Jack and John

So many things I wanted to write about this week but I just returned from a friend's funeral and it has shifted to my focus a little bit.

Command Sergeant Major Jack Elliott spent 42 years in official service to his country and the remainder of his 85 years on this earth serving unofficially. His efforts for the Museum of the Kansas National Guard at Forbes Field in Topeka have been crucial to that facility. Visiting with Adjutant General Lee Tafanelli, we agreed that Jack had the ability to make people feel important, like they were special. When the Chaplain asked all the Command Sergeant Majors and general officers to stand, there were more than two dozen who rose from their seats. Men like Don Ballard, recipient of the Medal of Honor, came to honor their friend. What an incredible tribute.

The most moving tribute though came from Jack's grandson, a student at Topeka High School and a member of the school's JR ROTC. He spoke so lovingly of the man who raised him. He spoke of how the state was going to take him from his mother and put him in foster care when Jack and his late wife, Betty, already long past retirement age, took him in. He listed all the things Jack had taught him, not by talking but by living. This young man received a well-deserved standing ovation. 

I glanced around and estimated half of the attendees must have been veterans, some of whom I knew, and I knew some of their stories. I felt humbled, truly, to count so many of them as my friends. 

For more years than I can remember, on Memorial weekend, Jack and our friend, Dale Vaughn, drove hundreds of miles to mark the graves of hundreds of Civil War veterans with flags and flowers. He was teaching a new generation to do the same.

He has asked that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the Museum of the Kansas National Guard, an entity that many of us often referred to as "Jack's Museum." I hope that if you find yourself in Topeka you will honor Jack's memory, and that of all of our Guardsmen, by visiting. It will enrich your life.

Godspeed, Jack. We will miss you.

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I was privileged to spend time in the company of another veteran over the weekend, Dr. Jake's dad, John Bauer of Utica. We rode up to Castle Rock and then went to the Wertz Street Social Emporium in Utica for supper with family and friends. (Mark Bauer cooks an awesome steak!)

John arrived in Europe just in time for the Battle of the Bulge. Unlike my friend Jack, John came back to Kansas and made a life outside the service. Much like Jack though, the commitment to country and family defined his life. He was a first generation American, the son of a Russian emigrant. His life has been rich in every way that counts. As we were driving, he pointed out the place where his late wife was raised. 

"That's where my Honey was from," he said, and it made me think of Jack and how he talked of Betty. 

These two men exhibited lives of great love, great service, and great devotion.

Jack was a little young for World War II; (I think there might be seven years difference in his and John's ages) but these two me really reflect the greatest generation.

Deaths this Day

November 22---for Americans of a certain age the day lives in infamy. Generations have been born since, though, who only know it through the history books….just as we only know the day Blackbeard died through the dusty dates of the past.

But on this day in 1718, the fearsome pirate who terrorized the Atlantic, was no more. Robert E. Lee wrote an excellent article in the Dictionary of North Carolina biography, available here: http://ncpedia.org/biography/blackbeard-the-pirate

Throttlebottom

In the spring of 1932, George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway musical, "Of Thee I Sing," spoofed Washington politics, including a vice president named Alexander Throttlebottom, who could get inside the White House only on public tours. The tour guide, who failed to recognize Throttlebottom, at one point engaged him in a discussion of the vice-presidency:

Guide: Well, how did he come to be Vice President?

Throttlebottom: Well, they put a lot of names in a hat, and he lost.

Guide:  What does he do all the time?

Throttlebottom:  Well, he sits in the park and feeds the peanuts to the pigeons and the squirrels, and then he takes walks, and goes to the movies. Last week, he tried to join the library, but he needed two references, so he couldn't get in.(1)

Audiences laughed heartily at these lines, in part because they could easily identify the hapless Throttlebottom with the incumbent vice president, Charles Curtis. Curtis was never close to President Herbert Hoover and played no significant role in his administration. Despite Curtis' many years of experience as a member of the House and Senate and as Senate majority leader, his counsel was rarely sought on legislative matters. His chief notoriety as vice president came as a result of a messy social squabble over protocol, which only made him appear ridiculous.  Many Republicans hoped to dump Curtis from the ticket when Hoover ran for reelection. Given Curtis' Horatio Alger-style rise in life, and his long and successful career in Congress, how did he become such a Throttlebottom as vice president? 

(From http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/VP_Charles_Curtis.htm)

That's a great question. It hints that Curtis rose in prominence from obscure beginnings, a fact not in dispute. That he faced challenges is true but it is also true that his background may have been the perfect storm of chaos from which a politician is born.

Curtis's father, Orren (the white side of the family that claimed lineage among the first settlers in New England), was a piece of work to put it mildly. Married multiple times, a rake and a rounder, he wound up serving as a deputy in Shawnee County when his son was a young county attorney.  Orren was a leading state's witness in prohibition cases prosecuted by Charley, no doubt turning in the same people who had been serving him for years. 

