The generous soul we knew as Norman Trichler has gone home to be with the Lord. Norman was born on Nov. 20, 1937, in Okhema, Okla. He married the love of his life, Eunice Jackson, of Yates Center. He died on Nov. 30, 2017, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He had two loving sisters: Karen Rogers and Sharen Stockebrand. He is survived by his sons Grant and Todd Trichler along with their wives, Joe and Heidi and the following grandchildren: Megan, Penny, Jason and Sydney Trichler.
We will miss you! Give Eunice, David, Mark and Ben a big hug for us when you see them.
Edith Murray
“She was always there.”
Edith Marie (Dryden) Murray was born Feb. 15, 1923, in Colony, to Karr and Flossie Dryden and was one of eight children. Edith left for Heaven Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, after a courageous battle with cancer.
Edith entered the U.S. Navy WAVES in January 1944 and served her country honorably during World War II primarily in Washington, D.C., of which Edith had many fond memories. She married Robert G. (Bob) Murray on Dec. 1, 1951, in San Francisco. Edith and Bob returned to the Kansas City area in 1953 where their children, Rick and Cheryl, were born. Edith’s husband, Bob, was transferred in a job promotion to Springfield, Mo., in early 1960 where the family spent the better part of 10 wonderful years. Edith was active with her church in Springfield, Westminster Presbyterian, and in the primary role of raising her children while being the rock that held the family together.
Edith was a fine piano player and vocalist who provided the music for many family and neighborhood singalongs at the Murray home. A job-related transfer for Bob took Edith and family back to the KC area in December 1969, where the family resided in Shawnee. On Oct. 1, 1977, Bob and Edith founded Murray Industrial Food Sales, Inc. with Edith as office manager. Edith’s son Rick joined the business in June 1978 and continues to run the business today. Rick offers heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity of not only a career but to have had the chance to work side by side with both Edith and Bob.
Edith was predeceased by her husband Bob in July 2011 and is survived by her loving daughter Cheryl, son Rick and his wife Cheryl and daughter Cara. Cara will always hold a special place in Edith’s heart. Sisters Doris Dodson, Elma Luthye and Irma Butler and brother Everett Dryden also survive.
Edith always put family first and wanted the best for them along with her many friends. She was always ready to help with her kindness and friendly personality which were always apparent to those she came in contact with.
Visitation is set for 10-11 a.m. Thursday, at Community Covenant Church. 15700 W. 87th St. Pkwy, Lenexa, KS 66219 with a funeral service immediately following at 11. Burial will take place at Resurrection Cemetery in Lenexa.
Contributions in lieu of flowers may be sent in Edith’s memory to Community Covenant Church and American Cancer Society, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, MO 64105.
Online condolences may be expressed through the Amos Family Chapel of Shawnee at www.amosfamily.com.
Christopher Gerardy
Christopher Michael Gerardy, 50, Columbia, Mo., began his rest with our heavenly Father on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, with his family by his side, after a nine-day battle following a heart attack.
He was born June 6, 1967, in Chanute, the son of Regina (Bailey) Seltmann and Michael Gerardy.
Chris graduated from Chanute High School (Class of 1985) and received his associate of arts degree from Fort Scott Community College in 1987. He was a member of the Greyhounds baseball team while attending FSCC.
On Aug. 12, 1989, he married Melissa Scantlin. Their marriage was blessed with the birth of two sons: Brandon Michael Gerardy and Seth Alan Gerardy.
Chris’ greatest joy was his two sons. He was a devoted father to them and a mentor/father figure to a host of other young adults. He was an avid KU basketball fan and a fan of anything and everything baseball, especially his son’s college team at Rogers State University.
He spent many years as a youth baseball coach; countless hours in batting cages throwing batting practice and/or soft toss; was a Scout leader and district commissioner for the Great Rivers Council; and was a basketball and then baseball umpire for many years. A highlight for Chris as an umpire was being selected by a team in Columbia to travel to Cooperstown to umpire a youth tournament at the Cooperstown Dream Park.
Chris loved life and enjoyed giving individuals a hard time. You knew Chris liked you if he picked on you.
