Betty Laird was a member of Kansas Authors Club since 2006.  She was a research analyst in Russian studies and Kansas history. She was also a professional actor who appeared in 10 stage plays and more than 40 commercials. She also co-starred in various productions, such as “Sarah, Plain and Tall” with Glenn Close, “Monday After the Miracle” alongside Roma Downey, and “Gone in the Night” with Edward Asner. Apart from that, she also founded the Hasting College Radio Players and has served on four board of directors, of which two she chaired. (source: Nebraska Authors)

District 7 President and member of Kansas Authors Club since 2017, passed away on June 24, 2024. Though a relatively new member of the club, Frank stepped into a leadership role and enjoyed documenting stories from his life and of the history of Gove County. He published memories in Reminisce Magazine and enjoyed reading stories each year to the children at Quinter Elementary where his grandchildren attended school. 

Members who would like to share memories of Frank, please feel free to add them in the comments section of this post or email them to KansasAuthorsClub AT gmail DOT com. 

Delbert Bryant joined Kansas Authors Club in 1994. He was a poet who kept every yearbook of the Kansas Authors Club on a shelf in his home office.

a note from Tracy Million Simmons:

Delbert was quite proud of his association with Kansas Authors Club. We began writing letters when I took over management of the KAC membership list and asked him to check in yearly as an octogenarian. He shared news of his move from his home to an assisted living facility. 

"I intend for this to be a short note only to confirm our relationship in the KAC," he wrote in May of 2022, my last letter from him. "I look at our troubled world and consider all others as brothers and sisters in a broad way." His letters were always signed, "On my way HOME."

Delbert shared this story in the 2021 KAC Yearbook. 

Reason for Hope
 
It happened like this: On July 15, 2020, a very warm day, I had just finished mowing a heavy part of our lawn on my riding mower, leaving behind scattered mowed grass to blight my mowing job. I had raked up piles for pickup by the sanitation crew on Friday. This 96-year-old body felt it necessary to rest a bit, so I sat down on a rock ledge near a huge reddish rock in the shade in our front yard.

After probably ten minutes, I tried to get up and proceed on my project only to fall backwards and I simply laid there before making another try. I did not strike my head on the huge rock, for which I am grateful. As I was struggling to stand once again, I heard a young voice say, “Are you OK? Do you need help?” I felt his hand on my arm and as I placed my hand on his shoulder, I was aware that a helping young man had come to my aid.

I thanked him sincerely and said, “I think I can make it now.” He said, “Are you sure?” He returned to his waiting buddy and they cycled off on their way.

My daughter, Jan Gauntt, made a plea on Facebook for possible info on who this good Samaritan might be. Kathy Rice got a little closer with enquiries with her neighborhood group and got some results. The young boy’s name is Aiden Roberts, 12 years old. His father’s name is Dustin. I was informed that they had been vacationing since the incident and would be contacting me later, but no word yet.

I want to thank Aiden’s folks and him for having such an observing, kind son--stuff a real man is made of in part. This is a promising attribute of our Lord’s command to love one another. I would relish knowing Aiden and his parents better.

​Now you’ve heard the rest of the story.
 
 
Delbert Bryant
“On my way home”

Member 2010-2020

Carole described herself as “writing for therapeutic release.” Her published books, Kat Tales, volumes 1 and 2, revolved around her childhood experiences and ties to the Kansas City area. She was published in The Best Times, Good Old Days, and more. The Kansas City Railway Historical Society published “Love at the Train Station,” a tribute to Carole’s parents. She also enjoyed the challenge of writing poetry, some of which was included in Tallgrass Voices published by Hill Song Press and by the Johnson County Library, in Overland Park, Kansas.

​Carole was a member of District 2. In 2018, she paid her dues ahead to 2021 when she would be an Octogenarian. She was eager to maintain her connection with Kansas Authors as she started a new adventure, moving to Florida to be near her family. Though Carole was recognized by the club in 2021, we sadly learned that she did not quite make it to her 80th birthday. Carole passed away in April 2020.

