1 TOPEKA HIGH HISTORICAL SOCIETY Alumni News THS Historical Society/Alumni Association, 800 SW 10th, Topeka, KS 66612 Web: http://ths.topekapublicschools.net/Alumni Phone: 785-295-3200 Email: [email protected]Vol. XXXIV No.1 LET THERE BE LIGHT...A HISTORY OF THE WRITTEN WORD Mark McHenry (1969) was the 2014 Homecoming Parade Grand Marshall Class of 1951 came from LA, OR, MO, CA, TX, WA, GA, AK, FL, CO, IA, AZ NB, DE, AL, WY, IL NM, MD & KS to dance to the tunes of The 3 Harts The Class of 1947 remembered a special classmate at a brunch at the Blue Moose. Today the most pleased Topekan is Chester Woodward - wherever his spirit may be - content that his dream for the Topeka High library has been fulfilled. When describing the new high school and library for a special section of the Dailey Capital September 23, 1931, School Board member Woodward noted that “the two end walls of the room are divided into panels for a series of mural paintings, which it is hoped will some day be given to the school.” That some- day took 84 years. The THS Historical Society began frui- tion of Woodward’s dream in 1986 with installation of David Overmyer’s large painting “Pioneers - End of the Trail” over the library entry - still leaving blank the oth- er five spaces. Then two years ago a To- peka High graduate and patron (who wishes to remain anonymous) offered to underwrite 7’ x 11’ murals for four of the panels. Working with Jay Nelson, Nelson- Strecker Gallery of Manhattan, he commissioned Cowley College art professor Mark Flickinger for the series on “A History of the Word and Information.” When the THSHS Board of Directors learned of the theme and saw the studies, they unanimously became excited and supportive. Not merely pieces of art, they tell the story of 5,000 years of the written word, communication, infor- mation and humanity. Besides their beauty, the murals are a learning tool for future Trojans, all found high on the walls in the Woodward Library. As well as the evolution of the word, each painting offers glimpses of the architecture and culture of different civilizations from Asia to the Americas. The subjects of each panel: 1. “Ancient Scripts.” This mural depicts the ancient world of the Near East from the earliest writing in cunei- form to Egyptian hieroglyphics, the first words. 2. “Medieval Scribes.” The tedious task of writing by hand is seen by the monk in a scriptorium and other fig- ures, but that and the word would change with the Guten- berg and moveable type. 3. “The Written Word.” Artist Flickinger examines presentation of the word in the 18th, 19th and 20th centu- ries in books, journals and newspapers. 4. “The Digital Age.” The word has been transformed in the 21st century, the technolo- gy age, and people now send and receive it through space. The Flickinger murals, which also compli- ment the Overmyer mural, are an incredi- ble asset not only to the Woodward Library and Topeka High, but also the Topeka schools and Topeka community itself. They reflect the fact that the arts - visual and performing - remain a vital component in education at THS. Visitors to the Society’s Paul Fink Room can enjoy a ten minute video of the artist explaining each painting. Of course, one space in the room is sill unadorned, that above the fireplace. Its blank wall is often used to project images for class work, but someday that could change. Thus, an opportunity for someone to fulfill Chester Wood- ward’s dream. Four simple but powerful words found written on the fourth panel sum up the 5,000 years depicted in the Woodward Library murals. Said to be the motto for Carnegie libraries, it simply reads: ”Let There Be Light.”
LET THERE BE LIGHT...A HISTORY OF THE WRITTEN WORD
Mark McHenry (1969) was the
2014 Homecoming Parade Grand Marshall
Class of 1951 came from LA, OR, MO, CA,
TX, WA, GA, AK, FL, CO, IA, AZ NB, DE,
AL, WY, IL NM, MD & KS to dance to the
tunes of The 3 Harts
The Class of 1947 remembered a special
classmate at a brunch at the Blue Moose.
Today the most pleased Topekan is Chester Woodward -
wherever his spirit may be - content that his dream for the
Topeka High library has been fulfilled. When describing
the new high school and library for a special section of the
Dailey Capital September 23, 1931, School Board member
Woodward noted that “the two end walls of the room are
divided into panels for a series of mural paintings, which it
is hoped will some day be given to the school.” That some-
day took 84 years.