Chris is survived by his wife, Melissa; his sons, Brandon and Seth; his “daughter,” Hannah (Kayleigh) Sanders; his parents, Sue and Dave Scantlin; his bonus parents, Wanda and Ernie Davidson; his sisters, Mona and Leland Hull and Kathy and Tim Robinson; his nieces and nephews, Joshua, Samuel and Laney Hull; Taylor Scantlin and Monte Sexton, Nicole and Kyle Joy, Kali and Kinley, Nick and Tiffany Robinson, Trey Robinson and Travis Robinson and fiancée Jaelee Ward; his work family at Home Depot in Columbia, Mo.; his baseball friends and family; and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who will all miss him dearly.
He was predeceased by his father Michael Gerardy; his grandparents Gene and Pauline Bailey; and his brother-in-law, Mike Scantlin.
Visitation is 5-7 p.m. today at Countryside Funeral Home-Humboldt Chapel. A funeral service is at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Humboldt. Interment will follow at Mount Hope Cemetery in Humboldt. In lieu of flowers, memorials have been suggested to Christopher Gerardy’s Children’s Educational Fund or to the Amplifying Millennials Project and may be left with or mailed to Countryside Funeral Home, 908 Central, Humboldt, KS 66748.
Letter to the editor — December 12, 2017
Dear editor,
On “60 Minutes” a few of weeks ago Bill Koch, the estranged brother of Charles Koch, said “I collect wine, Charles collects money.” They have amassed a $96 billion fortune and still want more.
They and their network of billionaire political spenders have made their marching orders clear this year — kill the Affordable Care Act and pass sweeping new tax breaks for corporations and the top 1 percent or don’t come looking to us to bankroll your 2018 campaigns. They are in their 80s and want the inheritance tax eliminated. Their family would be one of the largest benefactors in America. They didn’t want Trump to win. I don’t think they gave him a penny. They supported Scott Walker the union-busting governor of Wisconsin and Marco Rubio.
The Kochs have all but taken over the U.S. government.
Marc Short worked for the Kochs, then took a job with Mike Pence, who the Koch Brothers put in as governor of Indiana.
After Trump won, Pence became vice president and Short was put in as director of Legislative Affairs.
The Koch network has almost someone in every state whether it’s the House, Senate, or a political appointee that will work their favors, including Mike Pompeo, now head of CIA, Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts and Gov. Sam Brownback. Elsewhere is Sen. Roy Blunt, Missouri, Senate President Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Paul Ryan, Wisconsin, Speaker of the House. The Kochs wanted Ryan to be vice president. Tom Colburn and Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma are also under the Kochs’ sway. Pruitt, director of the EPA, is changing the rules in favor of big business. Exxon Mobil (No. 7) and Koch Industries (No. 8) are two of the biggest polluters in the United States. Koch Industries has paid $657 million in fines to the EPA. They have said sometimes it’s cheaper to pay the fines than it is to clean it up.
The Kochs want trickle-down economics like we had in Kansas. It failed, and it will fail again if Congress passes the tax bill. Whenever you cut tax revenue you still have bills that must be paid. The far right is spinning this as a middle-class tax cut when 80 percent is going to the top 1 percent. We know it’s not going to be the rich that will pay for it, just like we saw in Kansas. Trump wants to get rid of Medicaid, taking the $700 billion to pay for this tax cut. Ronald Reagan robbed the money from Social Security and now your children might not get it. Can you imagine what would happen if Social Security goes broke? Sixty-two percent of the population only have $10,000 at retirement.
They tell us this will spur the economy because it will give the middle class $800-$1,200 on average more income from tax breaks when all they would have to do is give them a simple raise. A dollar an hour for a 40-hour week would give them $2,000 more a year. Would that break a small business? It certainly wouldn’t make us go $1.5 trillion more in debt.
David Comstock
Colony, Kan.
Topeka joins Tobacco 21, nationwide effort to prevent teen smoking
Topeka joined the ranks last week in banning the sale of tobacco products to those under 21. That swells the total, including Iola, to 18 in Kansas. Altogether, 300 communities across 18 states have joined the effort to raise the sales age from 18 to 21. Five states — California, Oregon, Hawaii, Maine and New Jersey — have enacted statewide bans.
Despite the common knowledge that smoking or chewing tobacco products can ruin your health, the tobacco industry is a formidable foe, devoting more than $8 billion a year in marketing in the United States alone.
