Harvey County NOW - Summer 2014

HarveyCountyNOW.com SUMMER 2014

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Pennies for Patients

Sedgwick schools raise dough

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National Golf Tourney BRINGING IN THE GREEN

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Rich Huffman, Agent 522 N. Main, PO Box 1265 Newton, KS 67114-8265 Bus 316-283-5143 Toll Free 800-613-0023 www.richhuffman.com

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208 Main Street Halstead, Kansas

520 Washington Road Newton, KS

Toll Free 877-731-1188

316-283-1780

Open Mon.-Sat. 10am-5pm

Summer 2014

From the Publisher

HARVEY COUNTY NOW.com VOLUME 2 • NUMBER 1

CO-EDITORS Don Ratzlaff Wendy Nugent

FEATURES, PHOTOGRAPHY Wendy Nugent

SALES Bruce Behymer Wendy Nugent

CREATIVE Shelley Plett

WEBMASTER David Vogel

PUBLISHED BY Kansas Publishing Ventures LLC Joey Young, Publisher 116 S. Main, Hillsboro, KS 67063 620-947-5702

I

can probably guess the thought going through your brain right now.

“Where is the other guy? We liked him. What is with this new guy writing and claiming to be the publisher?”

Funny story. I am no imposter who slinked into this spot in the middle of the night, but rather the proud new publisher of this magazine, The Buyer’s Edge, and the Hillsboro Free Press, adding those three publications to our group of publications, The Clarion and Maize Free Press.

Joel Klaassen (aka the other guy) is still around and helping us through this transition. He contacted me several months ago when he was ready to retire. It was quite humbling to be asked to take the reins of a great publishing company by one of the most well-respected people in the industry.

I don’t take that request lightly.

So I am betting you are thinking: “Who is this guy and why is he qualified to publish the magazine we love so much?”

Well, I am glad you asked.

Some of you may know me from my time working at the Harvey County Independent in Halstead when I was just a baby journalist and had the Sedgwick beat several years ago. Some of you may know my wife, Lindsey (Miller) Young, who is a proud Bethel College graduate.

Both of us have journalism backgrounds, and our first publication, The Clarion, won first place for best small weekly newspaper at the Kansas Press Association contest earlier this year. We take great pride in putting out quality products and plan to continue that tradition here.

For those who don’t know me yet, I hope to meet all of you, as we plan on making Harvey County our home in the near future once we get our current home in Reno County situated and sold.

I couldn’t be happier to be in this market and hope to have a long and enjoyable relationship with the community.

Joey Young, Publisher

@HarveyCoNOW facebook.com/HarveyCoNow

www.harveycountynow.com

Advertising Information

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Contact: Bruce Behymer bbehymer@buyersedgeks.com 316-617-1095 Wendy Nugent wendy@harveycountynow.com 316-284-0408 HarveyCountyNOW.com does not knowingly publish or accept advertisements that are misleading or fraudulent. Publisher reserves the right to cancel or reject any advertisements.

Kansas Publishing Ventures LLC does not assume any financial responsibility for typos in ads. If at fault, however, Kansas Publishing will reprint any portion of the advertisement where there is an error. Location of ads, size of type and style are left to the discretion of the publisher. Opinions in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. ©2014 Kansas Publishing Ventures LLC.

Pennies for Patients Sedgwick schools pitch in

the cutting edge 11 On of art Gift shop opens in Zimmerdale

30 Helping neighbors

20

His own hands Newton resident builds scale tractors from scratch

Community fund helps provide opportunities

ON THE COVER: Members of the National Honor Society chapter at Sedgwick High School include Brylie Ware, Lora Bebermeyer, Kami Olson, Melissa Olson, Paige Griggs, Claudia Giffin, Taylor Bollinger, Keaton Abendroth and Evynn McGinn. Not pictured is Elizabeth Schrick.

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Sedgwick school district raises money for people with cancer

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ne. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. 10.

Imagine slowly counting pennies one by one up into the thousands of dollars while your hands get black and green from contacting so much money.

That’s what members of the National Honor Society chapter at Sedgwick High School did earlier this year as they tabulated how many funds were raised by students for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients program, which raises money for lifesaving cancer research.

The chapter was in charge of Sedgwick schools’ efforts. They were joined in counting money by office aide Colby Weber and NHS adviser Beverly Lang, who is the district’s counselor.

Students throughout the district, from kindergarten through high school seniors, enjoyed helping others and watching students get excited about it.

“I think for me it was really encouraging to see the elementary kids get into helping others,” said NHS member Melissa Olson. “That just made me want to work harder for it. It was just really encouraging to see the little kids put so much effort into helping others — even people they didn’t know.” ..................................................................................................

First-grader Liam Mabry reacts as district counselor Beverly Lang tells him how much money Sedgwick schools collected for Pennies for Patients. The total was $2,140.22.

Right: These boxes are what the younger students in the Sedgwick school district took 4 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

Article and photos • Wendy Nugent

Other NHS members are Kami Olson, Elizabeth Schrick, Claudia Giffin, Keaton Abendroth, Brylie Ware, Taylor Bollinger, president Evynn McGinn, vice president Paige Griggs and treasurer Lora Bebermeyer.

All grades in the Sedgwick school district competed to see which class could get the most money. The first-grade class won with more than $400 collected and were rewarded with a pizza and ice cream party. They raised so much money, the tabulation went off the class’s chart. All classes had fundraising charts posted outside the cafeteria, Lang said, and NHS members helped serve the food during the party.

“I liked the pizza and giving the money and the fun stuff,” first-grader Ailey Williams said.

She and another first-grader, Liam Mabry, both said they enjoyed helping people with cancer.

“We thought we were going to lose because fourth grade was ahead of us once,” Mabry said.

“But then we beated them,” Williams added.

“They were really excited that they won,” Lang said.

First-graders and other students in grades kindergarten through sixth were sent home with small boxes in which they could put their change. The boxes were provided by the LLS, as the society provides all the materials to do the project, Lang said.

“I brought all the money I could find,” third-grader Natalie Williams said.

Some students even emptied their piggy

banks to help, although Lang said she didn’t ask them to do that.

To get the project rolling, Lang had chosen the theme of “compassion” for February as a guidance lesson.

“I go into every (kindergarten through sixth-grade) classroom every month and do a guidance lesson,” she said. “It was easy to present this program (Pennies for Patients) along with the theme. It was easy to get them excited because it got them to understand what compassion has to do with people (who have) cancer.”

In February, Lang explained to the students what cancer is — especially to the younger students. She also discussed what LLS is and what they do for cancer research, and how they could help even just by bringing a penny or two to school. She explained to them it doesn’t matter how much money they gave as long as they were trying to help.

The honor society and Lang didn’t just want this to be a high school project.

“(NHS was) doing it as a community service project, but we decided to get the entire district involved — not just the high school, since NHS is a high school thing,” Lang said. “So I really have to give credit to the NHS students who gave their time. I’m really proud of them.”

Helping people with cancer seems to come naturally to Lang, as her stepmom, Kandi Wolf, is the chairwoman of Relay for Life in Barton County.

“My parents eat, sleep and breathe cancerfighting things,” Lang said.

She said her father, Dennis Wolf, also is involved in Relay for Life.

“That’s kinda where my inspiration came from in fighting cancer,” Lang said.

She said Relay for Life in Barton County raises money year round.

Counting the money took all day on Fridays during the event, Lang said, and the money was a heavy load.

“The change was so heavy our only male NHS member (Brylie Ware) had trouble

HarveyCountyNOW.com

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The change was so heavy our only male NHS member (Brylie Ware) had trouble carrying it to the office. He got it there, but it was a struggle. It was funny.

“

“

carrying it to the office,” Lang said. “He got it there, but it was a struggle. It was funny.”