During Charley's lifetime, his father must have disappointed him many times, but I have yet to find a record of Charlie's saying a bad word about him.

Our Charley: From the Reservation to Washington, a paperback based on this early years is will be available in December. For pre-publication discount, check this site.

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We miss our friends in Philadelphia!!! 

Carol Lieberman portrayed Sarah Josepha Hale at the dedication of a new historical marker in her honor downtown. Sarah not only penned "Mary had a little lamb," she is responsible for Thanksgiving's becoming a national holiday. She is buried, of course, in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.

So many friends in the crowd, including Carol Neumann Waskie and Andy Waskie. Can't wait to see you all!

It seems he remained a loyal son despite his father's many shortcomings. It may also be that in dealing with his father's failings, he became a better man. 

French Connections

A few years ago….I was with Ed Kennedy and Tom Chychota in leading a Battle of the Blue Staff Ride for majors and their colonel from the French equivalent to our Command and Staff College. These guys were incredible!!!! And no wusses, believe me!!!!!! Here we are in Liberty, MO. …It was a wonderful day. Thinking of them all and their brothers and sisters in arms today. They sent me a present when they returned to Paris…a French Marine cap…it is one of my treasured possessions!!!!

Colonel Fred is on the far left…what a dear man!

Headed to the Prairie Rose!

I am headed to the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon at Benton, KS, to pay tribute to Orin Friesen. He is the manager at this fine establishment and, along with the other Prairie Rose Rangers, is the house band.

Orin is one of the most remarkable people I know. In his fifty years of radio life, he has interviewed everybody who is or was anybody. He is in the process of digitizing those thousands of hours of audio, from Johnny Cash to Roger McGuinn. He recounted (with Bud Norman)many of those interviews and encounters in his book, Goat Glands to Ranch Hands: The KFDI Story.

If you stick around the business, you might do the same. What makes Orin truly different is who he is, not what he is talking about or to whom he is speaking. It is simply him. He is liked and respected by his peers, loved by his family and friends, and he has made a career of doing what he loves. I can think of no greater measures of success.

He also made a heckuva Abraham Lincoln in The Road toValhalla, a documentary by Ken Spurgeon and Lone Chimney Films. (This won the Wrangler Award at the Cowboy Hall of Fame. Orin, with his beautiful wife, Bekki, were there for the ceremony.)

A toast, Orin! Here's to you!

Polo on the Plains

I had gone to Hays City with Karla Jennings, co-owner of Around Kansas. She was headed to the Spa at Rock Haven, a few miles south of town for a day of rubs and wraps. I was headed to the Ellis County Historical Society to see the exhibit on polo. Yes, that is p-o-l-o.

Director Don Westfall enthusiastically toured me through the exhibit. It is really interesting. Who knew the ranches and even some of the oil companies had polo teams in the 1920s?  The state has two teams now -- one in Liberal and one in Wichita. They will play an exhibition game in Hays on July 11. "Polo on the Plains" is free and will be held at the Bickle-Schmidt Sports Complex on the Bypass in Hays. Starts at 7 p.m. If there is enough interest, there is a possibility of a second match in September.

There is so much to see in the re-purposed church that houses the ECHS. The elaborate clocks created by Russian immigrant Justus Bissing are simply treasures. The remarkable craftsmanship is something you simply have to see to believe.

Other exhibits highlight the careers of legends Wild  Bill Hickok, one-time sheriff of Ellis County, and Buffalo Bill Cody who built the short-lived town of Rome nearby.

There is a very interesting exhibit on Billy Dixon, the famed scout and buffalo hunter. Last year, an archaeological dig was conducted at the site of Dixon's trading post near Hays and many items that were discovered are on display.

The balcony of the "sanctuary" is devoted to children with displays of toys and lots of areas for hands-on learning. The diorama of a farmstead is just incredible--complete with post rock fences.

While I was visiting with Don and Janet, who mans the front desk, Dave Wood of Colorado arrived. Dave is an historical interpreter who portrays Hickok. He will a feature of the Wild West Festival going on through July 4th. Wish I could have stayed to play a game of faro!

The Polo on the Plains Exhibit has been extended so make sure you get by to see it. Tell them Deb sent you!

Oh, and while you are there...don't miss the gift shop. I came away with the West of Wild Bill Hickok by the late Joseph Rosa. It is an invaluable resource.

Herndon Ox Roast

I had no sooner arrived in town than I ran off a grassy culvert and was stuck. I sighed and stepped out, and had not moved three feet when a big guy rushed over and asked if I needed help.

"Yes, I do!"

