1928 he was again assigned to Springfield with a one-year contract for $2700.  That year he broke his knee for the second time (the first was in 1926), an injury that prevented him from having a long career in the major leagues.  After his injury healed Dick finished the season with Class AA Columbus, Ohio, where he finished with a .385 batting average and lost an exhibition game to the New York Yankees by a score of 3-0 on a line-drive home run by Babe Ruth.  He later said he threw a fastball just to see the great Babe hit a home run.

Dick Wykoff as a member of the House of David Bearded Aces.

Having signed a contract worth $500 a month (a phenomenal amount in those days), Dick felt he could afford to take care of a family.  On July 14, 1928, he married Grace Hudson in Osborne.  The couple had three children, Julia, Mildred, and Gary.  Wykoff spent the 1929 season with Columbus, and the 1930 season with Pueblo, Colorado.  From 1930-32 he was with the Omaha (Nebraska) Royals, who went bankrupt midway through the season and the baseball commissioner ordered Wykoff released.  After a short time back in Osborne he earned a spot on the roster of the House of David Bearded Aces, a traveling semi-pro team managed by the legendary pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander.  He toured with the House of David from 1933 to 1949, once pitching against Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Monarchs.  In a game which showed the major-league caliber of both pitchers, Paige bested Wykoff by the score of 1-0.

In 1949 Dick retired from baseball and bought a farm located six and a half miles west of Alton, Kansas.  He became a barber in 1951, opening shops in Alton and Osborne.  In 1962 he moved his family back to Osborne, where he retired from his second career in 1970.  He died June 12, 1983, in Hutchinson, Kansas, and was laid to rest in the Osborne Cemetery.

Iva Maurine (Rothenberger) Wirth – 2004 Inductee

Iva Maurine (Rothenberger) Wirth was born in Osborne, Osborne County, Kansas on July 16, 1925.  She was the eighth of eleven children born to Franklin LaVerne “Verne” and Iva (Claytor) Rothenberger.   While attending the University of Kansas during World War II she set two school records in track and field and was a successful pitcher in exhibition games for the men’s university baseball team in 1943, finishing with a record of 9-1.  (Because of World War II, the men’s team could not field enough players, so they let Iva and her sister Lucile play with them.  Lucile was the team’s catcher.)  Iva declined a chance to study music in Europe to instead become a teacher in Kansas.  She married Emory Wirth on May 29, 1949 and taught at schools in Osborne, Waldo, Luray, Alton, Hill City, Stockton, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Liberal in a teaching career that spanned 45 years.  In between Iva found time to be a concert vocalist in Denver, appearing at Red Rocks Ampitheatre  and other regional venues.  Iva passed away in Osborne on January 27, 2000 and was laid to rest in the Osborne Cemetery.   She joins her grandfather Franklin Antone Rothenberger as a member of the Osborne County Hall of Fame.

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Iva (Rothenberger) Wirth

2004 Osborne County Hall of Fame Induction Speech

 – Speech written and presented by Lucile (Rothenberger) Romine, sister – 

Our sister, Iva, was the solid one in our family. She had such a strong sense of right and wrong backed by her spiritual conviction that I never remember of her being in trouble. She never lost her youthful innocence. She was a deep thinker.

At the age of three, when one of the family asked her to do something, she would say, “Dat fut me goin’ to do.” That was her pattern all through life. However, one did not have to ask. She was always there.

At the age of 10, Iva got to attend Church Camp located near Downs, Kansas. The camper’s last assignment was to go out and find something that represented a Bible story. They were then to come back and each present their story to the group. Iva made the headlines. She went to the creek, caught a minnow and told the story of Jonah and the Whale.

I must tell you this story.  We were all in country school.  Iva was a 2nd grader.  Grace Minear was the teacher.  She was great!  One day four o’clock came.  Time to go home.  She told us all to put away our books but didn’t dismiss us.  She looked us all in the eye and said the bell was missing. Whoever took it to please get it and return it to her desk where it belonged.  She set down and began to grade papers. Everybody sat and all eyes searched the room for the bell. Periodically she’d reminded us that we wouldn’t be dismissed until the bell was replaced.  No one moved.  Finally at five o’clock she dismissed all the girls and kept the boys. Just before six o’clock Darrell Paschal spied the bell, so got it and put it on her desk. Everybody knew Darrell was the culprit.  Yet, he swore up and down he did not do it.  Many years later, the burden got too heavy. Iva said she was having so much fun at recess she thought if she’d hide the bell the teacher couldn’t call us in.