Counting the money also gave NHS members some surprises, they said, because things other than American money turned up, such as Chuck E. Cheese’s coins and pesos.

There were, though, thousands of pennies.

The grade school turned in $1,895.51, while the high school raised $244.71. Lang said she thinks the younger students raised more money because she was able to go into their classes for the guidance lessons, while she’s not able to do that on the high school level because there’s so many classes. The check already has been sent to the society, and the first grade will be given a gold pennant.

Other classes will receive silver and bronze pennants. LLS will help defray the costs of the pizza party.

When they were done counting, NHS members updated the charts every Friday.

Counting the money on Fridays took all day.

“And so the kids at the end of the day on Friday could see who was winning, and that’s how they got really excited,” Lang said. “I never dreamed it could be as successful as it was.”

Lang also said she was proud of the kids who brought in money and raised money because no one seemed like they were disappointed with the outcome. They just wanted to help people with cancer.

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6 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

“I felt like it was successful on a compassionate level with the kids,” Lang said, which makes it a good reason to do it again, even though it took a lot of work.

Pennies for Patients started Feb. 18 and officially ended March 7, but Sedgwick had to end their efforts early because of the death of Steve Sheperd, who was a coach and taught computers and business in the district.

Because of that tragedy, Lang said she needed to turn her attention to dealing with students’ emotional needs.

Lang said she can’t imagine how successful the students would be in raising money if they could follow through for the entire three weeks of the program.

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AROUND TOWN! “What do you think?”

Do you like snakes?

Natalie Williams, third grader in Sedgwick Yes

Phuc Nguyen Newton

Anna Voth Newton

Alex Hippey Newton

Tricia Lopez Newton

Sara Ensz Newton

No

Large snakes creep me out, but I appreciate that they eat rats.

They’re exotic

I hate snakes

No way! I’m terrified of them!

What is your favorite TV show?

“America’s Funniest Home Videos”

“The Big Bang Theory”

“Brooklyn 99.” So funny. Watch it.

“Scooby-Doo”

“The Big Bang Theory”

“Bob’s Burgers”

What do you like about camping?

Marshmallows and swimming

I don’t camp

Sleeping under the stars with my Boo!

Just being outdoors — fresh air

Nothing

S’mores!

Which are your favorite fireworks?

Ladybug and smoke bombs

Mortars

Disneyland

M5000 Firecracker Jumbo

Summer night fireworks at Disney’s Matterhorn

Who is your favorite singer?

Elvis Presley

Gavin Rossdale of the band Bush

I love Ella Fitzgerald. Her smooth, jazzy tone relaxes me. Classic.

All That Remains

Maria Dolores Pradera

Lana Del Ray, and Of Monsters & Men

What do you like to eat in the summer?

Watermelon

All the watermelon I can stomach.

Sno Cones

Shrimp Caviche over avocado

Watermelon

Ice cream

Missiles

HarveyCountyNOW.com

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NEWTON GOLF IS GOING GREEN USGA tournament at Sand Creek Station could have $1 million impact on the area

A

n upcoming tournament at Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton might be the largest competition the area has ever hosted and could have an economic impact of more than $1 million.

The United States Golf Association 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship will be July 14-19 at Sand Creek. This is the first USGA championship ever to come to the local course, which opened in 2006 and is managed by KemperSports.

“We’re excited,” said Brad Evenson, sales and marketing director at the Newton golf course. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the community of Newton and the greater Wichita area to showcase itself on a national, and even world, stage.”

Qualifying events for the championship will be June 7-25 at 71 sites throughout the United States, with the closest location to Newton being Wichita. Play will be over 36 holes. After these events, 156 players will comprise the tournament field, vying for that first-place trophy in stroke play in 36 holes on the velvety green grass at Sand Creek. There also will be some alternate players, Evenson said.

Stroke play is July 14 and 15 with match play to follow for the lowest 64 scorers. In stroke play, each competitor is playing against every other competitor in the field, according to usga.org. Match play has two sides playing against each other, and whoever gets the lower score in each pair keeps moving forward in the championship.

Six rounds of match play determine the winner.

“The field just keeps narrowing until Saturday,” Evenson said.

“Saturday will be the championship match.”

The top two players will go head to head during the Championship Final on July 19.

The event is open to male amateur golfers, who, “since Jan. 1 of the current year, have been bona fide public-course players and who hold a USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 4.4,” according to the USGA website.

8 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

For the 2013 Amateur Public Links, 3,020 entries were accepted. The record for accepted entries was 6,300, which happened in 1998. This year, entries closed May 28, but the number of total entries was not available at press time.

The winner will receive a variety of prizes, including a gold medal and custody of the James D. Standish Trophy for the upcoming year; a likely invitation to the next Masters Tournament; and exemptions from qualifying for the next two U.S. Amateurs, U.S. Mid-Amateurs, if age eligible, and USGA Senior Amateurs, if age-eligible; and exemptions from local qualifying for the next three U.S. Opens, if his amateur status is intact.

The champion in 2013 was Jordan Niebrugge, 19, of Mequon, Wis., who was a sophomore at Oklahoma State University at the time.

“The championship had previously attracted bus drivers, bartenders, firemen, waiters, riveters, engineers and college professors,” according to a Sand Creek news release. “Not as many participated in years past, but the opportunity for a field with mixed occupations still exists.”

“So it’s really a championship for the public golfer,” Evenson said.

Some participants have gone on to compete in other events.

The championship has been the launch pad for several who have turned professional, such as U.S. Open champs Ed Furgol, Tommy Bolt and Ken Venturi; PGA champs Bobby Nichols and Dave Marr; British Open winner Tony Lema; and Masters champ George Archer.

The amateur championship also produced the first AfricanAmerican winner of a USGA championship with William A. Wright in 1959; he later became a golf instructor.

In addition to players, the tournament needs volunteers.

Sand Creek representatives hope 19,000 Newton citizens will volunteer as ambassadors to help the players feel welcome, said Chris Tuohey, KemperSports regional manager and Sand Creek Station Golf Course manager.

Article and photos Wendy Nugent

..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton will host the 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship July 14-19. Here, Zach Frey (left), Sand Creek golf professional, and Brad Evenson, sales and marketing director, pose at one of the holes.

HarveyCountyNOW.com | 9

Volunteers also are needed at the championship site. Areas for which people can volunteer include course maintenance, spotters, volunteers at every hole, shuttle drivers, and food and beverage.

“We’re still in need of about 200 (volunteers) to sign up,” Tuohey said.

It does take community support to run a national championship, Evenson said, and they’re looking for as many as 250 volunteers. Those who wish to volunteer can visit http://sandcreekgolfclub.com/-usamateur-public-links.

As volunteers help the tournament, the tournament will help the area financially. Based on studies, past tournaments have had about a $1 million impact on the host city, Evenson said.“It’s a great community effort, but it’s a great way to showcase what we can accomplish when the community works together,” he added.

One group has asked how it can pitch in and help, and a variety of companies and organizations are donating time and money. Also lending a hand are the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce, city of Newton and KemperSports.

“It’s quite a long list,” Evenson said.

Everyone who contributes will be listed in the official championship program. Admission is free.

“We’d like it to be a community event,” Evenson said. “We’d like the community to support it.”

Championship history The championship’s prime mover was James D. Standish Jr. of Detroit, who convinced his colleagues on the 1922 USGA Executive Committee that the time was right for such a grass-roots competition, according to the Sand Creek news release. Standish pointed to the public-course golfer, whose ranks were swelling following World War I, and to the growing number of municipal and daily-fee courses in America.

Eddie Held of St. Louis was the first champion and but was not able to defend his title in 1923 because he joined a private club.

Sand Creek Station History The 18-hole golf course hosts a variety of other tournaments, such as the annual Kansas Golf Association’s Railer Championship since 2011; and the National Junior College Athletic Association Men’s Division I National Championship in 2012.

