We've plucked another handful of gems from the Hatteberg vault.

And here's what's coming up.

I'm from Greensburg.

This is my hometown.

And I want to come back to my hometown.

And it seems like I'm day by day, I get pushed further away is how it feels.

This Kiowa County fireman was both a hero and a victim of the Greensburg tornado.

See his frustration in the wake of the storm, then see how it all turned out.

Also.

We knew I feel like we're going to see our children again in heaven and if it wasn't for that, I don't think I could go on.

Nothing could be more devastating than the losses suffered by this Kansas couple, but they found a way to go on and try to make sense of it all.

Larry shares their very personal story coming up.

Plus, one of those deals that somebody you get make up your mind, you want to do it and you just go for broke.

He had a choice to turn this old theater into a parking garage or remodel a piece of Eldorado history.

We'll take you back to 1985 when Bill Skinner had a high hopes for this place.

Then you'll hear the rest of the story and we'll also have this.

It was born out of just coming down here and falling in love and saying, we've got to do something because we're going to lose this landmark again.

Some preservationists at Oxford got together to save the old mill.

They turned it into something successful and relevant to young and old alike.

See how some original thinking has made all the difference.

I'm Susan Peters.

It is great to have you with us today.

And I'm Larry Hatteberg.

Those are just some of the stories that are cued up for this edition of how 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.

The force of a nuclear bomb leveled their town.

11 people were killed and nearly everyone else was left homeless when an EF five tornado blasted through Greensburg on.

May 4th, 2007 is indeed a date that will live in infamy.

One of the heroes of that night and the aftermath was Firefighter Chance.

Little As cleanup was underway, Chance was recognized by the Country Music Association for his rescue efforts.

But it was about the last thing he was thinking about as his town lay in ruin.

Okay.

What else needed a radio?

It's business, but not as usual at the Kiowa County Fire Department.

1 to 500.

In a brisk Kansas win.

The department is here.

500.

Go ahead.

They're building is not.

There's nothing that makes me special chance.

Little is it.

Kiowa County firemen the night of the Greensburg tornado.

He was on duty.

I got out of the vehicle and ran pretty much two blocks to where my wife and daughter were.

Came down to check on us, make sure we were okay, and told us that he was headed off to help some more people.

That night, he and other firemen helped rescue many.

From my slab of dirt.

My neighbor here and me, we leveled both of our houses.

On the ground where his home once stood.

Jan says he has no idea why the Country Music Association is honoring him.

We just did what we're supposed to do.

So today.

His family lives in Havilland in a fifth wheel trailer.

They have a one year old and are expecting another child in a couple of months.

It's difficult right now.

It has been tight, but we're getting used to it and we just make do.

Oh, wouldn't be so bad, probably without all the toys and stuff, but that's what keeps her happy.

As Greensburg struggles to get back to normal.

The fire department helps to keep the dust down so more rubble can be removed.

There are, though, moments of frustration, even for chance, who loves this town and is trying to stay.

But I'm from Greensburg.

This is my hometown, and I want to come back to my hometown.

And it seems like I'm day by day, I get pushed further away is how it feels.

The problem isn't with local government.

It's FEMA.

Chance is trying to get temporary housing for his family in a mobile home.

While some have chance, can't seem to satisfy the paperwork.

Just tell me what's going on so I can continue with my life is how I feel.

Even though he's frustrated right now, Chance loves his work as a Kiowa County fireman stationed in Greensburg.

It's what he wants to do, and he's good at it.

Tornadoes and fires he was trained for, not a storm of paperwork.

Before the only residents in town.

That's fine, but I'm definitely coming back and I'll be right here.

Chance and his family did indeed come back to Greensburg.

They moved into a new house there in December of that year.

More recently, Chance was elected to the Greensburg City Council in 2020.

Now the city has risen from the rubble thanks to determined people like Chance, along with the help of numerous government and nonprofit grants.

Although the population is still only about half what it was before the tornado.

Now rewind to 1985 and another kind of family tragedy.

Far worse than losing a home is losing your child.

And Carol and Herb Page lost three, all at a very young ages.

How were they able to deal with this?

That's what Larry wanted to find out.

God just loans us, our kids for a little while.

They're not really ours to keep their heads.

And if they if he calls them back, we've got to let them go and not be angry at God about it, because they're just on loan to us right now.

He wanted the watch.

So Carol Paige makes sure she sees her children every day, not only with her eyes, but also with her heart.

These pictures are the reason why.

In the last 15 years, Carol and Herb Paige have lost three of their seven children.

Kevin, in 1968, Stacy in 1981 and 18 month old Dawn Marie just last month.

Two of the children died, unexpected and unexplained.

