From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio, PBS Kansas presents Hatteberg's People the most meaningful histories art found in textbooks.

They're balanced out quietly every day on the main streets and backroads of our state of Kansas.

And coming up on this edition of Harrisburg's People, a World War two veteran shares his vivid memories of the war of all wars as his years on the earth rapidly come to a close.

Plus, we revisit a Hutchinson woman's life mission to feed the needy, and a meat man who amassed a truly extraordinary collection, a very ordinary objects.

Then the incredible story of a Fredonia woman who may have set a world record.

Plus, a third generation circus clown shares the magic of life under the big top.

Hello, I'm Susan Peters, and I'm Larry Hatteberg.

All these classic stories from the bird vault are cued up and ready to roll.

Another half hour of Hattiesburg 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.

As a young man, they helped save the world.

And then in the decades that followed these same World War Two veterans where our teachers, our bosses and leaders in every walk of life.

But now they are nearly all gone.

Yeah.

As of 2026, only about 50,000 of the 16 million American World War Two veterans are still alive.

And as that number inevitably shrinks towards zero, their stories become more and more precious.

In 2009, I was honored to talk with retired Pastor Oliver Lindblad, who lived with his daughter Janet, and vividly remembered his war years as a flight engineer stationed in Italy.

And we all had rifles.

We had a rifle in our tent.

Adolf Hitler had to be dealt with.

History has recorded for fire, the first track in the long run, however, I left a matter fans who fired the last shot.

I tell you what, every morning I knew what my job was to do.

We listened to those like Pastor Oliver Lindblad, who served in World War Two, who lived and loved and to this day tell their stories with pride of someone who knew what they had to do.

And like all who served.

Wondered the same thing.

And that was that was the thought that went through my head and might be a one way trip.

And I think probably most of us felt that way.

Now, in a tree lined historic Wichita neighborhood at 93, his site is nearly gone, but not his spirit.

I have no aches and no pain.

Any place he walks daily, even Moses yard and in his neighborhood.

But Oliver never.

It's so real.

Nice to see you.

Thank you.

You made history.

You've been my neighbor.

Valley across the valley.

That's right.

Here's something.

It says fire in our tent area.

Oh, yeah.

All the memories are still deep and strong as the old scrapbook chronicles his military life.

And that was the exo auxiliary fuel tank falling down into our area.

In the war years, he and his buddies helped keep those aviators going day after day.

Enemy was over there, ready to shoot.

Shoot them down as fast as they came up.

Returning home in 1945, he became a Lutheran minister for 60 years, spending much of his tenure in Hutchinson, where he retired in 1983 and later moved to Wichita.

There was only three of us in this class that are still living, but his military memories never far behind and not long ago went on an honor flight to visit the memorials in Washington, D.C.. It was there where people grabbed his hand and thanked him for his service.

Goodbye, tourist.

My eyes.

I was so thankful that they were so thankful for me being in the service.

At 91, Oliver taught himself to play the piano.

You see, his life has always been hitting the right note, whether it be in war or peace.

Oh, wow.

Oliver, how can we thank you?

How can we thank you?

And the millions of other men and women who fought to save our freedom in world War Two.

Just, I mean, and I love that this kind of represents a lot of those people.

So it does.

And Oliver was a special person that he lived in Riverside at that time.

Yeah.

And it was just seemed so appropriate.

You know, the small homes and the big trees and the big trees.

And it was just so relaxing to hear him talk.

The post-World War Two homes.

Right?

Yes, yes.

Well, Oliver lived another four years to age 97.

His daughter, Janet said, is one of the highlights of his life in those later years was to go on an honor flight to Washington, D.C., to see the World War Two memorial and visit with retired Senator Bob Dole.

Bob Dole was out on many of those honor flights to greet the men and women who were on them, and he loved doing that, and they loved all of the veterans loved being with him.

Well, because he was one of them.

He was one of them.

And I had the honor of going on one of the first honor flights from Wichita to Washington with World War Two and, Korean War veterans.

Oh my gosh.

To see the look on these faces at the World War Two memorial and the Korean War, it was priceless.

Unbelievable.

They so deserve it.

Those honor flights have continued.

They still continue to this day.

All across the country, by the way.

