LAHARPE As a former LaHarpe resident, Linda Womelsdorf sees a lot of similarities to the town she called home as a child.
Many of the buildings are still there, she noted. Both churches I attended as a child are here, too.
But theres a catch. Most of those buildings, which housed businesses at one point, have long been vacant and are deteriorating. Only one of the churches remains active.
We used to have a thriving school, Womelsdorf noted. Now, its gone.
Like countless other small, rural communities, LaHarpe has struggled to maintain its identity as businesses, then residents, have drifted away.
But amid the communitys troubles, Womelsdorf, who moved away with her family as a sixth-grader before returning to Allen County as an adult, sees glimmers of hope.
Ive talked to a lot of people who are interested in helping and giving suggestions on what they need and want from the community, said Womelsdorf, hired earlier this year as wellness coordinator for the LaHarpe fitness center.
Womelsdorf and her co-coordinator, Lindsey Temaat, are hosting an open house at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at LaHarpe City Hall.
The open house will feature a tour of all of the rooms at City Hall open to the public: the gymnasium and fitness center; library, museum, kitchen and a multi-purpose room made available after city records were relocated to the LaHarpe Police Department.
The goal, Womelsdorf said, is to remind folks of the amenities available at City Hall, and to take suggestions on what sort of events and programs theyd like to see offered.
Weve already heard several suggestions, Womelsdorf said.
After moving from LaHarpe with her family in her pre-teen years, Womelsdorf lived in Anderson County, gradutating from Garnett, before attending Allen County Community College for a year. She then moved to Emporia, where she owned and managed an in-home preschool and child care center for 17 years.
After that, Womelsdorf moved to Iola, where she worked for USD 257s food service department, then at Gates Corporation for a spell before returning to school at Allen.
Upon earning her associates degree, Womelsdorf taught at Iola Head Start for several years before retiring in 2017.
Since then, shes kept busy doing cleaning jobs, gardening, staying active with her church, playing cards at the Senior Center and dancing.
TEMAAT brings a different perspective to her position as a college sophomore. The Leonardville native came to Iola in the fall of 2017 as a freshman at Allen, where she has since become the student body president and heavily involved with the school choir, theatre and band all of the arts, basically, she said and on the Allen Flame, the schools online newspaper.
