Time for another journey through Kansas history as we revisit the faces and places of Hattebergs People.

And here's what's coming up.

Dear President Reagan, I would like to invite you to my house for Thanksgiving dinner.

A little boy with cancer.

Write to the president.

And guess what?

The president writes back.

We'll share his story from 1984, and then you'll learn the rest of the story.

Also, I've just loved the way the air smells outdoors.

I've loved, to look at, sunsets.

I've loved the feel of the country outside and the outdoors was what his business was all about.

We'll travel back to 1981 for a visit with one of the great titans of the campaign industry, Sheldon Coleman.

Plus, the longer I've worked, the more I have realized what it really means to work with children in our system.

It's such a privilege.

At the time, he was the longest serving school principal in Kansas, and I was there for the thank you's, the hugs and the goodbyes of his last day.

You'll hear the reflections and perspectives of this much respected and much loved educator, and we'll have this.

I dread the day that I have to give up this car, and I know that I will never get another car like this one.

Or as well built as this one is Irene Zane's 1960 Cadillac was considered a classic even in 1979.

Wait'll you hear how many miles it had and how she kept up going on the road for so long.

Hello, I'm Susan Peters, and I'm Larry, head of her.

Those are just some of the stories from years gone by that you'll see on this edition of Hatteberg's 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.

It is a parent's worst nightmare.

Your child diagnosed with cancer.

You know the fear, the despair, the heartbreak.

It's overwhelming.

Well, in 1984, seven year old Joel Atherton was battling cancer.

But as he bravely persevered through the treatment, Joel and his family got some much appreciated encouragement from a very important person.

I'm around.

Joel was always such a good baby and such a easy to get along with child that I knew something was going to happen sooner or later.

And Hazel Atherton was right.

18 months ago, her son Joel was diagnosed as having lymphoma, a form of cancer.

But he doesn't fight it.

He accepts it.

Saying as a engie, acceptance is what this story is all about.

Joel doesn't let his cancer bother him.

But this first grader at Bryant School.

It's a fact of life.

Joel finds it a thrill to be learning.

Part of that thrill is the little moments that make life special.

And one of those moments occurred when teacher Norma Thompson asked the class to write a report on their feelings if the president could visit their home at Thanksgiving.

Dear President Reagan, I would like to write you in my heart for a Thanksgiving dinner.

My name is Joel Atherton.

I wouldn't want you to miss my house so I could have my dad pick you up at the airport when you get to my house.

We could play tag and eat turkey.

My mom is sure a good cook.

I don't have much hair because I'm taking medicine that makes my hair fall out.

You can see I've learned to spell a lot of words.

Your friend Joel.

He expected at least an answer to his letter.

And possibly company for dinner.

Well, company didn't come, but a letter did.

Just last week, the president wrote.

I was sorry to hear about your medical problem, but the Lord never gives us a challenge without providing us with the strength to meet it.

And whose name is there?

I am Reagan.

But if the president had come to dinner in that big limousine, and I would tell him to move his car so we could play basketball.

This story has another happy ending.

Joel's cancer is treatable, and doctors say he should live a normal life.

Joel has learned early to live for life's little moments.

The daily successes that we sometimes dismiss people like Joel Atherton will remember.

This is Larry Hedberg.

Have a good day.

What you learned today.

Lots of things.

So whatever became of Joel Atherton?

Well, here he is to tell us.

So 40 years later, I have fully recovered from cancer and now have a wonderful family, three daughters and a wife.

And we do just give all the glory to God for everything that I mean, all of the gifts that he's given to me and my family has just been amazing.

You know, it it was rough.

As a kid, but I'm actually thankful for all the, experiences that I had back then.

I don't think I'd be where I am today without.

Without the hard times.

Okay.

The best thing Larry could have said is before the tape, as he is here to tell us, because he is here to tell us he is a survivor.

And I am tells his story.

That is so encouraging and so wonderful.

I am just so happy.

And I know our audience is thrilled to get that update.

It is.

And as you saw in the tape, he has a beautiful family and I know his dad very well.

His dad used to work Terry Atherton used to work at KTV for years and years.

So we go way back and we still are going forward and we're still going forward.

This family.

Congratulations, Joel.

I'm happy for you.

Wichita is the birthplace of many iconic international brands.

There's Pizza Hut, Cessna and Mentholatum, just to name a few.

And also Coleman, which started out building lanterns in 1900 and went on to become the world leader in camping gear.