And some of my favorite ones now are with the Vietnam veterans who, when they fly back into Wichita or any city across the country, the airport aisles are lined with well-wishers and cheers that they never got when they got home.

That's run.

And so that's what's good about those wonderful honor flights and very moving moments with those good to all of our veterans.

A big, big well, we can't thank you enough.

There's no way, no.

All right.

We're going to go to Hutchinson and a woman named Stanley Murdoch who saw a need and took action.

Now she established through private donations a soup kitchen for the needy.

She pulled it off with the help of private donations and her own compassion for others.

Well, I was a single mom and had six kids, and I wish there had been a soup kitchen at that time.

I found a good husband.

It helped me to raise my kids on that, but I tried to give back some that was down for me in the 300 block of East Third in Hutchinson.

The soup ministry wins souls one bite at a time.

Now that herb pork rib roast sounds better.

For ten years, Stanley Murdock has been the woman in charge at this little kitchen.

God will provide.

And he has, June the 11th was the 20th year that the soup kitchen has been in existence.

And in these 20 years, he has provided each day.

There's been days that I've came here and there was no food here to prepare a meal.

And I said, oh, Lord, what am I going to feed these people today?

And some company walks in and says, hey, we had a picnic today and we've got all this food left over.

Can you?

They can and they do.

Yeah.

Stanley is like all of us at home.

She thinks about not only the problems at the soup kitchen, but life in her own kitchen.

I realize how blessed I am all the time.

Her husband is on kidney dialysis.

Their budget is tight.

And so as long as the Lord blessed me with the health and strength and the ability and and to go down there and do what I do, I'm going to continue to do that.

But her attitude is always optimistic as she works in a kitchen she calls Afro-American country.

But that's kind of what we do every day.

We.

Come home from dialysis and he's ready to eat when we get here.

Her husband leaves the table early.

The dialysis tires him out.

Stanley finishes alone.

One day.

Almost half over the next will begin soon enough.

Most gracious Heavenly Father, at the soup kitchen the next day, a local church gives the blessing and serves the food.

Amen.

What's your name?

Foreign.

Come on.

You guys want to help?

Sir?

Stanley is there in the middle of it all.

Again and again.

Oh, well, he's got a lovely ladies first day.

Of course.

So, how are you today, Mrs.. Yes.

Good.

There are always more people to help.

And there is always another day.

Yes.

Done.

Oh, no.

It'll be a while.

They'll come back for seconds until they stop doing that.

And then after that, we give them, carry out, take them with them anyway.

It has been over two decades since Larry first introduced us to Stanley Murdock.

At 77 years old, she is still serving the Hutchinson community at the Christian Soup Ministry.

The new believer, I can believe.

And after 33 years, mobility issues are threatening to force her to retire before she's ready.

So to keep her on the job and to help elderly guests access that dining room, the community is rallying to fund a much needed chair lift.

Okay, as of April 2026, fundraising efforts are well underway to make the building fully accessible.

Can you imagine for Stanley, who did this for decades and decades, Stanley says she's humbled by the support and hopes to continue her life's mission of feeding people both body and soul.

Those are the kind of people who should be on television.

Absolutely.

And she still is.

And she's still feeding the needy.

So hopefully they can raise the, amount of money to give it wheelchair accessibility.

And she can continue.

I'm guessing they will.

I am through, some of us might collect the autographs or Faberge eggs, but Frank Classen of meat, Kansas was not like most of us know.

Frank collected something you might see as utilitarian, an ordinary, and in the process amassed a collection that was anything but ordinary.

Rising up on the dry prairie of the southwest Kansas plains, visitors to meet two tourist attractions the Dalton Gang hideout and the downtown Museum.

But there's another museum tourists never see.

It's here in Frank Carson's basement.

I don't draw it at my age.

I guess I couldn't do anything better.

Monkey wrenches.

Hundreds and hundreds of them.

Well over 2000 line his walls.

I had to do something I couldn't, I couldn't loaf around.

Frank never looked around.

Just take a look at this.

For myself, I am proud of it.

But I know there are people.

They don't enjoy it.

They think it's foolish to spend time and money like it.

It's surrounded by his treasures.

They are like metal mysteries.

Who use them.

What were they used for the idea of these words?

There are more of the smaller entries.

The good Lord.

So I figured if I put them on a ring like this, they won't get lost soon.