“We’ve been really fortunate to host some high-caliber tournaments and championships,” said Brad Evenson, sales and marketing director at Sand Creek Station. He credited the work, efforts and vision of Chris Tuohey, KemperSports regional manager and Sand Creek Station Golf Course manager.

................................................................................................................................................

BELOW: Clouds wisp in the sky above a caboose that’s at the entrance of Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton. RIGHT: Jaden Schmidt of Moundridge winds up for a tee shot in March.

10 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

Article and photos Wendy Nugent

Gift shop opens in Zimmerdale

A

rvella Scott is on the cutting edge of art.That’s because she makes stainedglass windows and has to cut the glass, and sometimes, the glass

cuts her.

Even with the occasional cut, she enjoys making her creations, which can range in sizes from small figurines to large windows. What she likes about it is the creativity, she said.

“I think this idea of being able to do something that has a lot of beauty to it is just self-fulfilling,” Scott said, sitting in her shop studio.

The Zimmerdale resident opened her shop, Cross Roads Stained Glass and Gifts, on Black Friday 2013. Zimmerdale is on Old Highway 81 between Newton and Hesston. This is the only business in Zimmerdale, she said. It’s on the north side of the road at 4906 N. Hesston Road, which Scott said used to be called Old 81. So one could say it’s on Old Old Highway 81. The Scotts have lived in Zimmerdale for four years, having moved from Hutchinson.

“I started doing stained glass in ’86,” Scott said. “I used to go to craft shows, but I always wanted to open my own studio. And now I have. We have a place that allows me the room to do that.”

The place in which she and her husband, Wayne, who retired from Southwestern Bell, reside and have their gift/consignment shop is an old 5,000-square-foot warehouse on the north side of the road with a large “open” sign out front. Part of the warehouse houses their comfy home, complete with a carpeted indoor ramp their grandchildren enjoy sliding down on cookie sheets, as well as bedrooms, a kitchen, living area and bathroom.

The gift shop/studio take up another portion of the large building, where a variety of items, such as jewelry, hand-made olive oil soaps made by daughter Cathy Gray of Phoenix, decorative..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Arvella Scott will create 17 stained-glass windows for a Newton church with center medallions telling the life of Jesus and other biblical stories. Here, she works on one of them in her Zimmerdale shop.

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painted items and handmade pottery, are for sale. Scott’s stained-glass studio is in the same room, which makes it easy for her to help customers who stop by while she’s creating something.

When she’s in her studio, Scott listens to calming music. As of early March, she had almost completed the first of 17 stainedglass windows on the life of Jesus and other Bible stories for East Side United Methodist Church in Newton. Scott anticipates the project will take two years. This first window features a hand-painted center medallion of Jesus. Other windows will have similar medallions with other images.

“That’s what the church has chosen (medallions), (and) I had a really wonderful committee to work with,” Scott said.

After the windows are completed, they’ll be insulated to be energy-efficient. The church wants to have this first window installed by Easter, Scott said.

Scott has made stained-glass windows for others, including a nephew for whom she’s completed two windows, and a customer who came into the Zimmerdale shop wanting a moose-designed stained-glass piece to hang on a door.

Scott learned her craft by taking classes at Cloud County Community College and Bearden’s Stained Glass in Wichita. She received one hour of college credit for taking the beginning stained-glass class at the community college. The classes she’s taken at Bearden’s include advanced stained glass, lamp making, bead making, kiln glass and stained-glass repair.

“So I know how to repair a big window…without having to take it completely apart,” Scott said.

Scott draws a lot of her own patterns; she took art in college, and that’s helped her in composing stained-glass pieces. She

graduated in 1994 with a degree in psychology with an emphasis on chemical dependency.

“I love working with people,” Scott said. “I love getting acquainted and working with people. That’s why I chose counseling. Now that I work in the shop, I get to work with people in a different capacity.”

Scott was employed by the Regional Prevention Center for five years and found her first counseling job at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. She also spent five years in the private sector.

“I really enjoyed the work in the prison because it gave hope for the future,” Scott said. “We planted a seed and gave them tools so when they decided to change (not all of them changed), then they would have the tools to and know where to go for help.”

When Scott was working in Winfield as a counselor, she was hurt in a car wreck. Even after she was transferred to Wichita to work, the driving back and forth proved to be too much for her.

So she quit.

“This is something I’ve wanted to open for a long time,” Scott said.

Now Scott finds her own help from her surroundings.

Working in the gift shop allows her to be surrounded by beauty and creativity, which helps her stay focused on being creative, she said.

Scott has a variety of tools in her shop, including a glass cutter, as well as diamond bits for drilling holes in glass, like for jewelry. She uses a soldering iron and solder, which is 60 percent lead and 40 percent silver, a smoother solder than the 50-50 variety, she said.

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Once the piece is soldered, after having cut the glass, cement has to go under the lead, which makes it tight with the glass, Scott said. Then she uses a whitener on the piece and adds a black patina to the lead.

Scott has many colors of glass in her studio and hopes to sell stained-glass products in the future.

She’s also offering classes, the first of which was a stained-glass class in April that reached the 10-student limit. She also offered a bead-making class April 26.

Barbara Lay, a member of the Sweetheart Decorative Painting Society of Kansas, will teach decorative painting classes, the first of which was scheduled for May. Lay also has some items for sale in the shop.

“I want to get more consignees in with items,” Scott said, as she’s looking for quality pieces to sell made by artisans.

Scott plans to offer more classes in June. Upcoming stained-glass classes include an angel-making class and a house or birdhouse class. Scott said a lot of people are interested in the stained-glass

classes, as they want to make their own windows. To find out more information about upcoming classes, call the shop at 316-712-8341.

“I’m willing to help anyone, whether with design, color or technique,” Scott said.

The basic class is a prerequisite for taking more advanced stained-glass classes at the shop, Scott said. The advanced classes will teach glass-over-glass and 3-D techniques. The beginning class will have students cutting the glass, selecting patterns, grinding glass down, and foil wrapping, soldering and lead caming.

Came is the metal that goes between the pieces of glass.

Eventually, the shop will expand into more of the warehouse area, where there will be four big work tables, at which people will be able to use the grinder, soldering iron and flux. Flux is an acid base that takes the finish off of the metal so solder will adhere to it. Scott wants people to be able to go to the shop and use some

of her equipment, as it can be pricey to purchase. A grinder can cost $300 and a saw can run $500, she said.

“I want to make stained glass more economical for people,” Scott said.

Even though her hands get blackened from the lead, cut and sore, Scott enjoys herself.

“It’s like a therapy,” she said. “I think anyone who does anything creative — whether it is painting, quilting, stainedglass — it’s just good therapy. I just love doing anything that’s creative.”

Quilting has the same effect for her.

Scott has been developing that hobby for four years, and said she just gets lost in time when creating. So far, she’s made seven quilts — three of which are almost king size and three are baby quilts.

Store hours The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Sundays.

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Arvella Scott, owner of Cross Roads Stained Glass and Gifts on Old 81 in Zimmerdale, which is between Hesston and Newton, works on a stained-glass project in March.

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Discover d a e t s l a H T

Article and photos • Wendy Nugent

ulips sprouted in the yards on a sunny April day in Halstead, as several school buses were parked near a side street, ready to take kids to school the next day.

A variety of grain elevators reached out to the blue sky, as wispy clouds floated above the town of Halstead residents refer to as the “Biggest Little City in Kansas.”

Blooming trees created a soft landscape against the backdrop of historic buildings that line Main Street.

Halstead leaders are attempting to get more people to move to their town, either by renting, building or buying, to get jobs and to enroll their children in school there through an incentive program, called Discover Halstead, which launched March 1 and will last until sunset Dec. 31.

