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Tuesday, December 4, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
EITHER YOU LEAD OR YOU FOLLOW
Clear?
Continued from p. 1
Kitsmiller
"I think he worked himself to death," he said quietly. Kitsmur went from owning nothing to owning thou-
horses, and his wounds were gone.
Elwood Wiggins helped Kitsmiller get his start
"Perry was smart from the word go," Wiggins said. "I hired him when he first came to Lawrence in 1949 because he is aggressive and knew how to work. But he never worked for me, and I never knew him to take a vacation — not ever.
Perry Kiksmiller came from Cedar County, Missouri. He grew on a farm during the Depression and was the first one to win a National title.
He married Martha Rose in 1945, and they moved to Lawrence in 1949 with just a few dollars. He began hauling junk in a truck and worked as a farmhand on Wiggins' farm.
He bought his own farm down the road about a year later and bought eight cattle shortly after.
"That was how he got his start." Wiggins said. "With every extra dollar, he'd put it right back into buying more land and more cattle. Perry was smart with his money."
Friends say Perry Kitsmiller was the work ethic personified.
Kitsmiller and his wife raised five children — two sons and three daughters.
and three daughters.
In 1969, Martha Kitsmiller died.
"Once Perry was dehorning a cow, and she jerked and poked his eye out," said Russell Bailey, a neighbor of Killersmith's. "They tried to get Perry to stay over night in the emergency room, but he told them to just stitch it up because he had to get home. There were chores he had to do."
In 1976, he filed a condemnation suit against the State Highway Commission when Clinton Parkway was con-
structed. He also sued the state for environmental dis-
turbance.
Kitsmiller learned to work within the legal system to keep the government from taking his land.
Kitsmiller won the case and was awarded the $1,600 more than state appraisers had estimated the land was worth.
In 1988, he fought the county when it declared part of northwest Lawrence to be the Yankee Tank West sewer benefit district and intended to charge land owners $150 for the construction of the installation of the sewer, according to county records.
Kitsmiller began a letter-writing campaign in protest, and 19 land owners joined him.
County commissioners finally agreed to exempt anyone who protested
The asphalt plant battle began in 1989 when Lawrence
Ready Mix sought rezoning to build a plant across from the East Hills Business Park on Kansas Highway 10. Killsmit organized neighbors, hired an attorney and began the fight to keep to the land pristine.
Ed Collister, the group's attorney, said an age-old dilemma existed between a city's growth and the agricultural community.
"If the farming community got it's way, the town withers from lack of growth," he said. "But if the industrial community gets its way, the agricultural community is impacted."
Kitsmiller not only had crops and cattle, but also rented three houses in Lawrence, which he built himself. Hugh Conover, a former KU student, lived in one of Kitsmiller's houses in 1986.
Kitsmiller lived like a pauper. Conover said, Dead farm equipment littered the front yard of his home, and
"I paid my rent at his house once, and I couldn't believe it," Conover said. "He was sitting at a bare table with a lone light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It made me feel sad for some reason. He was almost like a modern-day Scroogex, except people liked him. He was a good boy, he didn't strange, but I really had an affection for the old guy."
His death affected many people in the Lawrence community.
"You just don't see that every day in downtown Lawrence," he said.
"To this day I can't drive by without seeing him hanging there from that post." Wiggins said, as his eyes misted over. "It was a terrible shock, and I don't think I'll ever get over it."
Conover said he sometimes saw Kitsmiller downtown running errands with a bull in the back of his truck.
R. L. Kitsmiller, Perry Kitsmiller's brother, said he wished he could have told his brother not to worry about a battle.
Les Blevins Sr., a retired businessman, said Kitsamler called him frequently to complain about the South Bank mall.
"He'd tell me, I'm sure Igail you're fighting for us." Blevins said. "Now I realize he was like a drowning man who had gone down twice and knew he was going down. He called me just two days before he died."
Artists
Amy Kitsmiller, the wife of Kitsmiller's oldest son, Ralph, stood in the doorway of her house and explained how she met him. "He was a man who
"It's been too hard on us, we're just not yet ready," she said. "I understand it, and Ialph and I don't understand why he did."
Continued from p. 3
town by providing fellowships, open exhibits and classes taught by local artists.
"Many artists are struggling and always will," Davis said. "There are only a handful that are doing well."
"One of the difficult aspects of being self-employed is that you spend a lot of time alone." said Narmom, 40. "I'd hate to not be able to go into the mercantile and work at the cash register. I like the interaction with people."
Collins dislikes his dual role as an artist and waiter, but painter and sculptor Jon Eric Nurum loves his part-time job working as a clerk at the Community Mercantile, 700 Maine St.
Narum views running a cash register as an art form in
it. I try to do it well and have a good time while I am
doing it.
Despite the high odds against commercial success, 127 students are majoring in painting, sculpting and print-making at KU this semester, according to the Office of Student Records.
Eric Whitlock Davis, Lawrence junior, is working toward an undergraduate degree in oil painting
This figure does not include the 772 freshmen in the School of Fine Arts who have not declared a specific major.
"I know people from KU who have graduated and had successful careers in art and design, and I think of them as real artists."
He said he thought the large number of artists in town was encouraging.
"We don't do a whole of talking about what it like to be an artist," he said. "We just talk about art. You know, it's not so much about the tools."
Mike Ott, professor of art, said most students in the program were aware of the difficulty of finding full-time jobs.
Davis owned and operated his own construction business for two years before returning to KU for his dissertation.
"I can always fall back on my carpentry career, but I sure hope the art thing works out," he said.
something that comes along later."
Many young artists expect to jump immediately into the world of self-employment, but often they must pay a premium.
Debra Edgerton, local painter and KU design graduate, lifted her success as a free-lance artist to the experience she received during four-and-a-half years of employment with Hallmark Cards Inc.
The School of Fine Arts does not have a placement center for its students, Ott said, but the Arts Center currently helps students on a one-to-one basis and will offer them the future on how to prepare resumes and portfolios.
Edgerton designs cards for several greeting card companies.
Some of Edgerton's artwork is currently in the American Water Color Society's traveling show. She won the privilege by entering an international competition. She also has had work displayed in the Midwest Water Color Show and in the Art Frames gallery, 912 Illinois St. She encouraged aspiring artists to follow their dreams.
"Hallmark was a springboard to be able to free-lance and work on my own," she said. "Because it is creative, I have been able to spring off to do what I really wanted to do, which is paint."
"Aspirations are high, which is good to have in the back of your mind, but you still have to be able to lay the foundations to be able to get to that point." Edgerton said.
Jim Connelly, owner of the Silver Works gallery, 715 Massachusetts St., may have an enviable position to many struggling artists, but he said he earned his way by working from the bottom up.
After receiving his master's degree in jewelry making from KU, he tended bar for two years before he discovered an opportunity to display his crafts.
In 1974, he leased 200 square feet of space from the Sunflower International Coca-Cola 80 Massachusetts St.
"I started with about three gold rings and 15 silver pieces, and I thought I was making it," Connell said.
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