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University Daily Kansan, November 25, 1980
The Enser Museum in southern Johnson County, is a former eight-acre farm, turned into a shrine to Marshal Enser.
Loretta Ensor is the resident-caretaker of the Ensor Museum.
Memory of Olathe teacher kept alive
OLATHE—A walking stick aides her as she opens up her home to curious visitors. She gently nudges a cat out of the room and returns it to a tour of her home, the Enzer Museum.
The stick is gripped firmly by both Loretta Eensor's arthritic hands, and the walking aid is almost tall as the woman. Loretta is the resident-caretaker of the museum, but her job is much more than dusting antique furniture and guiding visitors around the grounds.
Loretta has spent her life gathering and preserving the accomplishments of her brother, Marshal Ensor, a former Olathe teacher. Now, more than a decade after his death, Olathe ensures because of the persistent efforts of his devoted sister.
The museum is a seven-building complex, set on eight acres of land in southern Johnson County, just south of Olathe. It is the childhood home of the Ensors and has sheltered the 76-year-old Loretta since 1909.
"Things around here just started collecting." Loretta said last week as she slowly hobbled around the main house of the museum, her home.
She is bent over with arthritis, and the two-story house is biting cold, except in the kitchen and parlor, where a wood-burning stove gives warm relief. Loretta moves slowly, but is still very active, and glides takes visitors from room to room. She smiles often and finds much to laugh about.
"It was during the Depression, we never threw anything away; we held onto everything," she said as she pointed to ancient postcards and other artifacts that others might have discarded years ago.
"We were raised to take care of our things. Our parents used to teach us, 'a place for everything and everything in place,' and I've always lived by that."
Marshal Enso lived by it too. Enso was an industrial arts instructor and was involved in the Olathe school system for nearly 50 years. During that time Enso built furniture, an amateur radio and numerous knackacks. The museum contains all his workbook built over a span of half a century.
Rather than talk about herself, Loretta painstakingly details her
brother's life, work, awards and the memorabilia he left behind.
"This is my brother's handmade Burl furniture and see this radio! This is the first amateur radio to be permanently located in a high school in Kansas. Marshal made it himself." Loretta said, "Those are-hand-cut condensors, hand-wound coils and handmade switches."
Loretta insisted on showing her visitors each of the seven buildings in the complex and her unyielding devotion was obvious even as she wrapped her coiled pathic, and kept that would not cooperate with her crimped fingers.
Her walking sticks are strategically placed on the grounds of the museum and she must strain to reach each light switch. But she persists, and recounts how the team worked tirelessly, effort, each tool and every antique down to the last set of 100-year-old bloomers.
Marshal constantly creeps into her discussions.
Did people paint it, it is hard maple. He used to give rolling pins as wedding gifts," she said.
Loretta picked up a rolling pin.
She pointed out chairs, tables,
cabinets and other handcrafted "Ensor originals."
She slowly led her visitors outside to a one-room cabin built in 1875 and used as a stable.
She probably could guide the tour in her sleep. In her 76 years she has worked at one job, a 10-year stint as a secretary with the Johnson County treasurer's office after graduating from high school in 1923.
She retired to the farm to take care of her parents and work the farm, hand-in-hand with her husband. She is married, Loretta used Epson still most of his time at the farm.
"His wife had a house in town, and he went back and forth, but this was his
Loretta was a basketball player in high school, before it was outlawed because "women were too frail to play that game." This memory brings a big smile and laugh for Lorella. She also was an avid amateur radio buff for about 40 years. She regularly broadcasted on her brother's radio.
"I had a chum over in Australia who I would contact once in a while," she said. "I'd be getting breakfast and call him up about one week."
A red wool cap covered her gray hair and she glided about the grounds in worn blue tennis shoes. She recalled how her parents moved from near Washington to Boston, what is now 87th Street and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park.
Her house is an antique collector's dream, and her bedroom looks unused. She has a spoon collection that started when her mother bought a spoon at the Philadelphia World's Fair, and a stamp collection that dates back many decades.
She is proud, not of her own life, but her brother's.
"I read a lot and I do needlepoint," she said. "I don't bother much with the television. I keep pretty right here."
She warmed her hands on the stove and sank back into her antique rocking chair. Even after more than two hours she was able to point to out things. Again she smiled.
"It takes more than a couple hours to see everything here," she said. "You could spend a lot more time here, maybe even a day or two."
Or like Loretta, maybe even an entire life.
A display of Ensor's memorabilia that he built and saved from his days as a teacher includes many artifacts from the 19th century. Loretta Ensor gladly escorts visitors through the museum, recounting the history of each item.
Story by BILL VOGRIN
Photos by ROBERT POOLE
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