“It’s hard for me to not get excited about it because it’s such a neat program,” said J.R. Hatfield, city administrator.

The incentive program for this town with a population of about 2,095 involves providing Chamber Bucks in a three-

14 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

tiered program. At the first level, a person can get $50 in Chamber Bucks if they enroll a new student in the school district, become a new resident or get a new job in town. To qualify for $400 in Chamber Bucks, a person needs to meet two of the three previously mentioned qualifications. To get $1,500 in Chamber Bucks, a person needs to meet all three requirements. In addition, if someone builds a home and meets all three requirements, he or she can get $2,500.

“The important part of the program is while larger incentives are available to those who buy or build a home, there are incentives for everyone,” Hatfield said. “You can receive incentives even if you move here and rent a house and don’t work here or have children in school.”

Chamber Bucks can be used for just about anything in Halstead — from paying for utilities, to using the pool, to buying groceries, gas, carpet and even a car. Chamber Bucks can be spent at any business that’s a member of the Chamber.

“Halstead is a great little community to live and raise a family,” Hatfield said. “We have an amazing school system that is small enough to make sure your children get the attention they need and, being a smaller school, gives a child a better opportunity to be involved. Halstead is a safe place to live with many of the other amenities that just make Halstead home. Halstead also offers a location that makes it easy to go to Wichita, Newton, Hutchinson and many larger places in just a few minutes, but you can come home to your little city.”

The city of Halstead, the Halstead Chamber and Halstead USD 440 decided to collaborate on the project after RedGuard purchased the old Skyline building. This employer eventually will employ 60.

“Probably the emphasis is all three of those entities working together,” said Bill Charlsen, Chamber president.

RedGuard builds explosion-proof business offices, and the company has been in business in Wichita since 2006. It had been called A Box for You, but changed the name after expanding to Halstead. RedGuard has 30 employees and should have 60 by the end of the year. RedGuard makes steel boxes and puts offices inside them. These offices are for any areas that are hazardous or at risk of explosions. The offices can be bolted together and made several stories high.

“RedGuard was the one that when the tax abatement was approved by the Halstead City Council got me to thinking that we

need to do something to encourage those new employees to move to Halstead,” Hatfield said. “But we also have many other employers that should be able to use this program to not only recruit but to encourage their employees to move to Halstead. Every Chamber member who hires new employees (is) eligible for the incentives.”

Discover Halstead representatives have talked to reps from other towns, and those people haven’t seen a program like this one, Hatfield said. Most incentive programs primarily are focused on people building homes. For example, Maize gives water credits to people who construct homes.

“But it’s an incentive program that can be tapped into by a large group of people” — and not just those building residences, said Cory L. Harrington, school board president.

“We don’t want to limit this incentive to that one group,” Hatfield said.

Halstead representatives want to have other people see how great Halstead really is.

Planning for Discover Halstead started in December, and RedGuard was the “boot that got us started,” Hatfield said. The group wanted other employers to have their employees take advantage of the incentives.

“We wanted to have a program to have them attract an employee, as well,” Harrington said. This could give an employee an incentive to work there.

“So employers are using this as a hiring tool to get employees here,” Hatfield said.

Discover Halstead members have great hopes for doing well.

“I’m hoping we can show what a success it is, and we can continue it,” Hatfield said.

“The employers that embrace it will really see the benefits from it,” Harrington said.

The money to fund the program comes from the three entities. As of April 16, the fund totaled $30,000. One advantage of the program is it helps the rest of Halstead, as the money will go back to local businesses and not somewhere else.

The program is having a positive effect on the town in another way. Since its inception, the Chamber had increased its membership by two businesses, as of April 16.

“We’ve had a great start,” Harrington said.

“The last 45 days, we’ve had a great start.”

“Just in the attitude,” Charlsen added.

“They’re excited about it.”

As part of the program, applicants will have a 90-day waiting period. As of April 16, Discover Halstead had received one application. Hatfield said he signed a building permit for people who have decided to build a new home in Halstead, and another couple is negotiating on a property to build a house.

RedGuard found out about the property from Lonnie Martin of Martin Machine and Welding in Halstead. Martin welded boxes for A Box for You and talked to them about the old Skyline building, as it had been empty for about five years. The company approached Mickey Fornaro-Dean, executive director of the Harvey County Economic Development Council. Fornaro-Dean helped them with the procedures to get city tax abatements. The deal was made, and they closed in February.

Fornaro-Dean and Tucky Allen, business services director with Kansas WorkforceONE, have attended Discover Halstead meetings, and have assisted with information and ideas to put the plan and incentive package together, Hatfield said. They also were instrumental in putting together the job fair,

• See Halstead, page 18 ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................

OPPOSITE PAGE: Blooming trees provide an idyllic setting for the downtown Halstead area. ABOVE: Halstead was founded in 1872 and has several grain elevators. UPPER RIGHT: During a recent Discover Halstead meeting, Tucky Allen (right) discusses the job fair that was May 3 in Halstead.

HarveyCountyNOW.com

| 15

Newton’s Dan White plays musical saw, runs antique mill

T

wo of Dan White’s hobbies have teeth. Well, at least they did until the teeth were pulled from one of them. The 70-year-old rural Newton resident cuts logs with a 52inch round blade that has 42 large teeth in his antique sawmill, while another of his hobbies, musical saw playing, had teeth on his favorite saw until he cut them off.

Around 1975, White bought the sawmill from the now late John Younkman. White had gone to Younkman’s rural Newton home on occasion because Younkman had steam engines. It took Younkman six to eight months to convince White to buy it.

“It took me two years to put it together,” White said. “(Younkman) hauled it from Oklahoma in pieces.... It’s been around.”

The antique sawmill, which dates from the 1920s or ’30s, White said, was made by the Reeves Manufacturing Co., which made tractors and machinery. Originally, the mill was in Arkansas and then Oklahoma. White is the mill’s fourth owner.

“Sawmill is the first step in the processing of lumber,” White said, sitting at his dining room table. “It always intrigued me.”

White said he became interested in working with wood as a child, and then it developed into a larger operation.

“It started out as a hobby,” White said. “It’s still a hobby that I like.”

White, who’s retired, said running the mill, which is housed in an open-air shed on the property he and wife Karen own, was a great second job when he was working. Now that he’s retired, he can saw — and quit — when he wants to.

For 17 years of his career, White ran White Construction, which was a concrete construction company for building basements and other projects. Then, for 22 years, he worked for the city of Hesston.

“Now (that) I’m retired, I can run (the mill) anytime I want to,” he said.

“Instead of weekends and nights,” Karen added.

Before he starts cutting logs, White uses a metal detector to locate any metals in them, such as nails. Then he works on getting the metal out of the log. On a wall in his “office” next to the mill, White posted some of the metal he’s removed from logs. This office helps him cope with the weather — if it’s cold, he can go in there and warm up with an old heated stove, and if it’s warm, he can get cool refreshments.

White attaches the log to a part of the mill, then one side of the log is run through the large blade that operates at 450 rpm.

White squares up the log by turning it several times and running

16 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

it through the blade each time. From there, he can cut boards to fit customers’ wishes.

As part of the work, White sharpens the Simmons blade, which came with the sawmill; he doesn’t know how old the whirring blade is. He can get about a half day’s cutting done with one sharpening, although he said he only uses 21 of its teeth.

At one point in his life, White said he logged his own logs, but now he doesn’t do that anymore.

His son, Todd, helps him cut logs if they’re big or if he needs assistance, White said.

“Now we custom cut for anybody who brings ’em out to me,” White said.

Recently, White cut the siding for several new houses in the neighborhood out of rough-cut cedar. He’s also cut wood for a man who makes violins, beams for a building addition, back and front porch beams for his own home and about 300 80-feet-long high line poles.