Iva had varied interests and was a master of many. She was an excellent athlete. Our softball career started when she was in the 8th grade. By the time she was a sophomore, she became our pitcher. She could throw a curve under-handed. Osborne girls had a winning team. On game nights we had almost the whole town up as spectators. When Pop [Iva and Lucile’s father Verne] got off work, he would come and sit just off 3rd base and watch us. One night a traveling salesman came up from the hotel and sat down beside Pop. Pop was yelling at us. Pretty soon the salesman said, “You must know these girls pretty well.”  Pop replied, “Well I should. Five of them are mine.”

The salesman jumped up and went around to the bleachers. He sidled up to one of the spectators and asked, “Do you know that old codger sitting over there?”

“Verne Rothenberger? Sure!” 

“Well, he says he has five girls playing on this team.” 

“He does – the pitcher, the catcher, the 3rd  baseman, the center fielder, and the right fielder.”

At the University of Kansas [KU] different halls got up teams and played intramurals. Tournament time came, and Miller Hall was to play for the Soft Ball Championship against the Physical Education Department All Stars. The day of the game, one of our girls couldn’t play. We either had to forfeit or find another player. We enlisted little Jo Easter. She came about to my shoulder and had never played. She was terrified and didn’t want to bat. We told her to just bend over and hold her bat on her shoulder and she’d get to walk. Iva and I coached her around the bases. Miller Hall was holding our own. Miss Hoover, head of the university’s Physical Ed Department and coach of the All Stars, was also the umpire. Iva stepped up to bat. The pitcher threw a side arm. “Strike One!” Iva looked at Miss Hoover – but quietly stepped up to bat again. Another side arm pitch. “Strike Two!” yelled Miss Hoover. Iva quietly stepped back and said, “You know she’s throwing a side arm.”  Miss Hoover got red and yelled, “Batter up!” Iva planted her feet and hit the ball square. It went straight out and hit the pitcher on her pitching hand. A big goose egg swelled up. It put the pitcher out of the game. Miller Hall won the trophy.

Iva earned a letterman’s jacket in track also while at KU.  She held the university record in the shot put for many years.

Iva was never idle. When getting her degree at KU, she worked all night at the Sunflower Ordinance Plant, 15 miles east of Lawrence, to stay in school. After graduation, she taught school in Luray, Kansas. There, her life was fulfilled when she met and married Emory Wirth. The happiest time of her life was living on their farm in the Waldo community. Tragedy struck a year and a half after their marriage. Emory died very suddenly of spinal meningitis. She went back to Lawrence to work and to help her two sisters, Jo and Rae, through their first years of college. She then went to Denver, Colorado to the Lamont School of Music and got her Masters Degree in Voice from the world’s foremost teacher, Mrs. Florence Hindman.

When Iva was up for her Masters Recital she said she wanted her sister to accompany her.  Mrs. Hindman said, “Who’s your sister?  What does she do?  Where does she live?”

Iva replied, “She’s Lucile Romine, a farmer’s wife and lives in Palco, Kansas.”

Mrs. Hindman then said, “No, you have to have the accompanist from this school.”

Iva wouldn’t budge.  Finally, Mrs. Hindman said, “Okay, but she has to come out a month before on trial.”

I walked into this huge studio with a baby in my arms, no less. I propped my babe up in the big overstuffed chair and sat down to the largest and most beautiful Steinway Grand piano I had ever seen. I ran a scale. It had a perfect touch. Mrs. Hindman said, “Le Plea” which is “the rain” in French. Iva winked at me. The introduction represented light rain on a window sill. Mrs. Hindman was enchanted. She stopped me after the intro. A complete change of atmosphere occurred. Iva had a wonderful lesson. I was accepted and during that hour and a half my babe hadn’t made a sound.

Iva won a full scholarship to go to Europe to continue her studies to become a Concert Artist.  Love for her family was instrumental in her decision to decline and continue her career in the teaching field.

Besides vocal, Iva was also an accomplished pianist and a cellist. She played cello in the Osborne High School Orchestra and also in the KU Orchestra.

