Woman journalist returns as student
By LINDA BROWNING
Kansan Staff Writer
Little does KU know that she has a journalist "jewel" buried among the graduate students of journalism. Mrs. Ray Lancaster of Lawrence is a graduate of the University of Texas and has worked for a myriad of newspapers all over the world, White House correspondent for Tokyo's Ashi Evening News among the most famous.
The fantastic thing about this effervescent 47-year-old is that she is mother of six children, classical and jazz piano teacher, and a TV script writer and columnist besides. It's no wonder that her husband, Colonel Ray Lancaster, Air Force ROTC professor admits himself, "I can't see how she gets it all done!"
Writing career starts early
Her writing career started at the age of nine "when the Dallas Morning News gave me my first byline and published my poem," reminisced Mrs. Lancaster. Since then she claims to be "bemused and intrigued because my words gain a pseudo-authority in print."
Mrs. Lancaster's philosophy of life seems to lend itself to a journalistic career. "I am one of those women who need to amke
Grandmother jogs each day to keep fit
NEW YORK (UPI) — "I like to be fit for myself to know."
The words come from a tiny great-grandmother who all her life has made physical fitness part of her daily routine. Now at 82, Mrs. T. Charlton Henry, born a Philadelphia Biddle, has taken up jogging.
"It pays dividends," says this spightly, delicate blonde. Most days she will walk and jog at least half an hour, sometimes longer, figuring she averages about four miles.
"My age group all think I'll drop dead," she says.
Feb. 28 1969 KANSAN 11
some greater mark on the world than what is left over from a fabulously prepared meal," she said.
Her invention of the "chromatic method of popular piano instruction" is only one of several fields that she has put her mark on. Journalism seems to be her outlet to "give pleasure to many people each day."
"In newspaper work, a journalist has so much discretion," she said, "and he has an obligation not to follow the letter of his journalism code, but the spirit of it." On a four-prison beat for the Leavenworth Times in 1955, she broke the precedence of reporters being refused to interview a condemned man. "And I am not sorry at all," she said, "because you have to look at the human aspect."
Washington to Japan
Mrs. Lancaster humbly stated that being a White House correspondent is not that difficult. "All you need," she assured, "is a letter of authorization from your newspaper—it's that simple!"
During her stay in Japan, she was disappointed that Johnson had very few press conferences. "What impresses most people the first time they see Johnson in person is his awing enormity—he is a big man. But I'll never forget my first impression of the man. His face was plastered with the theatrical make up—lipstick and rouge for the televised conference," she recounted.
Her biggest problem in Japan, "like in every inch of this blessed earth," she later learned, "was bureaucracy at its heights." Characterizing herself master of "irrelevance," she disclosed that she "loved to stick pins in the pompous."
She wrote her Japanese column only when she "saw something to poke fun at." An admirer of the Will Rogers tradition, she fashions her writing after Art Buckwald's in giving the "worm's eye view" of a situation.
Traveling mother
To relate the idea that she has been a traveling mother besides a traveling journalist, Colonel Lancaster makes the joke that they have left a "trail of disposable diapers across two oceans and three continents."
consider her mastery of the French, Spanish and Chinese languages any intellectual achievement, because she says "it requires only the shallow mind-rub up against a language."
Mrs. Lancaster does not
The battle she has waged through journalism she titles the "fight against the rigid, inflexible, closed mind—in all age brackets."
Looking back on her writing career, she says she is thankful to see such strength in youth today and gladly steps aside to have young people fill her place. In her eyes, "something has enabled young people to discriminate, and this is marvelous." She recalls 30 years ago when her peers pickited against the University of Texas Board of Regents "just because it was the thing to do, not because they had any good reason."
Kid-glove touch
Always strikingly dressed, Mrs. Lancaster chooses bright but feminine colors. She believes a woman with enough love for people can be a successful
reporter and news photographer "with the kid-glove touch." "You don't have to be brash and brandy to achieve your goals," she says.
Of all the places they could have returned to, she "chose Kansas as her favorite region on earth because it is the people who make Kansas," she says. "With no provincialism, Kansans are open-hearted enough to care about how you think."
Three of her sons also consider Kansas the place for higher education. Ray Lancaster Jr. is in his first year of law school. Burt, recently returning from Viet Nam in the Marine Corps is a freshman along with his younger brother, Bill.
Mrs. Lancaster at work in Japan
A hill grows in Kansas
Keshian pointed out the upper slope of Mt. Bleu has not been opened because "natural weather conditions have not been quite right." He said more natural snow is needed along with more consistent cold temperatures.
“This is only the fourth year that Mt. Bleu has been in operation,” said Keshian. “We've been drawing people from all over the state on the weekends and business has been fairly good.”
By RICHARD MURPHY
Kansan Staff Writer
The name of the hill is Mt. Bleu and every weekend, weather permitting, the place does quite a business. Since the financial success of Mt. Blu is dependent on snow and most snow is dependent on weather, if it doesn't snow they make snow.
The snow machine whitens the slopes only when the temperature is below 32 degrees and the humidity below 80 per cent. "The drier it is, the more snow you can make," explained Berg Keshian, Boston junior, and a member of the National Ski Patrol and a safety patrolman at Mt. Bleu.
The lower slope of Mt. Bleu, which is 900 feet long and 200 feet wide, is the only slope in operation this winter, said Keshian. "It's a good beginners slope," he stated, "The vertical rise is just enough for experienced skiers to stay in shape and it permits inexperienced people to have a good time."
For all the die-hard ski enthusiasts attending KU who have a great desire to hit the slopes in Winter—believe it or not—a hill grows in Kansas.
Keshain explained the snow is made by pumping water and compressed air through two pipes. When the two elements come together and are shot out on the slopes by a gun-type nozzle, the result is snow.
Mt. Bleu is open everyday except Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can ski all day—from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.—or all night—from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.—for $3.50.
Starts Tonight!
Dean Martin, Alain Delon Joey Bishop in
"Texas Across the River"
7:00 & 9:30 p.m.
Feb. 28, Mar. 1-2
Admission 50c
SUA Popular Film Features Coming Soon:
"The Jokers," "Blow-up," "Darling," "The Silencers," and Many More!