He said he's been collecting for a couple decades, starting with his father's tools.

These are the wood handles, and these are my steel handles.

The first wrench was made in 1854, but was never patented.

The inventor, Charles Monkey thought was a piece of junk I made to handle forward and clean it up.

And, major, I work today.

Richard.

No one enjoys these wrenches more than Frank.

I haven't showed to many people that they're not tools.

They're like old friends.

But I enjoyed it.

And on my health reason why I had to do something.

Well, Frank enjoyed his collection for a few more years, but he passed away in 2004 at age 90.

Now, his collection was then sold at auction.

You would not believe how many people want a collection of monkey wrench, and some you just can't believe it.

It's some very, very old ones too.

And yes, okay, it's the joy.

No matter what you're collecting or how you release your creative, juices, it is just, the creativity and the collection that brings you joy.

Yeah.

And so why not?

Exactly.

Why not?

Why not do that?

And now it sold to someone else who's.

It's giving them joy as well.

Right?

You know, most people have multiple jobs during the course of their lives, but that did not apply to Beatrice Dohm.

Now in 2011, she may have set a record for being the longest serving employee in the US.

Maybe the world.

So when did she start working?

October the 4th, 1929.

That's when Beatrice's husband signed the papers, purchasing this store.

Now, they had dated in their early teens and then, at 18 years old, in November of 1929, she and her husband were married.

Well, it was pretty hard times.

Pretty hard times.

Yes, but we managed and made it.

82 years later, Beatrice is still working in the same store, in the same location where she's been since 1929.

And when we bought the store, I breastfed all my babies and I cooked our meals up here.

Her husband, bliss, died in 1991, but the next generation of the family was standing by to continue what Beatrice and Bliss began.

Now her son Roland and his wife Shannon owned the store, keeping it in the family.

You know, it's a great store for me, I love it, I can work with my husband and and, I love it here.

The furniture store sells new and used furniture, bedding, carpet and has eclectic items from the past not found in most stores.

And of course, Beatrice visits with people as they come in here with her grandson, Justin Doane.

Well, I've lived a Christian life and the honest life.

I'm honest here in the store, full of cubbies that haven't changed since 1929.

She knows where everything is and never, ever does she want to stop working.

Oh, don't give up, don't give up.

No, no, I work when I was a child at home.

Why would you want to quit?

Why would you want to quit?

That's the wrong thing to do.

No, she never gives up.

She just keeps going.

And she's here.

Rain or shine.

I got to keep my hands busy.

And Muffy to go on a stroke a few years back.

Confined her to the wheelchair.

But this woman never quit.

And with her son Roland keeps the old store humming.

But a lot of people heard about me and my age, and they come in and visit with me.

I thank the Lord every day that I'm here.

So when did she stop working?

Well, her son Roland says Beatrice kept working until the end, until she was 101 years old.

I love that, isn't that amazing?

I love that and but Roland does say the last few years his mom was living in the nursing home, but they still brought her in to work every day.

Yeah.

So she worked for a total of 84 years at the furniture store.

Now, while the family hasn't finished submitting the paperwork to the Guinness Book of World Records, it appears Beatrice Doane of Fredonia did indeed work longer for the same company than anyone else in history.

That is so, so cool.

And it's probably one of the reasons why she lived to be 101.

I'm sure she was still working at a job she loved.

Yeah.

Beatrice, you found Beatrice in in Kansas in a furniture store, and now she lives on forever.

She does, I do, I love.

Do you find these people?

Well, you know, you're going to be here to your 100.

Exactly.

I'm looking forward to that.

Okay.

Some people just have a knack for fixing things.

Well, for John King of Newton, he not only had a knack, he had a love for taking something broken and figuring out how to make it work again.

Well, you know, in a roundabout way, it's home.

With the sun.

Hi.

Matching the temperature, it is John King's garage that beckons a mess.

Of mess, I guess Guy could says it's in my blood.

I guess since the 30s, he's been involved in the appliance business.

Owned a store in Newton, sold it, and for years has worked out of this garage fixing little stuff there.

That's what the little jewel looks like when you get the part.

I'm a little one man business, and I do it as I like and operate as I like.

And when you do things as you like, sometimes clutter is just part of the charm.

Then I'll get it picked up the straightened out.