The THS Historical
Society began frui-
tion of Woodward’s
dream in 1986 with
installation of David
Overmyer’s large
painting “Pioneers -
End of the Trail” over
the library entry - still
leaving blank the oth-
er five spaces. Then
two years ago a To-
peka High graduate
and patron (who
wishes to remain
anonymous) offered
to underwrite 7’ x 11’
murals for four of the
panels. Working with
Jay Nelson, Nelson-
Strecker Gallery of Manhattan, he commissioned Cowley
College art professor Mark Flickinger for the series on “A
History of the Word and Information.”
When the THSHS Board of Directors learned of the theme
and saw the studies, they unanimously became excited and
supportive. Not merely pieces of art, they tell the story of
5,000 years of the written word, communication, infor-
mation and humanity. Besides their beauty, the murals are a
learning tool for future Trojans, all found high on the walls
in the Woodward Library. As well as the evolution of the
word, each painting offers glimpses of the architecture and
culture of different civilizations from Asia to the Americas.
The subjects of each panel:
1. “Ancient Scripts.” This mural depicts the ancient
world of the Near East from the earliest writing in cunei-
form to Egyptian hieroglyphics, the first words.
2. “Medieval Scribes.” The tedious task of writing
by hand is seen by the monk in a scriptorium and other fig-
ures, but that and the word would change with the Guten-
berg and moveable type.
3. “The Written Word.” Artist Flickinger examines
presentation of the word in the 18th, 19th and 20th centu-
ries in books, journals and newspapers.
4. “The Digital Age.”
The word has been
transformed in the 21st
century, the technolo-
gy age, and people
now send and receive
it through space.
The Flickinger murals,
which also compli-
ment the Overmyer
mural, are an incredi-
ble asset not only to
the Woodward Library
and Topeka High, but
also the Topeka
schools and Topeka
community itself.
They reflect the fact
that the arts - visual
and performing - remain a vital component in education at
THS. Visitors to the Society’s Paul Fink Room can enjoy a
ten minute video of the artist explaining each painting.
Of course, one space in the room is sill unadorned, that
above the fireplace. Its blank wall is often used to project
images for class work, but someday that could change.
Thus, an opportunity for someone to fulfill Chester Wood-
ward’s dream.
Four simple but powerful words found written on the fourth
panel sum up the 5,000 years depicted in the Woodward
Library murals. Said to be the motto for Carnegie libraries,
it simply reads: ”Let There Be Light.”
2
Topeka High School Histor ical Society APRIL 2015
The Paul Fink Museum is the result of great gener-osity, loads of expert advice, and countless volun-teer hours. After Principal Paul Fink passed away in June 2009, his family designated the Topeka High School His-torical Society for memorial contributions. THSHS was honored and overwhelmed by the attention from Paul’s classmates, friends, and former stu-dents. Judy Soule and Joan Barker met Jackie Fink at the Clas-sic Bean Downtown to discuss how the money could be used for a THSHS museum. The office space that would be the museum was a hodgepodge of cast off and do-nated furniture. We soon figured out that $5,000 wasn’t going far enough for our dream of renovating the space for a museum that would tell the story of Topeka High in an organized – and attractive – fash-ion. Joan sought out Linda Lee, a past THSHS board member and Topeka interior designer, to help get the ball rolling. Linda suggested before spending any funds on prettying up the place, we concentrate on getting organized. We applied and received a $2,800 Kansas Humani-ties Council grant to help catalog and preserve the hundreds of artifacts that had been collected and donated over the years. The office needed to be re-designed so the most important artifacts were readi-ly available for research and design and would in-clude storage space in which artifacts would be properly preserved. The grant allowed the hiring of museum studies interns to sort and catalogue the material. Donna Rae Pearson, Kansas Museum of History collection development specialist at the time, agreed to be our consultant for the project. She also trained volunteers on archival procedures.
We were able to purchase a dedicated laptop from the excess ticket sales from the Richetta Manager concert in October 2010. We entered into a grant project with the Kansas Historical Society that made it possible to record our 750 piece collection of arti-facts on PastPerfect museum software. Thanks to Donna Rae Person, interns Sara Shupe and Curtis Leeth and volunteers – Judy Soule, Joyce Alberg,
Celia Daniels, Lisa Sandmeyer, Jane Gideon and Marjorie Hersh – we identified and recorded the THS items for which THSHS is caretaker and began efforts in as-signing a per-manent stor-age space for the collection.