He got his truck and chain, and likkety split, pulled me out. In and out of the ditch in under five minutes. It was dark. His comrade, beer in hand, stumbled in a hole and he and beer were sprawled on the ground. It made me feel better.

I was looking for Mick Moore, owner of the "Not a Hilton, but It'll Do" Motel in Atwood. I wanted to interview him for Around Kansas. People were in a partying mood and Nolan offered the services of his Polaris to search the town. As we bounced over curbs and through backyards he shared stories of the little town. He even drove up to the pit where the ox, I was promised, was in fact buried in hot coals. Truth be known, I never got close enough for even a whiff of the ox the next day there were so many people!

As we wove in and around the motor homes, there was no sign of Mick. Nolan introduced me around and another rancher volunteered his services.

"First, let me unload my four-wheeler."

Before I could protest, he had backed his four-wheeler off the trailer and away we went, clutching our drinks in our hands. We bounced over the now-familiar curbs and found a motor home bearing the sign, "Not a Hilton, but It'll Do." It was dark, and my driver yelled, "Mick, Mick Dundee!"

"Shhh!" I said, "it's okay. I'll find him in the morning."

Thus we bounced back to the vicinity of the Herndon Pool Hall and Nolan bought me a drink. He told me about the folks who put on the Ox Roast, how the event has been going on for a hundred years. I met the folks in the bar, including its owner, Chris Wood who bought the establishment in 1987, a hundred years after it was founded. She was a tiny blonde lady. As I looked at the guy at the other end of the bar, I realized I had met him years before when I had spoken in Atwood. He had actually given me a tour and taken me to a remote grave site in the county.

It is, indeed, a small, small world.

To top off the evening, Nolan gave me a dollar, had me sign my name, and pinned it to the ceiling in the Herndon Pool Hall, because even standing on the bar, I wouldn't have been able to reach it. Now, I am immortalized along with hundreds of other beer drinkers.

I drove back to Atwood, stayed out of the ditches, and spent a comfortable night in the It'll Do Motel. The next morning, cars were lined all the way back to the highway from the center of Herndon. I found a parking space next to the new museum and again, went off in search of Mick. This time I knew where to look. He was in his golf cart, eating breakfast and lining up for the parade. We visited while the firetrucks and floats went by.

Mick was a contractor, living in a Denver suburb, when he found  himself at a stoplight in the traffic one day and thought, What am I doing? He started looking for a piece of property and found one in Sterling, Colorado, and one in Atwood. He visited both the same weekend. He loves to golf so there had to be a course nearby. When he arrived in Atwood, he knew this was the place. He purchased and rehabbed the motel.

"I lived in my last neighborhood for 20 years and knew four people," he commented. "I've lived here for fifteen and I know everybody, and they know me. People take care of each other."

In fact, the sign on Hwy 36 plainly states, "Atwood: Where People Care." It also boasts, "Home of Mike Hayden, 41st KS Governor.

Mick had never been in the motel business until this venture and he loves it. He has been there long enough to have regulars coming back every year, family reunions, hunters. Hunting is big here. I ask Mick what makes this such great hunting country.

"I have no idea." He finishes off his eggs and biscuit and the vehicle goes by that says, "Hell Tornados! I survived 40 years with the Wicked Witch of the West! A couple sat in back of the pickup waving. She wore a witch's hat.

I bade Mick farewell and went off to find Nolan and met his girlfriend, Lisa Olson, who manages the dental clinic in Atwood. We visited and watched the parade, alongside their kids and neighbors. They made me a part of the the community, even though I had just arrived the night before.

This is why I love Kansas.

I saw you....

"I saw you on History Channel!"

"I saw you on CSpan!"


"I saw you on American Experience!"

"Hey, I watch you on Around Kansas!" (Heather Newell, left, filming me with co-author Michelle Martin at the Blackjack Battlefield near Baldwin. Michelle will be featured on Around Kansas on May 20.)

It is nice, very nice, when people see your work and like it. Sometimes I watch, sometimes I don't. Often, I just don't have the opportunity to see it.

As many of my historian friends can attest, the pay for most documentaries is pretty small, if at all. So why do we do it? Because people come up and say, "I saw you...." and then maybe they buy your books, or support your cause, or just learned something over the course of an evening.

We don't ask for much.

Civil War in Kansas on CSpan

I was too busy at the Kansas Sampler Festival in Wamego to catch the Topeka topics broadcast on C-Span this weekend. It was a pleasure to work with Tiffany Rocque on their visit to the capital city. This is my interview, conducted at the gravesite of Cyrus K. Holliday, for my book, The Civil War in Kansas: Ten Years of Turmoil:

Click here for C-Span interview on my Civil War in Kansas.