From Don Pady's History of Kansas Authors Club:
When Doris joined KAC in 1983, she was a member of District Seven until 1989 when the districts were reorganized, and she found that she was now a member of District Six. In 1996 she was elected secretary of her district for two years, and in 2000 she was elected district president for two years. That same year she took the office of state recording secretary, and in 2002 she assumed the duties of state vice-president for two years. During that time, Doris also took the office of state recording secretary, then assumed the duties of state vice-president for two years. She then served KAC’s 62nd state president (2004 to 2006).

Doris remained on the board as parliamentarian from 2008-2016. It is quite possible that Doris installed more state officers into office than any other member of Kansas Authors Club.

In 2012 Doris received a Service Award of Merit from the Club for "loyal and enthusiastic support of the organization," also saying that she was "instrumental in the Centennial Celebration of KAC." The centennial book that was published while Doris was president included poetry and prose entries from members of the club and was distributed to all members for free. 

Doris wrote columns about "the good 'ole days" for the Hutchinson News and "I Remember" columns for the Rural Messenger. 

Writers give life flavor
by Doris Schroeder
Entry to the 2014 KAC Yearbook

The Kansas Authors Club is one of the oldest writing groups in the U.S. and possibly the world. It began in 1904, and life was very different from what it is today. To read somebody’s writing was one of the few things that could be done for entertainment.

On the 100th anniversary of the Kansas Authors Club in 2004, we enjoyed a play put on by the Topeka writers, showing the quiet determination of the members. Opportunities were not as abundant in the beginning of the twentieth century as they are today. Can you imagine having to write with a scratch pen that had to be dipped in an inkwell? Could you do your writing by the light of a dim kerosene lamp while you were wearing glasses without progressive lenses? While you were writing, you would occasionally stop to add coal or wood to the fire. You had to write out each copy. If you wanted more than one, you used a sheet of carbon paper.
  
In the time frame of the beginning of our organization life was tough in the physical sense. We had such illustrious members as Margaret Hill McCarter, the first woman to address a Republican National Convention. Another famous writer was William Allen White, the well-known newspaper editor from the Emporia Gazette. Who hasn’t heard of Arthur Capper, a two term governor of Kansas and a five term senator who demonstrated his interest in young people with the establishment of the Capper Foundation for crippled children and many more. They all had a gigantic vision for the writers of Kansas.
 
As writers, we have it all in 2014. We have modern technology. It is easy to type on computers, send e-mails and texts, getting information by pressing a button, getting information and taking pictures with our smart phones. “But what good is that if we lack purpose?”
 
When we are born into this world, we have some talents given to us. If we have Christ in our life, we are given spiritual gifts that God would like us to carry on. In other words, we are created for a purpose. The fact that we have the talent of writing certainly must have some significance as to our function.
 
We may not have all the answers but we can put our own thoughts down to get people to think about the possibilities. We can write stories from our imagination and/or experience  to help come up with solutions. We can help people get their thoughts going and perhaps inspire others to get involved. We, as writers, can help flavor the thinking of the people.
             
Making the world a more interesting place to live the purpose-driven life, the writers in the Kansas Authors Club are definitely the salt of the earth!
 

Topeka, KS: Yvonne (Evie) Green was born Sept 1st, 1931, in Oklahoma City, OK to Mark and Florence Casas Elsea. She passed away on Nov 23, 2022. Evie graduated from Classen High School in Oklahoma City and received her bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK, where she met and later married Phillip Green. She then worked as an elementary school teacher, helping to put her husband through medical school. Evie and Phillip had three children and the family relocated to Topeka, KS in 1960, where Phillip became an air force psychiatrist and later a resident psychiatrist at the Menninger Foundation. Evie continued to teach in Topeka for the 501-school district and retired in 1975. She also led school field trips for Environmental Education. Evie volunteered throughout her life as a beloved docent and zoo schoolteacher at the Topeka Zoo. She was a member of a small writing club in Topeka called “Write Stuff.” Evie was also a long-time member of the Kansas Authors Club and received KAC writing awards for her haikus and poetry. Evie had (2) short stories published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, most recently in 2019. She is survived by her children: Elizabeth Green (Topeka, KS), Leslie Green Renzelman (Los Angeles, CA), Jeffrey Green (Eudora, KS) and four grandchildren: Amy Green Esplund (Lawrence, KS), Caroline Renzelman (Los Angeles, CA), Daniel Green (Eudora, KS), Jessica Renzelman (Portland, OR).

