Prairie Breezes: Odyssey from Pretty Prairie

By Theodore "Jim" Goering

Pretty Prairie, dating from the late 1880s and somewhat before the advent of settled agriculture, was linked to the larger world by its location on a rudimentary stage coach line which connected the pioneer towns of Wichita in the south central part of the state with Dodge City to the west. As historians tell it, the city's colorful name reflects a comment by a lady traveler from an east coast state on a western-bound stage coach. At a stop to rest the horses and give the travelers time to stretch their legs, the traveler stepped out of the coach, inhaled a deep breath of the fresh air, looked with wonder and amazement at the seemingly endless expanse of verdant prairie grass on low-lying hills, and remarked, "Oh, my! What a pretty prairie!" And so it began to be known as such! Today, with a population of about 680 inhabitants, Pretty Prairie faces challenges similar to those confronting many small towns in the American heartland""viz. the paucity of remunerative employment opportunities which encourages educated younger residents to pursue an "odyssey (an extended, adventurous voyage)" in search of greater economic opportunities and soul-fulfilling adventure! Jim's "odyssey," as articulated in this narrative, is almost certainly only one of many undertaken by the youth of these communities. Notable personalities associated with Pretty Prairie include former Kansas Governor, Walter A. Huxman; nationally acclaimed artist of American wild life, Jack Unruh; iconic, long-term athletic coach at Pretty Prairie High School, George Norton; and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer of the Little Rascals/Our Gang series. "Author Jim and his loving wife of more than 60 years of marriage, Shirley, now live in retirement in North Newton, Kansas and remain occupied with educational, community and church activities. They are the parents of five children and grandparents of nine. Jim's remarkable career has come from humble roots on a farm near Pretty Prairie, Kansas, through halls of influence and power in Washington DC; Beijing, China; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Ulanbaatar, Mongolia; Pyongyang, North Korea and elsewhere, always driven by the consummate desire to honor the gentle exhortation of his father in Jim's youth to "...leave this world upon departure a better place than when you arrived"! Foundational reference points along the way for Jim include: The "Good Book", the Christian Bible, and the words of Proverbs 3: 5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight"; The profundity of Robert Frost's words in his 1916 epic poem, "A Road Not Taken"; "Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by; And that has made all the difference!" The hauntingly moving phrases in Paul Anka's song, "My Way!", sung so well by Frank Sinatra: And now the end is near; and so, I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear; I'll state my case of which I'm certain! I've lived a life that's full; I've traveled each and every highway! But more, much more than this: I did it my way!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098019297

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Prairie Breezes

Odyssey from Pretty Prairie

Theodore J. Jim Goering

Copyright © 2019 by Theodore J. Jim Goering

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

In Dedication

Dedication is to recognize and thank the numerous individuals who have had a significant impact on one’s life! At the top of that list is my wife, Shirley. After more than 62 years of a wonderful marriage, she continues to charm and inspire with her lovely smile, gentle spirit and inexhaustible interest in all those around her!

Then there our five children, Terri, Tim, Tom, Trevor and Suzie, and their spouses and children. All have brought diversity, joy, the wisdom of youth—and the occasional heartache that is an inevitable part of responsible parenting! Included in such a list are Jim’s siblings, Josephine, Homer, Helen, and Vernon and their spouses and children, all who added immeasurably to the treasured experiences of our lives!

I (Jim) am deeply grateful to my professional colleagues at the World Bank, World Vision and the English Language Institute (ELI). Through ELI our lives (Jim and Shirley) have been enriched by the winsome ways and welcoming smiles of the numerous Chinese we met in our 13 summer teaching experiences in that fascinating country. Each of these organizations brought professional excellence, high moral character, a strong commitment to social betterment and an informed international perspective—attributes of great value to us in our association with those fine organizations!

Then there are those individuals who were of fundamental importance in instilling in us the basic values and skills essential to a life well-lived! At the top of this list are our parents who stressed the importance of personal integrity, the value of hard work and a strong moral character based on a vibrant religious faith. We include here the several outstanding teachers at grade, high school and university level who helped equip us with the skills needed to successfully navigate the uncertainties of the road ahead. And finally, and of foundational importance, were the pastors and teachers in the religious organizations in which we participated!

For all of these we are profoundly grateful!

Jim and Shirley Goering

Preface

Why write a family biography? Several answers could be given. The writer may be motivated to leave for future generations some knowledge of individual family members, the lives they lived, the values they considered important, and the imprint they left on society! One may wish to relive and relish by putting pen to paper some of the many experiences that make up that colorful tapestry of life. Or one may want to relive through writing some of those particularly poignant experiences of the past—times of joy, of heartbreak, of sorrow, of delight, of watching the family life cycle move inexorably through birth, childhood, youth, young adult, marriage, children, middle age, retirement, and then the inevitable diminution of mental and physical faculties that come with age!

Among the treasures to be cherished are the inestimable joys of watching the children and grandchildren grow up and begin to contribute to the well-being of society around them. In that process, one becomes aware that one thing death cannot destroy is memory committed to hard copy; and with that realization comes the wish to preserve from forgetfulness events involving those one has known and loved. The writing of this story is motivated by all of the above.

This effort owes a debt to many people who have provided me with invaluable learning opportunities and blessed me with their company over the past eighty-two years. Seven deserve special mention. I write in respectful memory of my Grandparents Joe D.C. and Mathilda Goering, Mom (Frieda and then Edna) and Dad (Peter) Goering, Mom and Dad Suderman (Ernest and Edna Suderman). All were instrumental in providing to those of us who followed the basic building blocks of life that served us well—values of thrift, hard work, honesty, love, compassion, a strong personal faith, and respect for others!

This story focuses on the past as means to better equip the next generation to anticipate the future. My hope is that each of you would find in these ramblings something that is interesting, touching, humorous—and, yes, perhaps even useful! At the request of some family members, I have expunged from the text some matters considered unduly sensitive.

A very important factor in the writing has been encouragement from my loving wife of more than sixty-one years! She has been a wonderful resource person, a great fact-checker, and a reminder of events I had long forgotten! Her enthusiasm for this endeavor—and for life, more generally—has been for me a continuing source of joy and wonder! A recent birthday card from a friend describes Shirley as always sparkling. That describes her well! Although her birth certificate lists her as Shirley, I prefer her nickname Suds—a title that, while actually linked to her maiden name, Suderman, describes well her bubbling personality that has made her such a delightful companion for all these years!