The Cemetery Diaries

From this little alcove in my bedroom, I look up to Mausoleum Row and the Hurley Monument. The sun rises above them -- every day -- and rouses me awake.

When I moved to Topeka in 1992, I came to know the community through the cemetery. I joke, but it is true, that we Southerners "love dead people." I walked through the grounds, noting the street names and important folks, and then stumbled, literally, over the marker for Cyrus K. Holliday (below, with my red slippers).

Now many folks in Kansas know Holliday because he is the founder of Topeka, founder of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and of Merchants Bank. I knew him because of the movie, Santa Fe Trail.

Errol Flynn. Olivia de Havilland. Ronald Reagan. Raymond Massey. And Henry O'Neill as Cyrus K. Holliday.

The list of historical inaccuracies is too long to repeat but the facts are these: J. E. B. Stuart (of my hometown, Ararat, Virginia) was in the Kansas Territory the same time as John Brown and Cyrus Holliday. Holliday, however, would not have been the old man that was depicted in the film. Only seven years Stuart's senior, Holliday would have been 30 years old in 1856, an optimistic, enterprising young man himself.

No matter. The film captured my imagination and when I stumbled over that grave marker, a modest memorial to such an incredible man, I knew I was meant to be in Kansas. Jeb had been here. Here. Right here. John Brown had been here. And, yes, even Custer though not at the same time! I looked around at the graves of people who, like Holliday, were not born in Kansas but made their marks here. I knew I could, too.

As fate would have it, I now live in this historic site. The home built by Pennsylvanian Franklin Crane in 1857 houses the cemetery offices and the second floor is an apartment where I am pleased to be the resident historian. It is sometimes more ruin than historic, but we are actively raising funds for the countless projects. This is truly sacred ground. More than two thousand Civil War veterans rest here, including at least three Confederates. Hundreds more join them, from every era, every conflict since the War of 1812.

A couple of weeks ago, Tiffany Rocque from CSpan visited me here and we filmed a couple of segments at the graves of Holliday and Vice President Charles Curtis. Those segments air on May 2 and 3. I am thrilled that this historic ground, often overlooked through the years, is once again getting the attention it deserves. The community deserves to know about it and its residents
as well.

I am privileged to live in such an historic place. It comforts and inspires me. While the focus of this blog is primarily historical exploits and adventures, I have started another blog that allows me to write creative nonfiction and try to make some sense of life. I hope you will visit cemterydiaries.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. I will be starting yet another blog for my TV show, Around Kansas, and will share that link with you as well.

The Face of Kansas

He has become the face of Kansas, and perhaps the West. Robert Cowboy Culbertson lives in Easton, Kansas, which is west of Weston as the joke goes (Weston being on the Missouri side of the line even though the towns are both in striking distance of Leavenworth.

I am privileged to call Cowboy my friend, and am thrilled to share this segment of Around Kansas with you. You can find Cowboy and/or American Frontier Productions on Facebook. Give them a like and tell him Deb sent you.

Glory, Glory

It had been a week of unparalleled, uninterrupted jubilation. Across its length and breadth, the Federal Union celebrated like it had never celebrated before. Millions of flags, great and small, were hoisted; hundreds of miles of bunting were draped or hung; cannons roared, rockets soared; men and women danced and sang, kissed and cried. After four bloody years of fear, pain, and frustration, the inevitable yet somehow startling words struck the country "like a thunderbolt."

"RICHMOND IS OURS," blared the headlines. "The Old Flag Floats over the Rebel Capital. . . VICTORY! THE UNION WILL BE PRESERVED!!"

"The news sped through the country on the wings of lightning," exulted the Chicago Tribune, "and lighted up the nation with a blaze of glory."

                  ~The Day Dixie Died, pp 3-4


With the fall of Richmond, the Confederate capital, the North began the celebration. Years of war, war with its fear, anxiety, grief, expense, loss, and more losses--war that seemed it would never end. I heard a man from the Middle East comment the other day that he feared tomorrow. Tomorrow is a terrible thought. Americans had lived that way for four years. With the fall of Richmond, the end was within sight. With the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, seemingly invincible, peace was at hand. The relief was simply, overwhelming.

And there, in the midst of it all, stood Lincoln. Reviled, ridiculed, and insulted on every hand throughout the ordeal, he had kept his promise to preserve the Union, and in the process, had brought an end to American slavery.

Maybe he was okay after all. There was a spirit of forgiveness, of forgiving the president for the ordeal of the war. Throughout the North, there was hope and anticipation for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Then he was gone.

Walt Whitman put that profound grief into poetry:

When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.

From When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

Take the time today to read this piece in its entirety.