Dawn Marie died of a heart defect.

The pages wanted to tell their story so these deaths would have meaning.

We do feel like we're going to see our children again in heaven and if it wasn't for that, I don't think I could go on.

Sure.

That's all you have.

Some day.

The faith is the last.

Not on the end of the road to hang on to.

It's all you've got.

The pages.

We're like most of us.

The death of a child was unthinkable.

So when it happened, not once, but three times, they knew they had a message for other parents.

I've got them right now, but I don't know about tomorrow or an hour from now or next month.

And it's just good sometimes to say, I'm just coming in.

Let me hold you right now because I know how much I like to hold the ones I don't have to walk.

Just.

If I could just do that one more time.

Yeah.

The pages children are the light of their lives.

But to help urban Carol over the dark times of the past is a caring group called Compassionate Friends.

It's made up of people who've also lost children and people who understand what it's like.

It's okay to sit and cry.

And everybody there is going through the same thing that you are maybe different, different ways, but they can relate to you.

And even before you talk to those people, just going into the room and you know, they've lost a child, you just feel a special closeness with them.

On the night Don died, Carol wrote these words.

Dawn was always a loving and cuddly baby, and my arms ache for her, a very special part of me is gone and I am forever changed.

That's why the pages recently started a compassionate friends group in Wellington, a group that's ready to help, but a group they hope you never have to join.

In Conway Springs, this is Larry.

Hatteberg.

Well, the pages say the Compassionate Friends organization was a great help to them for many years.

Now, the group still has chapters in both Wichita and Newton.

Meanwhile, Carol and Herb now live in Andover.

And within 10 minutes of all four of their remaining children and their families.

Carol says those three children they lost are still loved and missed and there are still emotional times.

But she says they've also been blessed with 75 grandchildren now and some great grandchildren as well.

Carol says they are a very close knit family and love spending time together.

I did several stories on that group called Compassionate Friends.

Thank goodness they're still in existence.

And if you know of someone who may need their help or may benefit, they are still online.

Just go to compassionate friends dot org.

They helped so many people in this area.

That's great.

And to recover after something unthinkable.

It is unthinkable.

Well, when you think of a college president, what comes to mind?

Perhaps a pompous, stuffy, old, rotund man who faculty and students consider intimidating and unapproachable?

Well, not at McPherson College.

Here's a story from 2009, when Michael Snyder was brand new to that job.

Coming back here, it was it felt like coming back home.

This is our machine shop.

Hey, Michael Schneider.

We like getting you guys together because we know you'll tell us anything.

For me, it's all about moving forward.

Good luck with your meetings.

Take care.

Yup.

See ya.

Michael Schneider's office seems to be wherever he is.

They bring something a little bit different to a place that was open and willing to accept something different.

And so here I am.

I install you, Michael Schneider, as the 14th.

President of this college.

The best leaders out there lead outside of the walls of their office.

And so I think it's important as a leader to be out with your people.

The goal is real simple for me.

I want to hand you a diploma in four years.

It has more value than when you started here.

What I'm challenging our campus with, again, is to reinvent the idea and define liberal arts for us.

We not only need to prepare students for one career, but, my goodness, multiple careers.

We can use this as an example if you want to come up and help us.

And I put our fine arts programs up against any program in the state.

SCHNEIDER Neither carries the gray hair of academia nor the shackles of what defines a liberal arts college.

We're in the unique position that we're small and we can operate more entrepreneurial.

We can turn on a dime here.

And he does.

Lunch on the run.

More to do.

More to show.

Welcome to McPherson Stadium.

This is home of the Bulldogs and the ball pops.

This is an interest.

Not tied to an office, nor does he want to be.

His youth permits a bit of living on the edge.

Later, they gave me one of the best gifts that I've ever been given.

And that's the permission to take a risk and make a mistake.

The Woody Larry actually didn't have any plans.

And we built it from the from the ground up.

It's here in the college automobile restoration shop, where Schneider believes it can be a model for what other parts of the college can do.

They were just telling me that they'd probably get three cars finished this year.

This college is Schneider's alma mater, and when he graduated with a communications degree.

He left, then settled in Denver, running a printing company.

He obtained an MBA, decided education was his future, and came back to McPherson College in 2002.

Now he is one of the youngest college presidents in the country.

Had lots of opportunities in my life and it seems like I'm always the youngest.

And so I'm in a spot that seems comfortable.

This is this is a fit for me.

This is a fit for me.

Well, it must have indeed been a good fit, because Dr. Schneider is still president of McPherson College.

More than 12 years later.

And when I first did that story, it was a young college president.

I don't know if he was the youngest in the nation, but pretty close to it.