My unique sister had a wit that would turn everyone inside out. One example was when we all were first married. One time Iva and Emory, our brother Pete and his wife Gladys, and my husband Richard and I all went pheasant hunting. It was the girls’ job to be the dogs and scare up the pheasants. So, off we went into this thicket patch. It was so thick, tall, and tangled we could hardly move. All of a sudden, Iva stopped in her tracks and remarked, “Huh!  I’ve graduated!  I’m not a dog anymore.  I’m a BULLDOZER!”

Many summers she helped us on the farm – working cattle, fixing fence, gathering bales, driving tractors, and stacking hay. Once my husband Richard Romine got the alfalfa bales about six inches longer which made them heavy as lead. Iva devised a plan. We’d stack six bales and then we would have the Seventh Day of Rest.

Every summer Iva worked in the office of the “House of Prayer for All People” in Denver, Colorado.  She studied under an internationally known evangelist, Mr. William L. Blessing. Iva was a devoted student of Theology. She read the Bible through five times – once aloud, and was on her sixth time at the time of her death.

Iva was soloist at many of the large churches in Denver.  However, she would never accept pay.  There was no way she would accept money to use the talent God gave her in His place of worship.

Even at the age of 45, Iva’s ball playing career was not over.  The towns of Palco and Damar in Kansas had a women’s team.  Tournament time came.  They heard that Iva and I had once been a battery so asked us to play with them.  Iva and I went to a practice.  They put us in.  Iva lobbed several practice pitches in and then, “Batter Up!”  The manager of the team got up to bat.  She was a cute little vixen.  She stepped up to the plate, waved her bat in the air and wiggled her bottom as she took her stance. Iva fired one in and it hit my glove before she saw it. She dropped her bat and yelled, “NOW, NONE OF THAT!”  The spectators roared . . . .  We went to the Tournament in Hill City, Kansas the next night. They wouldn’t put us in. The score was 15-2. At the bottom of the 3rd inning, their husbands made them put us in. The crowd came alive. 3 up, 3 down. Iva held them. Our team ran in 11 scores but lost 13-15. We hung up our gloves.

Throughout her forty-five year teaching career, Iva taught both instrumental and vocal music in grades first through twelfth in Osborne, Luray, Waldo, Alton, Hill City, and Stockton, Kansas. In Waldo, she also taught English and Commerce. She then moved back to the state of Colorado where she taught junior high vocal music in the Broadmoor District in Colorado Springs, Colorado for four years. She returned to Kansas, teaching grades kindergarten through sixth her last twenty-nine years at McDermott and South Lawn schools in Liberal, Kansas, where she retired from teaching education. She was a life member of Delta Kappa Gamma Teachers Fraternity and held multiple offices.

During Iva’s forty-five years of teaching she only used her accumulated sick leave once. She was operated on for cancer and had cobalt treatments in Wichita. Although she was gone four months, her students never forgot her. She received letters every week from whole classes and many individuals. She only had three months sick leave accumulated. The faculty went together and each donated part of their sick leave to Iva to cover the fourth month. She was never docked a penny on her salary for this absence.

Iva kept our family together by her faithful correspondence to each and every one of us. We all looked forward to her weekly letters. Many times there was a check of love included that came at the most opportune times. She had such a Big Heart. Her gifts of love included nieces and nephews and even extended to their families. It didn’t make any difference as to what was needed – her time, her car, or a helping hand – she was always there.

Iva’s happiness was the giving of herself, whether it was concerting at Red Rocks in Colorado, soloing in various churches for the Glory of God, singing in our family choir or in the trio with her sisters, playing cello in the high school and college orchestras, playing piano, participating in sports, baby sitting, teaching, playing dominoes with her grandfather or talking with an elderly friend, spending prime time with her nephews, going fishing with her father or just doing things with and for both her Mom and Dad.  She was the solid, quiet one – unique in every way.

It gives me great honor to officially induct Iva Wirth into the Osborne County Hall of Fame.

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Iva pitching while at the University of Kansas.

Iva Wirth in later years.

Oid Lee Wineland – 1996 Inductee

A fourth-generation native of Osborne County who has been a public servant in both his career and as a volunteer for over fifty years to the people of Osborne County has indeed earned himself a place in the Osborne County Hall of Fame.  Oid Lee Wineland was born October 28, 1920, to Clyde and Hazel (Tucker) Wineland on the family homestead in Kill Creek Township, Osborne County, Kansas.

