The June 3 meeting of the Greenwood County Historical Society board was called to order by President Mike Pitko.
Those present were: John Bills, Dusty Booth, Kevin Hough, Taylor Hunt, Jamie Lindamood, Dana Mills, Kent Olson, Pitko, Gib Rhodes, Stan Skaer, Jan Stephens and Museum Director Robin Himes.
The minutes of the April 1 board meeting were read. There were no changes or corrections. Hough moved to accept the minutes. Rhodes seconded the motion.
Treasurer Olson reported that the reports from Colangelo’s still had errors so he worked directly with Greg Colangelo to make corrections. He shared that due to the fluctuations in the market their investments were down about $2,000.
The settlement on the investments that were lost has been received.
Olson said he would get more information when their investment advisor is available.
Olson reported that the Claycomb Account looks right.
Mills moved and Rhodes seconded to approve all past treasurer’s reports.
The museum had 45 visitors in the last two months. These were from Kansas, Wisconsin, Norway, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Missouri. They had between 40 and 45 attend the party for the opening of the “Brides of Greenwood County” display on Sunday evening, June 1.
Sylvia Reynolds Eskes and her husband Dr. Alfred Eskes visited the museum with a guest from Norway, Kirsti Bergh-Kauf. Bergh-Kauf and S. Reynolds Eskes met in Norway while S. Reynolds Eskes was there promoting the work of a Norwegian composer. She was knighted by the King of Norway for her efforts.
After visiting the museum, they visited the Upper Fall River Lutheran Church, Lapland area and Olson farm. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Norwegians immigrating to America.
The Eskes are actively involved with the Chase County Museum and may be interested with partnering with the Greenwood County Historical Society.
The museum received two communications that were shared with the board. The first was a thank you note from Justin Buchman who was the Barbara Robison Nicholas scholarship recipient for 2025. The second communication was from Tammy Porter expressing appreciation for the” Here Come the Brides of Greenwood County” party that she and her husband attended on June 1.
Hunt told the board members that the visitors from Wichita (mentioned above) had shown interest in becoming members and that he had asked secretary Kim Gorman to send him the membership information so that it could be put on the website. He asked if the group would want to collect the membership fees online as well and explained the process and steps that would need to be taken to do this. Other fees could be collected in this way as well – research fees and donations to the Claycomb School project as examples. This would involve setting up an account through Stripe. He explained what the fees would be to go through this service. Mills moved and Stephens seconded to have Hunt set this up.
In other business, Museum Director Himes reported that the museum is signed up to participate in the Sunflower Summer Program again this summer. The dates for this are July 12 through August 3. Himes and Gorman will have to do training and the dates for this have not been released yet.
The museum participated in this last year and made between $50 and $100 through people enrolled in the program visiting the museum.
An ad for the museum has been placed in the 2026 Kansas Travel Guide.
Pitko informed the board that there hasn’t been any progress on the restoration on the Claycomb School so far but are close to starting on the underside.
The four windows are in and waiting to be installed. They are composite, 4-pane windows in the style that was in the building originally.
Olson shared information about the fire captain’s cap belonging to Captain (Cap) Mahlon Souders, recently donated to the museum by his great-grandson, Mason Branstetter. Souders served as a Eureka fireman from 1900-1955, with 38 of those years as fire chief/captain. He was born in the Severy area in 1875. In 1917, during Cap’s first year as captain, the department’s first motorized engine, a Reo, was put into commission.
Himes shared information about the wedding dress display and encouraged board members who had not been through it to visit it before they left after the meeting.
Stephens explained about plans for upcoming Fifth Monday events. On June 30, the museum will be open in the evening for more visitors to come to the wedding dress display. Times will be determined. The museum will possibly have a program on the Atom Pop Popcorn business from Quincy for their September Fifth Monday.
The museum was open on Saturday, June 7 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. for Eureka Days.
Pitko and Himes described some of the projects Secretary Gorman has been working on since she began working for the Historical Society in February.
Mills reported from the Scholarship Committee about the excellent essay submitted by their scholarship recipient.
Rhodes informed the board about the program Bills gave in Severy on schools in that area. Bills added that about 60 people attended.
Rhodes also shared that Hartzel Storrer had passed away at the age of 105. He told a little about her time as a school teacher in Greenwood County and the field trip that he took with her when she was 103. They visited schools (or areas where schools had been) where she taught.
Hough moved and Mills seconded to give the two Historical Society employees, Himes and Gorman, an hourly raise. The motion passed.
Hough moved to adjourn the meeting.
