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Wonder-ful Kansans

9 Comments on Wonder-ful Kansans

William Allen White has a place of honor in the Kansas Capitol building.

Emporia’s own William Allen White is one of the 24 finalists in the 8 Wonders of Kansas contest – People division.

Last week, the Kansas Sampler Foundation announced the line-up which is now open to the public vote. Voting ends on October 22 and the top 8 will be announced on Oct. 27.

Amazon Army, Pittsburg
Amelia Earhart, Atchison
Arthur Capper, Garnett, Topeka
Bernhard Warkentin, Newton, Halstead
Buffalo Soldiers, Fort Leavenworth
Buster Keaton, Piqua, Iola
Carry A. Nation, Medicine Lodge, Kiowa
Clyde V. Cessna, Rago, Kingman
Cyrus K. Holliday, Topeka
Emil J. Kapaun, Pilsen
Frederick Funston, Iola
George Washington Carver, Minneapolis, Beeler
Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence
Jack Kilby, Great Bend
James Naismith, Lawrence
John Brown, Osawatomie
Joseph McCoy, Abilene, Wichita
Martin & Osa Johnson, Chanute
Mary Ann “Mother” Bickerdyke, Bunker Hill, Ellsworth
Olive Ann Beech, Wichita, Waverly
Walter Chrysler, Ellis, Wamego
Walter Johnson, Humboldt, Coffeyville
William Allen White, Emporia
William Inge, Independence

Vote NOW at the Kansas Sampler site.

9 Comments

  1. I’ve voted the allotted number of times on both of my email accounts. W. A. White was a wonder. Let’s all help make him a WONDER.

  3. I also voted for General Frederick Funston, an amazing Kansan in life. When he died suddenly in February of 1917 in San Antonio, he was slated to be the Pershing of WWI. He was the first American of only three whose body lay in state in the Alamo. Following, his body lay in state in San Fransisco’s city hall because he was commander of the 1906 earthquake aftermath. His grave is at the Presidio in SF.

    As a young man he was turned down by the US military when he tried to enlist. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Go figure.

    Vote for Frederick Funston!!

  4. Not sure of the answer to that, ele. Maybe because there are 8 elements and 8 is a nice round number. The 8 elements: art, architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people.

  5. I also voted for Jack Kilby – the man who invented the future!
    And William Inge, a fabulous playwright.
    And Martin and Osa Johnson, adventurers.
    And Walter Chrysler. I learned a lot about him when I wrote a column about him.

    Lots of great people on the list.

  6. I vote for William Inge, also. I have only seen “Picnic” as a play, but I have seen most of the films made of his plays. “Splendor in the Grass” was a screen play he wrote which was filmed. I saw “Dark at the Top of the Stairs” when I was young and I always remembered it.

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