—Jim Goering, North Newton, Kansas, December 1, 2019

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many.

—Moses’ Exhortation to the Children of Israel (Deuteronomy 11:18–21a)

1

Beginnings

The story begins on a farm a few miles northeast of a small town in central Kansas—Pretty Prairie. The town was unremarkable, like hundreds of other small towns in the southern Great Plains. Winters were cold; summers were hot! The economy was driven by agriculture and largely winter wheat. If the rains came, insect pests didn’t, and wheat prices were good; farmers fared reasonably well. Mortgages were paid down, new farm equipment was purchased, and if funds remained, some money was spent in fixing up the farmhouse! Expenditure on the farm home generally seemed to have lower priority than spending for equipment and other buildings!

Pretty Prairie’s claims to local fame were essentially two-fold. It boasted quite good athletic teams—the Bulldogs in the 1950s and 1960s—and the site of Kansas’ Largest Night Rodeo, always held in mid-July after the wheat was harvested and farmers had a breathing spell before fall planting got underway.

The farm, like the town, was similar to many others in the area. Some 240 contiguous acres had been purchased in the early 1900s by the family patriarch, Jonathan R. Goering (Jim’s paternal grandfather). Some of the farm’s topography was not suited for crop production and remained in permanent pasture, nourished in part by bubbling springs that had not dried up for as long as any member of the extended family could remember. With careful management and favorable rainfall, the soil produced crops of a quality and quantity that kept the Goerings financially secure, but not prosperous.

The Family

The Elders—A Colorful Group!

Grandpa Jonathan was something of an innovator, builder of one of the first multistory homes in the area with central heating, an upstairs bathroom with piped water, and all rooms wired for electricity. Grandma Rosa was the quintessential Midwestern farm wife—religious, a good cook with a proclivity toward calorie-rich foods, hardworking, committed to raising a well-adjusted, healthy family, an avid gardener. With no regional power grid yet to be seen for many years, Grandpa Goering was one of the first in the area to invest in wind power—a HEBCO Wind-Electric system mounted on a 60-foot steel tower located south of the residence and topped by a large, two-bladed propeller that powered a 32-volt generator. The system was indeed innovative and much admired by others in the community. But it produced electricity only when the wind was blowing—and notwithstanding Kansas’ reputation as a windy place, there were times of calm, occasionally for days on end. In these circumstances, this problem was addressed by installation of a series of lead-acid batteries in rectangular, three-gallon containers of greenish glass—containers which later become something of collectors’ items! These, totaling perhaps 12 in number, were placed on shelves in the basement and connected to the wind charger outside by a bewildering array of electrical wires. With this system in place, a limited supply of power for essential lighting and a few basic appliances was available on a near continuous basis.

The HEBCO organization capitalized on Grandpa Jonathan’s system by publicizing his experience in the company’s promotional trade letter:

Maybe your plant might fill in where only a little current is needed. The HEBCO Wind-Electrics are real producers of current. Even our smallest machine, the Model 30, 32 volt, under reasonable wind conditions, puts out more current than many highly rated engine outfits, and at a substantial saving at that, because the HEBCO never requires fuel and uses less than a dollar’s worth of lubricant a year.

Jonathan R. Goering’s experience will bear this out. He has a Model 30, 32-volt, HEBCO. A photograph shows the fine home of this prosperous, progressive man at Pretty Prairie, Kansas. The well—made HEBCO is close by! Would Mr. Goering go back to engine service [gasoline-powered generator]? He would not, at any price! Read what he says:

Generating current by wind power certainly cuts the cost of electricity to a minimum, besides doing away with troublesome engines. In my estimation this plant will save the average farmer from $35 to $75 a year in oil, fuel, engine repairs, etc.

Now, mind you, when you read on from his letter, remember that Mr. Goering’s HEBCO is the smallest machine we make, namely the Model 30, and one will understand why it is advantageous to use the free wind instead of buying expensive gasoline. To continue Mr. Goering’s letter:

Besides furnishing light for the farm and 10 room house, we use the following appliances: electric iron, electric pump, electric washer, battery charger. At the most, I have not found it necessary to allow the plant to run over 25 hours per week. I believe the HEBCO will handle the light and power problems on the largest farms. I might add that I am also impressed with your governing device supplied to enable the machine to work in high winds. I have watched it and note that it does all you claim for it. You may use this letter if you so desire.

Jim’s maternal grandfather, Joe D. C. Goering, was known for his wide intellectual interests and entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of sixty, he entered McPherson College to study Spanish! He was an avid reader and a lifetime subscriber to the National Geographic magazine. He once ran for state senator and lost the election by a few votes. He was one of the first in the community to continue his education after grade school. In addition to his role as a progressive farmer, Joe D. C., as he was commonly known, together with two neighbors, established a lumberyard in the community. He served for several years as president of the Farmers’ Oil Company that operated in Elyria, Moundridge, and Hesston, Kansas. In 1952, he signed up as a deckhand on a vessel shipping American livestock to Greece as post-WWII reconstruction assistance. His second youngest son, Raymond, later wrote of him:

This man was willing at all times to help others. He never was at a loss of words to visits with everyone, including strangers. He was without a doubt the most progressive, innovative, risk-taking, widely read, deep thinker, and more open-minded than any of his peers in the community in which he lived. He looked at life as a challenge to know more about himself, his family, his community and, most of all, his relation to his God, his country and his role in this life. Never did I know anyone who was more willing to explore ideas, create challenges in thinking and discuss philosophies of life.

In the late 1950s, Grandson Jim wrote this of his Joe D. C. Goering grandfather:

Grandpa epitomized to me the balanced personality—the one who nurtured body, mind and spirit in the tradition of the Greek scholars. His intellectual curiosity—and his considerable achievements in that regard—were matched by his deep religious faith. He was basically a Mennonite, but one who questioned some principles of that particular persuasion. Thus, his patriotism and love for America clashed with Mennonite pacifism in his view (as I understood it) that service in the armed forces was consistent with a strong Christian faith. Perhaps Grandpa’s greatest contribution to succeeding generations was the living example he set in word and deed which grew out of his knowledge of the Bible and his application of Biblical principles in business, in the stewardship of physical and financial resources and in human relationships.

