Another half hour of Hattebergs People is on the way.

And here's a look at what's coming up.

I've got kids that are awful determined and I'm pretty determined myself.

And I just plan to keep at it until they decide that it's a good idea.

History was made in Argonia.

This fifth grade class wanted to spread the word from coast to coast.

So what were they doing and were they successful?

You'll find out.

Also-- Wow is quite, quite often the initial reaction.

A lot of them say this is like stepping back in time.

They were fascinated by history and wanted to share it with the world.

Meet the Kansas couple who opened their own, his and her museums.

Plus.

I am a person that if I set out to do something, I generally do it.

They were visionaries who saw the potential in Wichita's old town area, and her restaurant has since become famous.

We'll pay a 1993 visit to John and Mary Wright's Old Mill Tasty Shop.

And we'll have this story-- Roy Whitney was into recycling before recycling was cool.

We'll show you his story from 1979.

Hello, I'm Susan Peters.

And I'm Larry Hatteberg.

We'll show you those stories and a lot more on this edition of Hattebergs People.

These stories are like old friends.

Their lives radiate from the screen, like prophets of the past.

They were teachers, but not in a classroom.

Instead, they taught about life to those around them who cared to listen.

And I was their student.

Kansas women have long been trailblazers paving the way for future generations.

Sure, the U.S. Senate, the Academy Awards, professional basketball.

Those are just some of the areas in which Kansas women have shattered glass ceilings.

And in 1887, the people in Argonia, Kansas elected the first woman to serve as mayor of an American city.

That, according to Luana Ford and her fifth grade class.

And it was worthy of major recognition by the U.S. Post Office.

If you are elected mayor, will you serve?

And she said, Yes, I think I will.

In Lawanna Ford's fifth grade class in Argonia, Kansas, there is excitement.

And so she just found out that very morning that she had been nominated.

She didn't even know she had been nominated.

That would kind of put the ladies in their place.

That's what the men thought.

The men were wrong.

Salter won and the rest is history.

She had to have been feisty.

Late 1800s, and elected mayor and nobody had ever been mayor before.

Elected America's first woman mayor in 1887, Suzanna Madora Salter's house still stands as a museum.

Teamworks important that why its going to take lots and lots of people helping to get this stamp.

But nothing musty about history in this classroom.

The sky's the limit.

You can write whoever you would like to write.

Teacher Lawanna Ford is in her third year of trying to persuade the post office to issue a stamp in Salter's honor.

They worked very hard for this, and I would like to see Mrs. Salter honored with the stamp, and I'd like to see my kids have success.

So now the kids are writing letters and sending hundreds of emails all over the world, gaining support for the Salter Stamp.

So it's been very interesting and very good for the kids.

A lot of times in a small community like Argonia, they need to broaden their horizons and know that there's a whole big world out there.

Tomorrow we'll work on a draft to kind of change the letter a little bit so it will be appropriate to send out to celebrities because it's very important.

Okay.

I think we're going to get a stamp from this project.

I don't know.

I've got kids that are awful determined and I'm pretty determined myself.

And I just plan to keep at it until they decide that it's a good idea.

And the more people that we have that join the bandwagon, the better.

Nebraska, Montana, Caldwell.

There's more envelopes in there.

No, there's no more.

Right there.

(Laughter) Can you get it in?

I've always told them that they can make a difference.

All right.

Well, that was the year 2000.

Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of these kids and their teacher, Susanna Salter has still not made it into a postage stamp.

Well, after teaching and living in Argonia for 26 years, Lawanna retired and then moved to Topeka.

And that's where she lives now.

She says she still hopes that Susanna Salter gets her own stamp, but it'll be up to others to try to make that happen.

Here comes the next generation.

It's up to- we failed in our generation.

Exactly.

But how cool that the first female mayor ever in our country was in Argonia, Kansas?

How many people do you think really know that or have ever heard that?

Well, I remember from 2000 and now I know it again.

But here's the deal.

I think everyone named Susanna should be on postage stamps.

Do you think so?

Suzanne is a very good name.

Like Susan.

Suzanne.

Kind of thing?

Kind Of thing where that's coming from.

Now, let's go to Lincoln, Kansas, where two small museums sit in an historic building.

Yeah, they're run by Jack and Kathie Crispen.

One is his and one is hers.

And together they are preserving and sharing the history of their individual interests.

This building was erected in 1881.

We did as much of the work as we could ourselves.

This building was well on its way to being irreparable when we bought it.

It was a lot of work.

