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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Joe Hubener and Kody Cook

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

From Cheney to Louisburg. The distance between those two small Kansas towns is approximately halfway across the state. During the college football season of 2015, there was a key play involving players from those two small towns that made for one of the most exciting finishes in early season games. Can small town athletes succeed at the college level? That’s the subject of today’s Kansas Profile.

Kody Cook caught a pass from Joe Hubener and scored the game-winning touchdown in the K-State-Louisiana Tech game Sept. 19.
Kody Cook caught a pass from Joe Hubener and scored the game-winning touchdown in the K-State-Louisiana Tech game Sept. 19.

Joe Hubener and Kody Cook are key players on the K-State football team. Both were outstanding high school athletes, but like many players from small town Kansas, they did not get lots of recruiting offers from high major colleges.

Joe Hubener comes from Cheney, west of Wichita. His parents both attended K-State. Joe lettered in football, basketball, and track. He even made the top five as a javelin thrower during the state track meet. In football, he played various positions such as wide receiver, defensive back, and backup quarterback, but he never started a game as quarterback during his high school career.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Chester Nez – Code Talker

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Multicultural diversity. It’s a term with various meanings, but today we’ll learn about an example of multicultural diversity which was a matter of life and death – and I mean that literally. During World War II, the U.S. military utilized cultural diversity by asking 29 Navajo to develop an unbreakable code for battle operations. The last of those 29 passed away in 2014, and he was a man with ties to rural Kansas.

Chester Nez served as one of the 29 Navajo Code Talkers during World War II.
Chester Nez served as one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers during World War II.

Chester Nez was one of the original 29 Navajo involved in this project. In 2011, he published a book called Code Talker.

Chester was from New Mexico where he grew up herding sheep and goats at the Navajo nation.  At age 9, he was forced to go to boarding school by the federal government. Students were required to speak English and were punished for speaking Navajo.

By 1941, he was in boarding school in Arizona when the word came that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. Navajo men considered themselves warrior people, so they were prepared to fight.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Jim Farrell – Jim Farrell Studio

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

It is a classic American story: Country boy works hard on his music, goes to Nashville and finds success and love. We’ve seen that movie before. Today, we’ll learn about a different version of this story. Instead of a talented musician going from Kansas to Nashville, this musician made the journey from Nashville to Kansas.

Jim Farrell is the owner of Jim Farrell Studio in rural Towanda, Kansas.
Jim Farrell is the owner of Jim Farrell Studio in rural Towanda, Kansas.

Jim Farrell, sometimes called Tennessee Jim, is the man who made this reverse migration from Nashville. He literally grew up in the music business. Jim was born and raised in a musical family in Nashville. His father had a music ministry and sang in a barbershop quartet. His mother sang with a Nashville Symphony Chorale.

“I grew up with harmony,” Jim said. “We would be singing in the car when we went on family trips, and Dad would point at (my sister and I) and tell us to switch parts,” Jim said. This musical training came in handy. By the age of 14, he was playing and singing with adult musical groups.

“My teacher was in a southern gospel group and they needed a bass player so I joined in,” Jim said. He also took up the keyboard, guitar, bass and percussion. Soon he was doing sessions and backing artists who performed on the Grand Ole Opry. Continue reading “Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Jim Farrell – Jim Farrell Studio” →

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Loren Kisby – Prohoe

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Let’s go to California, where firefighters are battling a wildfire with high quality hand tools produced by a company halfway across the nation in rural Kansas. These hand tools are also serving gardeners, growers and others around the nation and beyond.

Loren Kisby is owner and founder of Prohoe, the company which produced these remarkable tools. Loren grew up at Clifton and went to K-State. He became a teacher, served in the Army, and worked in business before farming. He also met and married Judy through their sisters who went on a church trip together.

The Rogue, a multifunctional tool, is manufactured by Prohoe in Munden, Kansas.
The Rogue, a multifunctional tool, is manufactured by Prohoe in Munden, Kansas.

Loren and Judy moved to a farm near Munden in Republic County and had two children. As their family grew, their farmhouse needed to expand also. Loren hand-dug a trench for an addition to their house – but then it rained, and the trench caved in.

Loren looked at the muddy mess and realized he needed a special tool to clean out the mud. He welded a chunk of broken disk blade onto a metal handle to make the tool. It worked great.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Ethan Eck – Chem-Blade

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Phoenix, Arizona. February 2015. A new invention is being highlighted at a national meeting.  This invention, called a Chem-Blade, was selected as part of a national contest for agricultural entrepreneurs. The invention was created by an entrepreneur in rural Kansas.

Ethan Eck, of Kingman, Kansas, is the driving force behind Chem-Blade.
Ethan Eck, of Kingman, Kansas, is the driving force behind Chem-Blade.

Ethan Eck is the founder and owner of Eck Fabrication, maker of the Chem-Blade. Ethan is being assisted by product developer Ralph Lagergren, whom we met in Kansas Profile last week.

Ethan grew up on a farm near Kingman. He went to Wyoming Tech where he studied automotive chassis fabrication. Ethan’s father had a commercial hay grinding business and his brother had a commercial spraying operation and sold agricultural chemicals to farmers, so Ethan helped with those enterprises as well.