Detail of Thomas Nast illustration for Harper's Weekly- Columbia mourning
the death of Abraham Lincoln (plus excerpt from Whitman's poem)

It is impossible to describe the reaction of America, the depths of grief and guilt and anger. The night of April 14, Northerners took to their beds with their cities illuminated and their spirits buoyed. They awoke to dread, a renewed anxiety that shook the foundations of not only the Republic, but faith itself.

How could this be? Why? Why? Why? Why was he taken now? We didn't have the chance to embrace him, to express our gratitude. And now it is too late.

We build him monuments and hope that he somehow knew.

A New Book, A New Chapter

My third book with the History Press was released this week: Kansas Music: Stories of a Rich Tradition with a foreword by my friend,  Allen Blasco, president of the Kansas Music Hall of Fame.

As with most efforts, it is not the book I had planned to write but projects evolve. As with other projects as well, it takes on a life apart from you.

The foreword was written by my friend, Allen Blasco, president of the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. It is one of the loveliest tributes one could have and I am blessed to know him and the countless musicians who make this life so much richer.

Dark Winter

In celebration of Kansas Day yesterday, I participated in a reader's theater at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library. I read the letters of Julia Louisa Lovejoy, one of those staunch abolitionists who came to Kansas through the efforts of the New England Emigrant Aid Society. I am no stranger to Julia's story. I have been poking fun at her for years and I am so ashamed of myself for it.

 

You see this picture? For years, it was one of the slides used to illustrate a talk on Bleeding Kansas that my former husband and I delivered. I shared Julia's story and every time this picture came up on the screen, I quipped, "Yes, life before Mary Kay."

 

People all over the country laughed.

 

I shared her stories of snakes in the Kansas Territory. . .  in the gardens, in the beds, in the cupboards. People gasped in horror. I used Julia to great effect.

 

It has been a while since I visited Julia. Reading her letters this week have touched me tremendously. She wrote vividly of the "wars and rumors of wars" that tore open the countryside all while trying to find some meager creature comforts.

 

Palmyra, K.T., November 30, 1857

 

Some of the habits of Western life, originating doubtless in necessity, are truly shocking to our Yankee notions of propriety; especially, when so many of different sexes lodge in one room, in uncurtained beds. If you wish to change your linen, why haste away to the grove, to perform your toilet, as other preachers now have to do; or, if the wet grass is up to your arm-pits, do as Mr. Lovejoy did recently, who, Sabbath morn, threw his soiled nether garment across his carriage-seat to dry, as it was well saturated with perspiration. When he turned to look for it, lo! it had all disappeared, save the wristband and "wee bit" of one sleeve, and where think you it was? Why, mulched into the maw of a live ox, who was forced to disgorge its contents, instanter; but ah me! the rents and tears were unmendable. If we can enjoy health, as formerly, we shall, after all, enjoy much of missionary life in Kansas.

 

We enjoy unprecedented comforts of hygiene in this era. The constant discomfort and embarrassment of women, and men, due to the lack of privacy and facilities, were features of pioneer life we don't often acknowledge. In the midst of warfare, the everyday task of cleaning, cooking, and surviving must have been overwhelming and here was and ox eating your husband's shirt, for Pete's sake!

 

A new life for the family in the Kansas Territory meant the death of the Lovejoys young daughter. I read passages about the mother's grief on the day my own daughter was marking the sad anniversary of her baby's death, a miscarriage that she has mourned greatly.

 

I read passages where Julia longs for a home, just as I do now, after so much upheaval and feeling no security in my own life.

 

I look into her sad eyes now and I want so badly to embrace her, to comfort her, to be comforted by her, and I long to tell her,

 

. Dear Sister, I am so sorry for your suffering. You are not alone. Yet today, you are in my prayers.

September

. . . and where has the time gone?

This summer has been another of great transitions. . . . We do not change easily; we must be jerked from the ground sometime. I have learned to trust God when I do not have the answers. Our lives are spent learning to trust God.

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So many wonderful things are happening. Lone Chimney Films will debut The Road to Valhalla on November 2 in Newton. I was so proud to be one of the on-camera historians for this important piece of Kansas and American history. With appearances by Buck Taylor and Michael Martin Murphey, music by Jed Marum, all springing forth from the scholarship and vision of friend Ken Spurgeon, it will be a documentary that stands the test of time. Watch the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVavY4-DfNw

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This weekend marks the Kansas Book Festival and Michelle Martin will be here Thursday when she closes up shop at the Little House on the Prairie. We will present to a class at Washburn Rural High School on Friday, attend the reception at the Governor's Mansion on Friday night, and the Book Festival on Saturday at the Kansas Statehouse! Here is the lineup of distinguished authors: http://kansasbookfestival.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/program-2013.pdf

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A chance to pair once again with Wideawake Films and be a part of their exhibit and reenactment of the issuing of Order # 11. Visit Commerce Bank at 10th and Walnut in Kansas City. Their Box Gallery is outstanding. The exhibit is excellent and I was proud to speak, along with fellow historian the incredible orator, Ralph Monaco. Visit when you get a chance. I believe the exhibit is up through October. On September 14, there will be a reenactment of the execution of Order # 11, where families in western Missouri were put off their farms and exiled.