The grant included converting about 40 VHS files to DVD. There are hundreds more 16 mm and VHS files to convert to readable format. Classmates.com scanned THS yearbooks 1911 to 2012. Gary Krohe put all the files into pdf format. We are now able to use the yearbooks for research. Stan Bossler (TWHS 1971) and Randy Warren (TWHS 1971) donated their time and talent to creat-ing the drawings for the room (Stan) and the display cabinets (Randy). We started getting bid estimates and had a general idea of how much money we needed for the project. In the meantime, we accepted memorial contribu-tions from Peggy Shelton Sheffel (THS 1935 and THS Faculty) and Pudgie Benton Robb (THS 1953). The THS Classes of 1978, 1944, 2012, 1963, 1958, 1962 and 2002 collected funds from their class-mates. We had collected half of the estimated cost of the project . Last March Joan spotted an article in the Topeka newspaper asking for applications for a Topeka Her-itage Tourism Grant. The city had about $150,000 in
(Continued on page 4)
THSHS Paul Fink Office & Museum is open for business
Paul Fink’s family holds the ribbon for Jackie Fink to officially open the Paul Fink Room
3
Topeka High School Historical Society Apri l 2015
TROY TODAY
Congratulations to Hashaivione Edmundson (2015), Topeka High School senior and AVID scholar; he has received the Gates Millennium Scholarship. This scholarship will pay for the cost of his education, including graduate school funding, in the area of computer science, edu-cation, engineering, library sci-ence, mathematics, public health or science. Hashaivione plans to attend Wichita State
University and major in computer science.
The Jayhawk Theatre was the venue for the THS Jazz Band’s con-cert on Janu-ary 21st. For more infor-mation about supporting the renovation of
the Jayhawk, go to Facebook, Jayhawk Theatre of Topeka.
Erich Singer (THS Faculty) was recognized as the Topeka Public School’s Distinguished Staff in the cat-egory of High School Educator. Mr. Singer has taught Special Education at Topeka High since 2005 and is also the Head Wrestling Coach and the Head Fresh-man Football Coach. Benjy Zhang (2017) is raising funds to provide shoes and socks to underprivileged 501 students through his project ‘Music for the Sole’. Benjy’s fa-ther, Bali Zhang, a professor in the Washburn Study
Abroad Pro-gram, prob-ably in-spired Ben-jy to give to the Topeka Rotary Club’s Sole Mate Pro-gram, through his piano play-ing. When
Benjy’s Dad was growing up in China he didn’t own a pair of shoes until he was around 10 years old. Last year Benji accompanied students for the Washburn Middle School Music Festival, giving the funds to the Rotary Club and has presented more funds to Rotary since.
Photo by Logahn Finney (2015)
From left, Jennifer Antonetti, Benjy Zhang,
Steve Holloman, Steve Eubank with donations
collected at a recent concert at Topeka High.
Alayna Hewitt will be at-tending Washburn Universi-ty studying Nursing. At To-peka High Alayna has been on the volleyball team and has been successful as a powerlifter. She currently works as a waitress in a local pizza place and as a certified nurse assistant at
Lexington Park Nursing.
Alyce Williams will be attend-ing the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) for Com-munications Studies in Journal-ism and Mass Communication. Alyce spent long hours in the THS Journalism Room working on the newspaper staff. She was the manager for the Trojan basketball team for 3 years.
2015 THSHS Ed Love Scholarship Recipients - Alayna and Alyce
The THS Historical Society Ed Love Scholarship Account is at the Topeka Community Foundation. The new
Dean Smith Scholarship Fund, that will be given to a boy and gir l who played varsity sports at THS, is also be-
ing held at the Topeka Community Foundation. Tax-deductible contributions to both scholarships are greatly appreci-
ated and can be sent to the Topeka Community Foundation, 5431 SW 29th St, Ste. 300, Topeka, KS 66611.