I remember well the scripture verse written in the flyleaf of the Bible given to me by Grandpa and Grandma: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

As I think of Grandpa’s zest for life, I am reminded of the words of Ella Wheeler Wilcox: Our lives are songs: God writes the words and we set them to music at our pleasure. And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, as we choose to fashion the measure. One of my regrets is that my children have had little opportunity to know the remarkable personality of Joe D. C. Goering.

The Parents

Jim’s father and mother, Peter J. and Frieda M. Goering, were, like their parents, devout Mennonites claiming ancestry from immigrant groups that arrived in central Kansas in October 1874 from what is now Ukraine. Their ancestors’ choice of central Kansas was the result of virgin prairie land made available to the Mennonite immigrants by the Santa Fe Railroad, the original holder of these expansive land grants from the United States Government.

The Santa Fe management team members were clever marketers. They met the Mennonite immigrants upon disembarkation from their transatlantic vessel, the City of Richmond, in New York Harbor and offered the new immigrants who would buy land from Santa Fe free passage to the largely empty lands in central Kansas. Additionally, the Santa Fe Railroad provided free housing to the immigrants for the oncoming winter of 1874–75, a fact gratefully remembered by the Mennonites some 130 years later!

Mother Frieda, born in April 1905, was the oldest of nine children. She grew up on her parents’ farm near Elyria, Kansas. Despite fragile health from inflammatory rheumatism, she had a zest for learning and, in her graduation year, ranked third among all grade school graduates from McPherson County.

During those years, she gained recognition as a Bible scholar. Her academic interests took her as a college freshman to the Bible Academy in Hesston, Kansas, then to Bethel College in North Newton where she finished her higher education. Following a few terms of teaching in country schools, she took additional classes at McPherson College where she acquired her state teaching certificate. She then returned to one of her loves—teaching at primary level.

Here Come the Children!

Peter and Frieda were married in November 1931 at the outset of the Great Depression. Peter’s parents—prudent, hardworking people—invited Peter and Frieda as newlyweds to take up residence with them in the large farmhouse located just over a mile north of the First Mennonite Church of Pretty Prairie. The farmhouse, built in 1918 by grandfather Jonathan, was a much admired structure at the time—five bedrooms, two storeys, central heating with a wood-burning furnace, a second-story, inside bathroom with a full-length cast-iron bathtub with eagle-claw legs, and a water-flushing commode! It was in that farmhouse that the first of the children were born—Josephine Jane in January 1933, and Theodore Jim James in May 1935.

In 1936, Peter and Frieda, with Josephine and Jim, moved to a rented farm about a mile and half northeast of Pretty Prairie. It was at that location that a third child, Homer Dale, was born in 1936. All births took place on the farm and were assisted by an all-purpose country doctor, Dr. Charles B. Magee. Mother Frieda, always of frail health, suffered a severe heart attack in November 1936 and passed away on December 23 of that year. She left behind, in addition to a grieving husband, parents, and siblings, three young children—Josephine, Jim, and Homer, aged three and a half years, one and half years, and two months respectively. Her last words to Father Peter were, Pete, bring the children to heaven.

As stated in her obituary, In early life, Frieda was concerned about her soul’s salvation and in her youth made her peace with God through the finished work of Christ. Her faith in Him and the assurance of her salvation never were shaken, not even in the bitterest agonies of her illness. What a sad Christmas that of 1936 must have been for the family—and for Father Peter in particular!

Many years later, in 2005, Jim’s Uncle Al, a younger brother to Mother Frieda, told him of Mother Frieda’s last words to her seven siblings on her deathbed in late 1936. As Uncle Al put it:

She asked each one of us to come into her bedroom, looked each of us directly into our eyes and said, Promise me that you will meet me in heaven. Those words will remain with me for the rest of my life.

In 1974, Josephine wrote of Father Peter:

I remember my Dad…as a man of gentleness and good humor, who was also seriously dedicated to hard work and raising a family with high standards based on Christian beliefs and moral values. I remember him as a man of courage who tenderly cried for me and for Teddy when we were just four and two, when he was a young widower who left his newborn son, Frankie [later christened Homer], in the care of his mother-in-law, Mathilda Goering, on the farm near Elyria. I remember him grieving openly in the late evenings as he put us to bed. I remember him as a man of endless optimism, seldom grumbling and whose positive outlook on life always returned quickly, despite the hardship of life on the wind-swept, semi-arid Great Plains farm where we lived.

Some three years after Mother Frieda’s death, Father Peter married a lovely young lady from Moundridge—Edna Stucky. To that union were born two children—Helen Louise in August 1940, and Vernon Dean in November 1942. Mother Edna took on with great courage and cheer the formidable tasks of mothering three foster children and two younger birth children at a time when Dad was striving to make a success of a farming operation that was only minimally adequate in size to provide a living income to a family of seven. Over the next several years, Mother Edna carried out her considerable new responsibilities with grace, dignity, and good humor. The five Goering children—Jo, Jim, Homer, Helen, and Vern—bonded well into solid friendships that remained for their lifetimes.

The School Years Begin

Lone Star District #31

This one-room, grades one to eight country school was like hundreds of others established in Kansas during the 1860s and thereafter when virgin prairie was being surveyed and roads and other social infrastructure demarcated. This white frame structure located about two miles north of Pretty Prairie boasted a bell tower, an anteroom (where coats were hung and lunch pails stored), and a coal-fired furnace in the basement. Outhouses on the western edge of the schoolyard, one for the boys and for the girls (and lady teacher), provided primitive but adequate toilet facilities.

Teachers, always females, were hired on a one-year contract by an independent school board of local parents. The teachers, never more than one for the entire school, boarded with local families. Those teachers were true miracle workers, overworked and underpaid! They were to arrive early each morning, coax the furnace into life, clean the classroom, and be ready at 8:00 a.m. to teach students in all eight grades and all required subjects!

During Jim’s time at Lone Star, September 1941 through May 1945, student enrollment totaled no more than about ten students. During Jim’s four years at Lone Star, his same-grade classmate was Joan Rogers, a shy girl from a poor tenant family living on a sandy farm north of school. All of the Lone Star pupils were farm children of quite modest means.