By 1981, founder Bill Coleman had long since passed away.

Well, his son Sheldon had been running the company for many years and showed no signs of slowing down.

Sheldon Coleman is at the top.

He's chairman of the board of an international company his father founded over 80 years ago.

And he's achieved the international status of an industrial leader.

So with his 80th birthday coming up this Sunday, you might think he'd like to pause a while and reflect on his successful career.

Ron at 80, Sheldon Coleman's career is still in full swing.

This octogenarian millionaire has one thing that money hasn't been able to buy happiness.

I have every right to be happy, have good health, have fine family, got a wife that I love, got a bunch of grandkids that I enjoy being with at 80.

The most important thing Sheldon Coleman possesses is good health.

And as if still running the company wasn't enough.

He continues to be an avid hunter and sportsman who travels the world in pursuit of his hobby.

Ever since I was a kid, I've just loved the way the air smells outdoors.

I've loved, to look at, sunsets.

I've loved the feel of the country outside.

It's just made me feel great inside.

As well as, to have a real appreciation of what the good Lord has really done for us when he created the great outdoors.

He's a 20 year old man in an 80 year old body.

And the following.

You have to be in shape.

Yeah.

How about that one, Right on the button.

He still takes tennis lessons before going to the office.

He's not a burger.

A Connors, but he's not bad.

But then what do you expect from a man who's in love with life?

I, also liked, the, honor, and maybe a little of the power that comes, from running a, successful company.

That is number one in most of the industry research.

That's good.

Looks like our business should be larger in dollar volume than it is in many of these areas, but it takes a lot of landers to amount to $1 million worth of sales.

Tennis is a sport, but world business is his game.

And as an international player, you might find Sheldon Coleman anywhere.

I want to be a part of it.

New York, New York.

These vagabond shoes are longing for stray.

He's at home, anywhere in the business community, yet he's still 80 years old.

And the question some ask is, when will he retired?

I have a very simple answer to that.

I'm going to retire when I think it's the appropriate time.

Obviously, Sheldon Coleman still has too many mountains left to climb.

This is Larry Hedberg.

And fine.

I'm king of the hill.

Top of the heap.

Well, I went with Sheldon Coleman to New York the day the Coleman Manufacturing Company went public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Now, he lived another seven years and remained chairman of the board until he died.

His son, Sheldon Jr, was CEO at the time.

Now, a year later, a New York billionaire acquired control of the Coleman Company.

And that was the end of the Coleman family's involvement.

And, you know, I flew there that day to get film of it going on to the New York Stock Exchange.

I flew in their private jet with them.

Oh, no, I did.

It was the only way I could get there in time.

Anyway, he was just a real guy.

You know, he was one of those people that that.

Yeah, he was important.

Yeah, he was big time.

Yeah, but he was just a real guy.

He used to go.

You could sit down and talk to about baseball or cards or whatever.

Whatever.

Poker.

Right.

And he was just normal.

It was fun, wasn't it?

Was fun.

It was fun.

It was such a legacy he has left in Wichita.

Yeah.

And I'm sorry to see the Coleman company.

I really not here anymore.

I think there's a little bit of it here, but for the most part, the big manufacturing plant is gone.

All these big companies just swallow, are in incredible local startups.

But at least they're here for a while.

Exactly.

Well, running a huge corporation and running an elementary school are not quite the same.

But both do require leadership and management skills.

A school principal has to also love kids and be able to relate to them.

Well, that was no problem for Martin Helmer.

He was the longest serving elementary school principal in the state when he retired in 2003.

Now, during the last hour of his last day at school, I followed him around and watched and listened.

As his 36 year career at Test Scott Grade School came to an end.

At the end like this, you're just trying to get everything done, you know, bring it to an end.

Wow.

Man.

On behalf of the test, get grade school.

All the kids and all the teachers and all the staff we want to present you with chalking up 36 years of great times and memories.

Wow.

Everybody ready?

Thank you.

You know about the nicest gift I could have had as a last year?

Principal is having a bunch of kids like you that have been so well behaved.

Even Alan Farley over here.

It's going to be sad.

Can't do it forever.

This is kind of funny.

I knew that there was going to be an article about me in the salon of journal today.

And I said it might be on the front page.

Well, guess what I got on the front page.

The dog from Solomon that wound up in Marietta, Georgia, that got first billing.

So I wound up on the third page, but I was still thankful for that.

I felt a great sense of purpose to what I do, and I think the job is more important than ever.