4
Topeka High Schoo l Histor ical Soc ie ty Apri l 2015
THSHS NEWSLETTER ONLINE Let us know if are interested in receiving the THSHS newsletter online. This might be a good option for you if you travel or leave your primary address part of the year. If you aren’t already re-ceiving our eblast (via email), that includes more THSHS news, send us your name and email ad-dress.
bed tax collect-ed to use for projects related to history and tourism. The grant applica-tion was sub-mitted and ap-proved by the Kansas Landmark Commission, then passed by a To-peka City Council special committee. We had our mon-ey! We moved completely out of our office in late Novem-ber 2014 and were temporarily housed in the Hall of Fame Room. Kendall Construction, with project super-visor Dave Cooper, was responsible for the transfor-mation, which consists of six glass-topped display cas-es, slat board walls for interchangeable displays, a functional office (no more cardboard boxes and class-room tables), a television to show the converted video, and storage cabinets for our artifacts and archival ma-terial.
The room was dedicated on Sunday, March 15, 2015, and named in memory of Paul Fink. Paul had the idea of in-cluding Topeka High graduates on decision
making about the building when he was the THS Prin-cipal in the 1970s. He was on the THSHS board of di-rectors when the society was established in 1985 and was the president of the board in 1993. The Paul Fink Family commissioned Janet Zoble and Degginger Foundry to create a plaque that is installed over the entrance door. It reads: THS Historical Society Paul H. Fink Memorial Room, THS Principal 1972-1978, a tribute to his legacy as a devoted educator. We’re ready to welcome our graduates, visitors and tourists.
(Continued from page 2)
WHERE ARE THESE MISSING THSHS
MEMBERS? We try with all our might to keep track of our members,
but some of you don’t stay in place long enough to re-
ceive our mail. Some of you are snowbirds and find
warmer spots to land for the winter. Others have moved to
a different location and forget to tell us your new mailing
addresses. Your mail gets returned to Topeka High with a
‘not deliverable as addressed’ or ‘temporarily away’
sticker. Many of you have given us your winter and sum-
mer addresses. It’s cheaper to send your mail to the two
addresses than resending it throughout the year.
If you are one of the following people, please let us know
where to find you. Or, if you have information about the
following people, please let us know.
Virginia Eddy Barney ‘45, Hope Bright Brice ‘92, Betty
Cordill Caljouw ‘43, Joan McKnaught Eakes ‘52, Lois
Stolpe Elliot ‘45, Jerome Flesher ‘63, Richard Flores ‘56,
Robert Gibbs ‘52, Barbara Dean Gillen ‘50, Beverley &
William Harper ‘56, Jean McNeely Henry ‘43, Mayre
Macey Hoffman ‘63, Susan Merillat Nass ‘77, Saul Kass
‘32, Samuel Kibble ‘62, Leland Law ‘46, Bill Lindsay
‘46, Marian Meyers Martin ‘49, Thomas McCoy ‘54, Wil-
ma Willis McGinnis ‘47, Emily Jean Milam Miller ‘38,
Find the listing of 2015 THS Reunions on our website: http://ths.topekapublicschools.net/Alumni Congratulations! Gilbert Galle (1964) received the Distin-
guished Service Award from Washburn. Pere Garlinghouse (2004) wasrecently in-
ducted in the Explorers Club in New York.
2016 THS DIRECTORY Watch your mail and email this summer for a notice from HarrisConnect and the THSHS. They will be contacting all THS graduates for whom we have current contact information and asking you to verify the information to be included in the 2016 THS Graduate directory. The THS Historical Society wants you to know: You must respond to the postcard or email
from Harris for your information to be included in the book, even if your info is correct on the postcard or email.
The graduate must respond, even though parents might receive the postcard.
The THS Historical Society will receive the database of graduate information to have available for reunions, etc.
6
Topeka High School Histor ical Society Apri l 2015
Year End Financials Approved The board of the Topeka High School Histori-
cal Society at their January meeting approved year
end 2014 financial statements showing a positive bal-
ance with receipts over revenues by $19,995 for the
operations side of the organization. Life members of
the THSHS responded generously to a first time ap-
peal to contribute to the operations fund. A year-end
request of all members also contributed to the posi-
tive year-end balance. The Life Member mailing re-
sulted in contributions of $22,321 from 194 donors;
the year-end appeal generated an additional $7,330
from 64 members after the first of the year. The
THSHS ended the year with 2,064 members, a de-
crease of 27 members from year-end 2013.