Mothers prepared rather Spartan lunches each day. Lunches for Jo, Jim, and Homer were packed in two-quart Karo syrup tins with lids perforated to permit some air circulation. The Karo tins provided sustenance at lunchtime but were sources of fear during the three-quarter mile walks to and from school when thunderstorms threatened. Jo reminded Jim and Homer that the tins were good conductors of electricity. Therefore, she advised that at each sound of thunder, the tins should be dropped quickly to the ground to avoid electrocution by a stray lightning bolt that might follow!

The Goering children yearned for the occasional boughten food component in the lunch—a candy bar, cookies or crackers—to enrich the common fare of cheese or peanut butter sandwiches and the ubiquitous boiled egg with a side of a few salt crystals in a tiny bit of wax paper. There was envy when the Graber boys—children of one of the more affluent families—unwrapped their fried chicken!

The curriculum emphasized basic reading, writing, and math skills, embellished by some Social Studies, Kansas government, History, and Geography. The first and perhaps the only Latin learned by these students was Ad Astra Per Aspera (To the Stars Through Difficulties)—the Kansas State motto!

In this one-room, multi-grade school environment, the teacher had precious little time to spend with each class, let alone each student. The teacher announced daily assignments with very economic use of language, and students were then expected to get on with mastering the material quite independently of further teacher assistance. Personal hygiene was given a lot of emphasis, requiring daily checks by the teacher. Were fingernails clean? Had teeth been brushed? Was hair combed? Were shoes free of extraneous barnyard matter? Did each student have a clean handkerchief?

Miss Whitehead once suggested that in the interests of personal hygiene, each member of the family should have his or her own towel and washcloth at home. When this suggestion was carried to the parents of Jim’s classmate, Joan, she reported next day her mother’s reaction—viz., that the teacher should go jump into the river; a rustic way of saying that this suggestion was considered quite impractical for a family of very modest means!

Extracurricular activities were limited. One of the few but much anticipated field trips involved a visit to the Carey Salt Mines in nearby Hutchinson. A second trip, aimed at building moral character by example of defaulters, was a visit to the State Reformatory in Hutchinson, a place dedicated to the rehabilitation of young men who had gone astray! There was no basketball court on the schoolyard, but softball was popular, as were games such as Capture the Flag, Red Rover, Red Rover, Come Over, and Kick the Can.

The spring track meet with a couple of neighboring one-room country schools was a big event. Jim showed some early athletic promise in Grade 4 by winning first place in the fifty-yard dash, the broad jump, and the high jump. Competition, however, was limited—perhaps one or two other participants in each event! He also showed some early inclination to living on the edge. At one point, the older boys dared him to open the door of the girls’ toilet. Jim took the dare, only to find an extremely irritated Miss Whitehead on the throne! The matter was duly reported to Jim’s dad, and Jim was required to stay after school for two days to do penance in the form of extra schoolwork!

The school Christmas program was a big event. To avoid possible wrath from parents, the teacher was expected to assign to each student a significant role in the program. In those days, before political correctness and an out-of-control American Civil Liberties Union, the event was called a Christmas program and included community singing of the always popular carols. The evening was topped off with the surprise visit by Santa Claus, usually played by a neighbor, Sig Siebert, who had the ho, ho, ho demeanor of a Santa Claus and the necessary rotund figure! For this event, the classroom became the auditorium, and parents, grandparents, and relatives found it necessary to shoehorn themselves into the students’ desks, all firmly bolted to the floor, as the only available seating. The excitement of the Christmas program was heightened by the anticipation of the two-week long vacation at that time of the year!

Sister Jo’s Perspective

Jo’s gift of good writing captured the color and excitement of the season. In December 2000, she wrote of her childhood Christmas experiences:

A farmstead on the Kansas prairie was where my childhood Christmases were spent. At Lone Star School, District #31, one-mile north of our farm, Christmas was celebrated with great sprit by the mere eight students, the entire student body, by giving a special evening program for parents. In Pretty Prairie, just a mile south of home, there was an annual Santa Comes to Town event, with a downtown parade with loud music and candy treats for all. It was all a very big thrill for a child growing up in the isolation of a Great Plains farm.

But I’d really like to recall the joy of Christmas Eve church…for which there was high anticipation and serous preparation. On Christmas Eve day we started getting ready early—Mother and Dad did the farm chores early and every one took baths. These took place in the kitchen in front of the heater, near to where Mom heated the water on the stove and then poured it into the portable galvanized tub. When we were very clean we’d put on our new clothes. I can’t be sure about the boys having new clothes for Christmas, but I’m almost certain that every little girl had a new dress. (We cousins and friends talked a lot about it!) The dresses were dressy—often with ruffles or lace—and lucky was the girl whose dress was made of velvet or taffeta! Also, I’m pretty sure that most of those dresses were made at home, by mother or grandmother.

Every Sunday School class prepared a part for the program; every child was given a speaking part in the class’ segment of the program. I can’t remember anyone, back then, who didn’t come through with a nicely memorized recitation of Scripture, or poetry, or drama. Of course each child’s part was delivered in a very unique manner—some too fast, some too slow, some in a frightened whisper, and some in a shout—but all came together in a good way! Maybe that’s because we had practiced and practiced, beginning on the very first Sunday afternoon in December and every Sunday thereafter until Christmas! It was all carefully planned because there were a lot of children and youth participating.

I remember each grade—each class—sat in about one and one-half entire rows so there must have been over 100 children! It did make for a rather long program—and later on, when my young husband, Richard, and I came back for Christmas, he thought the programs were sort of over the top when it came to length of performance! There was also much well-practiced singing by a massed children’s choir. The rows of seated children would march up the two sections of steps leading up to the elevated choir section, and the high chancel area, joining with the high school choir for the singing of the Christmas songs that remain in my heart forever.

Now excitement was building! After the last song and prayer, we would go down through the congregation, downstairs to where each child would receive a small gift from Sunday School teachers. In those days, a gift, however simple, was a thrill! Then we’d go back up to join our families and we’d all crowd toward the doorways, on both men’s side and women’s side of the church, where deacons were handing out bags of Christmas treats—candy, nuts, and an apple. It seemed that those simple treats, 50 or 60 years ago, meant more to a child than a whole lot of the stuff that today’s children get almost anytime. Do you remember going home after Christmas Eve church and enjoying those treats right away, or did you try to save some and make them last as long as possible?

