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Author: Pat Melgares

Lynne Hagmeier, quilts

Store front, Kansas Troubles Quilters in Bennington
Kansas Troubles Quilters (Bennington, Kan.)

Where would you find an internationally known quilt designer?

Would you believe, in the middle of rural Kansas?

Lynne Hagmeier is too modest to describe herself in this way, but Hagmeier’s world-class quilt design work has been recognized across the nation and beyond.

Lynne and Robert Hagmeier are the owners of Kansas Troubles Quilters shop in Bennington. Lynne became fascinated with sewing at an early age. “Mom taught me to sew, and my grandmother made Barbie doll clothes with me,” Hagmeier said.

Quilting would come later.

She grew up in Bennington, married her high school sweetheart, joined the Air Force, and used the GI bill to earn a degree in social work. She was living in Texas with her family when her husband was killed in an auto accident. Lynne and her four little kids returned to Kansas.

At a church picnic, she met Robert Hagmeier who was from Salina and had children the same age as hers. Lynne and Robert married and settled in Salina.

Hagmeier took a break from social work. She went into a local quilt shop and found she was fascinated with quilting. She and two friends started making little quilts. They decided to sell them at the Salina Riverfest.

“The Riverfest needed a name to put in the program,” Hagmeier said. “We looked in the quilt encyclopedia, which has thousands of quilt blocks, and found a design from the Civil War called Kansas Troubles. One of our husbands called the three of us triple trouble, so it seemed like a fit.”

Kansas Troubles Quilters was born. In 1994, after many requests for the patterns of their original creations, they published their patterns for wholesale distribution to quilt shops. Hagmeier continued the business after her friends moved on. She especially liked the design work.

“I didn’t want to make the same quilt over and over,” Hagmeier said. “I liked designing new ones, and I wanted to sell my ideas rather than sell my labor.”

She traveled around the state showing store owners her designs. One owner suggested she go to the International Quilt Market in Houston. She did so and connected with the Moda fabrics company, sometimes described as the Cadillac of fabric wholesalers. The people at Moda liked her work so much that they asked her to design a fabric line for them in 1999.

The Hagmeiers needed more space as the business grew. They bought and remodeled a vacant building in Lynne’s hometown of Bennington where they eventually moved.

The Hagmeiers also enjoy collecting antiques. They display many of those antiques in their store.

“Quilt retreats were becoming popular,” Lynne said. The Hagmeiers made the upstairs into a place for quilt retreats and put her studio and a small retail space on the first floor. The space became booked solid for retreats. As demand grew, the retail space expanded to fill the entire first floor and the studio was moved into their home.

“We started getting requests to do training and demonstrations in other states,” Hagmeier said. Then she began participating in something called a quilting cruise to places such as Alaska, Europe, and the Caribbean. Demand blossomed to the point that Robert left his job and joined the business.

Kansas Troubles quilts now hosts an annual fall KT & Friends quilters retreat which attracts 50-80 ladies from across the country. “I like to bring in a guest teacher each fall,” Hagmeier said.

Today, Kansas Troubles Quilters shop in Bennington is a destination stop for quilters from across the nation. Hagmeier has created hundreds of quilt designs and written two dozen books. As noted, she designed her first line in 1999. “I’m now working on my 78th line,” she said.

It’s an impressive business to be found in a rural community such as Bennington, population 622 people. Now, that’s rural.

For more information, see www.ktquilts.com.

Bennington, Kansas is where we can find this international quilt design expert. We salute Lynne and Robert Hagmeier for their expertise in quilting craftsmanship. For quilters across the country, they are making a world of difference.

Isaac Shue, Gallery Mostaza

Three people posing for camera, Karina Shue, Xavi Shue, Isaac Shue
(l to r) Karina Shue, Xavi Shue, Isaac Shue

Service to others. That is a fundamental tenet of Isaac Shue’s church and his life. Now he is serving his family and others though the art of pottery, including a special offering at Christmastime.

Isaac and Karina Shue are founders and owners of Gallery Mostaza in Harper. Isaac grew up here and was active in the Mennonite Church, in which hands-on service to humanity is a vital part of the faith. He participated in church service projects in Miami and Haiti while attending Hesston College, and then Goshen College.

Shue enjoyed art, especially sketching. “I always had a pencil or a basketball in my hands,” he said. He was good at drawing and painting but wasn’t sure about three dimensional art.

While at Goshen College, he was required to take a ceramics class and found he loved the challenge. “It draws you in,” Shue said. He bought a pottery wheel and started making bowls.

“At the end of the semester, there was a student sale,” Shue said. “People bought a lot of my bowls and I realized people would pay for this.”