The Tower Society Fund which accumulates
resources for historical preservation projects funded
development of the Paul Fink Memorial Room and
Office, preservation of the THS Crest which has hung
above the main doors to the school since 1931
and purchased a square floor scrubber for refurbish-
ing the original terrazzo floors throughout the build-
ing. The balance in all funds within the Tower Socie-
ty Fund at year end is $18,653. During 2014, the
THSHS received a Topeka Heritage Tourism Grant
of $32,972 that matched THSHS funds for renovation
of the Paul Fink Memorial Room and Office.
“We were able to accomplish our 2014 goal to
clearly identify operations and preservation funds
within our organization. We know how important
membership support is for our operations which co-
vers our executive director’s salary and expenses in-
curred for our activities such as the Hall of Fame
Recognition, hosting the Alumni & Friends lunch-
eons, printing and mailing publications, and making
historic records available to the many alumni and
supporters interested in the school,” said Tom
McBride, 2014 president of the THSHS.
INSTALLING THE FLICKINGER MURALS ON MARCH 18TH
The installation of the murals was a collaborative effort orchestrated by Mark Flickinger. Mark’s family, Jay Nelson
and 501 staff assisted in the endeavor. A 10 minute documentary about the murals, told by Mr. Flickinger, is avail-
able for viewing in the THSHS Paul Fink Room.
Photos by Gary Krohe
7
~ THS Historical Society ~ Graduation Year _______ First Name ____________Last Name (at graduation) ______________ Current Last Name ____________
THS Spouse’s First Name ___________ Last Name ________________ Spouse Graduation Year _____
Street _______________________________________________ City _______________________________
State __________________ Zip Code _____________________ Country ____________________________
Home Phone _________________________________________ E-mail _____________________________
MEMBERSHIP DUES – (operational expenses & THSHS special events) Amount Yearly ($25) ……………………………………………………………………………… $___________
5 Years ($100) ……………………………………………………………………………... $___________
10 Years ($175) ………………………………………………………………………………… $___________
$1 for each year since my graduation (i.e. Class of 1964, 50 years since graduation=$50) $___________
I want to send a gift membership to:
Name ___________________________________________________ Graduation year ______
Membership level: ____Yearly____ 5 Year ____ 10 Year $___________
PURCHASES -- Amount THS Construction Video ($10, plus $5 shipping)……………………………………. $ __________
Constitution Plaza Brick ($30) www.thshistoricalsociety download form & attach $___________
TOWER SOCIETY FUND – (building projects) Amount Freshman ($200)....................................................................................................... $___________
REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR MAILING LABEL: The date on the first line of your label is your membership EXPIRATION date. New memberships are for twelve months from the time your check is received. For renewals, twelve months are added to the date of receipt or your previous expiration date. If you have a 2013 expiration on your label, it’s past time to renew your membership. You have until January 1. We would be sad to lose contact with you.
Welcome new THSHS members!
The THSHS appreciates our dues paying members. We have accomplished a lot for Topeka High over the past 30 years. Membership dues pay for the operating expenses for the office. We couldn’t have done it without the interest, generosity, and loyal support of our members. We welcome these new members from November 2014 to April 2015: Sheri Karst Curran ‘76, John Dealy ‘54, Tom Grimes ‘62, Gary Hayes ‘59, K. Richard Kliewer ‘58, Lee Ann Seem Met-zenthin ‘59, Dave Miller ‘62, Paige Coolidge Miller ‘78, Larry Moore ‘58, Deborah Sarratt ‘78, Paul VanValkenburg ‘59, Dan ‘71 and Joyce Shannon’72 Warren, Rob ‘67 & Susan Ogle ‘76 Balsters, H. Reuille Green ‘71, William Griffith ‘73, Jean Foster Herrold ‘67, Marcia Reed ‘59, Nancy Crites Woodward ‘67, Mike and Pam Carlson Clutter ‘64, Sarah Carkhuff Fizell ‘96, Jackie Mills Petersen ‘52, Sharon Bosworth ‘57, Linda Evans Canady ‘70, Mary Martell ‘84, Barbara Warren Salyer ‘64 and David Woods ‘60. Help us get the word out about our mission to support Topeka High. Consider giving a THSHS gift membership to a sibling or classmate for a birthday or Holiday gift You don’t have to be a THS graduate to be a THSHS member.