We opened our gifts almost as soon as we got home. There was always a Christmas tree at home but I can’t remember piles of presents, nor do I remember making long wish lists. But then we did not have the constant drumming and loud sounds of TV to tell us what we should want. I do remember that one year a shiny red wagon appeared mysteriously before we returned from church. And I remember clearly the year that I had been sick—my seventh grade year, and I sadly stayed home alone—grieving—about not being able to go to Christmas Eve church.

I must mention the Christmas tree at church, a huge tree that always stood on a kind of balcony midway between the pews and the high chancel area. It was adorned with colored lights and a bright shining star at the top that reached almost out of sight. We hadn’t any TV then, of course, to constantly saturate our minds with images. So for us, I think, the children of Christmases long ago, coming into the church on Christmas Eve to behold that incredible, beautiful tree was just enough wonder to last until the next Christmas. The marvel of Christmas was so real to us then; we were ready for it! Our minds were not overloaded with the high-tech sights and sounds and experiences of today’s world. We waited for the coming of the Christ child! We listened! We could almost feel what it was like to be at the manger, and in our hearts we were amazed—full of wonder and joy!

Goodbye, Lone Star School!

By 1945, rural demographics, declining numbers of farm families, and a tightening of county and township budgets forced a school consolidation movement across Kansas and the US that continues to this day. The county decision to abolish Lone Star District #31 along with several other nearby country schools was received with mixed views by affected farm families. Parents were saddened to see the passage of this unique, somewhat personal form of primary education, but were encouraged by the expectation that larger enrollments and higher per capita school budgets in the towns would permit richer educational experiences for the children. And so in September 1945, Jim, Jo, and Homer were enrolled in Grades 5, 7, and 4 respectively at Pretty Prairie Grade School. There was no doubt that quality of instruction was improved. Each class of fifteen to twenty students was taught by an experienced instructor whose only other responsibility may have included coaching of one of the boys’ or girls’ athletic teams.

The Goering children did well in the new environment. Report cards with possible markings from A to F, except for U and S (unsatisfactory/satisfactory) for physical education, art and music, were sent home six times yearly for perusal and signature by the parents. For the hard academic subjects—math, reading and spelling—the Goerings received mainly As with an occasional B, to which Dad Goering asked gently, Couldn’t you do any better? In the music, art, and physical education courses, performance was somewhat lower. The mediocre performance in music may have been a family thing. Dad Goering once remarked that he was a good singer until tune came in style!

Teachers who made a strong positive impression included Emil Schrag, Mrs. Opal Albright, Miss Hempel, and Melvin Flickinger. The grade school principal, John Reimer, was an excellent administrator and a fearsome disciplinarian. When he strode purposefully through the hall carrying a foot-long wooden ruler, all could be certain that a student infraction of the rules was about to be addressed! In retrospect, this combination of excellent teaching, firm discipline, and sincere concern for student performance worked to the advantage of the students and the school’s reputation.

The grade school years in Pretty Prairie provided a few exciting opportunities in athletics. In January 1948, the Midget Basketball Team (so named because of the requirement that no participant could weigh more than 100 pounds) won the midget tournament at Abbyville, Kansas. Both Jim and Homer were part of the ten-member team coached by Emil Schrag and under the ever watchful eye of Principal Miles Bessler. The game, played in a gym filled to capacity with highly animated parents and fans, took place on a very snowy evening. Following their hard-earned victory—midget contests tended to focus on defense and were usually low-scoring with no more than an average of about thirty-five points for the winning team—the team was taken to nearby Partridge for dinner. As the local newspaper reported, All of the team had hamburger steaks! It may have been one of the few menu items familiar to the boys!

On May 20, 1949, his eighth-grade teacher, Mr. Schrag, promoted Jim along with about fifteen other classmates to Grade 9. Jim’s report card for that grade showed zero days tardy, four days absent, and As for all academic subjects with Bs for music and manual arts (woodworking).

A Local Hero and the Pretty Prairie Special

Pretty Prairie was a quiet agricultural community, and news pertaining to the outside world, although sparse, was received with considerable interest. The events of World War II were of particular interest to local Mennonite families. Children from these families were the majority in local schools. Most of the young Mennonite men of draft age—the draft was then mandatory for all physically-fit young men—opted for some form of alternative public service permitted by their status as conscientious objectors to the war.

One notable exception was Marion D. Unruh who enlisted in the Army Air Force and eventually rose to the rank of Colonel. Stationed with the American forces in Asia, he became the pilot of an aging B-24 Liberator bomber that he named the Pretty Prairie Special. His career took a dramatic turn in 1943 when his plane was shot down by enemy forces on a bombing run over Japan.

Colonel Unruh and several of his crew were captured by the Japanese and imprisoned for nearly three years at the Rokuroshi prisoner of war camp located about 250 miles west of Osaka, Japan. Most of the camp’s occupants were American military officers and, because of their status, were treated somewhat better than enlisted men in other camps. The men of Rokuroshi occupied themselves with gardening, the produce of which was used to enhance their minimal food rations. Colonel Unruh served as Camp Commander until it was liberated by American forces on September 8, 1945. The news of Unruh’s release and reunion with his wife, Faye, and young sons, Jack and Jesse, made front page news on most local and regional newspapers.

Return of the Unruh family to the Pretty Prairie area opened a new set of relationships for Jim and Homer. They were about the same age as Jack and Jesse and became close friends of the Unruh boys. On several occasions, during the hot summer days, Mrs. Unruh took the four of them to the public swimming pool in nearby Kingman. Those were events to be cherished! They were the very few times the Goering brothers enjoyed a public pool complete with water slide and diving boards, a considerable contrast to the muddy pond for livestock in the north pasture that doubled as a swimming pool on hot Sunday afternoons!