Oid attended the Hillsview rural school and graduated from Alton [Kansas] High School in 1939.  Also in 1939 Oid was awarded the American Farmer Degree, the Future Farmers of America’s highest award.  He then attended Kansas State University, where he briefly played football and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in January 1943.  He entered military service in the army and received a reserve commission as a second lieutenant after graduating Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in May 1943.  That same month he returned to Alton and married his high school sweetheart, Letha Thayer.  Together they raised two sons, Ron and Jim.

Oid served in World War II with the 121st Infantry in the Rhineland, Central Germany, and Northern France campaigns.  After dismissal from active duty in 1946 Oid remained in the Army Reserve until April 1, 1953.  He became a member of the Alton American Legion chapter and has been in charge of the chapter’s firing squad for over fifty years.

On January 21, 1946, Oid became a rural mail carrier for the Alton post office, a job he held until March 29, 1986.  In his forty years as a carrier he was exemplary in his work and earned an Expert Driver Award-Million Mile Safety Award from the National Safety Council.  He also farmed wheat on rented land and worked alongside his father and then on his own on the family farm in Kill Creek Township all his working life.  An active member of the United Brethren Church in Alton, Oid has served on the Alton City Council and as the town’s mayor.  For twenty-one years he was elected to the local school boards, serving as School District Number 392 president for two terms.  He also held the office of Region Seven Vice-President of the Kansas Association of School Boards.

Oid helped local youth through the Pee-Wee and Cookie baseball programs in Alton.  At various times he could be found as the assistant coach, groundskeeper, scorebook keeper, equipment manager, umpire, supplying first aid, or whatever else there was to do.  “I enjoyed that about more than anything I ever did,” relates Oid.

Now in retirement at his home in Alton, Oid and his wife enjoy gardening, yard work, traveling, and visiting with family and the many friends he has in made over the years in the Alton area.  Always a source of pride and respect among his peers, Oid Wineland remains a strong voice in the affairs of Alton and the northwestern part of Osborne County.

OID WINELAND IN WORLD WAR II

(By Jim Wineland)

Oid Lee Wineland was an infantry officer in the United States Army in World War II from 1943-1945.  He was awarded the Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart with two oak leaf clusters.

From August 1944 until the end of the war, he served in Europe as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry ”Gray Bonnet” Regiment, of the 8th Infantry Division.  This unit faced some of the toughest infantry fighting of the war.  During Oid’s time with the 121st Infantry, 718 of its men were killed-in-action or died of wounds suffered in combat in France and Germany.

Oid first saw action in August 1944 during the siege of the French port of Brest.  After that city fell, the 8th Division participated in the capture of German units on the Crozon Peninsula south of Brest.  Operations in France ended in September.  The division moved to Luxembourg and held a defensive position.  On November 20th, Oid moved with the 121st Infantry as it entered Germany near Huertgen, where a furious battle had been underway since September.

At the Battle of the Huertgen Forest, the 2nd Battalion played an important role in the capture of the village of Huertgen, Germany.  For its action on November 21-28th, the 121st Infantry received the Presidential Unit Citation, the nation’s highest award for a military unit.  On December 1, 1944, Oid was one of a few remaining officers who led the battered 2nd Battalion while it was surrounded by the enemy in the woods east of the village.  It was a harrowing day, but the battalion held on.  On December 6th Oid was seriously wounded in the leg by German artillery near Huertgen and evacuated.  After several weeks in hospitals in Belgium, France, and England, he returned to the 121st Infantry on January 26, 1945.

In 1945 he participated in the fighting near the Roer River Dams; the drive from the Roer River to the Rhine River; the house-to-house combat in the Ruhr Pocket east and north of Cologne, Germany; and, finally, the rapid drive to the Elbe River and into North Central Germany at the war’s end in May 1945.  Oid led what became a highly decorated platoon of black soldiers in a segregated unit within the 121st Infantry from March until the end of the fighting in Europe.  On May 8, 1945, Oid became Company Commander of F Company, 121st Infantry.  Oid returned to the United States in the summer of 1945 with the regiment.  The 8th Infantry Division was at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, preparing to join the war in the Pacific when Japan surrendered in September 1945.  Oid was discharged from active duty in January 1946 and returned to Alton, Kansas.

Oid Wineland during World War II.

John B. Taylor – 1997 Inductee

John B. Taylor was born at Junius, New York, September 1, 1853, and passed away at Concordia, Kansas, April 13, 1926.  John grew to manhood and then taught school and farmed.  He came out West to Exeter, Nebraska, in 1876.  On April 21, 1878, he was married to Jennie Linn Graves at Exeter.  To this union were born seven children, three of whom preceded him in death.

