# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Debbie Custer

Everyone is challenged by the current pandemic. In the 1950's America faced the polio epidemic. Many died, many were disabled for a lifetime and some recovered. I think this photo perfectly illustrates that spirit of never giving up! This is my mother who contracted polio in 1954. Having lost the use of her hands, she learned to type with a stick she held in her mouth. In this laborious way, she typed letters to family and friends. Life was forever altered by this disease but, her faith remained strong. Her faith allowed her to remain joyful throughout her next 32 years living with disability.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Cynthia Holland
My twin great, great, great, great aunts Alice and Carrie Stites, six other Wichita women, two men, and three children set forth on April 8, 1886 to stake their claims on 160 acres of land in Leoti of Western Kansas. Their "jolly party" (see Wichita Daily Beacon article, "Ladies Westward Ho!") carried with them everything they would need including "several Winchester, revolvers, and knives,...cows to furnish milk and butter" and many more trunks full of supplies. The 1929 Who's Who book is a link to the storied and feisty Stites sisters, for which I have no photos. The family stories are wonderful though--twins Alice and Carrie married twin brothers John and Wilbur. Their sister Martha married the other Stites brother, Henry. Not only did the twin sisters and their sister Martha arrive to Wichita in a covered wagon, they traveled by train and stage coach to Leoti. They returned to Wichita, presumably selling their land in Leoti for a profit, and were real Who's Who in Wichita their whole lives. The family story goes Alice and Carrie were quite the rabble-rousers. In 1909, when both sisters were about 60 years old, the courts filed an injunction against them for selling alcohol and running a “disorderly house”. This was at a time when prohibition and Carrie Nation were in full swing in Kansas. Yet, they still had enough social clout to rate a biography entry to the Who's Who in 1929. What a great story!

# data[].attributes.headline
Alfred Regier's Rainfall Record, c. 1985

# data[].attributes.subject
Alfred Regier's Rainfall Record, c. 1985

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Chuck Regier

This is the rainfall record my grandfather kept from April 30, 1985 to December 7, 1986. Alfred and Ione Regier had a modest farm north-east of Whitewater, KS, and like many farmers, Alfred kept an eye on the weather. This piece of card stock was taped up next to the door inside the back stoop so Grampy could easily jot down the latest rainfall. I pulled this off the wall when the old farm house was being torn a few years after Alfred and Ione's death. It hangs in our kitchen as a simple reminder of Grampy and Grammy, their love of farming and the land.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Karen Deaver

My parents, Herman and Sarah Regier were involved life long in Mennonite Central Committee relief efforts across the world.  My dad was a big irrigated grain farmer in western Nebraska.  As a 19 yr old he accompanied an American ship of cattle destined for China in 1945 to feed the starving.  Then years later he donated crops of beans, wheat, etc to mission projects. In 1982, they traveled to Refugee camps in Sudan in 1982. The MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) relief worker gave my mom these statues.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Alicia Brauer Boor

My mother told me that she inherited the spoons in her family because she had an “R” name. The family story goes that we were relatives to the Romanov family in the Russian controlled Germany. When the monarchy was overthrown, my family fled and smuggled these spoons with them to the U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Regina Klenjoski

This is a photo of my mother's wedding dress from their wedding day in 1968. My mother and father were married May 12, 1968 in the remote mountain village of Jablanica in what was then the Republic of Macedonia in the former Yugoslavia. Today it is known as North Macedonia. They celebrated 52 years together this month. As a contemporary choreographer, I honored my family's history in a dance theater work called "FAR FROM HOME". The exhibit included original wedding pieces worn by my mother, Petkana Klenjoski, during her wedding in 1968 and subsequently, by me at my wedding in 1997.

# data[].attributes.headline
Wendell Willkie Button Collection, c. 1940

# data[].attributes.subject
Wendell Willkie Button Collection, c. 1940

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Elizabeth Willkie Tew

My great uncle was Wendell L. Willkie who ran for president against Roosevelt in 1940. Some of these buttons were passed down to me from my uncle and others were added over the years from vintage and antique shops. My grandfather, Edward Willkie, was Wendell’s brother. He served as his body guard during his campaign. I grew up hearing stories about Wendell’s cross country train campaigns. These buttons serve as a great reminder and connection to my family’s history. We love having and collecting them.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission By Kristin Martin

This item is owned by my grandpa, Fred Kuestersteffen. This belonged to his grandparents. It is a kit that was set up and used when the priest would come to visit a sick family member and say the Catholic Mass. Welcoming a priest into the home for Mass is a very big deal and families wanted to be prepared. I thought it particularly interesting that he said the kit had it probably last been used before World War I! Inside of the kit is an instruction book, a crucifix stand with candles and a holy water font, a holy water bottle, an aspergillum (used to sprinkle holy water), a paten and (used to hold the bread that'd be used for the Eucharist), a bowl for finger washing, linens, and cotton for anointing the person with oil.

# data[].attributes.body
Submission by Katie Potter

My grandmother gave me this ruby rosary for my First Communion in 1992. It was given to my 2nd-Great Aunt on her 16th birthday in 1907. After her passing, it was given to my Great-Grandmother and eventually found its way to me. I included in the picture the note that my Grandmother gave me with the rosary about it’s history.