Continue reading “Isaac Shue, Gallery Mostaza”

Jason Smith, Smart Rural Communities

Logo, Smart Rural CommunityIt is one thing to be a rural community. It’s another to be a Smart Rural Community.

The designation — “Smart Rural Community” — was created by a national association to recognize rural telecommunication companies that are providing superior broadband service in their areas. And many of those are found in Kansas.

Last week we met Jason Smith, general manager and CEO of Rainbow Communications in Everest, Kansas. In 2015, Rainbow Communications was one of 10 rural telecomm companies across the nation to earn the Smart Rural Communities Showcase Award.

The award is presented to those rural telecommunications companies that demonstrate superior broadband service in the regions they serve. The Smart Rural Communities designation has now been broadened to include any community that is served by a telecomm company that meets certain high standards.

This is a project of NTCA, the national rural broadband association. NTCA works on behalf of more than 850 small independent businesses and cooperatives that provide broadband service in rural communities. These businesses cover approximately one-third of the nation’s land mass.

Continue reading “Jason Smith, Smart Rural Communities”

Jason Smith, Rainbow Communications

Portrait of man smiling at camera, Jason Smith
Jason Smith, Rainbow Communications

“Somewhere over the rainbow….”

That line from the song in The Wizard of Oz makes me think of Dorothy and her desire to return to Kansas. It also makes me think of modern Kansans who are using the wizardry of modern telecommunications to help their home state.

Jason Smith is general manager and CEO of Rainbow Communications in Everest, Kansas. He grew up in Everest and graduated from Horton High School.

“I figured I was never coming back,” Smith said. He went to K-State and became the first in his family to go to college. He was undecided what to pursue for a career.

“I knew about the jobs of the farmer and the banker, but this was during the farm crisis of the 1980s and neither of those was any fun,” Smith said. He had friends who were majoring in agricultural economics, so he joined them and got a degree in agribusiness.

Smith took a position with a John Deere dealer. He also met and married his wife, who is a teacher. They would have four children. The oldest now is an engineer and a K-State graduate. They have a daughter studying pre-physical therapy, a son in high school, and an eighth-grade daughter.

Smith’s hometown happened to be the headquarters of the Rainbow Telephone Cooperative Association (later known as Rainbow Communications). In 1998, the company advertised for its first-ever marketing manager. Smith applied for the job.

Continue reading “Jason Smith, Rainbow Communications”

Fred Smith, Tipton Times

Man with gray beard and wearing hat standing in front of business window, Tipton Times
Fred Smith, Tipton Times

The newspaper is being sent to its subscribers. For one particular copy of the paper, we might say, ‘Bon Voyage,’ because this paper is going to a subscriber in Paris, France.

Today we’ll learn about a homegrown rural Kansas newspaper that is connecting with people across the nation and beyond.

Last week, we met Fred and Vali Smith, the longtime owners of Tipton Grocery in Tipton. Fred Smith is also publisher of the Tipton Times. In 1991, the Smiths moved back to Tipton from west Chicago to provide a safe, secure, small-town family environment for their kids.

They bought the Tipton Grocery and expanded it through the years. In fall 2023, they sold the grocery store to a local woman’s grandson and his wife. “I probably could have sold it sooner but I really wanted to keep it local,” Smith said. The new owners will be the fifth owners of the store in 117 years.

The family atmosphere of Tipton greatly appealed to the Smiths and attracted them back from Chicago. The Smiths’ four children are now grown.

Daughter Sarah is with the diplomatic corps of the U.S. State Department and is stationed in Islamabad. Theresia is a banker in Colorado where she lives with her husband. Jake is a writer and owner of a fence building company in Manhattan where his wife Ashley is principal of Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School. Joe, a social worker, also lives in Manhattan with his wife Natalie and their daughter.

Continue reading “Fred Smith, Tipton Times”

Fred Smith, Tipton Grocery

Four people standing in front of Tipton Grocery
(l to r) Brandi Shirack, Drew Shirack, Vali Smith, Fred Smith

Transitions. Those can be challenging, exciting, scary and difficult – all at the same time. They are also a part of life.

Ownership transitions can be especially challenging for businesses in small towns. Today we’ll meet the owners of a rural grocery store that has served its community for more than a century, and now has successfully made a transition to new ownership.

Fred and Vali Smith have been the longtime owners of Tipton Grocery. Tipton is in Mitchell County, southwest of Beloit.

Fred Smith’s grandparents farmed near Tipton. Fred lived here until he was five. “My dad was a state trooper and we were transferred all over Kansas,” Smith said. In the summers, Smith and his brothers would often come back to the farm.

Smith joined the Army and was stationed in Germany where he met and married Vali. They returned to the States where Fred worked in law enforcement in Chicago, and Vali was supervisor at a bank.