And he had this exuberance and this excitement about learning and teaching and the college.

And I followed him around for a day or so.

And it was just fun to be around and watch.

Watch him ignite passion in both the faculty and the students.

I remember when that story first aired and I was like, Wow, that guy's a breath of fresh air.

He was at a college and he's still going strong still today.

I love it.

Okay.

I've said it before.

I'll say it again, Larry.

They don't build them like they used to.

Hope.

And once they're gone, they're gone.

Well, that includes a lot of things, including historic theaters.

Now, we've seen a lot of those disappear over the years.

Some of them, though, have been saved and restored.

And that's what Bill Skinner was trying to do with the old El Theater when I stopped by back in 1985.

It's is something that still needs to keep.

And I've had it this long, you know, so and I couldn't destroy it.

That's why developer Bill Skinner decided to keep the aging Eldorado Theater.

One of those deals that somebody you get to make up your mind, you want to do it and you just go for broke.

Diane I'm not too sure that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead for no longer need to take and put another coat on walls.

All six of Bill Skinner had a choice to turn this old theater into a parking garage or to remodel a piece of Laredo's past history.

One The building's been here that long.

Built 65 years ago.

It was just.

It was just hard for me to.

To destroy something that had been sitting here that long.

The theater is rich in the architecture of the twenties.

I don't know how many of them are left around the country, but there are far fewer between anymore.

Built in 1921, the old theater was originally a home for vaudeville, but was later turned into a movie house.

I really spent more money than I should have, but then I probably would still do it the same way, I'm sure.

Bill says he didn't save the old theater for Eldorado just because he's a nice guy.

As a matter of fact, he had spent over $5,000 to turn it into a garage.

You got to gamble and like to do it.

As finishing touches continue.

Town folks wander in to look at the progress.

Now, I've already been booking reunions for next year.

Already seen here.

And reunions are just one of the events that will take place in the historic structure.

Remodeled Bill has decided to call the old theater Willy's, and he hopes to book weekly entertainment groups and to offer the facility as a meeting place for conventions.

Social groups and for parties.

Lots of work.

No end to it.

That's.

That's.

Bill completed his restoration, and the old theater has served as a restaurant and event venue off and on, changing ownership several times.

And in 2019, all the furnishings were auctioned off.

Most recently, though, there has been talk of turning the place into a nightclub.

Okay.

Just a little bit of trivia here.

Okay.

When I did my history of Barack Obama's family, he in Kansas, right.

Did you know Barack Obama's grandparents had their first date at the El Dorado Theater?

I remember that from your store.

You do remember.

You remember.

Your stories?

Yes.

Because they lived in the El Dorado area.

They did.

And later moved to Winfield.

And later moved to Winfield.

And then to.

Learned that from.

Wichita.

Yes.

Where his mother was born.

Barack Obama's mother was born right at Saint Francis Hospital.

And then they moved to Hawaii.

All right.

You are a fountain of information.

Okay.

Speaking of history, now we're going to go to an historic landmark that's been restored and is a real success story year after year.

And it is the Oxford Mill Town treasure in more ways than one.

This has been a great place to grow up.

It's been a great place to raise my kids.

Quiet.

It's peaceful.

It kind of takes you away from the reality of the rest of the world.

The historic Oxford mill built in 1874, was worth saving.

I do see it as an anchor.

I think it's an important anchor to our community.

It's a symbol of things past and things present and things to be.

When Debora Ham became superintendent of schools in Oxford, she saw the mill as a community treasure, and she had the idea to use it then as a learning experience for students.

It was what I referred to to my board as a scathingly brilliant idea.

It was born out of just coming down here and falling in love and saying, We've got to do something because we're going to lose this landmark again.

That something was creating a restaurant at the Old Mill Run by Oxford High School students.

So it's really just provided a lot of opportunities for our kids to work with a variety of people.

And for me personally, I just think it's awesome.

And I love the idea.

I love the opportunity for kids to get out.

This is what I think the future of school is all about.

Is making high school much more connected with the real world?

It's giving me time to work in the summer when I probably would have been doing anything I really want to see a future for the old mill and for the my hometown and just for the learning experience.

Here's some of the stuff that has to be cleared back.

And now back to Sherry White's project.

While taking a masters class, she applied for a grant to construct a walking trail to be built adjacent to the old mill.

We were notified that we received the grant, and then I went, you know, okay, now what do I do now?

Oxford Teenagers and members of the community pitch in to make the trail and other learning and walking area next to the mill.

I go or hoping on the trail part or hoping to put some education signs, some information about some of the foliage down here and the wildlife, as well as the history for the mill.

I'm very happy that I did what I did.