Per Evie’s wishes, there will be no funeral service. Instead, her family and friends will have a memorial dedication at the Topeka Zoo in the spring - to honor her love of animals and her many years of volunteer service at the zoo. The family requests in leu of sending flowers, donations be made in her name to the Topeka Zoo or to the local Humane Society (ASPCA).

What can I say? Evie was so many things to me—a friend, a teacher, another mother. If she had a superpower, it was her ability to encourage. Those of us who joined the Write Stuff group which met Tuesday mornings at the public library knew how effective she was not only encouraging us to write but also encouraging us to push for excellence. We also knew some of her own personal story and caught glimpses of how effective she was encouraging others to meet their own problems head-on. I had the honor of seeing her interact with youth when I taught social studies in the U.S.D. 501 system and she taught in the outdoor education program, encouraging seventh graders (as well as other youth) to take an interest in the Topeka community as well as the wonderful outdoors world she loved so much.
                                          - Kristine A. Polansky


I went to my first KAC convention alone. I must have Iooked lost, as this tiny dynamo of a woman grabbed my arm and said, “You can sit with us.” Evie Green introduced me to Trudy McFarland, Barbara Brady, Sam Pierson and likely many more KAC members who I eventually l counted as friends. When I moved from Dodge City to Topeka, it was wonderful to have this network of support already in place. Evie welcomed me to Topeka where I enjoyed monthly meetings of Kansas authors for the first time. She took my kids fossil hunting, a trip they still talk about to this day. She was such a natural teacher, and Evie often told the story of my son with a bag of fossils in hand declaring, “This is the best day ever!” After that field trip, I remember my son musing, "So there's an Evie Green and an Evie Simmons. Do you think there is a Kaman Green? A Maddie Green?"

I often addressed Evie Green as “my 2nd favorite Evie” because she and my daughter shared the nickname. One day, we were visiting Evie's house where she had introduced my kids to her pet turtle, and then advised them to think long and hard before getting a turtle. “They live long lives!” She told my kids. “You have to think about who is going to take care of them when you are not able to do so.”
​
Evie carried a notebook of her favorite writings with her, and I was thrilled one year when she pulled it out at the convention and showed me that she had put some of my work in her book. She said it was full of favorite pieces that made her feel good and she would sit down and read it whenever she needed a lift. I enjoyed correspondence and phone calls from Evie over the years, and always loved reuniting at the conventions once I’d moved on to Emporia. Her gracious welcome left a big impression. She is missed.
                                          - Tracy Million Simmons

Edna Dyck was a District 4 member of Kansas Authors Club from 1970 to 2022. Starting in 2016, she sent letters to the club annually. On her 101st birthday, she sent a letter giving her regrets, saying that it was time to put away her pen and give up her membership. Edna passed away on May 12, 2022.

Edna wrote poetry, nonfiction, essays on religion and inspiration and memoir. Edna was recognized for 50 years of membership in 2020.
​​

Mike Hartnett, member of District 2 since 2014, president of District 2, 2019-2020, passed away on September 6.

Mike was a retired high school English/Speech teacher and business journalist (magazine columnist and editor and newsletter publisher), winning awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He led a memoir-writing group for the Douglas County Senior Citizen Center and was a co-leader of a men’s writing group at the Douglas County Jail.

He was the co-author of a play, Worthy of the Name, which was presented at Chicago’s Cultural Affairs Center, and a collaborator of a readers’ theater production, Prose & Cons, Voices From Behind Bars. He was the author of a memoir, And I Cried, Too: Confronting Evil in a Small Town (Meadowlark, 2019).

Mike Hartnett was my close friend and my colleague in the writing class at Douglas County Jail from 2015 to 2020, when the class was shut down because of Covid.

Mike's easy-going nature, non-judgmental ways and love of writing were a good fit for this class.  He felt very comfortable in the classroom and the jail guys soon appreciated him.

Mike had started his career as an English teacher in the 1960s, so it was like his life had come full circle and he really enjoyed himself in the classroom, appreciating the work of the writers in the class and sharing his own work.