Today’s menthol cigarettes and other flavored “starter products” such as e-cigarettes and hookahs are designed specifically to attract younger audiences. Because cigarettes and the like are highly addictive, the tobacco industry targets teens for two reasons:
1. Their physiologies are more susceptible to becoming addicted, and
2. Once addicted, they guarantee a longer revenue stream.
The good news is that anti-tobacco campaigns work, too.
Truth Initiative is one such nationwide campaign. Its focus is to deter youth from starting the habit by showing the negative health and social consequences of using tobacco products.
Truth Initiative research shows that its annual campaigns have prevented more than 300,000 of today’s youth from becoming smokers.
One argument against smoking is that it robs years off your life.
A better argument is that smoking affects the quality of your life. Common symptoms among tobacco users include compromised respiratory and pulmonary function resulting in shortness of breath and chronic coughing. Cancers of the lung and bronchial passageways are typical, and smokers overall have a higher incidence of all kinds of cancers.
Now why would you want your children to face a future like that?
TOBACCO 21 efforts are gaining traction across the country. Iola is on the leading edge of the curve.
Good for us!
— Susan Lynn
Lezlie Gean
Lezlie Claudyne (Tomlinson) Gean died Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 at KU Medical Center surrounded by family.
She was born to Vaughn and Linda (Lindsay) Tomlinson on Oct. 4, 1975. Vaughn passed away in May 1977. Linda and Joseph Michael were married April 9, 1983, and made their home east of Humboldt, where they raised Lezlie and her two younger siblings.
Lezlie was a member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. She graduated from Humboldt High School in 1994. Lezlie started work at Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center in Humboldt on April 10, 1995. She spent the next 22 years enjoying helping others who needed care. Michael Gean and Lezlie were married at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Oct. 17, 1998. The family was blessed with Michael’s two sons from a previous marriage, Garron and Ryan. To this union were born three children, Evan, Madison and Aiden. Garron and Ryan blessed her with three grandchildren, Hilary, Daigan and Adrian.
Lezlie loved spending time with her family. She was a dedicated and loving wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister. All five children were involved in sports and Lezlie enjoyed taking them to practices and watching their games. Her family was the center of her world and being with them was her favorite pastime. Many happy times were spent at her parents’ home, surrounded by her family.
Lezlie is survived by her husband Michael; children Garron and his wife Audrey, Humboldt, Ryan, Chanute, and Evan, Madison and Aiden, of the home; parents Linda and Joseph Michael, Humboldt; siblings Travis Tomlinson, Iola, Dana Michael, Frontenac, Butch Tomlinson and wife Veronica, Piqua, and Tina Murcko and husband Rick, Iola; three grandchildren; grandmothers, Dixie Lindsay, Iola, Vada (Michael) Aikins, Humboldt, and JoAnn Michael, Topeka; and numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. She was preceded in death by her father, Vaughn; grandparents Emmett Lindsay, Roy Aikins, Glen Michael and Kenny and Claudine Coy; four uncles; two great-uncles; three great-aunts; and numerous cousins.
A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Humboldt. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. today at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, 1883 U.S. 54, Iola. Contributions in her memory are suggested to the Lezlie C. Gean Memorial Fund. A GoFundMe account to help the family has been set up online at www.gofundme.com/lezlies-kids-educationsports-fund. Notes can be left for her family at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.
Kansas in the spotlight, but the focus is not flattering
Kansas made national news Thursday night when PBS NewsHour reporter Paul Solman used us as a recent example of trickle-down economics.
Solman, formerly of the Harvard Business School, regularly reports on business and economics news.
In Thursday’s report, Solman interviewed State Sen. Ty Masterson, State Rep. Melissa Rooker, and Duane Goossen, former state budget director for three administrations, Republican and Democrat.
Of the three, Masterson was the outlier by defending the drastic tax cuts of 2012 and saying they should have been given more time to do their magic.
Rep. Rooker reminded listeners that legislators cut the state budget nine times in order to get expenses to meet the drastically reduced revenues. Rooker maintained the cuts severely affected the quality of the programs and services the state could provide.