In the early 1960s, Colonel and Mrs. Unruh bought a small acreage a couple of miles northwest of the Goering family farm. Colonel Unruh constructed a narrow north–south runway on the acreage and returned to an earlier love of flying and aircrafts. While living on the farm, he constructed a small ultralight biplane, the Pretty Prairie Special II, powered by a seventy-five horsepower Continental engine. The successful maiden flight took place in 1966. But tragedy came only few months later when Colonel Unruh was killed during takeoff of the plane. Jack and Jesse went on to successful careers in art (magazine illustrator) and veterinary medicine, respectively.

To Pretty Prairie Rural High School (PPHS)

PPHS was much like many small rural high schools in the Midwest—mainly students from hardworking, generally politically conservative farm families. There was little turnover within the student body; Jim’s freshman class numbered twenty-two students, and his senior class was made up of virtually the same students, plus one newcomer. Perhaps two-thirds of the student body was of Mennonite background. Roman Catholics were a distinct minority and almost certainly felt a bit like outsiders. Most of the teachers were of similar stock as the student body, having grown up and being educated in Kansas with the same general emphasis on hard work, firm dedication to every assigned task, and personal integrity.

Use of alcohol was most rare among students and then almost was entirely limited to beer consumed on occasional weekends by very few male students who prided themselves on their independence and sophistication.

Smoking was even less common, probably the result of constant admonitions against the evil weed by one of the most influential personalities at PPHS, Coach George Norton. Although petting between members of the opposite sex was common—and some of it pretty heavy—there were no known student pregnancies among the student body of about 120 during the 1949–53 period.

Athletics—Not a Goering Strong Suit

Coach Norton, who served as head coach of the football, basketball, and track teams for more than twenty years, combined good coaching skills with strong moral exhortations to his student athletes and the student body more generally. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he produced a number of Mid-Kansas League championship teams in all three sports as well as at least one state championship in Class B basketball. Women athletic teams were unheard of.

Virtually every student at PPHS learned from Coach Norton, sometimes in his teaching of a health class that you can’t stay out with owls at night and fly with eagles during the day! Or that you miss 100 percent of the shots [in basketball and in life] that you don’t take. Several of the male athletes first learned from Coach Norton the meaning of the word dissipation—"Now I don’t want you guys going out and dissipating this weekend.

Under Norton’s tutelage, football was very popular, both within the student body and the Pretty Prairie community. But by the early 1950s, the best years of Pretty Prairie athletics seemed to have passed with graduation of some truly outstanding athletes, the boys from the Hess, Jones, and Flickinger families! However, athletic interests remained strong, and during Jim’s high school years, virtually every male student was a member of the football squad, the exception being one young man with severe vision problems. Jim, a muscular fellow of slightly above average height, was a member of the football varsity during his junior and senior (at left end) and an occasional starter on the varsity basketball team during his senior year (left guard). However, on balance, his athletic achievements were unexceptional; the early budding of that ability manifested at Lone Star District 31 seemed never to have come to full flower! His football program as a junior was interrupted about halfway through the season when he suffered a chipped vertebra during a home game with rival Haven High School on a bitterly cold October evening!

A brief report in The Ninnescah Valley News, September 28, 2001, edition from the section Looking Back: 50 Years Ago provides an indicative example of PPHS fortunes on the football field:

It was a bad night for fans and teams as a chilly wind carried a sprinkling of rain across the football field Friday. Harper made off with an intercepted pass which was good for a touchdown in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Harper went around end and 40 yards for another touchdown, making the score 12–0. With little time left, Pretty Prairie scored on a pass from Mc Cowan to Jim Goering for the lone Bulldog TD. The Bulldog line didn’t show much scrap, according to Coach George Norton, and Harper repeatedly gained around the left side. Backfield miscues were numerous, with several costly fumbles and ill-advised plays.

Academics—The Goerings Do a Bit Better!

Academic achievement was strongly emphasized at PPHS, and good students were widely respected. The focus was on the basics—English, math, and the sciences. Additionally, vocational (agriculture, wood and metal working) and homemaking (cooking, sewing, home decorating) skills were mandatory. No foreign languages were taught, and subjects in the humanities were given fairly perfunctory treatment.

Jim’s interest in agriculture was strong, and in April 1953, he was awarded the Degree of State Farmer by a national organization, the Future Farmers of America. Miss Lois Martin tried with limited success to introduce her English classes to the wonders of Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice). The annual senior play was a notable event for the school and the community. During Jim’s senior year, the drama instructor chose the nonmusical version of Annie, Get Your Gun! with Jim in the male lead as the slightly chauvinistic Frank Butler and opposite one of his high school interests, Glorianne Albright, as Annie.

One of the memorable exercises in an introduction to sociology class taught by a now forgotten teacher was to invite class members to list anonymously the good and bad qualities of each of their classmates. Individual observations were then compiled into a master list by the teacher and copies given to each class member. Qualities listed were insightful and humorous, and some might be judged offensive were it not for their anonymous authorship.

Among the good qualities recognized among classmates were friendly, hardworking, lots of vim, vigor, and vitality, idealistic, good sense of humor, and has good sense when it comes to making money.

Among the bads were thinks he’s handsome, drives too fast, slightly backward, uses bad language, thinks it’s smart to get drunk, too cocky over athletic ability, and is a pest at times.

Jim’s good qualities, as assessed by his fellow students, included good sense of humor, works hard in track, carries responsibility, studies hard, and tries to be fair to everyone. His bad qualities included acts rowdy at times, runs around with the wrong kind of boys, says rude things occasionally, brags too much, doesn’t stay home enough, and afraid he will spend too much money."

At the end of Jim’s junior year, the teaching staff at PPHS selected him to represent the school at Boys’ State, an annual leadership-training program at Wichita State University at which most high schools of the state were represented. In the mock government format of Boys’ State, Jim ran for and was elected to the position of state representative. As one almost painfully shy in the presence of large groups, this experience of campaigning for an elected position clearly took Jim out of his comfort zone. During his senior year, he was elected president of his class and, based on academic performance, named class valedictorian.

The senior graduation ceremony was held on a hot early summer evening in May 1953 in the non-air-conditioned auditorium of the high school. Interior lights and open windows provided good opportunities for numerous flying insects to join the ceremony! The evening got off to an inspiring start with the high school band playing Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance during the processional, then hit an embarrassing low when the guest speaker tried a bit of levity by noting in his introduction that he, like the firefly that backed into an electric fan, was delighted no end to be there. The guest speaker, now long forgotten, reminded the less-than-inspired graduates that the future lay before them and that they could make a difference!