John began his mercantile career when he moved to Alton on June 6, 1878 into a small, frame building in the south part of the business section and with a stock which would invoice at little more than $1,600.  He soon needed more room, and as Hiram Bull offered John a lot and a half interest in the wall if he would build adjoining his own store building which stood on the corner north of the then-city fire department quarters.  Mr. Taylor accepted the offer and built a two-story building with full basement adjoining the General Bull store building.

Early in the year 1881 E. M. Beal, of Junius, New York, came to Alton and a partnership was formed with John.  In 1886 the City Hotel was purchased and the building razed to provide a place for a new store.  Beal and Taylor, as the firm was styled, built the two-story part of the native stone building and equipped the upper rooms for offices, which were rented out.  This structure housed the business until 1898 when increasing business again demanded larger quarters.  The space between the store building and the First State Bank was built up, making another large room which was used as a store room.

During 1903 John purchased the buildings and lot east of the store building and built still another addition.  The east wall was taken out and the part which now houses the shoe and clothing department added, thus converting the whole into one large room.  This made the Taylor Store the largest in town and the largest company of its kind in all of northwest Kansas.  After 1908 John no longer actively engaged in the mercantile business and it was managed by his son, Grover.  During the time John was in business in Alton he bought other city property and several farms nearby.  John was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Occidental Lodge, and the Odd Fellows.

John staked his place in almost every office from Alton mayor to Kansas state representative.  He was elected as Osborne County Representative to the Kansas state legislature in 1902 and was re-elected for two succeeding terms.  The fact that he was re-elected for two terms speaks for the splendid service he rendered his people while serving them in this capacity.  It was during this time that John’s health broke down, and he was not permitted to enter the race again for representative.  After twenty years of hard toil with public service he retired to Kansas City, Missouri.  Here his wife’s health broke down.  They then left for Whittier, California, hoping that she might recuperate, but she passed away January 13, 1919.  Since that time John lived with his daughter at Concordia, Kansas, until his own passing.  After a brief funeral service his remains were interred in the Sumner Cemetery near Alton.

During the last few years of his life John Taylor made frequent visits to Alton and always took an interest in Alton and Osborne County people.  He was a man who was highly respected by all who knew him and probably the greater amount of his success can be credited to his integrity in business affairs.  As stated in the Concordia Kansan newspaper at the time, “It was an honor to know and to have the friendship of John Taylor.”

John Taylor left a record behind him that your children might well be proud of.  His life, from schoolteacher, farmer, town councilman, school board member, to state representative – serving from village to state – you will do well to follow as an example.

Hugh Albert Storer – 2001 Inductee

Hugh Albert Storer was a farmer, stockman and politician who was born in Alton, Osborne County, Kansas on February 13, 1889.  The son of Charles and Elmira Storer, Hugh grew up on the family farm near Alton and continued to operate it the rest of his life.   He married Ethel Sproal on August 20, 1915 at Bloomington in Osborne County.  Together they raised a son, Everett, and a daughter, Lois.

Hugh served as Osborne County’s official weather observer for the National Weather Service from 1908 to 1965.  He was honored by the National Weather Service for lifetime achievement in 1949 with the Thomas Jefferson Award, awarded only to those who have achieved “unusual and outstanding accomplishment in the field of meteorological observations”.

Ethel passed away in 1935 and two years later Hugh married Rachel Hart on June 1, 1937.  That same year he began the first of five terms as Osborne County’s State Representative to the Kansas Legislature, completing his last term in 1946.

Hugh also served as secretary of the Farmers Union and on the local school board, as well as with the First State Bank in Osborne, Kansas.  After a few years Hugh ran for public office once again, this time serving a four-year term as Osborne County Commissioner from 1953 to 1956.  He was a member of the Alton Masonic Lodge for over 50 years.

Hugh passed away in Salina, Kansas on October 15, 1967.  He lies buried in the Osborne Cemetery at Osborne, Kansas.

Edward Albert & Robert Blake Stephenson – 1997 Inductees

For three quarters of a century the store kept by the Stephenson family was a cornerstone of business not only for the town of Alton, Kansas, but also for a large region comprised of  Osborne, Rooks, Smith, and Phillips Counties in northern Kansas.  Edward Albert Stephenson, or “Ned” as he was known, was born April 8, 1871 at Beeton, Sinicoe County, Ontario, Canada.  He was the son of William and Juliaetta (Harrington) Stephenson.

