Altis Gordon Ferree, 78, passed away on Friday, July 19, 2013, at Kansas Heart Hospital in Wichita.
Altis was born Oct. 3, 1934 in Woodson County, the son of Marcus Ferree and Clara (Diver). Altis grew up in the Woodson County area, attended Yates Center schools and graduated from Yates Center High School in 1952.
After high school Altis married Peggy Dixon on June 1, 1952, at the EUB Church in Yates Center and soon after began his career of farming and construction with his father. Altis and Peggy were blessed with three daughters, Linda, Debbie and Christie. Altis worked for most of his life. He and Peggy owned and operated Ferree Pipe Supply just east of Yates Center for many years.
Upon Altis’ retirement he began to attend the daily meetings of the Liar’s Club in Yates Center as well as having ample time to spend with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren; watching them in their various sports and other activities. He truly enjoyed watching softball of all ages. He was also very active in the community. He was a member of 4-H Extension Council, involved in the Woodson County Fair, the local Lions Club, Soil Conservation, Kansas Board of Agriculture, Kansas State Fair Board for 20 years, the Woodson County Historical Society as well as a member of the Presbyterian Church, the Woodson County Farm Bureau and the Woodson County Cooperative Association.
Altis was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his loving wife Peggy, Yates Center; his daughters, Linda Old and husband Bill, Yates Center, Debbie Horst and husband John, Caney, and Christie Joyce, Yates Center; six grandchildren, Michael and Casey Old, Alex Horst, Allison (Horst) Davidson and husband Adam, Afton (Horst) Owen and husband Mike, and Ryan Joyce; great-grandchildren, Garrett, Lauryn, and Natilee Davidson and Kale and Addison Owen. Altis is also survived by many other relatives and friends.
Services are at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Campbell Funeral Home, Yates Center. Burial will follow in Yates Center Cemetery. Visitation is Monday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. also at Campbell Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorials be made to the Woodson County 4-H Council and “Friends for Life” of Yates Center. Memorials may be sent in care of Campbell Funeral Home P.O. Box 188 Yates Center, KS 66783.
Letter to the editor — July 22, 2013
To the editor,
Whether they are Iolans or persons from very far away, the motives of the promoters of the proposed new nursing home are clear. They each have a financial stake, whether large or small, in the project.
We who oppose it also have a financial stake. Our life savings have been invested in our homes, and we do not want them to be devalued.
However, beyond that we also have major concerns with ways in which the project would affect the quality of our lives. These range from general increased traffic and the introduction of regular semi deliveries into a no-through-truck area, to noise and light spillage concerns, to serious drainage issues, which caused the developer’s representative at the planning commission meeting to turn his back and stomp to the back of the meeting hall instead of answering in a responsible manner.
Those whose yards border the site will have the dubious pleasure of sampling cigarette smoke from employees on break and watching (and listening to) the dementia patients in their outdoor recreation area enclosed by wrought iron fencing, kind of a human zoo.
WE WHO LIVE in the North Kentucky/East Buchanan neighborhood came here for a reason. We like peace and quiet and a relationship with nature that is impossible in a more intensely settled area. These would be destroyed by this project.
Some say this is for the good of the community, but this is questionable. Last week a survey of the local nursing homes found 35 assisted living vacancies, all of them priced below the high dollar rent that would be asked by these developers. We don’t need 22, 26, or 28 (the numbers keep changing) more accommodations.
The local employment envisioned is 22 full-time equivalent positions. This strongly implies most of the positions will be part-time, no-benefit, jobs. Are these the jobs our community needs?
The existing lots generate some tax income, but a 10-year tax abatement has been proposed for the project so the tax gain would be negative.
Finally, and most importantly, one does not build a community by destroying its neighborhoods.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Dvorachek,
Iola, Kan.
How to ‘wring out the bias’ woven in our fabric
President Obama has me pegged.
As a white woman, I have hugged my purse tighter when on an elevator in the presence of black youths.
As a white woman, I have locked my car doors when in a section of a predominately black neighborhood.
No personal experience has formed these irrational fears. That I live in rural Kansas, where African Americans are increasingly few, plays a big part. You fear what you don’t know. It’s also easy to have statistics paint a more ominous picture than reality.
LAST FRIDAY Obama addressed the Florida jury ruling that found George Zimmerman not guilty for the death of Trayvon Martin. Though he didn’t agree with the verdict, Obama was not critical of the judicial process.