A couple of years ago, two men called White and asked if he could cut such poles. He and Karen thought the men maybe would make one little trip to their home. As it turned out, they brought semi load after semi load to them for a couple of weeks.

White can cut wood that’s 18 feet maximum and 3 feet minimum.

“If it’s less than that, it’s firewood,” he said.

White has cut a variety of wood, including pecan, walnut and oak.

“Most of all your hardwoods I’ve cut over the years,” he said.

“I think that some of the prettiest wood was pecan. It makes real pretty furniture too.”

Right now, walnut probably is one of the nicer woods he cuts, and it’s probably the most expensive wood now too.

Around the time of his interview in early April, White was expecting a semi load of wood from a farmer who wants to build wagon boxes his horses pull.

People wishing to have White cut their lumber can call him at 620-327-4156.

Article and photos • Wendy Nugent

The antique saw mill makes a melodious sound as it cuts through logs. White uses another kind of saw, not as it was originally intended, but rather to make another kind of music — more of the traditional kind.

White became interested in playing the musical saw, which he does with a bow, when he was in Iowa at a steam show. At the show was a barn dance. Bands performing switched every hour, and one band had the drummer play the musical saw in one of its songs.

“I thought, ‘That is awesome. I have to try that,’” White said.

He then purchased a saw and taught himself how to play.

“There weren’t too many musical saw teachers around,” White said.

His favorite saw is one he purchased at a hardware store.

“It’s the cheapest hand saw that you can buy at the hardware store,” White said. “I bought the • See Saw, page 19

...............................................................................................................................

TOP LEFT: In addition to using a saw to cut wood, Dan White of rural Newton plays a musical saw. His favorite, he said, it the cheapest one he found at the hardware store. TOP: White sits in his "office" near his antique sawmill on the property he and wife Karen own. He uses the stove to warm up from the cold when working with his saw mill, which is outside.

ABOVE: White turns a large chunk of wood on his sawmill. He has to turn the wood after cutting off a side to square it up. He places the wood on the sawmill and then turns it three times.

HarveyCountyNOW.com

| 17

Saw

Halstead

From page 17

cheapest one, and it was flexible enough it worked out for playing.”

To it, he added a palm grip on the end and cut the teeth off. He also owns two other saws, which were sold as musical saws.

White has performed. For example, he played “In the Garden” at a funeral at their church. White enjoys playing old hymns, 1950s and 1960s tunes, and band-era music.

Turning back to wood, White

also does woodcarving as a hobby. He calls his work Woodland Carvings, and he has used cottonwood bark, like a saloon he made in 2004. As of early April, he was working on a lighthouse. He’s also carved elves and churches.

“I’ve had some kids ask me, ‘How do you carve a dog or a mule?’” White said, laughing. “I said, ‘Just carve everything away that doesn’t look like a dog or mule.’”

From page 15

Kingsley with the Chamber of Commerce; Hatfield, Stacy McDowell and Dennis Travis with the city of Halstead; Fornaro-Dean and Allen with the Harvey County Economic Development Council; and Karen Jacobs with the Harvey County Independent.

which was in May in Halstead.

The people who have volunteered their time with Discover Halstead include Gene Haydock with the Chamber of Commerce and Roger Lowery with the city of Halstead, as well as Harrington on the Oversight Committee; Charlsen and Beth Ann

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Article and photos Wendy Nugent

Newton resident plows through making half-scale tractors

D

enny Franz doesn’t use drawings, blueprints or kits to make his half-scale tractors. He just tears apart original tractors, measuring all the parts and making other parts half the size of the original.

“So there’s no drawing,” Franz said. “It’s all there in front of me.”

The Newton resident has made four such tractors — three of which were purchased and one he still has at home.

The first tractor sold for $75,000. The model year of this tractor was 1927.

To make the tractor he has at home, Franz borrowed a tractor from local farmer Ken Hamilton, modeling his smaller version after the International Harvester Farmall F-14, which is dated 1929.

“He was kind enough to let me take it all apart and put it back together,” Franz said.

Franz said his creations run, and all the parts are identical to the originals. He’s even created tractor tires from molds he’s made.

There’s only so far he can take making things half the size of the original. Franz jokingly says the paint on his shiny red halfscale tractor at home is twice the thickness it should be. That’s because he was not able to divide in half the high-quality automotive paint he used. He’s also not able to divide in half the molecules he uses in the gas, he also joked.

The first tractor he sold was purchased by a man in Wolf Point, Mont., who had a John Deere museum.

“He built a museum on his farm in the country,” Franz said.

Making these small running pieces of farm machinery is no easy or quick task. It takes Franz 2,000 hours to make a tractor,

the retired owner of Denny’s Heating & Cooling said.

He builds the scale-model tractors for the challenge, he said, and “I like mechanical things.”

“And I’m not going to build another (tractor),” Franz said. “Four is enough.”

Sitting atop Franz’s tractor at home is an automaton he named Harvey, because of Harvey County. Harvey can wave and control the tractor, which weighs about 300 pounds.

“A lot heavier than it looks,” he said.

Harvey is wearing Franz’s greatgrandson’s boots. Even though Franz put the boots on Harvey’s feet, Franz likes to work with his hands.

“It’s strictly an enjoyable hobby,” he said. “I gotta be doing something — something mechanical.”

Taking to mechanics seems to come

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

ABOVE: Denny Franz built this half-scale tractor himself with no blueprints or a kit. He simply tears apart old tractors and then builds the smaller tractors half their size.

20 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

W e

naturally for Franz, as his father was mechanically inclined, as was an uncle, who built model aircraft, some of which are displayed at the Smithsonian, Franz said. This uncle also gave a Navy plane model to the President George H.W. Bush, which was like the one Bush flew in the Navy.

Franz said he might bring his remaining scale-model tractor to a farm heritage show in California. These kinds of shows can feature antique farm equipment and things like sorghum-making demonstrations. Many people attend the shows, Franz said.

“A lot of people remember using (the old farm equipment),” Franz said.

Scale-model tractors are not the only things Franz has built. On his birthday in September 2013, he started constructing a motorcycle in the fashion of those built in the early 1900s. This motorcycle he built from scratch with his own design; it was the second one he’s built.

“It’s not a copy of any original,” he said, sitting comfortably in his living room.

Around that time, motorcycles were quite popular, Franz said, but as cars got cheaper, motorcycles became less popular. Even Goessel and Sedgwick had motorcycle clubs.

In addition to building the motorcycle, Franz painted it in a rusty orange color his wife and kids picked out after seeing it on an antique (Franz assumed) Fiestaware bowl. He hired out the pinstriping, which a woman did by hand. The color orange seems to be a theme with this motorcycle, as the handlebar grips are made from Osage Orange wood. The motorcycle is called the “Franz Flyer.”

“I’m not going to sell it because I like to go out in the evening and ride it,” Franz said. “And it doesn’t take up much space.”

The first motorcycle Franz built he sold to a motorcycle museum in Bethany, Okla., which is on Route 66 in an old filling station.

In addition to putting together motorcycles, Franz built a steampowered car and a gasoline car. In Franz’s fashion, he built the

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steam car from scratch, then hauled it to Pike’s Peak to see if he could drive it up the mountain — which was the thing to do back then after one made a vehicle. The vehicles were built between 1988 and 1992.

“It was a bragging thing — bragging rights,” Franz said.

After that adventure, he constructed a gas-powered vehicle from scratch.

“Just started from scratch,” Franz said. “No blueprints or anything.”

So, after this car was done, Franz drove it to Pike’s Peak. Both cars were successful in making the mountainous climb.

The gas car, Franz sold to a John Deere dealer in Kingsley, while the steam car went to a museum in Wolf Point, Mont., Franz said.

However, one of Franz’s daughters now owns the gas-powered car, as she purchased it from the John Deere collector.

