Uncle Walt

One of Walt Mason’s typewriters

This evening was all about Walt Mason. “Uncle Walt” as he was fondly referred to by locals.

Every month on the first Tuesday (7 p.m.) the Lyon County Historical Museum hosts Night at the Museum.

Tonight, Kim Holcomb, the museum’s education director, and Roger Heineken, local historian, presented the program.

Kim Holcomb

Walt Mason wrote short rhymes for the Emporia Gazette. His work was syndicated and ran in over 200 newspapers daily across the country and in Great Britain.

“He always had some kind of little twist to his poems,” Holcomb said.

Holcomb read several of his pieces, including his most famous piece which still runs every year in the Gazette for Memorial Day, “Little Green Tents.”

Heineken offered Mason’s bio.

Walt Mason had quite a life. He was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1862. His mother died when he was 15. He had a hearing impairment from a near-drowning accident, and there was eventual alcoholism. While working as a farm hand and for newspapers, he left a trail of debt across the U.S. and finally dried out in a clinic in Nebraska.

In 1907, from that clinic, at age 45, he wrote to William Allen White of the Emporia Gazette, asking for a job.

Roger Heineken

“White replied, ‘I’ll give you one chance. Report to the Gazette and I’ll be there in a week,'” Heineken said.

One chance was all it took. Mason sobered up and turned his life around. Wealthy, he was able to retire at age 58 and move to La Jolla, California.

A bust of Walt Mason.

Walt’s hat and some of his writings in a scrapbook.

Museum Director Greg Jordan sets up the phonograph with the huge oak morning glory horn that belonged to Mason. It was a gift to Mason from a fan – Thomas Edison.