Obama knows from first-hand experience that racism exists in the United States. As with other black youths, Obama has experienced women hugging their purses all the more tighter when in their presence; he has been followed by department store guards for no reason other than the color of his skin, and he has heard the click of car door locks when on the streets of South Chicago.
It’s experiences like those and a million others that prepared the black community for another letdown with the Zimmerman ruling.
Blacks in America have experienced a history of racial discrimination, that continues to this day. African-American boys are “painted with a broad brush” that warns of trouble, said Obama. That as a country we expect black males to be more associated with crime than their white counterparts, speaks of our inborn prejudices. If George Zimmerman had shot a white youth carrying only Skittles and a can of pop, would the police response to the situation have been the same? Would the jury have ruled the same way?
MORE IMPORTANTLY, how can we as a society overcome racial stereotypes?
First step; gain some understanding.
Little things help.
Such as knowing African Americans (and women) were not eligible to receive Social Security during its first 15 years. The program was begun in 1935 under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt to help take Americans into their sunset years.
Southern Democrats, however, feared that assistance would steer African Americans and women away from the lesser-paid jobs of domestic service and farm labor. The powerful Southern bloc held sway, and Social Security was passed exempting those two “classes.”
It wasn’t until 1950 African Americans and women were granted Social Security for participating in the American work force.
This is recent history, folks.
And of course, there’s the bit about slavery — 245 years to be exact. The first African slaves arrived in the new world in 1620. Slavery was not abolished until 1865.
SOME WANT to “dodge” our history, like the tool on a computer program that erases imperfections. Go to the Deep South and Confederate flags still wave, as if the war over slavery was way overblown.
These lessons need to be kept fresh in our hearts and minds just as with the atrocities of the Holocaust, lest we minimize their importance.
President Obama implores us to start conversations in our families, churches and workplaces as to how we can be more open-minded, less judgmental and bigger-hearted.
He’s asked me to “wring out as much bias” as I can, to not judge others by their color, but by their character.
And for the next time I’m on that elevator, to relax.
Laura and David Tidd
Laura (Hessling) Blank, Wheatfield, Ind., and David Tidd, Iola, are happy to announce their marriage on May 27, 2013.
The couple was married at South Point Baptist Church in Crown Point, Ind. Jarod Long officiated the ceremony.
Laura is an accountant and David is a mail carrier and farmer.
The couple spent their honeymoon in Middleburg, Ind., and will live in Iola.
Dwight and Dorothy Howard
Dwight and Dorothy (Carr) Howard, Iola, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
The couple was married on Aug. 23, 1953, in Coffeyville.
They will celebrate their anniversary on July 28 with their family. Their children are Annette Vogel and husband Matt, Lee’s Summit, Mo., Janie Watts and husband Robert, Nevada, Mo., Cathy Morrell and husband Jack, Iola, and Linda Lawson, Olathe. They have nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Cards may be sent to 1612 N. Kentucky, Iola, KS 66749.
Ann Bowers and Chris Rohr
Ann Bowers, Raytown, Mo., and Chris Rohr, Iola, are happy to announce their engagement.
Ann is the daughter of the Rev. William and Carol Bowers, Independence, Mo. Chris is the son of Neal and Ramona Rohr, Colony.
Grandparents of the bride are William and Lena Bowers, Kidder, Mo. Grandmother of the groom is Katheleen Hufferd, Chanute.
Ann is an accountant at City Union Mission and an auditor/parker for the Kansas City Royals. Chris has a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a concentration in commercial art from Pittsburg State University. He works for Xerox.
The couple will be married on Aug. 17, 2013, at Raytown First Baptist Church.
James Hunt
James Allen “Jim” Hunt, 75, Humboldt, passed away Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at his home.
Jim was born Aug. 6, 1937, in Humboldt, the son of James Henry and Clara Bertha (Wilhite) Hunt. He grew up in Humboldt.
On June 1, 1956, Jim married Yvonne Coble at Humboldt’s First Baptist Church. They made their home in Humboldt.
In 1973, Jim opened Hunt’s Plumbing and operated his business until retiring in 2010. From 1976 until 1992 he served on the Humboldt volunteer fire department. Jim served on the USD 258 Vocation Advisory Committee, volunteered for Meals-On-Wheels and the Humboldt Food Pantry and stirred beans at Biblesta. He was a 17-gallon blood donor.
Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Yvonne Hunt; five children, Sheila Bockover and husband Kevin, Humboldt, Jamie Hunt and wife Sari, Iola, Lora Hunt, Humboldt, Barbara Haigler and husband Chuck, Humboldt, and Michael Hunt and wife Dori, Gas; three brothers, Clifford Hunt, Claremore, Okla., Charles Hunt, Oolagah, Okla., and Calvin Hunt, Grand Lake, Okla.; one sister Mary Murrell, Tulsa, Okla.; 13 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a granddaughter, Jennifer Hunt.
