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.

Kenneth Edward Peery and his wife, Doris, were KAC D1 members for several years. Kenneth passed away on Saturday, August 10, 2019, at the age of 93. 

Carol Yoho (D1) shared the following news item about the Peery's from an August 2011 Kansas Authors Club meeting: 

Ken and Doris Peery, District 1, Topeka, shared work they'd helped publish by Ken's cousin, Maury Pierson, who was a Topeka artist, ship modeler, salesman, and closet writer. Having no children, Maury shared a small box of his writings with Ken, expressing the hope that someday they might be published. Ken and Doris worked on the booklet, hoping to publish before Maury's passing but he died in July, 2008. The keyboarding was made difficult by frequent bouts of laughter. When completed, the book was bound with a spiral binding and titled "Wit and Philosophy" by "an old curmudgeon" Maury Pierson. Copies were mailed to Maury's living cousins. Ken and Doris read selected portions of his writings.

Link to Kenneth's Obituary (Legacy.com)

Ralph W. Dagenais was a District 5 member of Kansas Authors Club who long played an active role in both district and state leadership. After joining KAC in 1992, he served as State Financial Secretary from 1993-2001. He also served several terms as district secretary and state contest chair.

Ralph helped secure the first KAC website in 1995, housed on the KU Department of History website. Ralph, along with wife, Julia (KAC President from 1998-99), and son, John, acted as webmaster for this site.

In 1995, Ralph received a service award for his many roles in Kansas Authors Club. He was recognized as a 20 year member in 2013.

In his last correspondence with the current Financial Secretary, Tracy Million Simmons, he stated (via Facebook message) that at 95 years of age, he was retiring his membership with Kansas Authors Club. He enjoyed his many years of active participation with the club and valued the friends and supporters he had gained there.

Ralph wrote memoir, non-fiction, and technical writing.

His obituary can be found here.
_______________________________

Members are invited to submit memories and details of Ralph's work with KAC. Please send in an email to Tracy.

Norm Ledgin was an active member of Kansas Authors Club, District 2, from 2007 to 2019. 

Norm was the author of the following books:

Asperger's and Self-Esteem: Insight and Hope through Famous Role Models (with Temple Grandin)

Diagnosing Jefferson

Sally of Monticello, Founding Mother (a novel)

The Jayhawker, a novel

Heart Deco, a novel

Disharmony, A Sally Freberg Mystery 
Link to Obituary.

Norm on Wikipedia​

Norm's Amazon Page