“What has always been a draw for Kansas is the quality of life, the stability here, [the] excellence of our public school system. By cutting into those basics, we really have shot ourselves in the foot,” she said.
Goossen said that as soon as the tax cuts took effect, the state’s income dropped precipitously; by $700 million, or 25 percent, throwing the state into a budget crisis.
MASTERSON then let the other proverbial shoe drop.
For the tax cuts to truly work, he said, the state should have made even more funding cuts to programs and services such as public education, both K-12 and higher ed, less funding for road and bridge maintenance, state correctional facilities, state hospitals, children’s health programs, etc.
Masterson went so far as to say that Kansas is in need of “bariatric surgery,” our government is so bloated.
Personally, Masterson is not noted for his business acumen.
In 2012, his construction company went belly up and he was forced to file for bankruptcy.
In 2016, Masterson was rescued by Koch Industries when it tapped him as their director of GoCreate, a program that rents out space and equipment for industrial design projects on the campus of Wichita State University.
Because Congress is now debating a massive income tax cut in the same vein, it’s important to realize the cuts will be paid for primarily by reducing the size of entitlement programs such as Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.
That portends, as Ms. Rooker said, our quality of life will suffer. Or at least, that’s the case for the majority of Americans. Those who would benefit the most from the tax cuts, the elite, will be all the more cozy.
That’s not an aspiring future.
— Susan Lynn
Elaine Green
Elaine L. Green, 74, Moran, died Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, at Allen County Regional Hospital in Iola. Her burial will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Kingman. Donations in her memory may be made at https://www.youcaring.com/kaywalker-1040171.
Santa’s Toy Shop sounds appeal for donations
With Santa’s Toy Shop slated to open to the public once again Dec. 21 in downtown Iola, organizers have sounded another appeal for donations.
The Toy Shop needs toys, batteries and lots of cookies, organizers announced over the weekend on Facebook.
Most of the shop’s inventory was destroyed by flooding over the summer, so organizers have had to start from scratch, adding urgency to this year’s endeavor.
The Toy Shop, sponsored by Tracy Keagle and Humanity House, offers a free toy to any youngster who shows up, starting Dec. 21, and each night thereafter until Christmas Eve.
Keagle estimated the Toy Shop had about 1,500 toys on hand for youngsters to pick from; this year, they have roughly half that many on hand.
Because many of the toys are battery-operated, Keagle said battery donations would be greatly appreciated, so each toy is ready to go when the children arrive.
She also is in search of about 100 dozen cookies, and sounded an alert over the weekend to bakers everywhere. She’s requesting the cookies be homemade, not store-bought.
Santa’s Toy Shop will once again open with great fanfare Dec. 21, with a massive Christmas parade escorting Santa around the courthouse square.
Lineup for the parade starts at 5:15 p.m. along South Jefferson Avenue for its 6 o’clock launch. The aim is to get more than 500 carolers to partake in the parade, with the goal of setting a national Christmas carol record.
Previous parades featured roughly 250 youngsters, Keagle said. Hope Unlimited also will be on hand to serve up ham and beans to the hungry revelers.
The toy shop opens as soon as the parade ends, and will remain open until 9 p.m. Dec. 21. The shop also will be open 6-8 p.m. Dec. 22 and 23, and 5-7 p.m. Christmas Eve.
The toys should be new or gently used and unwrapped. Donations can be taken to the Humanity House office at 509 N. State St., or to 410 E. Madison Ave., or at the toy shop if anybody is there.
Sights of the season
Above, Mackenzie Sager offers her Christmas wishes to Santa Claus Saturday, after Sager and scores of other youngsters visited Santa’s temporary quarters on the southeast corner of the courthouse square in Iola. At left, Cindy Lucas is flanked by her grandson, Jace, and Quackers the Duck at a puppet and storytime session at Around the Corner Coffee Shop. Local merchants have banded together to offer Christmas-themed activities each Saturday afternoon and Thursday evening in downtown Iola. Santa’s House is open 5-7 p.m. Thursday and 1 p.m. Saturday. Other Christmas activities include the annual Jingle Bell Jog Saturday morning and the Little Miss and Mr. Merry Christmas Pageant at 7 p.m. at the Iola Community Theatre Warehouse. PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSICA QUALLS (LEFT)