Pictures on the wall of their living quarters detail the restoration.

It's probably a good thing we didn't know how much work it would take.

There are days when I stop and glance at these pictures and I think, Why in the world did we ever get into this?

For museum lovers, though, it was all worth it.

On one side of the building, Jack operates the Drugstore Museum, and as a registered pharmacist, he loved the stories of the old days and the medicines that were popular, but perhaps not so healthful.

This one is Creosote Beechwood Creosote.

We use this today to soak telephone poles in and railroad ties that the bugs don't eat them up.

Back then it was used in a lot of cough sirups.

Most people.

Wow is quite quite often an initial reaction.

A lot of them say this is like stepping back in time.

And next door you can step from the drugstore museum to Kathies Post Rock Scout Museum.

Kathie was a Girl Scout and was fascinated with the organization.

So when her husband talked of retirement and putting in his museum.

And I said, Well, if you're going to have a museum, I'm going to have a museum, too.

And that settled that.

Now, Kathies Museum is designed to promote the timeless values of scouting.

Always meeting the people who come in and they find the uniform that they wore when they were a girl.

And it's a lot of fun.

I've divided up the display cases by time periods.

And speaking of time periods on the wall, a picture of Wichita's first Girl Scout troop.

Upstairs, another museum not open to the public.

The Crispens live above their respective museums in a home they rebuilt from decay and created a beautiful living space in this 130 year old historic building.

It became more complicated.

More problems were discovered as we were treating other ones.

So it really got out of hand at some times.

But the finished product makes up for all of the effort.

We tried to keep the original character of the place and we've kept all the wood floors.

We kept the floor plan as it is and just wanted to make it feel like it was an old home.

Add a little bit of powdered silver or gold.

So from a pharmacy housing medicines of yesteryear to a museum of Girl Scouts, Kathie and Jack Crispen climb the stairs of a future that is rooted in the past.

Well, Jack and Kathie are still operating both museums.

They have visitors from all over the world in that little town.

So if you are interested in visiting.

Call ahead so the Crispens can make sure they're there when you come.

That is so cool that they're still open.

They are.

They are.

And to have two museums in the same family.

That's cool.

And they come from all over the country.

Yeah.

You know, that's the cool thing about this tiny towns that have really special things in Kansas because people really do come from all over the country to see these quirky things.

Absolutely.

It's a it's a great call for these people to come here to see this stuff.

Yeah.

It's their bucket list.

They can.

There you go.

Here's another Kansas couple with passion and vision-- John and Mary Wright.

And we know you know them.

The Wright vision for Wichita's old town has been realized decades after they opened this little restaurant.

It is a charming little eatery that has become a famous part of the city's popular entertainment district.

We've got the counter all open.

And if you want to wait for a table, it wont be over 5 minutes.

Okay.

Come on in.

Before there was an Old Town, there was the Old Mill.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mary Wright saw the future in the past.

I think it's a place of communion for people.

I know that sounds strange, but like I said, it is a labor of love for us.

Mary and John Wright bought the old mill in the early eighties.

That's Mary over there.

Hi.

I'll be right with you.

This is a real fun time of the day for me because it's a people time.

And that's John tending the other half of the old mill that you don't see-- the farm.

That's pretty nice.

We enjoy our time out here in our privacy.

We like our privacy.

That's one reason we're out here, too.

But most folks know them for the Old Mill Tasty Shop, and as being one of the original Old Town visionaries.

Yeah, I'm a pioneer.

It was too late in our century, maybe, to go out on the prairie and be prairie pioneers.

So we came to the city, became urban pioneers.

When Mary and John bought the Old Mill, East Douglas wasn't trendy.

Where most of us saw blight, they saw bright.

I am a person that if I set out to do something, I generally do it.

The soda was done too.

And they did.

They kept a tradition alive and built a foundation for others to follow.

So the wedding went well.

This way.

Gail, please.

Save room for dessert.

Now, tell me what you want on the side of pastrami?

Fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy.

All homemade.

Only 5.50.

It's good.

While the noon hours for Mary and her staff border on frantic John keeps a lower profile in the country.

I need to come in the city more often and get a little wild out here.

But I can just stay out here and work.

In my garden.

This is.

This is over 40 pound melon.

And see, there's the moon.

And the stars around it and it's called moon and Stars.

And that is what Mary and John Wright reached for when they opened the Old Mill.

It was their dream.

When you come to the realization of your dreams to see that coming true, well, it's worth anything that you do.