Cremation has taken place.
Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Faith Assembly of God, Humboldt. Memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Faith Assembly of God.
Memorials can be made to Faith Assembly of God or Harry Hynes Hospice. Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Memorial Chapel, Iola, assisted the family.
Online condolences for the family may be left at www.iolafuneral.com.
Everett Guder
Everett Guder, 86, Bronson, passed away Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at St. Francis Hospital, Wichita.
Everett was born Aug. 6, 1926, on the family farm near Bronson, the son of Roy and Edna (Garrison) Guder. He grew up in the Bronson area, graduating from high school there. On July 23, 1950, Everett married Dollene Talbott at her parents’ farm near Bronson. This union was blessed with three children. Everett was a farmer and also worked for the Bronson Elevator for a number of years before going to work for Bourbon County, where he ran a county road maintainer.
He is survived by his wife, Dollene; two sons, Rolland and Gary, Bronson; one daughter, Rhonda Hunt and Ron Helman, Iola; a granddaughter, Nikki Call and husband Ryan, Lawrence; three brothers, Clyde, Kirkwood, Mo., Russell and wife Wanda, Bronson, and Dale and wife Betty, Lawrence; three sisters, Eunice Heider, Pittsburg, Margie Woodward and husband Myron, Tulsa, Okla., and Avis Hawn, Pittsburg.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel in Moran. Burial will follow in Fairview Cemetery, Mildred. Memorial contributions may be made to the donor’s choice.
Frank Scheer
Franklin Dean “Frank” Scheer, 56, Iola, passed away Wednesday, July 17, 2013, at his home.
Frank was born July 10, 1957, in Iola, the son of Franklin Armon “Jack” and Wanda Jean (Potter) Scheer. He grew up in Iola and completed vo-tech school for auto body repair in Wichita.
He worked for Jay Patterson and purchased his body shop, operating the business as Frank’s Body Shop until selling it in 2010.
On July 17, 1981, Frank married Rita Runer. They later divorced.
Frank was a member of Iola Elks, National Rifle Association, Duck’s Unlimited and the Garnett shooting range. He enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping.
Survivors are his sister, Joyce McCullough, Iola, his dog P.J. and a number of nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Laura Newman and brother David Scheer.
Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Chapel, Iola.
Burial will be at Highland Cemetery, Iola. Memorials can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and left at Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Chapel.
Online condolences for the family may be left at www.iolafuneral.com.
with photo
For this landlubber swimming is not my second nature
While most people enthusiastically jump into a glistening swimming pool in the summer, I like to sit on the side. It’s not because I want to work on my tan. It’s because I never learned how to swim. Yes, you read that correctly. I’m an adult who can’t swim.
Why didn’t I learn? When I was five years old my parents signed me up for swimming lessons. My classmates loved splashing around and jumping into the shallow end of the pool. I was mortified. I struggled with putting my head below water, refused to jump in — even if the instructor was standing right there — and never let go of the edge. I passed that first year of swimming lessons but never went back.
This week I’ve worked on a story about the importance of people learning to swim. This year there have been 12 drownings reported in Kansas and 24 in Missouri. These numbers are surprisingly high and we’re only half way through the summer.
Over the years I’ve had people teach me the basic strokes and I can keep my head above water if need be, but I still stay clear of the deep end. When I was in junior high my physical education teacher had me jump in the deep end of the pool as part of an exercise. I told her multiple times I couldn’t swim but it was part of the assignment and I almost drowned. Luckily, there were people around; they pulled me out and I completed the assignment in the shallow end.
BUT WHAT if I had jumped into a lake or pond and that had happened. All of the drownings reported this year have been in lakes or ponds, not pools. At these locations there is minimal supervision and sometimes no lifeguard on duty. People rarely wear life jackets. Just because you believe you are a strong swimmer, lifejackets should still be worn. Anything could happen. The current could change or you could fall off a boat.
As I researched information for my article I began to realize that it is important for people of all ages to know how to swim. A co-worker mentioned that swimming should be similar to learning how to crawl or walk. He’s right. Knowing how to swim is necessary and can save your life.
When having fun in the sun this summer remember to be smart. Wear lifejackets, supervise your children and don’t dive into unfamiliar water. As for me, I’ll stay on the sidelines this summer but maybe next year I’ll take up lessons again.