He told the class about his own book based on the notorious murder case from his time at Lincoln College in Illinois in the late 1970s.  Mike hoped that in retirement he could finally finish the book and the class encouraged him week after week.  At last he was able to bring a published copy of the book to class, and we all applauded. It was one of the highlights of my twenty-year teaching at the jail.

Mike would often tell the story about a guy in jail hugging him at the end of class after Mike had told the class about his wife's struggle with cancer.  It meant the world to Mike that someone in a bad situation felt moved enough to offer him sympathy this way.

Mike was a good guy, a humble man, beloved by those of us lucky enough to know him.

Brian Daldorph

When I first received Mike's manuscript (And I Cried, Too), it had been more than 40 years in the making. I met a kind and thoughtful man who obviously still carried the weight of the events from his years at Lincoln College. We talked extensively about his desire to publish his book, and his decision to publish it now, finally, in 2019. Almost as soon as he had signed his publishing contract, Mike's wife Barbara was diagnosed with cancer. The pleasure of seeing his book come to life was mixed with the pain of sharing his final years with the love of his life. All our plans for a book launch and book tours were set aside, though the book has done exceptionally well despite all of life's distractions. Barbara passed away in the spring of 2021.

Through Mike, I met the poet Antonio Sanchez-Day (now deceased), and became better acquainted with Brian Daldorph, both of whom became/will become Meadowlark authors. Mike will forever be considered a cornerstone author of Meadowlark Press. He took a chance on me when I was still relatively small and less experienced. His book solidified Meadowlark as a Midwest press, and much enlarged our audience of readers.

In our most recent email exchange a few weeks ago, I shared my delight at the success his book was achieving in ebook format. He replied immediately that he was "doing ok" and shared future events where we might have an opportunity to visit in person. I am very sorry to miss those visits. 
​
Time is often so much shorter than we imagine it will be.


Tracy Million Simmons
Owner/Publisher, Meadowlark Press

If you have memories of Mike that you would like to add to this page, please send them via the "submit news" page on our website.

Dan Close joined Kansas Authors Club in 2009. He was a member of District 5 and served as D5 Vice President in 2020, and on the state convention committee in 2019. He served as State Prose Contest Manager in 2017-18, and was the State Vice President in 2018. He served as presenter and panel member at several KAC state conventions and was a frequent contest member.
​
Dan received his B.A. in Journalism from Wichita State University in 1981. He worked as a reporter and journalist for fourteen different newspapers, and gained his M.A. in Communication from WSU in 1993. He had been an editor at The Wichita Eagle prior to taking a position as Associate Professor in the Elliot School of Communication at WSU. Dan's career included radio broadcasting, public relations, advertising, photography and design.  He has written award-winning fiction and poetry, and was adviser of the WSU student paper, THE SUNFLOWER for sixteen years. He was a DART Fellow at Columbia University in New York in 2011. 

Joyce Long joined Kansas Authors Club in 1997 and served as District 3 President, among other offices, for many years. She was a frequent workshop presenter, speaker, and had a hand in the planning and organizing of multiple conventions. She was a high school English teacher and writer. 

Joyce wrote a series of children's books called The Misadventures of Zortz. The ventriloquist's puppet was a often a feature of her presentations.

    

Dr. Prem Bajaj became a member of Kansas Authors Club in 2007. He served as State Financial Secretary in 2008 and State Treasurer in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, he became State President, serving for three years. 

Remembering Prem:
What I remember about working with Prem is that he encouraged us to question our procedures and policies. We experimented with giving membership discounts for those who wanted to pay for multiple years. He was very good at getting a variety of people involved in committees and discussions on policy. Prem didn't just ask why our organization was lacking in diversity, he went out and recruited new members of all ages. He was also very kind and quick to acknowledge the work of others within the organization. He would often surprise members by making an example of them at a meeting or presentation.

Tracy Million Simmons, D2

Remembering Prem:
I was a fairly new member when Prem was first elected president of the Kansas Authors Club. I didn’t even know who he was when he nominated me to be state treasurer. I accepted that nomination and held the post for about six years. During that time, I attended many meetings where he was in charge. I was always impressed with his gentle leadership style. Prem was instrumental in getting a yearly budget incorporated into our KAC operating structure. Another of his interests was the inclusion of younger writers into our group. I was impressed that he encouraged his grandchildren to write and to be members of KAC. I believe the grandchildren won several writing awards over the years; I was especially fond of one poem that John Bajaj wrote called “Brainstorming.” Prem was also very good at paying attention to and complimenting the work that KAC officers and others did. I admired him very much as a leader, and liked him very much as a person.