It's been difficult, but the good times have triumphed and Old Town is flourishing.

All it took were dreamers like Mary and John.

We're trying to get to where we can be out here all the time.

You know, that's our goal.

And retire.

What was that song they used to sing?

Old folks boogie down on the farm.

I guess.

Were the old folks boogien down on Douglas Street.

Say hello to Dorothy for us.

Thank you.

Have a good one.

Thanks for coming down.

30 years after that story, the Wrights still own and operate the Old Mill Tasty Shop.

You know, everybody in Wichita knows where that is.

I have a grandson coming down from Kansas City, and his first to do when he gets into Wichita is go to the Old Mill Tasty Shop.

Isn't that weird?

I can.

I can beat you on that one.

Okay.

My sisters will come from California to see me.

Old Mill Tasty Shop for an egg salad sandwich.

And one of their malts or.

Last time my sister was in town, she said, I want a chocolate soda.

No one serves chocolate sodas anymore.

Well, the Old Mill Tasty Shop does.

And every time we go in there, it's packed as it deserves to be.

As it deserves to be.

And it's a such a great addition to East Douglas and the Old Town area, and it's just been there forever.

And then you go in and you can see the history on the floor.

You can see the history of the bar, the soda fountain.

And it's just wonderful.

Not that we're getting older or anything because we go in there and we see our own history.

Because I was here back in the day, you know, and it's still there.

We're not getting old.

No, we're not.

No, no, of course.

Okay.

There are people who like to talk about saving the planet.

They might go to a climate march or put a bumper sticker on their car.

But Roy Whitney was one of those people who actually did something that mattered.

Yeah, he was.

Roy was one of those original environmentalists.

Now, he made a career out of cleaning up his community, and he made a few bucks in the process.

Here's what he was up to back in 1979.

There aren't many who would do what Roy Whitney does.

Roy collects beer cans for recycling.

And down in Wellington, Roy is a familiar sight.

I remember there was a beer cans over south there quite a little ways.

And it's all out there by itself.

Not here.

Well, hell am I going to pick up and get them all and went over there and somebody had dollar bill in there.

But I can.

Youre leaving them $100 bills laying around over there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, you find one over there?

Yeah.

This is one of my toughest competitors right here.

Yeah, he may be his competition, but they're also friends.

Next stop was Buddy's Place, a tavern near downtown Wellington.

A wonder, I don't have hydrophobia or something that I don't mess with or it gets rock, you know, like some of these.

You can't get everything for nothing.

Roy is almost a one man recycling machine.

Last summer, it took two semi-trailer trucks to haul his cans away for processing.

He had collected nearly 9000 pounds of aluminum and netted nearly 1800 dollars.

In his backyard, Roy keeps what he calls his automatic, crushing devices.

Do you ever get tired of it?

Well, no, because it's junk.

It's just like money.

You want more money.

The more you get, the more you want, right?

More you get.

More you want.

So how long does Roy plan to continue collecting?

As long as I can walk.

I'll get ‘em.

Okay.

I'll get em one way or the other.

From Wellington, this is Larry Hatteberg.

Roy died in 1993.

He was 84 years old.

And, you know, he's did his life his own way.

He did it what he wanted to do and recycle the bottles and the cans that was on his list.

And he did a great job.

He was a man before his time.

1979.

Yeah.

I got to tell you, Larry, people love these old stories.

Well, I do, too.

They they love that.

I mean, to go back in time to 1979.

Yeah.

Through your eyes and.

And Roy's eyes.

I mean, you can't beat that.

Well, it's it's fun.

And it's fun to see who was in your community before you were.

Exactly.

Who made a Difference.

And who made a difference.

Yeah.

Thank you for these stories.

Happy to do them.

Okay.

Wichita has no shortage of restaurants.

Almost every day it seems like a new ones opening and an old one is closing.

It is a tough, competitive business.

And there's nothing new about that.

Back in 1985, I was there for the last lunch served at Tina Wingfields Pattie Grill.

Tina Wingfield started working at the Pattie Grill when she was in high school.

12 years ago, she bought the business and has been frying hamburgers ever since.

Have you been home sick all week?

Eating at the Pattie Grill was like being a member of a large family.

Of course, Tina here, she remembers everybody.

You know, if your cat died or the dog had pups or your wife was sick or whatever it is, she always remembers and talks to you about it.

The building that houses the Patty Grill was one of the original White Castle buildings.

White Castle was a hamburger chain that began in Wichita in 1921.

And although White Castle has since moved east, this building has always been a haven for hamburger lovers.

