A long walk: South Hutch man calling attention to adoption, foster care
Rev. Glenn J. Koster, Sr. of South Hutchinson is accustomed to long walks, both literally and figuratively.
In his younger days he had a long walk as he searched for his forever home first adopted at age six before finding himself in a need of a new family. Thirteen months later I was pulled out of that home as a victim of emotional and sexual abuse, : Koster said. I entered the foster care system and lost a foster father to a heart attack while I was living with him. It took three weeks to find a place to move me to. I was readopted when I was 10.
Lenora Friesen
Lenora Doris Friesen was born Oct. 15, 1928, to Jacob and Elizabeth Olfert Friesen in Mt. Lake, Minnesota.
She grew up on the farm and helped her parents both with farm work and household chores. She was baptized as a teenager in the creek behind the church and joined the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren church of Mt. Lake.
After high school she attended Grace Bible Institute in Omaha, Nebraska.
On June 24, 1948, she married Donald Klassen and worked with him to establish their farm south of Mt. Lake.
Church was an integral part of her life and she was active in many committees. Family and friends were also valuable to her, and time was spent with them.
Kansas Profile: Bringing back the Sunflower Theatre
The Kansan
This year, 2021, is the national year of the sunflower. That’s nice recognition, especially because the pretty, golden sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. In one rural community, this has served as inspiration for a beautification initiative. Coincidentally, this is also a year when that community is working to save its historic theater downtown. The building is named – what else? – the Sunflower Theatre.
Last week, we met Dr. Susan Mayo, who is part of the effort to save the historic Sunflower Theatre in downtown Peabody. Among the others joining in that effort is Marilyn Jones, who has also taken on a project of community beautification.
For years now, Bob Nawrocki has been trying to get to the bottom of a mystery that dates back to 1954.
The story begins with two brothers, Fred and Floyd Perry, who dreamed of becoming railroad tycoons. So much so, that they spent seven years building their very own locomotive in the backyard of Fred’s small house at 44. S. Whitney St. in St. Augustine.
That’s right. They built a 60,000-pound, 36-foot-long completely functional narrow-gauge steam locomotive Fred called Engine 425. They bought the plans from a company that was making steam railroad engines. They did all of their machine work; they had casting done by a local pattern place in town; they did all their own welding and painting, said Nawrocki, St. Augustine Historical Society s chief librarian. By 1963, their total cost was well over $71,000.