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Tag: Now That’s Rural

Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Michael Daniel – Brooks Landscape

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

What do you see when you scan the landscape? It could be a virtual scan, or it might be actual trees, grass, woody plants and flowers. Today we will learn about a rural Kansas company which is working daily to improve the landscape.

Brooks Landscape and Brookscape Gardens are in the rural community of Elyria in McPherson County, Kansas.
Brooks Landscape and Brookscape Gardens are in the rural community of Elyria in McPherson County, Kansas.

Michael Daniel is owner of Brooks Landscape LLC and its retail store, Brookscape Gardens.  Michael was born into a military family that traveled the country. When he was 12, his folks settled near Inman, Kansas. After service in the Navy, Michael took a position with the public utility in McPherson. At church, he met and ultimately married Arlene, who had grown up on a farm near Mullinville. She works at the refinery in McPherson and helps at the family business.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Walter Johnson and George Sweatt

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter
Legendary baseball players George Sweatt and Walter Johnson were both from Humboldt, Kansas.
Legendary baseball players George Sweatt and Walter Johnson were both from Humboldt, Kansas.

The World Series. It’s a great event for baseball fans. As the baseball season comes to its culmination, we are reminded of a time before racial integration when there were two World Series: One for major league baseball, and a second for what was called the National Negro League. Today we’ll learn about two young players who led their teams in each league.  Incredibly, those two players both came from the very same small town in rural Kansas. Thanks to Meredith Wiggins of the Kansas Humanities Council whose article served as our source and is used with permission in today’s Kansas Profile.

Walter “Big Train” Johnson was an icon in big league pitching a century ago, playing for 21 years with the Washingon Senators. He was the dominant power pitcher of his time, described as “one of the most celebrated and dominating players in baseball history.” Several of his pitching records still stand today, more than a century later.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Margaret Kraisinger – Western Cattle Trails

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

A National Park Service researcher is calling. He is working on a feasibility study which is considering the addition of the Western Cattle Trail to the National Park System. The person he is calling is a western author located in rural Kansas.

Gary and Margaret Kraisinger of Halstead, Kansas have written books on the cattle trails of the Old West.
Gary and Margaret Kraisinger of Halstead, Kansas have written books on the cattle trails of the Old West.

Last week in Kansas Profile, we met Margaret and Gary Kraisinger, owners of The Old Hardware Store in Halstead. Gary and Margaret are also published authors who have extensively researched the history of the west, specifically the historic Western Cattle Trail.

Gary was raised at Hays and met and married Margaret at Fort Hays State. They became teachers and took teaching positions at Dighton. Margaret taught high school business and English, and Gary taught Kansas history and math at the junior high level while doing graduate work in the summertime.

One day a local rancher approached them and said that he had something he wanted to show them. “One Sunday afternoon, we went out there and the rancher took us out into his pasture,” Margaret said. “We were driving across the pasture and then he turned his wheels sharply, and it was like a washboard. What is that, we asked. `Well, it’s not wagon ruts, but we think it is a cattle trail,’ he said.”

The interest of Gary and Margaret was piqued. Was there an old-time cattle trail that had passed through the region? Gary and Margaret agreed to look into it.

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Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Margaret Kraisinger – The Old Hardware Store

Posted on by Mary Lou Peter

Let’s go to Japan, where a buyer has ordered an antique cabinet accessory. The authentic antique has now arrived. From where do you suppose it was shipped? Yes, it came from halfway around the world, from a remarkable business in rural Kansas.

theoldhardwarestoreMargaret and Gary Kraisinger are owners of The Old Hardware Store which provided this antique item for the Japanese buyer. Margaret was born in Garden City and grew up at Great Bend. “I grew up liking antiques and collecting antiques,” she said. Margaret went on to Fort Hays State where she got her education degree. She also met and married Gary Kraisinger.

She and Gary were teachers for a time in western Kansas where they developed a strong interest in history. Then Gary chose to go into a business career and joined a construction company. His business career ultimately took them to Wichita. When they had children, they looked for a small town school system. In 1979, they moved to Halstead where they raised three children. After 51 years of marriage, they now have eight grandchildren also.

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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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