Hamburgers that are made the old fashioned way.

How's your dad doing, Steve?

Over the noon hour, it was standing room only.

Of course, it's usually standing room only anyway, because they only have five seats in the whole place.

There somebody here by the name of Tina?

Not everyone knew that today was the grill's last day.

For Tina Wingfield...

It was a day she wasn't looking forward to.

Her customers felt the same way Eating here, one man said, was like coming home.

Larry Hatteberg, KAKE News.

Well, Tina says having to close made her terribly sad.

And it still upsets her when she has to think about it because she absolutely loved her customers.

But the owner of the building wanted to use it for something else.

And that's what usually happens.

That's what happens.

But she lives on.

She does.

At PBS Kansas.

That's right.

In the years that followed, Tina worked for other people in various businesses, and she did open another restaurant on her own some time later.

But that did not work out.

Tina has a good attitude about it.

All through it all, she says, things happen for a reason, and I love this: She says, that's life.

Truer words were never spoken.

That's life.

You roll with the punches.

You do, you do.

And but she was happy at the Pattie Grill and at her other restaurant.

You know, as long as you're happy and as long as you're doing exactly what you want to do, you don't work a day in your life.

You don't.

We appreciate Tina and the Pattie Grill.

Absolutely.

Speaking of restaurants, Mark Davis knew all about them.

He did.

His hobby was collecting menus.

And as you'll see in this story from 1985, he was really into it.

And sometimes I get as many as 30, 35 menus in one day mailed in from all over the world.

Mark Davis may have the largest collection of menus in the world.

As a world traveler and restaurant connoisseur, his collection is overwhelming.

Probably with some that I haven't cataloged.

Some of the older menus-- 30,000.

A visit to his home and you'll see menus everywhere in the family room, in the rec room, in the basement living room.

In his study, and even on the pool table.

And that's just a tiny fraction of Mark's restaurant menu collection.

I write an average of oh from 30 to 50 letters a day, seven days a week.

I've written to every embassy of every island, municipality and country in the world, including all of the Iron Curtain countries.

And that's how he collects them, by writing letters.

And just looking forward to the mail is a big deal, because I know every day I'm going to there's going to be a surprise in the mail.

And now a visual feast of Mark's more interesting menus.

Happens to be a mining pan, a real gold mining pan, a very unique menu.

These are the actual menus that are presented to you when you go to that restaurant for dinner or lunch.

We mentioned remote areas of the world.

This one happens to be the beverage list from the Yak and Yeti Hotel in Nepal.

In Kathmandu.

It's on the front of the menu.

It has the picture of the yak and of the footprint of the Yeti.

Some of the drink inside are named from the like, The Everest Icefall.

Mount Everest.

Yaks Tail.

Yeah.

Yetis Smile.

Another very unusual menu is one that we picked up in Bali, Indonesia.

And you open the menu like an accordion.

And on the one side it's printed in English.

And then you close the menu and open the reverse side, same accordion style, and that's in Balinese.

Mark also has every Holiday Inn menu in the world, like this one from Poland.

He also has other menus that date back to the 17 and 1800s.

I guess you just say it's a clean diversion to boredom.

Mark Davis has eaten at the finest restaurants in the world, but you may be surprised to hear that he thinks Wichita has some excellent restaurants, too.

Problem is, he says, we do a poor job of telling others.

We have a problem.

But but the problem is that we've just not we haven't done a good selling job with Wichita.

By the way, want to know Mark's opinion of the best restaurant in the world?

The San Angel Inn in Mexico City.

Bon appetit.

This is Larry Hatteberg.

Almost 40 years later, we're not entirely sure what became of Mark and his menu collection, but somewhere in somebody's attic, there is this menu collection.

There.

But anybody knows what happened to Mark, Give us a call right here, PBS Kansas.

Yes.

Okay.

So I kind of have a question.

Okay.

Shoot.

What?

How did you find a guy who just happened to be collecting menus?

Because.

How do you do that?

Because I have the secret sauce.

Oh, you know.

No pun intended.

It's it's a little secret that we have.

And you're not going to disclose the secret?

Not at all.

I I'm glad it still exists and that you still find these people.

And thank you very much.

That's incredible.

Okay.

Well, that's all for this week's.

It was great to have you with us.

Our email address, as Larry mentioned.

If you have any information about any of our stories or a question or a comment.

I'm Susan Peters.

And I'm Larry Hatteberg.

Thanks for watching.

We will see you again soon.