Cathy Callen, District 2

Marjorie was an active member of District 7 for many years after joining the club in 2008. She served the district  president, as secretary, and treasurer at various points in her membership. She also coordinated the District 7 writing contest for several years.

Brown was the author of Secrets of Robert's Mountain, published 2015.

Lorena Joyce Herrmann
February 2, 1925 - June 26, 2021

Antonio Sanchez-Day was a poet and an active member of KAC District 2, since 2018. He listed poetry, memoir and nonfiction as his areas of interest. He volunteered as a creative writing instructor at the Douglas County Jail. His book of poetry, Taking on Life, was published by Coal City Press in 2019. 

​If you have memories to share of Antonio, please submit them to the website manager. 


A review of Taking on Life, by D2 member, Tyler Robert Sheldon, in Tinderbox Poetry Journal.

An article about Antonio Sanchez-Day and editor/mentor Brian Daldorph, published by the University of Kansas.

Link to poem "I have been alone" by Antonio Sanchez-Day, published at The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative. 

Antonio's obituary can be read here.

Left: Antonio and Mike Hartnett
Right: Brian Daldorph, Mike Hartnett, and Antonio Sanchez-Day

Photos shared by Brian Daldorph.

Edna Bell-Pearson passed peacefully on Friday morning, January 22, 2021, at the age of 100 and 44 days. She had been residing in an independent living apartment in Louisburg, Kansas. Edna was married to Carl Ungerer from 1945 to 1959. She reunited with the Ungerer family in recent years, upon publication of her memoir, Headwinds, which details the four years after World War II when she was married to Carl Ungerer, with whom she helped build the first airport in Marysville, Kansas. At a time when the flying industry was really starting to "take off," Edna was a very accomplished pilot, making many flights across the Kansas countryside.

Edna Bell was born to Elizabeth Evangeline (Bessie) Booth and Fred Hunter Pearson. Edna was the oldest of four children, three younger brothers who predeceased her.

Her website lists her careers “other than writing” as everything from babysitting, housekeeping, and dog walking, beginning as a teenager, to being a co-operator of the first airport in Marysville, Kansas, a farmer/rancher, real estate promoter, radio and TV news reporter and more. Edna’s talents were broad and varied, and her skill at writing stories that captured readers was surpassed by few.

As well as hundreds of published stories, articles, essays, and poems, Edna was most noted for her first book, Fragile Hopes, Transient Dreams and Other Stories, a southwest Kansas saga which was chosen during the Kansas sesquicentennial year as one of the “150 Best Kansas Books.” In 2020, Headwinds, a Memoir (Meadowlark Books), was selected as a Kansas Notable Book. Edna was a regular contributor to Kansas! Magazine and Grit Magazine for more than a decade. She wrote flying columns for the Marysville Advocate in the late 1940s, and a weekly business column for the Dodge City Daily Globe in the 1970s. Her work as stringer, reporter, feature writer, and editor appeared in the Jonesboro Sun (Arkansas), Kansas City Star, Spokane Chronicle/Spokesman Review, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and others.

In Edna’s own words: “I don’t profess to be a great writer, but a dedicated scriber/scribbler, and considering the quality/quantity of work I’ve put out over the years, I think I’m safe in signing myself off as a bona fide writer/author.
“A question often asked is how or when or why I became a writer. I didn’t “become” a writer; I was born a writer. I don’t remember when I wasn’t writing. I don’t know where my writing genes came from. To my knowledge, no other member of my family, immediate or in the distant past, has shown the slightest interest in putting pen to paper. I’ve been told that, from the time my chubby hands could negotiate a pencil, my favorite pastime was sitting with pencil and paper, deeply engrossed in scribbling. I wrote my first poem when I was five, a silly, poorly composed, rhymed thing which I still have, forever preserved, in my grandmother’s commonplace book.