And and as I see people come down here and enjoy it and yeah, I'm very glad that I got involved.

So it's been a lot of work, but it's worth it.

See how that stuff washed across?

Small towns know the value of history, and using what you have to help the community is what both Debra Hamm and Cherie White have done.

It is one instance where part of the town's future is rooted in its past.

I'm hoping that our kids are taking the lessons that they're learning here by being connected to their past, into their future, by.

Now, Debra Hamm later moved on to Augusta and then to the Newton school district where she just recently retired.

Sherry White is still school counselor at Oxford, and the students still serve up food at the old mill on Sundays from 11 to 2.

I went down after I did the story and did a little still photography essay on this old mill, and it's right there on the Kansas River and it's all brick and it's just fun to photograph.

A lot of people go down to photograph this old mill and it's so historic and it's so wonderful for that small town of Oxford, N.C., you know?

And they used to have meals that they would serve during the week.

I don't think they're doing that anymore, but it's really a treasure for that town.

Oh, Mike, I got to get down there.

You got to get down and see it.

Okay.

There's still pictures that you took yesterday in your How to Berg's People books.

They are.

Not.

They are not.

No, but.

You're.

There in my living room.

Everybody's invited over to my little.

If you want is books are available on Amazon, aren't.

They.

You can find them.

They are out of print now.

Yeah.

When I did that book, that was a long time ago.

No, it wasn't.

It was yesterday.

I was 12 years old when I did it.

They they are treasures.

I have both of them for many Kansas farmers.

Wheat is their bread and butter as they help feed the world with their amber waves of grain.

But as we know, man cannot live by bread alone.

Fortunately, we can also be used to make beautiful art.

Carolyn Shultz at Bethel College helped make wheat weaving a popular craft in the 1980s.

Take a look.

Carolyn Schultz's fingers easily intertwine the long strands of the wheat stalk into objects of art.

I think it fascinates Kansans because it uses wheat and and wheat for Kansas is so much a part of every person farmer as well as the urban resident.

Well, that means that I've come to the end.

Carolyn took up the art of wheat weaving over a decade ago and a few years later turned it into a business for Bethel College Women's Association.

As the wife of Bethel College President Harold Schultz, she found that it could be a profit making venture for the college.

Now, working in a building near the campus called the Greenery, she and others turn out wheat weaving kits that are sold throughout the nation.

The farmers enjoy it because they see something beautiful made out of a product from their own land.

And they have a real attachment to wheat, to grain and to the land.

When it was very new to Kansas and they would first come around and see things, they would literally just shake their head.

It was just silence for a while and they think, You mean you can do that out of wheat, out of straw?

I mean, just really amazed.

I think that the popularity of of wheat weaving and even for those who do it and for those who purchase items that other people make is because I think they're tired of the the plastic world, the artificial things.

And this is a natural product from the field.

This is where we store the wheat for drying.

We bring it in from the fields and hang it on these chains.

And the secret is to get it up off the floor so that it dries properly.

And only when it's dried properl No two pieces ever turn out alike, even though I use the same design.

And when I first started it, I thought, this is not for me.

It's too tedious.

I think I'll just make bouquets out of wheat.

And the more I did it, you really get hooked on it.

And there's a lot of creativity in it.

And that's the thing that keeps me with it.

Carolyn has coauthored the only full size book on wheat weaving and has been instrumental in keeping others interested in a craft that is now woven its way into our Kansas heritage.

Very much so.

Wouldn't be much of a craft or a hobby if it didn't have some love in it.

From Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas.

This is Larry Hatteberg.

Now, six years later, Carolyn and Harold moved to Kansas City, where she taught at a college and he served as director of a hospital foundation.

Carolyn says the weaving business continued on for several more years at Bethel, and it raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the college.

But eventually, the business was sold and moved off campus.

Meanwhile, Carolyn continues to weave wheat as a hobby.

A book she wrote about it in 1977 continues to serve as a popular resource for other weavers around the world.

It's hard to and difficult to weave wheat, and it's hard to say it to try that.

Weave wheat.

It's it's a it's a wonderful art, but very few can do it.

It seems like it would break on you all the time, but.

It would on me.

To an artist like Carolyn.

When I first moved to Kansas in the eighties, High bought so much of that.

We sent it back to all my relatives in California.

Knew they had that wheat on their walls for years.

Well, you loved it.

You made a difference.

All right.

If you have a question or a comment, here's our e-mail address.

hattebergspeople@kpts.org.

We absolutely love hearing from you.

Thank you so much for watching.

I'm Susan Peters and.

I'm Larry Hatteberg.

Great to have you with us.

Be safe and we'll see you again soon.