A few years after Ned’s birth his mother died and the family then moved to Galesburg, Michigan, where Ned started school in 1880.  Three years later the family moved to Bull City (Alton), Kansas, where William opened for business both as a cobbler and as the proprietor of a mercantile store.  On January 1, 1892, he opened a two-story native stone building located at the intersection of Mill Street and Nicholas Avenue.

Ned continued his schooling in Alton and attended Gould College in Harlan, Kansas.  In the spring of 1898 he returned to Galesburg and there married Blanche Louise Blake on March 9, 1898.  They then returned to Kansas and moved into rooms over the store.  Their son, Robert (“Bob”) Blake, was born July 29, 1907, in Alton.  William Stephenson died in 1900, and Ned and his two siblings, Richard and Emma, took over the store until 1927, when Ned and his son Bob bought the business.  A member of the Congregational Church, Ned was a very caring and careful businessman.  During the Great Depression of the 1930s, when times were hard for everyone Ned mortgaged his farms in order to sustain groceries at the store for his customers.  He was generous in support of the families in the area; for one Christmas during this time he canceled $10,000 in grocery bills for local residents, but later expressed his disappointment in that many people didn’t appreciate his gesture.  They were upset and even angry because they thought that he was giving them charity.

Ned and his family moved to a house in town after living above the store.  In 1910 they then moved onto the General Hiram Bull homestead on the east edge of Alton.  The next year Ned bought their last home, the farm a mile south of Alton that included the South Solomon River and the Alton Bluffs.  Ned was a baseball player (the catcher position) and a fan.  He donated the land for the Alton ballfield and was a member of the Alton Businessman’s Club, where the members would purchase their own chairs to sit in at meetings.  In later years Ned could be found sitting inside the store waiting to greet his friends and acquaintances when they came to do their shopping.  He passed away December 9, 1958, in Alton and was buried in the nearby Sumner Cemetery.

Bob Stephenson attended the Alton schools and then Kansas State University in Manhattan.  After his buying of the family store (together with his father) in 1927 Bob transferred to the Kansas City Business College in Missouri to complete his education.  On April 16, 1933, he married his high school sweetheart, Opal Tucker, in Alton.  In 1942 the Stephenson Store celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in business and was named the oldest business in Kansas then operating under its original ownership.  Bob entered the U.S. Army in February 1943 and the business was sold to Jim Fuller.  Bob went on to serve with distinction in the 87th Division in Europe and returned home in October 1945, when he repurchased the store from Fuller.

Bob was an ambitious and likable man who was interested in all worthwhile projects that benefited the community.  He served as mayor of Alton and also as city councilman, and was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the American Legion, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Evangelical United Brethren Church.  On June 2, 1966, he suddenly was stricken with a heart attack and passed away.  A sorrowing community buried him in the Sumner Cemetery.  Bob’s wife Opal sold the business that July, and after 74 years Stephenson’s Store was finally closed for good.  The stone building was torn down in the 1980s.

The Stephenson Store (left) in Alton during its heyday.

Arleta Ethyl (Quenzer) Snyder – 2007 Inductee

Volumes could be said of the sacrifices and generosity of the daughter of Wesley and Ethyl Quenzer, but for now we all shall have to settle for the following few brief sentences of tribute.

Arleta was born November 20, 1924 in Alton, Osborne County, Kansas.  Following graduation from Osborne High School in 1942, she worked for the family appliance business until she married Maurice Snyder on April 21, 1946.

Following their marriage the couple moved to a farm they purchased near Alton.  During their years on the farm, four children were born: Rocky Jo, who died in childbirth; Rocky Wayne; Leta Jean; and Gary.

Maurice and Arleta sold their farm in 1962 and moved the family to Arizona, hoping the warm dry weather would help Arleta’s arthritis.  After two years in Tucson and elsewhere the family settled in Willcox, Arizona, where Arleta worked as office and advertising manager for the Arizona Range News.

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Arizona Range News – October 2, 1986
RETIREMENT HONOREE

Arleta (Quenzer) Snyder, office manager and advertising manager, was honored with a retirement party on September 20th in Willcox.

Greg LaFreniere, editor-publisher of the Arizona Range News, presented her with a plaque for her 18 years of dedication, devotion and loyal service to the weekly publication and the people of the Willcox area.