The extraordinarily gifted photographer Bob Szabo made this wet plate photo of my addressing the crowd in front of the Pacific House on Delaware Street in Kansas City. General Thomas Ewing, brother-in-law and foster brother of William T. Sherman, issued Order # 11 on August 25, 1863, in response to Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence.

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I have so many reviews to get to. Jenny Lasala sent me a wonderful book about her dad's military service, Comes a Soldier's Whisper. It's wonderful. Charlie Lesueur sent me his audio cds on western movie cowboys which are absolutely awesome! I have a couple of other books to get to as well. Maybe the fall will bring more time for reading and writing. Oh, and along the way this summer, I won an Arty Award for Literature. It was presented by my good friend, Diana Friend, of the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library. Sarah Fizell, head of Arts Connect, said:

We give a literary award because we believe that Topeka has a rich history of literary involvement that is deserving of recognition. Deb was given the award because of her promotion of the history of our state, her involvement in our community and, well, because she is so very awesome!!! 

Well, there is just a lot of awesomeness going around in our community. Speaking of which, here is a photo of me with my friend Michelle Levian that night. She is most remarkable!

June, oops, July!!!!

It has been a busy month....lots of changes. The Kansas Hall of Fame was a resounding success. Spending time with these laureates or their representatives is a priceless gift. While it is a celebratory event, the real work comes with sharing the stories of the laureates and maintaining a continuous presence in the state. That's what I am working on now. If you would like to get involved in the Kansas Hall of Fame, do I have a deal for you! Drop me a line!

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One of the highlights of the month of June was visiting Cowboy Culbertson's, American Frontier Adventure, near Easton, Kansas. Heather Newell, trusty camera girl and brains behind Around Kansas, shot some fantastic footage of artists staging scenes with various models. My personal favorite among the models was old friend, Wes Studi. We first met years ago at a gathering hosted by my friend, Carol Ann Turner. It was great to visit and I am looking forward to the episode of Around Kansas that will feature Wes, Cowboy Culbertson, Dick Deshon, and Judy Coder. Rod Beemer took these photos (I look forward to visiting with Rod and taking one of his "Boss Hawg" tours of local Indian Wars sites for another episode).

As legions of fans can attest, Wes is the most intense of actors. He brings an unparalleled passion to his work. When asked if his combat experience in Viet Nam informed certain performances, he responded that he has been fortunate to have a broad range of life experience and all of it informs his acting. "Authentic" was the word of the day whether talking with Wes about his acting or with Cowboy about the experience and images he and others are trying to create at the ranch.

 

 

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August 21 will mark the 150th anniversary of Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Kansas. Events will be held throughout the month to recall the events of that tragic summer. On August 24, 10 a.m., I will lead a tour of Topeka Cemetery, 10th & California, that will highlight the lives of some of those connected to the raid, including some survivors, who rest in our state's most historic graveyard. The cost is $10 per person and the tour is about 2 hours long. Bring bug spray and wear comfortable shoes. Email me for more info: debbisel@yahoo.com

 

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We are starting to accept donations for the 2nd annual Shawnee County Attic Sale, with proceeds to benefit the Shawnee County Historical Society and the terrific programing we do. At a recent board meeting, we were treated to a reenactment of the Underground Railroad by our own resident teacher, Melinda Abitz, and volunteers George Bernheimer (also a board member), his lovely wife, Diane, Alan Shirrell, and Melinda's daughter who was drafted as well. This is one of the programs that summer camp kids were exposed to this year. With more than 500 kids attending, we took history to a lot of folks!!! So please consider donating furniture, collectibles, coins, militaria--anything of value that be suitable for an "estate sale." Call us at the SCHS and leave a message; we will arrange for pickup. 785-234-6097.

Local artist/gallery owner Jeff Hisey is donating space for our auction/sale.  He is leasing the building at 109 North Kansas Avenue (at the south end of the bridge) and is turning the space into a creative mecca! Visit him on 1st Friday!!!

Kansas Hall of Fame

On June 21st, we will hold our reception and induction ceremony inducting the newest laureates into the Kansas Hall of Fame. While the event is a wonderful celebration, it is not our purpose. The event helps fund our purpose which is the sharing of the stories of the very deserving laureates with a public who deserve to know them.

KANSAS, the band, will be inducted as they celebrate their 40th birthday. Four decades as a rock band is amazing. These guys are nice people. They still like each other. They are not consumed by ego. That is amazing.

