Section A·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, April 15, 1998
Raised by his community, chef continues tradition of caring
Continued from page 1A
know he is there for them.
"He opens his home to these people," Cornejo said. "I think he articulates that this is their home, and they're welcome there anytime."
Garland got his first "son" some 18 years ago in Donald Loudermilk.
Cornejo said that Garland talks about the young men who come to his house like a proud father would talk of his child.
In 1980 Loudermilk was living in a boys' home in Independence, Kan. Garland had graduated from Pittsburgh State with a degree in social work and took a job as a juvenile probation officer in Independence.
Loudermilk began visiting Garland on the weekends and found in him the father he never had.
Today's soul food Sunday dinners on 12th street started with Loudermilk's birthday celebrations from his teenage years in Independence.
When Loudermilk moved to Lawrence in 1987, the feasts went from annual to weekly. At the time, Loudermilk was living with KU basketball player Kevin Pritchard, a member of the Jayhawks from 1987-1990. Garland, living in Olathe, would bring his pots and pans to the boys' apartment on Sundays and cook
And the man can cook
There's turkey, fried chicken, even raccoon. There's lots of grease, lots of flavor. It ain't healthy — it's hearty.
"It reminds me of a home-cooked meal my mother would make, some good soul food," KU guard Billy Thomas said. "And for anyone who lives in the dorm, it helps because you can't get around to cook."
He cooks for strangers on a social worker's paycheck, but he does it economically.
"I can cook a meal for about 20 guys for, oh, about 20 bucks," he says.
Garland saves by cooking everything from scratch and looking for deals at the grocery store.
"I cook with whatever meat God has blessed me with to be on sale," he says.
"I'll always be there to help.I sit down with them and help them think of what their options are. But I never tell them how to solve their problems, just what options are available."
Garland Hall mentor to KU students
Garland usually prepares his potatoes and dessert on Saturday night. He then wakes up at 6:30 on Sunday morning to prepare the meat du jour.
When he gets home from church he cooks the vegetables and biscuits and whatever else may remain.
Then the man starts making his calls. Calling all of his children to their "surrogate dad's" house to enjoy a Sunday tradition.
The mood is casual, Styrofoam plates and cups; plastic silverware. The kids file through the kitchen serving themselves.
Then it's into the living room, full plate in hand, to join Garland and his gregarious disposition.
His sons get more than a free meal. Garland is there for them, to joke around with them, to listen to them complain, to help them solve their problems. He wants to help. He wants to be someone they can rely on.
"My kids come to me with all kinds of problems," Garland says. "I'll always be there to help. I sit down with them and help them think of what their options are. But I never tell them how to solve their problems, just what options are available."
When Garland moved to Lawrence in 1990, friends of Loudermilk's friends began rolling through to eat and visit on Sundays. Many of Loudermilk's friends were basketball players, and word of Garland's hospitality has trickled down
through the KU basketball team for the last 10 years.
Blake Weichbrodt, KU player from 1993-1994, once invited Garland to a fraternity function and introduced him as his "surrogate dad," a term Garland appreciated and still uses.
"I had to go home and look up that word some more to find out what it really meant," Garland said. "But I really like that."
Chris Willits, Overland Park senior,
has been going to Garland's for four
years and considers Garland to be a
provider when his parents can't be there.
"I think all of us that go there want to make him proud, like a parent," Willits said. "If I ever could do anything for him, I would. In a heartbeat. What he's done, I could never make up, because he's never asked for anything in return."
Not everyone is so willing to give back.
Garland doesn't expect much, but he likes to visit. He likes to have the kids he cooks for sit down for a few minutes and share something about what's going on in their lives.
Willits has known some people unwilling to give such a simple thing back to such a generous man.
"The biggest thing you can give somebody is your time, and that's what I love to get from people," he said.
"I had some former roommates that went and definitely went for the taking advantage of the food," he said. "They didn't want to get to know Garland. They didn't want to understand why he's doing this. It was just like a free meal."
Unfortunately Garland says more and more kids are becoming that way. So much so that the great chef is considering hanging up his apron, throwing in the dish towel
He says that he probably will always cook for at least two or three kids, but the days of cooking for as many as 20 may be near an end.
But Garland doesn't sweat it. He knows he's touched lives and had his touched many times. If some of today's students don't want to get in on a good thing, so be
Garland Hall prepares a potato pie for the dinner he is preparing for the next day. Hall spends his Saturdays preparing the meal that he will serve the next day. Photo by Tara Bradley/KANSAN
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