One of these days they can come in and ask me for something, and I can usually find it right quick when I make up my mind to get started on it.

Won't take too long to start clearing it out.

Every where you look are spare parts, tools, handle.

Yes yes yes yeah.

Everything a guy could want is somewhere more than there should be, but probably never enough.

Well, I've probably got tools that I have never used.

I've had this place back here about, I guess maybe 23 years.

Folks like John fill a community void.

His call, right there is an honest man fixing stuff that makes most of us just scratch our heads.

Other than that, I can't see anything particularly wrong with it.

The door is open, you get a little air circulating through there, and it helps a lot.

Maybe call it a day, Now, John kept repairing appliances for another eight years, until 2009, when he moved to the Kansas Christian home.

There, in Newton, he passed away in 2011 at age 95.

And, you know, I think there are probably guys or women in every community is if you have something broken, you take it over to them and they can they can fix it, shop the fix it shop like The Andy Griffith Show.

Emmett had to fix it shop.

I would not have remembered that.

And I'm so glad.

I love watching Andy Griffith reruns.

But the thing is, is the fixer shops are a thing of the past because we're a throwaway culture.

But I don't know.

Wouldn't it be nice if we just fixed things like you took things to the fix a shop to fix them and reused them over and over again?

Those are the old days.

The old days?

Yeah.

Okay.

Speaking of old days, for literally centuries, people of all ages have been amazed and amused by circuses.

Well, in 1988, I met a man named Tim Teague.

He was a lifelong third generation circus performer who shared insights about his life and the love of clowning around.

I grew up with, Circus all over the place.

I started when I was three years old.

I wrote it, tricycle in, a parade in clown makeup that my dad was working.

I loved having the makeup on that.

I love the whole film.

The first time I put my own makeup on, I was five years old.

I can't even remember how good or bad or indifferent it looked.

But I did it.

My dad said, okay, you want to do this?

You're going to learn to do it.

Yes.

Now.

So I did.

I, I tend to be a clown whether I got the makeup on or not.

I loved the business.

The whole idea of traveling from town to town and, entertaining, performing.

It's a it's a whole different world, a whole different atmosphere.

And, loosening the instruction up in the circuit.

I was exposed to both a normal civilian type life and the circus, and nothing ever screamed out in such vivid colors as a circus clown.

Italy.

I do a number.

It's a it's a dentist routine.

Jerry coming out.

Sounds like he's got a real bad two.

Think we'll take it easy?

We'll see if we can find someone out there to help you out.

Some clowning, particularly a circus clown.

That's probably the ultimate chameleon, because you can incorporate every kind of comedy.

You can incorporate the clown verbal stand comedy, which we do to musical comedy, which we do, pantomime, which we do.

Jake hold the Rock out for the gentleman, our circus clown.

And I know, but it's probably one of the most peculiar forms of business that can ever be in.

But I wouldn't change it for something.

It's been a perfect way to spend the first ten years of my life.

I kind of had.

Now, almost 40 years after that interview, Tim is still in the business.

He says he doesn't do as much clowning anymore.

He now lives in Wisconsin and primarily works as a ringmaster and magician for the Royal Hannaford Circus.

But he's still doing it.

He's still working for the circus, you know what I like best about these Harrisburg's People episodes?

We get an update on the subjects.

Yeah.

Is that the coolest thing in it?

It's fun because you never know how a life is going to change over the course of time.

And you meet somebody in there doing this, and then when you meet them again, they're doing this.

And our producer finds this guy in Wisconsin.

He's incredible and he's still clowning.

It's right, I love that.

I love that it's not easy finding these people.

No it's very different.

We do a great job.

Our producer, Jim Gray, does a great job of finding people and and giving us updates.

He's a gift to us here.

I will tell you how absolutely a gift.

Okay.

And we don't get paid for this either.

Maybe Jim will give us a couple bucks.

Maybe.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's a wrap for this week.

We want to remind you, if you want to help keep people on the air, you might consider a $100 donation to PBS Kansas earmark specifically for this program.

Now, as a thank you, your name will appear on screen as a proud supporter at the start and the end of every episode.

Now, Susan and I volunteer our time, but producing television, as you know, is expensive and it's not possible without help from viewers like you.

Well, thanks for watching, everyone.

I'm Larry and I'm Susan Peters.

We'll see you again soon.