Fred and Vali made occasional trips back home with their kids to Tipton to see the family. During one of those times Mrs. Pfeiffer, the owner of the local grocery store, told them that they should stay and take over the store, but Fred and Vali both had good jobs in Chicago.

Continue reading “Fred Smith, Tipton Grocery”

Ken Frank, PrimeTime Grille

Portrait, man with short, dark hair smiling, Ken Frank
Dr. Ken Frank

What if you combined bowling and burgers? Steaks and strikes? Kansas and cuisine? The perfect entrée with a perfect game?

That remarkable combination was achieved by a group of Kansans who paired a bowling alley with a Kansas-themed restaurant to serve their community.

Dr. Ken Frank is an ophthalmologist in Ottawa. He and his wife Shelly and friends have launched a combination bowling alley and restaurant in their community.

Ken Frank has rural roots. He grew up on a farm near the rural community of Westphalia, population 128 people. Now, that’s rural.

After attending Garnett High School, he went to the University of Kansas where he graduated with highest distinction while earning a degree in cellular biology. He also met and married Shelly.

Frank graduated top in his class at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and completed an ophthalmology residency-training program in Texas. “We had various opportunities but we knew we wanted to come back to Kansas,” Frank said.

Continue reading “Ken Frank, PrimeTime Grille”

Miss Able, astromonkey

Sign at Independence Zoo, Miss Able the Astromonkey
Miss Able sign at Ralph Mitchell Zoo, Independence

Kansas has been home to several astronauts: Ron Evans, Joe Engle, and Steven Hawley, for example.

But before these astronauts took flight, there was another native Kansan who ventured to outer space: Well, not an astronaut, but an astromonkey.

This is the true story of one of America’s first non-human space travelers and her connection to our state.

The year was 1957. The Soviet Union surprised the world by launching the first artificial satellite, known as Sputnik. This caused major concerns that the United States was falling behind in the space race. It caused the U.S. to expedite space research.

Mankind had speculated about space travel for centuries, but practical scientific questions remained: Could the human body survive and function in systems designed to protect from the oxygen- and gravity-deprived environment of outer space? Scientific researchers redoubled their efforts to test such questions.

The first living mammal to be launched into orbit was a mixed-breed dog named Laika who was launched by the Russians on Sputnik 2. (Americans nicknamed the rocket “Muttnik.”) Laika survived the launch but, as expected, did not survive the flight. Continue reading “Miss Able, astromonkey”

Vickie Vandement, alpacas

Woman sandwiched by two brown alpaca
Princess the alpaca and Vickie Vandement

Here’s a riddle: What will I do to keep warm when it gets cold on a long trip?

Answer: Al-pac-a sweater. I’ll-pack-a sweater….

Okay, maybe it’s not the funniest riddle of all time, but it does remind us of the warm quality of genuine alpaca fiber. Today we’ll meet a rural Kansas alpaca producer who has marketed alpaca products to customers from across the nation and beyond.

Vickie Vandement is the owner of North 40 Alpacas near Osborne. She grew up in Osborne and studied speech pathology at Fort Hays State. She married Mitch, a fellow Osborne resident who studied business at K-State and came back to the community. Vickie is now a speech therapist for two nearby county hospitals.

In the early 2000s, after years in the cattle business, the Vandements thought about producing a different type of animal. In 2004, they got three alpacas and found they really enjoyed them. They grew the herd from there.

Alpacas are members of the camelid family, along with llamas. All of the Vandement alpacas are named and registered. “We breed for good personality and color,” Vandament said. Continue reading “Vickie Vandement, alpacas”

Ray Flickner, innovation farm

Eight people standing in front of tree, Ray Flickner family picture
Flickner Family

The scientists from NASA are studying the landscape closely. But they aren’t viewing a satellite image of the moon. This is a group of NASA earth scientists who are visiting a Kansas farm in person so as to better understand the challenges facing farmers in water resources.

The farm they are visiting is a leader in conservation practices.

Ray Flickner is the Kansas agriculturalist who met with the NASA scientists on his farm. He is the fifth generation to farm his family’s land. The Flickners’ base operation is an irrigated row crop operation that has been in his family since 1874.

Flickner grew up in Moundridge and studied agricultural education at Kansas State University before earning his master’s degree. He met and married Susan who also earned bachelors and masters degrees in education from K-State.

Susan became a family life and resource management teacher and served as executive director of the Kansas Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Ray Flickner taught college agriculture classes before pursuing a career in agricultural lending. He described education and finance as the first two phases of his life.

“In 2007, a couple of years after my father passed away, I made the decision to enter the third phase of my life and began tending the land full-time,” Flickner said. The current operation produces irrigated corn, soybeans, sorghum and wheat. Through it all, an important theme has been the importance of conservation.

Continue reading “Ray Flickner, innovation farm”