Dear Editor,
Nearly every Kansan knows that on January 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the ranks of statehood. The Sesquicentennial (or 150th anniversary) of such an event is indeed an important milestone.
A few days ago, I drove to Washburn University to hear special remarks on this occasion delivered by former Kansas Gov. John W. Carlin, who served as the state’s chief executive from 1979 until 1987. What made it even more meaningful or sentimental for me was the fact that immediately after Carlin stepped-down from being governor in January of 1987, he became a visiting professor at Wichita State University. By that fall semester, he was my professor at WSU. I learned a lot while in Prof. Carlin’s class. He demanded true excellence and his students delivered on those high expectations. I jokingly (but also seriously) tell people that Prof. Carlin pushed us students just as hard as if he was still governor.
After Gov. Carlin concluded his recent remarks at Washburn, he opened the floor up to questions from the audience. I was the first person to ask him a question on the importance of railroads to Kansas’ growth: past, present, and for the future. Midway through my question, I intentionally interrupted myself to casually tell Gov. Carlin and the audience who I was, by name, and that I had been Prof. Carlin’s student at WSU some 24 years ago. I joked: “long time between lectures.” To that, the audience smiled and chuckled. The audience ranged the spectrum of ages from senior-citizens down to students in their late teens or early 20s, who weren’t even born when I had Carlin as my professor. Back then: I was a 23 year-old student myself. Today I am age 47. The world has changed. I have changed. We have all aged a little bit. But it was a rare occurrence to have an interactive exchange between a former student and his former professor some 24 years later.
The points I made were: We all need to celebrate Kansas’ 150th anniversary all-year-long. It is such a significant milestone that “cake and punch” on a single day cannot do proper justice toward it. Secondly, I promoted the idea that railroads can (again) provide an important linkage for rural Kansans. Gov. Carlin noted how some modern-day politicians want to discount or write-off central and western Kansas. I immediately thought of Great Bend and other communities. Carlin reminded the audience that “there are people out there” and that politicians “cannot think they can shut it down” as if the region doesn’t exist. Mr. Carlin himself was born in Salina. I grew-up being near Wichita conveniences such as stores open 24 hours a day. When I moved to Esbon, in Jewell County, I discovered that I was 70 miles to the nearest Wal-Mart at either Concordia or at Hastings, Neb. Yet, a train track was three blocks from my house. What I wish is that railroads and businesses such as Wal-Mart could team-up to provide supplies to small towns, even say, only on a twice-a-month routine. That could be a lifeline. I don’t think existing businesses would balk, since they need supplies, too.
Kansas has achieved much in the first 150 years. I just hope we can find ways to sustain areas of the state that are largely forgotten. The Kansas of the technological age must again find a happy medium by rejuvenating the Kansas of the prairie age. In Topeka, they sang the song: “Home On The Range,” yet few urbanites comprehend the complex realities on the prairie. I’m still learning, and I’m happy that I’m learning even more “in-between lectures.”
James A. Marples,
Esbon