Franz also enjoys making clocks. He’s even constructed a grandfather clock that’s on display at home, as well as about nine others.

“No kits — don’t believe in kits,” Franz said about how he made the clocks, most of which he’s given away to family and friends.

“Actually, I’ve always been intrigued with clocks,” he added.

At one point in his life, Franz had a couple hundred clocks, which he sold to get enough money to start his heating and cooling business.

“They were just common kitchen shelf clocks, they called them,” Franz said.

Since he’s intrigued by mechanics, Franz bought a couple of automatons from a man at the Boyer Museum in Belleville who built them. Then, Franz made a whirly-gig to look like one of the automatons, which has a woman riding a bicycle perched in front of their home. Franz said sometimes people stop and take photos of it.

Looking to the future, Franz is thinking about making another whirlygig or clock. ...............................................................................................................

Automaton Harvey sits on top of one of the half-scale model tractors Denny Franz made.

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Summer 2014

The heart of the matter

Article and photos Wendy Nugent

T

he health museum in Halstead has a big heart — in more ways than one.

One way sits in the Exhibit Hall at the Kansas Learning Center for Health in all its larger-than-life glory. At one of the entrances is a roped-off model of giant heart, which came with a $35,000 price tag.

The model is about as tall as a man but much wider. Various parts of this organ are identified, including the left pulmonary artery, coronary sinus and right coronary veins. This heart is part of the hall’s permanent exhibit that features the body’s senses and other matters relating to the physical side of humans.

“It pretty much covers the body systems and nutrition and dental,” said Brenda Sooter, executive director.

These include circulatory, respiratory and

immune systems, as well as eyesight and bones, Sooter said.

In addition to the heart, another large exhibit is of the human brain. Sooter said they wanted the brain and heart to be exhibit focal points because of their importance in the body.

Many of these displays are interactive. For example, at the brain display, visitors can push buttons that have functions of the body attached with them. When they push the button, for example, that’s attached to the word “speech,” a person can see which part of the brain controls speech because a light will glow in that part of a large depiction of a brain that’s painted on a flat surface.

The displays for the senses, such as smell, touch and hearing, were donated by a museum that closed.

“(Health exhibits) were all remodeled last summer,” Sooter said.

The museum’s teaching staff painted and designed these displays. Curator Brad Wingert did the graphic design while Tricia Weber came up with the color scheme and did the layout, as well as made a search-andfind mural. Other instructors include Cindy Foster, Susan Lamb, Layla Nightingale and Ivory Beins.

“Kids — they love it,” Sooter said about the mural, which has a variety of images and textured items representing Kansas and the museum.

Another display, which seems to languish in people’s memories, is a model called Valeda, the talking woman, who is transparent so people can see her organs, arteries, veins and blood vessels. It’s as if her

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Halstead Middle School students (from left) Moises Esparza, Kaleb Stites, Cody Noel and Lakin Farmer check out exhibits April 11 in the Exhibit Hall at the Kansas Learning Center for Health in Halstead.

HarveyCountyNOW.com

| 23

skin has turned transparent. Valeda is in the auditorium, and she comes with a couple of talking programs so people can learn more about the body.

“A lot of people remember Valeda,” Sooter said. “Whenever the kids come, they always see Valeda.”

Valeda was purchased in 1965 from a company in Cologne, Germany. At the time, 20 were shipped to the United States, and now there’s only three left operating. The other two are in Pittsburgh, Pa., and Chicago.

“So that’s kinda neat that she’s been operating for almost 50 years,” Sooter said.

When people visit the auditorium, Valeda presents a 15-minutes program. Kids are told the veins and arteries in Valeda’s body, if stretched out, would go for 6 miles, but that our real bodies have veins and arteries that would stretch to 60,000 miles, which is 2.5 times around Earth, Sooter said.

Valeda talks about various parts of her body, and as she does, these parts, like the brain and stomach, light up. Valeda had a makeover five years ago, when she was given a new voice, and now museum staff can click on any of her organs. Another part of her makeover includes Valeda saying names of organs in Spanish.

“Now she’s more of a teaching tool for us too,” Sooter said.

When the organs are lit, they show up in 3D on a TV screen in the room.

“They love it — not only children but adults,” Sooter said. ‘(Adults) are like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know my stomach was so high.’ I love adults. They’re like little kids.”

Another way in which the museum has a

big heart is the fact that staff educates a large number of people every year — at the actual museum site and through outreach programs.

“We have a lot of giving people here,” Sooter said.

The center reaches about 25,000 people annually with some 8,000 visiting the Halstead location while the others are reached in schools through the outreach program. All but 1,000 of those are youth. .“We also see homeschoolers here,” Sooter said. “This year, we’ve seen a lot of home school groups here.”

This academic year, about 500 homeschool students have come through.

Schools mostly focus on reading, writing and arithmetic, Sooter said, and the topic of health can get moved to the side.

“What we try to do is help schools meet state science standards by just providing a fun, hands-on enhanced program,” Sooter said.

The outreach programs are different for various grades. For example, second-graders are presented with “Stand Tall — Don’t Fall to Bullying,” while third-grade students listen to a program on the consequences of smoking.

Seventh- through 12-graders will learn about the consequences of drug use and the effects that lead to addiction and tolerance.

Sooter said students are told about such things are fake marijuana and heroine, which are growing in popularity.

Volunteers prepare outreach program materials, as children get to take something home. Debbie Nightingale is volunteer coordinator.

Each program is revamped every year with current information, and programs are taught by instructors who are certified in some area to teach.

Field trip programs to the center include “Heart to Start” for preschoolers, “Dental Health” for kindergarten through the second grade and “Circulatory System” for fourth-

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Halstead Middle School students (from right) Preston Perez, Evan Glanville, Cody Hauk and Mason Farmer check out one of the exhibits April 11 at the Kansas Learning Center for Health in Halstead.

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through seventh-graders.

“The Kansas Learning Center for Health offers 33 elementary and secondary programs both at the Center and as outreach to schools and community centers,” Sooter said. “These programs are divided into three basic content areas and two educational levels: prekindergarten through sixth grade and seventh through 12th grade.

“The General Health curriculum covers all basic body systems; digestion, circulatory, respiratory, nervous and skeletal.

These classes also include activities that teach healthy lifestyle decisions, such as good nutrition, dental health, safety and healthy habits.”

The Growth and Development courses include human growth and development, puberty education, bullying, dating, genetics and sexually transmitted infections. The various Drug Education courses include use and abuse of tobacco, alcohol and drugs (legal and illegal).

“When people can actually see the visuals of what’s actually going on inside the body, they stop and think a little bit,” Sooter said.

Programs have been aligned to school curriculum state standards, Sooter said. By doing the outreach programs, they can travel throughout the state, reaching students who can’t visit the center

Beginnings The center opened in 1965 and is at 505 Main St. in Halstead. The late Dr. Irene Koeneke, wife of the late Dr. Arthur E. Hertzler, wanted to leave a living legacy for her husband, who started Halstead Hospital in 1902, Sooter said. He also founded Hertzler Clinic in the early 1900s and was known as the “horse-and-buggy doctor.”

The center will be 50 years old next year.

“It provides hands-on health and science education for children and adults,” a news release stated. “The Kansas Learning Center for Health mission is to be a premier regional resource for quality health education.”

“It’s kind of impressive,” Sooter said.

“We’re the second oldest health museum in the nation — right here in little ol’ Halstead, Kansas.”

Funding The Kansas Learning Center for Health exclusively is supported through private donations from organizations, individuals, corporations and foundations. The center receives no state funding, Sooter said. It operates on donations, admissions, bequests, building grants for additions and memorial gifts.

“So that’s how we make it,” Sooter said.

“When people give a gift, we want to use it very frugal,” as in very professionally but conservatively.

To get schools to send students to the center, Sooter writes grants and asks for sponsorships, saying she does the legwork for the schools, making it a win-win situation.

