Lou Herndon papers, 1925-2013

Summary

Creator:
Herndon, Lou
Physical description:
5.00 Boxes, 17.5 Linear Feet Post-Fire Oversize Extent: Boxes 2-4 (19x25): 509S: 19/10/5 Box 5 (19x25); 509S: 19/11/5
Language:
English
Latin

Background

Scope and content:

Records relating to the history of Cooperative Extension work in Sedgwick County Kansas and focusing particularly on the Prairie Gem unit of which Lou Herndon and her mother, Ruth Wilkins, were charter/lifetime members.

Biographical / historical:

Mary Louise (Lou) Wilkins Herndon Was born February 26, 1924, to Loren and Ruth Wilkins in Liberal, Kansas. Her father was a jeweler, a watchmaker and later an optometrist. Her mother was a concert pianist. They moved to Wichita Kansas when Lou was in about sixth grade. Herndon attended Allison Junior High in Wichita and then graduated from Wichita High School North in 1941. On June 27, 1943, she married Billy Bob Herndon who was originally from Anson, Texas. They were married at West Side United Presbyterian Church, Wichita, Kansas. They had one daughter and three sons, all of whom have made their homes in Sedgwick County.

Herndon was very active in the Wichita and Goddard communities. She was a 4-H project leader and a community leader of the Rolling Hills 4-H Club for many years. She was a lifetime member of the Prairie Gem Home Extension Unit from the time the unit was started until it was disbanded (for lack of members). Herndon also served on the county extension council for several years and was a treasurer for Attica Township. At the same time, she was the caretaker of the Pleasant Ridge cemetery in Goddard, Kansas.

In about 1963, Herndon began china painting and was a member of the Sunflower China Painters in Sedgwick county. She was the state president of the Federated China Painters Association of Kansas for two years. Herndon was passionate about encouraging all the painters in Kansas to exhibit their work at the Kansas State Fair.

More than anything else, Herndon enjoyed her 15 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. She passed away November 11, 2018, and a Memorial headstone is in Pleasant Ridge Cemetary, Goddard, Kansas.

Acquisition information:
Lou Herndon and her daughter, Sherry Elder, donated these materials in November 2017.
Processing information:

Cynthia A. Harris, Library Assistant III/Manuscripts/Collections Processor processed and described materials and curator David B. Allen reviewed the finding aid in October 2019.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in five boxes. Box one consists of documents and boxes two through five are made up of scrapbooks.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
General note:

Published

Dacs citation:

[Item title], [item date], Lou Herndon papers, Box [number], Folder [number or title], Morse Department of Special Collections, Kansas State University Libraries.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Kansas State University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Kansas life and culture

Contents

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Restrictions:

All materials are open for research.

Terms of access:

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