The graduates remained uncomfortably warm during the ceremony under their graduation robes but took some sadistic pleasure at seeing the ubiquitous June bugs commit hara-kiri by flying into the large electric fans placed on the floor for the comfort of the audience. Sentimentality flowed at the end of the ceremony as the band played When You Walk Through a Storm, Hold Your Head Up High. Among the class awards, Jim was given a small $100 per semester scholarship from Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas.

1953—A Year to Remember

For the 1953 PPHS graduates, it was a year to remember! Dwight Eisenhower was the US President; Richard Nixon was his Vice President. A first-class postage stamp cost three cents! In baseball, the New York Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers for the world title, and in college basketball, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Kansas Jayhawks by one point, 69–68, to win the NCAA championships. The Greatest Show on Earth won the Academy Awards as Best Picture; other nominees included The Robe, From Here to Eternity, Shane, and Roman Holiday. William Holden was named as Best Actor for his role in Stalag 17, and Audrey Hepburn received the title of Best Actress for her part in Roman Holiday.

In the print media, Playboy magazine hit the newsstands in a big way with a cover featuring Marilyn Monroe in a bathing suit! World events were probably more significant! Joseph Stalin died in March; in May, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Nepalese guide, Tenzig, reach the peak of Mt. Everest. In July, the Korean War armistice was signed, and in August, the USSR announced its successful test of a hydrogen bomb.

Perhaps one of the rites of transition from high school to a new community of friends outside of Pretty Prairie occurred in mid-August, 1953, when Jim joined four other high school friends in a two-week automobile tour of the American West. After the summer plowing was completed and before wheat seeding time, the five young men boarded classmate Max Hoffman’s 1941 Chevrolet sedan (then twelve years old but well-maintained) for their first ever trip through Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and California with a one-side trip to exotic Tijuana, Mexico.

Others in the group included Junior Goering, Gerald Wingate, and Darwin Wiard. The group came close to financial ruin near Prescott, Arizona, when the car’s transmission failed on a long mountain pass. The boys pooled their meager monetary resources to purchase and have installed a rebuilt transmission. But this unforeseen financial catastrophe forced the group into a low-budget travel mode to camp out at nights at roadside parks and, in California, on beaches (in the few cases where this was permitted by the local police). Nearly destitute in Los Angeles, the wandering quintet somehow persuaded a compassionate Los Angeles banker to approve cashing of a personal check that provided the wherewithal for gasoline purchases for the trip back to Pretty Prairie. That Jim’s father permitted him to participate in something as bold as this was evidence of the inherent good sense Father Peter expected of all of his children and his willingness to let them stretch their wings a bit!

2

Off to College

(September 1953–August 1960)

By the summer of 1953, with high school now behind him, Jim had begun to think more seriously about the future—a career, a desirable lifestyle, perhaps even about the kind of spouse he would like to have! One thing was clear—he wanted to stay associated with farm and rural life.

Days of growing up on the farm, the challenge of unpredictable, sometimes extreme weather, the incredible sense of freedom and independence, the seduction of the ever-present financial risk in agriculture, the changing of the seasons, the beautiful Kansas skies, the lovely sunsets, the work ethic and basic integrity of his farmer parents, uncles, and neighbors—it all made him quite certain that he wanted to remain in this physical and social environment.

First Steps Toward a Career

Among the vocations he had come to admire was the county agricultural extension agent—the county agent in local parlance. Based at the County Offices in Hutchinson, this individual personified attributes that appealed—well-educated in matters agricultural, yet someone who could relate to farm families, most of whom at best had only finished high school; someone with a broad range of knowledge who could advise on topics as diverse as when to market the wheat crop, to care, feeding, and castration of baby pigs to choosing the appropriate tree species for farmstead plantings.

These considerations led Jim to one of his first major career decisions—to become a county agent, someone able to advise farmers on the wide range of topics associated with running a modern successful farm business. This required an appropriate education in the agricultural sciences, and the logical place to obtain that degree was Kansas State University (then College) in Manhattan.

But Dad and Mom Goering had slightly different ideas. While they did not object to Jim’s early career choice (and, in fact, may have taken some personal satisfaction from it), they wanted him to spend his initial year or two at the college of their Mennonite faith, Bethel College in North Newton.

Bethel College

Bethel was established in 1887 by immigrant Mennonite families shortly after their arrival in Kansas from the Ukraine. To establish an institution of higher learning, even before some travel debts incurred in passage from Russia were repaid, was manifestation of the emphasis this conservative religious group gave to higher education. The curriculum focused on academic disciplines deemed helpful in earning a livelihood while assisting in that pillar of Mennonite values—the betterment of society. The academic focus was on training of teachers, nurses, religious workers, etc.

Mother Frieda was a graduate of the institution; Father Peter did not attend college. Bethel conferred its first four-year degree in 1912. Its motto conveyed the moral concept behind the institution: For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11, KJV).

Entrance requirements were rather standard—a solid high school education, some interests outside of academics, and, importantly, satisfactory personal references. Membership in a Mennonite church was not mandatory but always considered desirable. On campus, personal behavior was critical in terms of defining the relationship between the student and the Dean of Students! An unwritten rule was no smoking by students, although a few were known to take a furtive puff or two in the wooded area just beyond campus boundaries. Use of alcohol was grounds for suspension or, in egregious cases, dismissal.

Social dancing on campus was considered incompatible with basic Mennonite values. However, through some clever semantical juggling, folk games, involving modest physical movements to music but with limited body contact, made the grade and were permitted on occasional Saturday evenings, sometimes even led by Jim’s future wife, Shirley Suds Suderman from Hillsboro!

Bethel’s campus was a small, neat facility on the edge of small, neat North Newton, Kansas. The town was a quiet residential community comprised largely of college staff and retired Mennonite professional and blue-collar workers and farmers. A distinguishing feature of the campus was the administration building dating from 1888 and built of Kansas limestone. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Ad Building housed the chapel—attendance at daily chapel services were mandatory for all students—and in later years, a magnificent Dobson pipe organ! By 1953, faith-based Bethel with a student body of over 500 had gained a reputation as a high-quality, four-year liberal arts college. It boasted a strong faculty, an attractive student-teacher ratio, and a track record of sending an unusually large proportion of its graduating classes on to graduate school and distinguished careers in higher education, science, medicine, and music.