“I was a sprayer operator,” Ethan said. His job was to operate one of those large mobile spray rigs which are used to apply weed or pest control chemicals onto farm fields. To put those chemicals into the sprayer, he would have to get a plastic jug of the chemical, pull off the foil seal, pour the jug into the sprayer, rinse the jug and then discard it safely. It was a time-consuming and somewhat hazardous task.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Ralph Lagergren

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

From rotors to Rageball 5. This unusual phrase describes the diverse types of new products which one remarkable rural entrepreneur has worked on developing.

Lincoln County, Kansas native Ralph Lagergren has developed numerous products over his career.
Lincoln County, Kansas native Ralph Lagergren has developed numerous products over his career.

Ralph Lagergren is an entrepreneur and new product developer who grew up in Lincoln County, Kansas. One of his friends growing up was his cousin Mark Underwood. They spent lots of their summers together on the Underwood family farm, located two counties north.

Ralph went to K-State and then into a sales and marketing career that took him around the country. He did well in the corporate world but became bored. He was working for a pharmaceutical company in Fort Worth when he recalled a conversation he had previously had with his cousin Mark back in Kansas.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Dawn Gabel – National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

“Creating a classroom.” That’s something that teachers do frequently. Today we’ll learn about a Kansan who is creating a classroom for agriculture, but not inside a traditional school. This Kansan is leading a national center which provides a living experience to help people of all ages learn about agriculture.

Dawn Gabel is the new director of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas.
Dawn Gabel is the new director of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

Dawn Gabel is the new director of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs, Kansas. The ag center, as it is sometimes called, has deep history in Kansas. Congress approved a federal charter for the center. It was signed by President Eisenhower in 1960.

However, no funds are appropriated to support the center, so it relies on private sector funding.  Today the facility has grown to include 10 buildings and tens of thousands of visitors – but a lack of funding caught up with the center in 2014.

When the previous director left, the board decided to close for the 2014 summer months. Now a new director has been hired and the center is again open and active.

Dawn Gabel is the new center director. She has deep roots in rural Kansas. Her family homesteaded in Jewell County. Dawn grew up at the rural community of Courtland, population 322 people. Now that’s rural.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Wayne Kruse – Orchestra on the Oregon Trail

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

What happens when music meets a meadow? That sounds like an unusual combination. Today we’ll learn about an initiative which brings together high quality symphonic music, genuine western history, and pristine natural beauty in rural Kansas.

Wayne Kruse is chair of the steering committee for a brand new event to be conducted in 2015.  Wayne is on the board of the Marshall County Arts Cooperative which is leading this initiative.

Alcove Spring in Marshall County, Kansas will be the setting for the first ever Orchestra on the Oregon Trail, featuring the Topeka Symphony Sept. 6.
Alcove Spring in Marshall County, Kansas will be the setting for the first ever Orchestra on the Oregon Trail, featuring the Topeka Symphony Sept. 6.

Wayne is a Marshall County native, having been born and raised in Marysville. He went to KU and lived in Lawrence before coming back to Marysville where he now works for KNDY radio.  He also volunteers with the Marshall County Arts Cooperative, called MCAC for short.

In 2012, the MCAC was the presenting organization for a concert by the Topeka Symphony Orchestra in Marysville. The symphony played an entire concert of music by Mozart. To the surprise and delight of symphony director John Strickler, the symphony played to a full house and an appreciative audience.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Doug Anstaett – Kansas Press Association

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

On the wall of Doug Anstaett’s office, a large map of Kansas is adorned with stars. “Those stars are the newspapers in Kansas, and the color (of the star) tells me when I visited them,” Doug said. Staying in contact with newspapers is part of the lifeblood of his position, because he is the executive director of the Kansas Press Association.

Doug has been executive director of KPA since 2004. He grew up in Lyndon, where the weekly newspaper was the People’s Herald. Doug was 12 years old in 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was shot. As were many of us, Doug was horrified and then captivated by the news. “I became a voracious reader,” he said.

Doug Anstaett has been executive director of the Kansas Press Association since 2004.
Doug Anstaett has been executive director of the Kansas Press Association since 2004.

He also became a writer and served on the high school newspaper. “We had a senior English teacher that kids didn’t like much because she was really tough, but I was thankful for her when I got to college,” Doug said. He graduated from K-State in journalism and began as a reporter for Stauffer Communications, working his way up to become an editor and publisher. He worked in four states before becoming editor and publisher of the Newton Kansan in 1987.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Shelly Hoyt – Hoxie Basketball

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

USA Today has named the best high school girl’s basketball program in the nation. Would you believe, that honor belongs to a small school in rural Kansas? Today we’ll learn about this remarkable coach and community and the basketball program she directs.

Shelly Hoyt is girl’s basketball coach in Hoxie, Kansas. Shelly comes from Nebraska originally. Her husband Scott is from Brewster. They studied education and became teachers, first in Missouri and then in Kansas. In 2001, they moved to Hoxie where Scott became principal at the elementary school and later superintendent. Shelly is a special education teacher and basketball coach.

hoxieteamstatechampsShelly played college basketball herself. As a coach, she has had a long and successful run. When she came to Hoxie, that school had only won one state basketball championship in its history.

“We’ve had good athletes here but not necessarily skilled in basketball,” Shelly said. As coach, she insisted on a higher level of commitment.

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