In addition, Cargill Inc. has a fund called Cargill Cares that’s supported by money from employees. They’ve sponsored nutritionbased programs in all 58 Wichita elementary schools for the past three years. Also, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation of Kansas supplied a grant for outreach programs in southeast Kansas for the 2013-14 academic year.

Some schools actually write the center’s programs into their curriculum. For example,

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the Human Growth and Development program is used by the Newton, Hutchinson, Halstead and Hesston schools.

In order to get more money, the center is having its first fundraising event Sept. 13 called The Kansas Learning Center for Health Presents a Kansas Country Evening. For more information about the evening, call the center at 800-798-2124. Entertainment, because they wanted to do something different, will be ventriloquist Greg Claassen from Whitewater.

“Because we know laughing is a lot of fun, and it’s good for your health,” Sooter

said. “The old saying that ‘laughter is the best medicine’ definitely appears to be true when it comes to protecting your heart and overall health.”

New annex The grand opening of the Bailey Annex, named after Dr. Colin Bailey of Halstead, was Jan. 31. Bailey and his wife, Joan, were honored for their $1.2 million gift that raised $2.8 million in private support.

The annex includes a classroom, bathroom, kitchen, storage area for outreach materials, a boardroom, garage for the

outreach van and elevator to make the building ADA compliant. The museum has a basement, and in the future, they’d like to house a historical museum there about the history of the Learning Center museum, and archives from Halstead Hospital and the Halstead Hospital School of Nursing. “(The Baileys’) love and passion for the Kansas Learning Center for Health’s mission, ‘To be a premier regional resource for quality health education,’ is extremely obvious,” Sooter said.

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H

elen Shifflett’s roots go all the way back to the Mayflower. The soon-tobe 95-year-old is a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, who came to America on that famous ship. Alden was the cooper aboard the vessel, and his job was to construct varying sizes of barrels.

The story goes Miles Standish, who was shy, asked Alden to propose to Mullins for him. Mullins turned her attention to Alden and asked him, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” And so he did. That started their courtship and eventual marriage.

This is the descendant line that qualified Shifflett to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The line runs through her mother, Hortense Clements. Any woman who can prove her lineal descent from an American Revolution patriot is eligible to join, according to the DAR website.

No matter how far down or how close to her on the family tree, family has seemed to be important to the Asbury Park resident. Even though she earned an

undergraduate degree at Iowa State, majoring in household equipment, and a master’s at George Washington University, she raised her three children as a stay-athome mom. This goes along with her philosophy of life, which isn’t complicated.

“Man does not live by bread alone,” is written on a sign in Shifflett’s room, which her son, Dana, said is her life’s philosophy. It is followed by: “He must also have peanut butter and jelly.”

“I wouldn’t be able to raise my family without peanut butter and jelly,” Shifflett said, sitting in her Asbury Park room surrounded by photos of her family. “I can’t imagine not having peanut butter.”

Dana’s siblings are Carol, Linda and Stephen Shifflett.

Before she became a mom, Shifflett started her life’s adventure when she was born July 2, 1919, in the family farm home in Madison County, Iowa.

“Women didn’t go to the hospital to have a baby then,” Shifflett said, while snacking on M&Ms during a warm late March day.

And yes, the county in which Shifflett was born is the one that has the covered bridges that inspired the movie and book.

Dana and his mom have seen all seven bridges, but Dana said he’s not sure all still are standing, as people who don’t like the

behavior of the characters in the movie have damaged the bridges. The one closest to his parents’ old place is called Hogback.

On her Asbury Park room door is a vertical painting that has hand-painted likenesses of the bridges. Hogback now is closed to traffic.

“We used to drive over it regularly,” Dana said.

Shifflett attended Worthington Elementary, a one-room schoolhouse.

Shifflett recalled a game she played as a youth. “Hide and Go Seek would’ve been the most popular, I guess,” she said.

On May 28, 1951, Shifflett married Paul in Iowa, although before that, they had each gone separately to Washington, D.C., to take government jobs. They also had grown up in the same town and knew each other. Paul graduated from Iowa State in 1942 and later retired from the Naval Research Lab, which was the only job he had after college. He was an electronics engineer and was involved in the nuclear program.

Shifflett was on staff with the Signal Corps at Arlington Hall during World War II. Arlington Hall, which is in Arlington, Va., handled Japanese communication signal intercepts, Dana said.

“They broke the Japanese code,” Shifflett said. “That’s what moved things real fast. They brought a lot of people to D.C. to work on the code.”

While employed there, Shifflett remembers hearing the song “Cocktails for Two” by Spike Jones for the first time. “(The song) goes from violins…and soft atmosphere to pandemonium,” Dana said.

Dana said his mother had told him, as the people were working at night, the song disrupted their work, and it took a while for them to gather their thoughts after hearing it.

The children were raised in Accokeek, Md., which is across the river from Mount Vernon, Dana said.

Looking back on his childhood, Dana remembered some of the food his mother used to cook. They’d have chili on

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Helen Shifflett, who will turn 95 years old July 2, sits near her son, Dana, who holds a sign aabout her philosophy of life. INSET: Helen (standing) is pictured with her parents, Hortense and Roy, in the 1930s. (Courtesy photo) HarveyCountyNOW.com | 27

Tuesdays, fish on Fridays, hamburgers or hot dogs on Saturdays and usually homemade chicken on Sundays.

“Mom was a good cook — a really good cook,” Dana said.

His mother also made their birthday cakes, which were two layers of white cake graced with a white seven-minute icing and “different-colored trim,” Dana and Shifflett said.

“A birthday was not a birthday without one of those cakes,” Dana said.

Paul and Helen Shifflett retired back to Iowa in November 1986.

“They moved back to Iowa well after we were raised,” Dana said.

Paul made 16 trips with a horse trailer back and forth when they moved from Maryland to Worthington, which is in rural Earlham. Shifflett moved to Asbury Park because Dana lives five miles east of the outlet mall in Newton, and he worked at Asbury Park at the time.

“Mom is here because Asbury Park is more affordable and just as good as what was available in Ames, Iowa, where she lived (and brother Steve still does), and because Newton is halfway between Ames and Arlington, Texas, where sister Linda is, and because I’m here,” Dana said. “I already knew from residents (at Asbury)

that the food was good. That was a major consideration.”

In addition to the Mayflower, the Shifflett family has ties to actor John Wayne. Wayne’s family moved from Winterset, Iowa, to Earlham, Iowa, when he was 4 years old. Wayne started attending school in Earlham, in the same building Dana’s father went to school.

Wayne, who was born Marion Michael Morrison, was a bit older than Dana’s father. The school became a Masonic hall, and they kept the furniture. Later, the furniture was auctioned, and Dana now has a chair that’s conceivable Wayne might have sat in, he said.

Another tie to a famous person for the family is that Dana’s father played baseball in high school and went to bat against Bob Feller, who later pitched for the Cleveland Indians.

“And I have the bat that did not get a hit off Bob Feller,” Dana said.

Dana’s father is what Shifflett liked about raising children.

“They had a good father,” she said.

“Otherwise, the job wouldn’t have gotten done.”

The hardest part of parenthood was disciplining, Shifflett said.

Dana reminded his mother of a few

activities that got him in trouble, including going to an apartment building laundry room with friends, taking clothes out of dryers and riding in them when he was about 5 years old. Another time, Dana changed fuses in their home, causing his mother to burn the liver she was cooking, although he doesn’t know how.

“I shouldn’t have been playing with the fuse box,” Dana said.

Even with the usual pranks of children, Shifflett seems to have had a good, long life, complete with attending church. She grew up Methodist and still is. When she lived in Maryland, she and the family were members of Faith Methodist Church’s choir at one point, Dana said. When they left that state, the choir presented them with a vase that had the names of people in the choir on the vase feet.