And I've been thankful to have a job all these years with great meaning and with great purpose.

I have never been bored.

Oh, eggshells.

Cool.

We don't know what they're from.

Well, they're from a boiled egg, but I'm not sure that some of the eating out here.

I will not be a part of their lives in the same way again.

And, So that will be sad.

I will be.

And Brittany and Terry and Hunter.

It's a passage.

You know, my, I'm entering into a new phase in my life.

I mean, I always knew this could go on forever.

Oh, boy.

You take care.

All right?

Okay.

You've been a good little guy.

I love it.

Bye, Cody.

Well, that's the trouble.

You put your life in this thing, and then you pay the price.

Oh, that's good bye.

Hey, we'll see you.

Okay?

You have a good summer.

I.

The longer I've worked, the more I begun.

I've realized what it really means to work with children.

You know, our system is such a privilege.

Well, Martin stayed involved at the school.

He substitute taught for another ten years.

Now he's fully retired and he is still living in test court.

You know, I think once you're in education, once you're a teacher or a principal or in a suit or a superintendent, it's very, very difficult to leave the teachers.

Leave your your wife knows Judy was a teacher.

For how many years?

30.

For 32 years?

Yeah.

It was hard when she retired, I remember.

It was.

And like him, she missed the students.

And I know he missed the students, too.

Well, you don't miss the administration.

You just miss the students, that's for sure.

Right.

Know the paperwork I think you're glad to leave behind.

Yeah, but the kids.

That's tough.

Let's dial it back now to 1979.

I love these old ones of Larry's.

That was the year that Anwar Sadat and Moroccan Reagan signed the historic Egypt Israeli peace treaty.

The compact disc was demonstrated for the first time, and for the first time in history, the price of gasoline hit $1.

$1.

Well, that was a lot more than what Irene Zane paid to fill up her Cadillac when it was new in 1960, but it wasn't going to stop her from driving it to halt this offensive build up.

A strict quarantine on all of the year was 1960.

The country had a new president and Irene Zane bought a new car.

It has its original paint.

It's never been waxed or polished.

I intend to drive it until I've said this many times, till it has a heart attack.

Her 1960 Cadillac has nearly 400,000 miles on it, and it's amazing how much cars have changed in 19 years.

The trunk is as big as all outdoors.

The fins are fine and it runs smoother.

According to Irene than most late model cars.

I dread the day that I have to give up this car.

And I know that I will never get another car like this one.

Or as well built as this one is.

Don't you think she sounds pretty good?

Yes, we did, Irene, but it's not surprising.

This car has had its oil changed every 4000 miles, and the engine has only needed minor repair.

Speaking of miles per gallon, this 19 year old car would put 79 models of equal size to shame.

I test this car over and over again, and it will get very close to 70 miles.

All of traveling.

And that includes town driving.

Most of her driving is on the highway.

As an expert on horses, she spends much of her time traveling and attending horse shows all over America.

And her 19 year old four wheeled wonder just keeps logging the miles.

Well, it's a great car.

I hope it'll last me for many miles.

Yeah.

Heck, Irene, it sounds to us like you're just getting it broke in good from Scott City.

This is where I had a big.

Now, according to the Scott County Historical Society, Irene kept the car for the rest of her life.

She died in 1984.

That car was auctioned off.

At that time, it had 386,000 miles on it.

We don't know what happened to it after that, but I will guess there was a collector somewhere.

Oh, to have a car like that.

That A is that old and B with so many miles on it, I think to collectors, that would have been a very special cause.

It's got to be in a collector's garage somewhere.

Some, some some hay.

If you know where it is, call us.

Give us a call.

PBS Kansas will be here.

Absolutely.

In 2008, the Harper County Courthouse turned 100 years old.

And for half that time, Herald steeple was responsible for keeping the building in shipshape.

Even.

She is a pretty thing of that Harper County courthouse in the chill of an autumn morning.

Lady justice of Greek mythology fame, presides over that century old building, and so does Harold Sippel, as he has done for the past 50 years.

I think the building's probably good for another hundred, and he should know.

For five decades he has remodeled, repaired, painted and cleaned this old building, saving it from those who thought new was better at just had the old wood floors and stuff like that.

And it really wasn't all that attracted.

He's talking about this old courtroom, which could be in a Hollywood movie set right out of the 1920s.

Its architecture, along with its character and charm, have all been saved.

Being on the, historical register to why we didn't try to change anything.