Class of 1957

The class of 160 freshmen entering Bethel in September 1953 was representative of the overall student body. Perhaps 80 percent were of Mennonite background. Most were from Kansas, although Mennonite communities in Nebraska, South Dakota, California, and the prairie provinces of Canada also were well-represented. American minorities were just that—a few African-Americans, one or two Hispanics. The handful of international students added a colorful touch to the student body—humorous Miguel and sweet Carmen from Mexico, tennis buff Kim from South Korea, the budding scientist Samir from Syria, studious James Chang, Timothy Kao and the math whiz, Tom Shih, from Taiwan, and the indomitable Klaus Neufeld from Kiel, Germany (the exchange student from Wuppertal University).

How some of these interesting personalities found their way to a smallish liberal arts college in rural Kansas was something of a mystery. But their presence added a much appreciated element of diversity to the student body!

Jim saw his stay at Bethel as, at most, a two-year period when most of the core courses required at all institutions of higher learning could be completed. His choice of courses was dictated in part by those that would meet Bethel’s academic requirements and transfer well to Kansas State a couple of years down the road. Classes in English, Algebra, and American and World History were in the program as well as some science courses. Particularly well remembered was a biology lab session taught by a young premed student instructor, which included dissection of a stray cat that was very reluctant to die!

Courses offered by Bethel in agriculture were extremely limited. Although the college boasted a nearby dairy farm, and the operator, Mr. Bill Friesen, taught an occasional course in management, it was obvious that the farm’s major purpose was to provide dairy products for the school dining room rather than as a practical laboratory for instruction in the agricultural sciences.

Life at Bethel—Sports, Work, Study

Extracurricular activities for Jim included a try at intercollegiate athletics, some part-time work, and—the hobby of virtually every male student—scoping out the new crop of girls entering the student body in the fall of each year. Jim tried out for the college football team in the fall of 1953 but turned in his practice togs about four weeks into the season. Many of the other team members seemed to be physically stronger and quicker and perhaps more willing to make the commitment of time and effort that Coach Galle expected.

During his sophomore year, Jim was a member of the college tennis team and distinguished himself by never winning an intercollegiate match! A memorable event was the Buffalo Barbecue in May 1954, a fund-raising event for the Athletic Department at which the Olympic pole vault champion, Gil Dodds, was the guest speaker. During these two years at Bethel, Jim was finding a strong interest in academic offerings at the school and had developed leadership skills resulting in his election as vice president of his freshman class and then president of his sophomore class.

Part-time work was essential for financial reasons. During his first year at Bethel, Jim took on various jobs that he discovered at the college employment office—picking dandelions in the expansive lawns of wealthy Newton residents in Snob Hill (before the advent of Ortho’s Weed-B-Gone) and setting pins at the Newton Bowling Alley (before the advent of automatic pinsetters).

The pay at the bowling alley was $1 per hour. Nonmonetary benefits included a steady flow of his favorite pop songs over the bowling alley record system (Just Walkin’ in the Rain, Seven Lonely Days, Secret Love) and an undoubtedly healthy, rigorous exercise regime from the constant scramble to bend over, pick up, and place in the racks the downed bowling pins. During his sophomore year, he obtained a job closer to home, washing pots and pans in the dining room kitchen. This was done under the watchful eye of the somewhat fearsome Director of Food Service, Miss Maxine Will.

In the spring of 1995, Miss Will wrote in Jim’s school Gray Maroon yearbook: "I’m so glad the pots and pans are clean. A lot of germs can do much damage. May life for you not be all pots and pans." Payment for the pots and pans work was significant—the write-off by the college of Jim’s food costs!

Where the Girls Are!

Among the most interesting of extracurricular activities for the male students was reviewing the group of incoming female students. In the fall of 1953, there was a nice collection of young Mennonite ladies from the Moundridge-Inman area, a few girls from the Beatrice-Henderson, Nebraska area, a rather classy young lady from Goessel, one or two freshman from Mennonite communities in California’s Central Valley, a couple of seemingly wholesome young ladies from Mountain Lake, Minnesota, and an intriguing young lady from Idaho who came complete with a new red Plymouth convertible!

Jim seems to have given most of these due consideration. But the young lady who caught his eye early and often was an almond-eyed slender thing from Hillsboro who bore the interesting name of Suds Suderman. Although her true first name was Shirley, the name Suds seems to have originated in her high school days by building on the Suderman family name and distinguishing her from the other six Shirleys in her classes at Hillsboro High. Jim was struck by her seeming perpetual enthusiasm, her gentle mannerisms, and a near-continuous smile as she spoke. As he confided to his family, he thought of her as the girl with the laughing voice.

Although they dated only irregularly during most of those two years at Bethel, Jim did take Shirley to Pretty Prairie on a spring weekend in 1955 to meet his family. In introducing her to his parents, he noted that, although her first name was Shirley, classmates and friends usually called her Suds. Late that Sunday afternoon, as the two were saying their goodbyes to the family before returning to Bethel, Jim’s mom, in a delightful lapse of memory, said, Bubbles, it’s been really nice to get to know you!

By May of 1954, Jim and Suds were seeing a lot of each other. Coincidentally, both had decided to transfer to Kansas State. Jim pursued that degree in Agricultural Administration, and Shirley studied Home Economics Extension—perhaps with a view to become the credentialed wife of a county agent!

To the Little Apple—Manhattan, Kansas

By the fall of 1955, Kansas State College was a thriving institution of some 16,000 students. As one of the first colleges (established in the 1860s by the US Government) to promote agriculture and applied science, its engineering and agricultural faculties had matured over the years to some of the best in the country. Its athletic teams had achieved less prominence, although in the late 1950s, its basketball teams led by greats such as Bob Boozer and track teams that included the Olympic star, Thane Baker (from tiny Elkhart in western Kansas), distinguished themselves at the national and international levels.

The Wildcats’ record in football was a very different matter and of considerably lesser note! Strength in the agricultural sciences paralleled the natural endowment of the state. Kansas was the largest wheat-producing state