When Shifflett moved to Asbury on Memorial Day weekend 2007, she donated an organ and baby grand piano to the church she grew up in.

Although she attended church throughout her life, Shifflett didn’t seem to need religion as much as others might.

“I don’t think I’ve had serious problems that took religion to get me through,” Shifflett said. “That’s just the way my life was.”

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Summer 2014

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LOCAL FUND

Article and photos Wendy Nugent

HELPS NEIGHBORS N orthridge Elementary School third-graders mixed dogthemed sweets at their bake sale with a desire to help, coming up with a recipe for kindness.

Students in Carinda Claassen’s class wanted to raise money for the local humane society, so they decided to have a bake sale. Some of the treats, which all sold for 50 cents, carried a dog theme — some were sugar cookies in the shapes of bones and dogs, and there was “puppy chow.”

Right after the “school’s out” bell rang on a particular Friday, students raced to the sale area, purchasing the sugary treats, which sold out in minutes.

Claassen has a service dog from the Newton humane society that goes to the class, and, because of that influence, students wanted the proceeds from the sale to go to the Caring Hands Humane Society in Newton. This caring for others, whether they’re humans or animals, at the school comes from a “kindness” curriculum set forth by Janel Rogers.

“Every elementary school (in the district) has a school social worker,” said Rogers, Northridge social worker. “I personally chose kindness as my theme to focus lessons and activities on” this academic year.

Rogers took an online Kindness in the Classroom Course through Colorado University in Boulder this past spring semester. The money for the course was provided by the Women’s Community Fund. Each year, the fund gives money to a variety of charities in the Newton area.

The money from the grant given to Northridge also was used to purchase books that went along with work Rogers has been doing in the classroom, and the books had morals to them, Rogers said.

This ties the books into social/emotional learning.

Through the Random Acts of Kindness website, Rogers said she learned about the course she took in the spring.

“Through the course, I’m developing a curriculum,” she said. “The grant

paying for that course is going to be very helpful for me in developing a curriculum for next year.”

Rogers also has incorporated ideas for activities and projects from other sources, including the Random Acts website.

Kindness also will be Roger’s theme during the next academic year at Northridge. The curriculum includes solving problems, empathy and conflict resolution.

“I think our district has been very supportive,” Rogers said. “For children to do well in school, they need to function well in the classroom socially.

They need to be able to get along with each other, handle their emotions. They need to be able to handle conflicts with each other. We really promote that social/emotional learning. Being a good citizen is part of learning — just like reading, writing and math. Hopefully, starting at the elementary level will set a good foundation for that.”

Rogers said she goes into every classroom at Northridge, leading lessons on a variety of kindness topics, such as handling your emotions, friendships,

conflicts and problem solving.

Rogers has had students do a variety of projects, such as writing thank-you letters to adults who work behind the scenes at the school, like custodians and secretaries.

“Helping the kids to see we couldn’t function without everybody doing their part,” Rogers said.

Students also were asked to take home pink paper hearts as part of a Bee Kind project. The hearts have bees on them, and parents and teachers were asked to write down acts of kindness they observed students doing, like helping siblings or doing something useful around the house without being asked.

During the 2013-14 academic year, there also was a Kindness Club for fourth-graders, which is the oldest grade at the school. The club met once a month, and club members helped with the Bee Kind project and made posters to put around the school.

“The idea was they were to be role models for kindness,” Rogers said. “They developed kindness presentations to share with the younger kids.”

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Alyssa Hadaway, Alee Medina, Conner Adams and Tannis L'Ecuyer (from left) anticipate purchasing goods during a bake sale on a particular Friday in April at Northridge Elementary School in Newton. At right is “seller” Justin Franz. Thirdgraders in Carinda Claassen's class organized the bake sale to raise money for the Caring Hands Humane Society in Newton. The school's social worker taught a kindness curriculum during the 2013-14 school year, and this was part of it.

30 | HarveyCountyNOW.com

Summer 2014

Women’s Community Fund It started as an idea among five friends sitting around a kitchen table in 2000. The Women’s Community Fund now has grown to 43 members in 2013.

“The community-minded women, including Nancy Craig, Ann Davidson, Suzie Luginbill, Katie Reese and Susan Rhoades, had read about a giving circle, which had become very successful in other communities, and decided to use the same concept to benefit charities in Newton and the surrounding area,” according to a news release.

The group’s organizational committee partnered with the Greater Newton Community Foundation, now known as the Central Kansas Community Foundation, to manage this charitable fund.

Since its inception, the group has generated almost $220,000 for charities in the Newton area. In addition to Northridge, 2013 recipients included Agape Resource Center, CASA: A Voice for Children, Harvey County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task Force Inc., Harvey County Homeless Shelter Inc., HOPE Home Repair Inc., Newton Meals on Wheels Inc., Newton Recreation Commission, Peace Connections, St. Matthew’s Representative Payee, Trinity Heights Respite Care Inc. and Youthville/EmberHope.

In that light, WCF seems to stick to its motto: “Together we can accomplish great things.”

The group provides philanthropy opportunities for area women, and any woman can join. All a woman has do it is contribute, and the group has various contribution levels. Junior Members can contribute $300 while Premiere Members give $1,000. There also are other levels.

Membership doesn’t carry over to the next year; if a woman wants to join another year, she needs to donate.

To join and for more information, call the Foundation at 316-283-5474. Donations are tax deductible.

Jennifer Vogts, one of three chairwomen of the group, said this probably is the most rewarding experience she’s ever had because the Fund supports local organizations.

Members really are helping their neighbors, she said. The other chairwomen are Pamela McCullough, D.D.S., and Diana Torline.

Vogts said she wants to contribute, in a positive way, to the community in which she resides.

“For me, being a member of the Women’s Community Fund is the biggest reward — joining forces with women who are our friends in a charitable way feels like a sisterhood.”

Until this year, the donated money was put into an expendable fund. Last year’s advisory committee brought up the idea to create an endowed fund, which will add more permanency to the Fund. In honor of a fellow sister, that fund is called the Jan Elizabeth Saab Women’s Community Fund Endowment. Saab, who died Feb. 14, 2012, was a WCF member who demonstrated a great deal of leadership for this circle and deeply cared about the impact these grants would make in her community, held every position in the group.

“The privilege of being an Advisory Committee member is a three-year term,” Vogts said. “(Saab) was a woman who gave of her time and talents; giving circles like this rely on committed members of the community, and Jan was a fundamental member of this circlet,” said Sandra Fruit, executive director of the Central Kansas Community Foundation in Newton.

“Creating this fund will allow women’s philanthropy in Newton for perpetuity,” a WCF brochure stated.

Interest and earnings from the fund will benefit charities while keeping the principal in the fund intact.

Past trichairwoman Marilyn Sjogren was instrumental in getting the endowed fund established, as were current tri-

chairwomen Vogts and McCullough.Even though 43 was the highest membership WCF has ever had, Fruit would like to see it reach 50 or more.

“We’re going to hit it one of these days,” she said.

Applying for grants Organizations that get grants are determined from year to year by a majority vote at the WCF annual meeting. The largest grants given in 2013 were for $3,000 each, while the smallest was $424.95.

Each summer, grant applications are accepted from Newton-area non-profit groups. Then, the Grants Committee looks over the requests and gives WCF members ballots of the finalists. In October, WCF members vote during the annual meeting regarding recipients, who are given awards in November.

Community foundation WCF is under the umbrella of the Central Kansas Community Foundation, and CKCF program director Chancy Gerbitz and office manager Brenda Eitzen manage the membership drive with the WCF chairs and coordinate the grant-making cycle to ensure its execution meets state and federal regulations, given its philanthropic nature.

“We couldn’t grow without their support and expertise at all,” Vogts said.

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