“For the most part, I lived with my grandparents until I was eleven. Grandma was a great teacher; she instilled in me a love for the Bible (Grandma was very religious) and a love of reading. She loved poetry and, though she never wrote any herself, I think she hoped I’d turn out to be a poet. When I was born, Grandma and Granddaddy bought me a “Birth” day present—The Books of Knowledge. I still have the complete set—well worn—in the original case. As a child, I spent hours daily, lying on the floor in the living room, one or more of the books open before me. I virtually devoured the stories and poems, but I also spent a lot of time on astronomy, French, and geography.

“Grandma and The Books of Knowledge must have educated me well, because I skipped both the second and the fourth grades. However, I evidently used all my stored knowledge in my earlier years because once I became a fifth grader—although I still got lots of A’s—I was just an average student.”

Edna never did stop writing and had a work in progress, entitled A Tribute To A Man Folks Didn't Like Very Much. Edna also had plans for five additional books about her life, with the working titles of In the Beginning; Living off the Land; Highways and Byways; Friends and Lovers; and Old Like Me.

Edna was buried at the Hooker Cemetery, Hooker, Oklahoma, next to her grandparents.

Jane Gates Bandy
May 4, 1929 - November 30, 2020
obituary

Jane Gates Bandy was a District 7 member, 1982-2017. She maintained her membership for several years after moving to California upon the death of her husband, Thomas. 

She was an English teacher prior to retiring and an active member in Colby. She wrote nonfiction and poetry. 


If you have memories to share with us, please send them by email. 

Diane Wahto graduated from the Wichita State University MFA program in 1985. That year, her poem, “Somebody Is Always Watching,” won the Academy of American Poets Award. Since that time she has continued to write poetry.
​
She taught journalism at Winfield High School, then taught English Composition and creative writing at Butler Community College.

Her book of poetry, The Sad Joy of Leaving, was published by Blue Cedar Press and came out in October 2018. The book launch was held at Watermark Books and Café, where she read with Michael Poage and Kelly Johnston.

Other recent publications include “Empty Corners” in Same, “Persistence,” in The Ekphrastic Review, and “Yellow Music,” in Heartland. She was co-editor of two issues of the 365 Days Anthology.

Diane joined Kansas Authors Club in 2014 and served in several positions, including two years as District 5 president and as the Awards Chair for the state 2015-2020. She was co-chair, along with Connie White, of the state convention in Wichita in 2019. 

She is survived by three children and five grandchildren, all of whom she enjoyed seeing as often as possible. She, her husband Patrick Roche, and their dog Annie lived in Midtown in Wichita, Kansas.

Diane’s website: Poet of a Certain Age

Lyrical Literature, by Jim Potter

Diane's Obituary

Swimming to Shore
by Diane Wahto


Lake Huron, cold and clear in summer,
tempts me into its deeps, alone, secure.
The Australian crawl I learned in the pool
of my home town pushes me through
the gray water with barely a ripple. Reach
of arms, kick of legs, body stretched
full out. I think of the life beneath
me, unseen fish, waving aquatic plants.
I give one kick, turn, tread water, look
at the distant sandy shore. This
is not my element. I must go back,
stand among the birch trees,
join my husband, my children,
the day that lies ahead.

Rosemary Torrez, a longtime member of Kansas Authors Club District 1, passed away in Topeka, KS, on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.

Rosemary joined Kansas Authors Club in 1991 and was an active poet and member of District 1. She was the author of While the Meadowlark Sang: An Anthology of Poetry and Memoirs, published 2017. Rosemary was fond of writing sonnets. She was published in Potpourri, Poets Magazine, Saturday Evening Post, poetvoices.com, The Topeka Capital Journal, Insight Out, and Truth the Poet Sings (Unity Press). She was also an active member of The Write Stuff, Topeka. 

Cremation is planned, with a private graveside service at Memorial Park Cemetery. A celebration of her life will be at a later date. Rosemary's full obituary is available online at Penwell-Gabel's web site. Personal messages may be left on the site. 

Kenneth "Neel" Holler joined Kansas Authors Club in 2009. He was a member of District 5 and a regular participant in the annual literary contests, and a frequent award winner. Though he was unable to attend, Neel was recognized for 10 years of membership at the 2019 Convention in Wichita. Also in 2019, he won 2nd place for the short story titled, Rose.

Neel's obituary can be found here.