If we could keep from it.

Just take a look around this courtroom.

The way the light falls on the old radiators that still work, the circular lights that shine like purples, those well-worn chairs that, if they could speak, would talk of cigars, cowboy hats and of time gone by.

The building is history and and, that's what we want to keep.

And people keep that feeling, too.

Harold Seibel knows every shiny inch of this courthouse.

It has been his life, and everyone in town knows it.

I enjoy getting up and going to work in the morning.

I, when I get up, I don't have to make myself go to work and dread what I'm going to have to do today or anything, and I just enjoy doing the work.

But it is up these stairs.

That may be his favorite part of the courthouse.

The old Seth Thomas clock in continuous operation since 1909.

It just got to be my weekly habit now.

I find it once the week.

That's it.

Time surrounds everything in this place.

But men wind down.

And so it is with Bill.

Well, I want the look at it like, you know, I've done my job.

You know, it's 50 years.

The whole place is just like one big family.

Hey, now, the following year, Harold retired from that old courthouse, but he's still staying busy.

He continues to mow the local cemetery grounds, which he's been doing now for 38 years.

When you've been involved in something that involved the county, like the county courthouse, like he was, you have to be involved in life and he's doing public things for the public good.

He's mowing the cemetery.

Exactly.

And somebody has to do it.

Yeah.

And we love you.

Thank you for being here and mowing the lawn and everything else you give to the world.

We still serving him?

Whenever you make a phone call.

Isn't it nice to hear a friendly voice on the other end?

Sure it is.

Helen Nulty understood this, and that helped make her a truly memorable character.

I shot this story back in 1977.

Good afternoon.

Calvins.

The Calvin Building in downtown Kansas City, Missouri is like any other office building, with one exception.

Few others have a receptionist like Helen Nulty.

Hi, Mr. Blue.

How are you?

Helen has been greeting people for over 19 years, and she has just what may be one of the friendliest voices you've ever heard, whether on the phone or in person.

Helen Nulty sounds like she's having the time of her life being a receptionist.

Mr. Huff, please, Mr. Jim Huff, Mr. Huff, please.

Mr. Jim huff.

Helen doesn't like being unfriendly, but says she talks to other operators who are.

I am I have the call companies and had them leave me hanging on the line or be rude to me and it just kind of gets to me.

So I try to put all the effort I can to make everybody else, well, feel like they're, you know, when they call in that they're really welcome because that's a terrible feeling to call someplace in him, hang up on you or be sarcastic to you.

So I just try and make everybody happy best I can.

Mr. Edwards, please, Mr. Jim Edwards, Mr. Huff, please.

Mr.. Jim.

Mr.. Winter, please.

Mr.. Larry winter.

Mr.. Winter, please.

Mr.. Mary winter, it's not only her paging voice, but the attitude of happiness that pervades her tonal inflections as she goes about her work.

You don't.

Please, miss, but I'll do a misspelled one, please.

Miss silver Baldwin.

Miss Mitchell, please.

Miss Linda Mitchell.

Miss Mitchell, please, miss Linda Mitchell.

Mr.. Earth, please.

Mr.. Jim, have.

Mr.. Have.

Please.

Mr.. Jim.

Have to sum Helen's job might appear boring or repetitious, but Helen says she just likes to make people happy, and she does.

I mean, this is Larry had a bird.

And.

Listen, Mary wants to talk to you again.

Well, Helen worked another six years and then retired in 1983.

She then enjoyed a nice, long retirement, living to be 89.

And she worked at this place.

It was called Calvin Productions, and it was a very large film production company.

This was before video and all of that.

And you've seen many Calvin production films.

You just didn't know it really?

Yeah, yeah, they were very popular.

The government used them and they were films were in schools about, oh, you knows how to date.

Yeah.

The educational education office.

Yes.

And I was up there, I had a little film that they were working on, and she was there in the lobby, and she was doing these wonderful melodic pages, and I'd never heard anything like it.

And I saw her.

I got to put her on TV, so I did.

Larry leave it to you to discover this wonderful woman with, as you describe it, melodic pages and make a beautiful story like that.

Well, she was wonderful, you know, and people like that deserve some recognition, I agree.

So no matter if they live in Kansas City or not.

That's right.

Oh, except in Kansas City any day.

That is a wrap for this week, people, I can't talk.

That is our email address.

We love hearing from you.

Thanks for watching.

I'm Susan Peters and I'm Larry Hedberg.

We'll see you again soon.