Cronkite's sister-in-law recalls newsman's youth
By GLORIA VOBEJDA Kansan Staff Writer
Mention the name Walter Cronkite and Mrs. Lora Manring's face relaxes into a wide smile.
"They seem like kids to me even though they're practically middle-aged," Mrs. Manring said, referring to her younger sister, Betsy (the former Mary Elizabeth Maxwell) and her well-known husband, Walter Cronkite.
"I was already married and living away from home when my
sister Betsy was born," Mrs. Manring explained. "In fact, my oldest son and Walter are the same age. They were great chums and shared many hobbies."
Mrs. Manring wouldn't disclose her age but she seemed 20 years younger than the figure arrived at after some quick arithmetic.
She remembers when Cronkite and her son, Robert Manring, "used to stay up all night 'playing' with electric trains and miniature racing cars.
"He knows how to relax and
it's a good thing. I don't know how he finds the time to study and read about all those things he talks about on his programs," Mrs. Manring said.
When asked about the one thing she remembers most about her famous brother-in-law, she answers, "He's enthusiastic about life and interested in life."
Mrs. Manring recalled the time Cronkite took up sports car racing.
KU and WSU plan programs for mutual doctoral degrees
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe and Wichita State University President Clark Ahlberg have released a report to the Kansas Board of Regents, informing them of plans to develop joint doctoral degree programs between their respective universities.
The plan will permit selected students at both KU and WSU to do doctoral theses with professors at the other school. The degrees will then be awarded by KU.
Ahlberg explained that the cooperating programs will only be between certain departments, a history program possibly going into effect next fall. Graduate students in chemistry, aeronautical engineering and business may be involved later, pending approval by the Council of Graduate Schools.
"The cooperative effort will permit qualified WSU faculty to direct thesis work for students seeking, for example, a doctor of philosophy degree." Ahlberg said. "It also will permit WSU students to participate in exchange programs involving library facilities available only at KU."
Student wins poetry award
KU's Alvin Dewey won 3rd prize in poetry in the 1968-69 Story College Creative Awards contest. Dewey won this $25 award for his poem "Dundee, Unicorporated," about a small town in central Kansas outside Great Bend.
"Having my work published in 'Story: The Yearbook of Discovery/1969' in March by the Four Winds Press really motivates me to write more poetry—maybe even for a living." Dewey said.
"He even entered the Sebring Endurance Race in Florida one year."
Students from colleges and universities in 46 states participated, said Hallie Burnett, co-author of the new yearbook.
Leonard Harrison, director of the Lawrence Ballard Center, is scheduled to appear in Sedgwick County District Court at Wichita today to face charges of robbery and extortion.
Harrison's trial begins
The charges of kidnapping, assault and conspiracy were dismissed after being contested by Harrison's lawyer.
Mar. 24
1969 KANSAN 9
Harrison, along with the eight other men, was arrested last October on charges of robbery, kidnapping, extortion, and conspiracy. His wife was also arrested Oct. 29 and charged with assaulting a police officer.
The benefits of the program include, in addition to exchange professor guidance and libraries, a limited monetary expenditure, far less than would be required to hire professors and purchase libraries independently, Wescoe explained to the Regents.
Wescoe and Ahlberg, along with Provost George Wolf, KU Medical Center director, also issued a joint information report regarding cooperative efforts to study the "paramedical education and other means of cooperation between the Medical Center and WSU."
The report asked for authorization for a feasibility study to establish internship and residency programs for medical students especially in Wichita hospitals and eventually in Topeka hospitals. The goal of the program is to attract doctors to Kansas on a permanent basis.
Mrs. Manning laughed heartily as she remembered her sister's wedding day at the Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo., in 1940.
"The bridegroom was standing at the altar waiting for the bride and we had waited so long that some of the guests were getting ready to leave," she recalled. "But finally the bride arrived about an hour late."
The cause of the delay Mrs. Manring discovered later was an article of clothing belonging to the bride which had been inadvertently thrown out with the trash.
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