The music created by this group is enduring and profound. When I find myself perusing Facebook or Youtube sometimes, I click on one of their links and am blown away once more by their lyrics and their arrangements. There is not a moment that their music is not being heard somewhere around the world. It comforts, encourages, motivates, elevates. The state of Kansas is so proud to claim them and so proud that they chose the name of their native state. For putting Kansas on the musical map, we are grateful. Join us at White Concert Hall on Washburn University June 21st as we thank KANSAS for years of hard work and representing us to the world!!

Carry On!

Tickets are available at the Great Overland Station or at: http://kansashalloffame.eventbrite.com/#

Carry On Wayward Son

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Ah

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say

Carry on my wayward son,
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man,
Well, it surely means that I don't know

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune,
But I hear the voices say

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more no!

Carry on,
You will always remember
Carry on,
Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry,
Don't you cry no more,

No more!

Fiddlin' Dreams

I first met Tad Marks in Gettysburg. My dear friend, Carol Neumann Waskie, and I were sipping wine by the fire in the Dobyns House. Charlie Zahm was performing and I had become a fan since Carol's husband, Andy, had gifted me with his CD. He was accompanied by Tad on fiddle and Tad joined us in the parlor. The subject of Old Time music came up and I mentioned that I was related to Tommy Jarrell. Tad began to bow and stammer. I could not help but think if Uncle Tommy knew the reaction around the world when I tell people I knew him, and we are, in fact, distantly related, he would look down, rub the back of  his head and chuckle.

Yes, Uncle Tommy (actually cousin but Uncle is a sign of respect because of the age difference) has broadened my circle of friends and deepened the respect shown by perfect strangers.

Through the magic of Facebook, Tad and I stay connected so I can keep track of his own music career. This story he shared today was irresistible for creative types, and I wanted to share it with you:

Well the story goes- in a dream I was back in time sitting with Ronnie McCoury in a train station. we were waiting for Bill Monroe the Father of Bluegrass Music to get off the train and we were to take him to a festival. Monroe apparently was without his band and had been playing somewhere out west. Monroe kept talking about the American Indian he sat with on the train a Medicine Man. Monroe picked up Ronnie's mandolin and started playing a tune and this is what I heard. Even though it was a dream- I could see him clear as day and Then.... the alarm clock went off and i woke up !!!I worked this up on the fiddle real quick and recorded it , dubbed guitar and mandolin and electric bass immediately ...I found this original old DAT tape and added some reverb- here it is flaws-out of tune fiddle and all but it sounds just like the tune I heard in the dream. (right, photo of Tad with a student posted by Mike Biel on FB)

The result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j3Y2EMwMBm0

And, yes, I for one believe that Bill Monroe's personality was powerful enough to teach even in a dream.

Wild West -- On Sale Now!

 

 

When the storms rained out our cemetery tours, I picked up Noel and Alecia and we headed to Barnes and Noble--our destination of last resort. Picked up the newest issue of Wild West. There is a must-read article by Greg Michno, "Everything you know about the Indian Wars is wrong." It was great to see Greg at the Order of the Indian Wars in Denver when Michelle and I went out in Denver. He is a fine writer and historian, and this article is no exception.

 

Actually, this is one of those issues where every single article just strikes my fancy. Bil O'Neal has an interesting story on the Arizona Rangers, illustrated by a movie poster by that name for a film that starred Tim Holt, dad of my friend, Jack Holt.

 

The Weider History Group does it again. Great job, Greg Lalire!

I love Kansas...and KANSAS!

Good grief!! Another one of those times I have been too busy to blog, and I am grateful for the good things that have been happening.

Planning goes on for the Kansas Hall of Fame reception and induction. I am so fortunate to be involved in honoring and spreading the news of some of our most accomplished Kansans. This year's laureates are: James Naismith (who invented basketball); Drs. C. F., Karl and Will Menninger who founded the Menninger Psychiatric Clinic, Clark Kent/Superman, the band KANSAS, and the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry (the FIRST black regiment formed during the Civil War). We are beside ourselves that Bill Kurtis would make time to be our emcee for this event. The exhibit honoring these folks opens at the Great Overland Station during the First Friday artwalk, June 7. The reception will be June 21, 5:30 at the Great Overland Station and the induction ceremony is 7:30 at White Concert Hall the same evening. Reception tickets are $150 (and include the induction and will get you preferred seating in the concert hall). Tickets to the induction only are $20 and available through the Great Overland Station or at Eventbrite.com.

Attending the induction: descendants of the 1st Kansas and retired General Roosevelt Barfield, who will accept the honor on their behalf; Jim Naismith, grandson and namesake of the legendary professor; John Montgomery, Hutchinson publisher, who will accept on behalf of Clark Kent; Laura Siegel Larson, whose father, the late Jerry Siegel created Superman; the Menninger family; KANSAS band members Kerry Livgren, Dave Hope, Rich Williams, Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh, Robby Steinhardt, Billy Greer, David Ragsdale, and producer Jeff Glixman.