She has also been associated with the San Pedro Valley News-Sun, Benson, Arizona, and the Eastern Arizona Courier, Safford, Arizona. She was formerly a stringer for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, Arizona.

She is an Arizona Honorary Future Homemaker, Willcox Honorary Chapter Farmer of the FFA, past public speaking leader for the Kansas Settlement 4-H Club and earned two plaques as Employee of the Month from the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture.

Arleta attended Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona.  She plans to spend some time in Osborne, Kansas to be near her family beginning in November.

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Arleta returned to Kansas in 1986 and settled in Osborne. She became one of the most active community volunteers in the entire history of Osborne County, and served with a number of religious, civic, and social organizations.  Arleta continued to use her news writing skills as the Osborne correspondent for the area newspapers.  Besides her activities in the Methodist Church and with the Methodist women, Arleta was involved in the Hospital Auxiliary, the Senior Center, and the Osborne High School Alumni as well as anyone else that asked for her assistance.

Her main passion was working in the Carnegie Research Library, organizing membership drives and editing the Leaves of Lineage newsletter.  Arleta was especially admired as well for her extensive work with the elderly.

After a lifetime of giving this great-grandmother passed away on March 2, 2007 in Osborne at the age of 82.  She was laid to rest in the Osborne Cemetery.

Shortly before her death Arleta was informed of her impending induction into the Osborne County Hall of Fame.  In typical Arleta fashion, she thought that while it was all very nice, “There are really other people who deserve it more”.

Perhaps there are, Arleta, but few will ever match the spirit for life that you showed the world.

Russell Scott Osborn – 1997 Inductee

Combmaker, book canvasser, lumberman, brickmaker, military veteran, Congregational minister, stonemason, politician.  All these were the trades of Russell Scott Osborn, born July 3, 1833, at Margaretville, Delaware County, New York.  As a young man Osborn moved to Harvey County, Illinois.  There he met and married Sabrina Letitia McKinley, a cousin of President William McKinley, on February 14, 1857.  Russell and Sabrina had eight children – Nettie, Ella, Nathan, Catherine, Oscar, Carl, Charles and Katie.

With the start of the Civil War, Osborn enlisted in Company C of the 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry.  He then re-enlisted in Company F of the 140th Illinois Infantry, being discharged in December 1864 with the rank of captain.  In 1865 he moved his family to Story County, Iowa, where Osborn engaged in the nursery business.  During their stay here he was ordained a minister in the Congregational Church.

On August 7, 1872, the Osborn family came to Kansas and settled on a homestead located four miles west of Bull City in Sumner Township, Osborne County.  They lived on the homestead for the next twenty years.  Osborn supplemented his farming income by working as a stonemason.  He built the Ash Rock Church in northwest RooksCounty, the First Congregational Church in Stockton, the Alton stone mill, and several stone houses in the vicinity, including his own.

As a Congregational minister, Osborn helped organize churches at Ash Rock in Rooks County, New Harmony in southern Smith County, and at Mount Ayr in Osborne County.  He was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Congregational Churches in Western Kansas.  Osborn preached wherever he went, and from 1890 to 1892 he served as minister of the First Congregational Church in Stockton.

Osborn had considered himself a Republican in political matters, but when he was about 60 years old he became involved in the Farmers’ Alliance Movement in an attempt to help the plight of farmers during a financially depressed era.  With the rise of the Populist Party in 1890 Osborn and many other Kansans switched sides.  In 1892 Captain Osborn became Kansas Secretary of State on the Populist Party ticket. His career as a politician found him involved in the infamous Legislative War of 1893. The Republican and Populist Party members of the Kansas House of Representatives battled over who would gain control of the House.  The discord escalated to the point of physical violence with the Republicans breaking down the doors to Representative Hall with a sledge hammer and the two factions taking up arms against each other.  The governor finally called in the state militia to restore the peace, and the Kansas Supreme Court determined that the Republican Party had the legal majority in the Kansas

Osborn served only one term as Secretary of State.  He retired from politics and continued to live in Topeka.  In 1898 his wife died and Osborn moved back to the old homestead in Osborne County, where he lived for six more years before moving to Stockton.  He died there May 20, 1912, and was buried in the Pleasant Valley Cemetery in Sumner Township, Osborne County.

In 2011 Osborn’s great-great granddaughter Patsy Redden compiled a biography on his life entitled “Captain Osborn’s Legacy.”