This will be an awesome event, celebrating the lives of people who have served and shared our state in meaningful and enduring ways. Plan to see you there!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Michelle Martin and I made a trek to Denver in April, for the Order of the Indian Wars Symposium. Had the opportunity to reconnect with dear friends like Louis Kraft and Jeff Broome and to meet new friends like Eric Johnson and Mary Lattin. Dr. John Monnett, a legend himself, was set up at the table next to us. Thanks to Layton Hooper for all he does to keep this organization going. It is a fantastic group of folks who are committed to studying and sharing some incredible history, history in which Kansas has a tremendous role. I will be speaking to this august group next year so mark your calendars for the April symposium.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Gary and I took a little trip west, as well, staying in the McCracken home of friends Les and Rose Diehl, then heading to Fort Wallace, Oberlin, and Bennington, where we once again took advantage of the hospitality of friends Rod and Dawn Beemer. Along the way, we visited that geographic wonder, Monument Rocks. Gary had never had the opportunity to see this site and I was tickled to be the one who shared it with him!

Fort Wallace has one of the most excellent museums in the state, or in the West for that matter, and they just got a huge boost. At his death, one of the museum's volunteers left a gift of $700,000 to the museum and to the local library--$700,000 to EACH of them. The gift was an overwhleming gesture and the museum plans to make good use of it. Jayne Pearce, head of the friends group, was emotional as the second check was presented to the group. I have no doubt they will put it to good use. The communities of Wallace and Sharon Springs have worked so hard with local contributions and volunteer labor and artifacts lovingly donated. (KDOT put in restrooms a few years back and marks the only state money, to my understanding, used at the facility.)

I was invited to be the guest speaker for their annual meeting and they treated Gary and myself like royalty. We stayed at the Sunflower Bed and Breakfast, formerly a Methodist church, in Sharon Springs. I highly recommend it. It is a modern remodel, very comfortable. 

Then it was on to Oberlin where I spoke at the high school and at the Last Indian Raid Museum. Decatur County has some incredible history and Sharleen Wurm, Galen Olson and...... gave Gary and me our own personal tour of the sites related to the Cheyenne raid that occurred there in 1878. Their museum complex is first rate. With at least 17 buildings, these folks are passionate about their history and they sure do all they can to share it. Again, we were just treated like royalty. We stayed at the LandMark Inn, built as the Oberlin Bank in 1886. It also served as the county courthouse for a time and the giftshop occupies space where bounties were paid on pelts in a bygone era. Was I thrilled or what to walk into our room, the R. A. Marks Suite, only to find a HUGE print of Buffalo Bill Cody on the wall. Proprietor Gary Anderson is a former banker himself and restoring this downtown landmark was a real labor of love. A real treat was being invited to the home of Galen and Lynn Olson for supper--wonderful company and delicious food.

I love Kansas!!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When we said so long for now, we headed to Phillipsburg where we stopped at historic Fort Bissell and were fortunate to catch it open. (It was just a little ahead of the season.) Again, what folks in thse communities are doing to preserve and share their history is so encouraging and truly remarkable. It makes me want to go back and rewrite the book on Forts and Bases! Actually, it should be volumes because there is so much to tell! For example, one of the buildings that has been relocated to Fort Bissell, is a family cabin where Buffalo Bill Cody was a frequent guest. That's enough to keep me coming back.

After visiting the folks at the bookstore in Philllipsburg, a really lovely couple, we stopped in to see Rod and Dawn Beemer--our home away from home in Bennington. Since the next day was our anniversary, Rod treated us to the "Boss Hawg Platinum Anniversary Tour" which featured sites in the story of Anna Morgan and Sarah White, abducted in this area in 1868 and rescued by Custer in 1869. Rod took us to places I would never have found in a million years and the scenery was glorious!!! Lunch in downtown Concordia and their museum is an absolute must-see. I have to say, visiting all these local museums makes me want to write a book just on that. Delphos, that tiny community with a big past, was open as well and it was a great opportunity to discover more than I had known like, Milburn Stone, Doc Adams of Gunsmoke fame, was married in the Presbyterian church here in Delphos. The town is most famous for being the residence of Grace Bedell Billings, the little girl who suggested that Lincoln grow a beard. Rod also took us to the Zebulon Pike Monument and that may very well be the most beautiful view in Kansas.

Rod and Gary, driving and riding shotgun, on the Boss Hawg Tour.

 

Until next time, Dear Reader, Happy Trails!!! This is just a little update from all the great things that are happening. Hope to see you soon!