The prettiest place in Kansas

John & I at our first house, On Kingman Rd,(dirt road) Greta, Dog from Humane soc Wichita

The beginning of 1969 I had never heard of Cedar Vale, did not have my college diploma yet, but I did have a 4 year old son, and a husband who had left and a new car that left with him. But I had been bless with stubbornness, and tenacity.
I had just enough in the way of finances to get me through the last 2 semesters of college and pay for a really inexpensive apartment for John and I. If John had not been the type of child who could entertain himself, I doubt I would have gone back to college. The past year and half he and I had the "Mommy needs to study" routine down to a fine science. This time we would just be in tighter quarters, and that was just fine with us. He had been sitting by my feet building great things with his blocks, match box cars, and army men for quite a while, now. I consoled him with the loss of his dad by promising him that we would have a home and a dog soon.

Now I just had to get that teaching certificate, and find a job somewhere. Now that I was alone, I had only one big desire, to raise my son in a small town like the one I grew up in. A place where he could run free and be safe, like my brothers and I and our big dog got to do.

To the placement office I would go every week and check out the job openings in Kansas and look them up on the old yellowed Kansas map on the wall. I had one other requisite, I wanted us to be close enough to drive home to see my parents on weekends. One day there was a card with the name of Cedar Vale in that wooden box. What a relaxing sounding place. Relaxing was something that had not been in my vocabulary for several years now. Two to three hours of sleep, an armful of books that weighed more than me, and walking 10 miles a day (I am sure) across a campus was my life. One problem, there was NO Cedar Vale on the map. No one knew where it was. Now was the time for serendipity to enter my life, and it would.

Since it was just the 2 of us, we were free to travel, so we did. We would take trips every now and then with a girl friend from school to Kingman to see my Uncle Jack, who was the Game Warren for Kingman County. She would then pick us up Sunday afternoon and head back to Pittsburg. One weekend, after I got a car, John and I drove out to see Uncle Jack by ourselves. When it came time to leave, Uncle Jack told me I had to take a different route to see the prettiest part of Kansas he had ever seen. He laid the map out on the kitchen table and started showing me the route south, then east . . . just then I saw the area marked CedarVale!! Now it was settled, I would take that route through Winfield, then Arkansas City and turn east. I was enjoying the scenery, that was for sure. I saw a sign that let me know Cedar Vale would be coming up. I will never forget that moment I was a top a hill and looking down at this little town. I woke John from his sleep in the back seat. I told him that was the town we were going to live in. He rubbed his eyes and asked if we would get his dog then. He was not going to let me forget.

The next day, I headed for the placement office to get the information from the Cedar Vale card. I wrote a letter that day to Ed Treadway, superintendent. It was probably 2 to 3 weeks later that I met Mr Treadway. I remember wearing my very best black mini skirt (minis were all I had, it was the style). It was a beautiful spring day. After he and I talked, he took me around town to meet some of the board members. He said we would run into them. Nothing formal, I liked that just fine. I met Mr and Mrs Snyder, that they were the cutest couple I had ever seen. She was so small, he was so tall. We went to the Hill Top (I think that was the name) and met people who were there. There was a guy about my age at the bar eating, I noticed he turned to look at me. The thought that went through my mind, at least there is someone my age here, had not seen any yet. Then Mr Treadway showed me some houses that were available. I had always loved cape cod houses, and there was one. It was on a dirt road, a road that actually went north and south. I headed back that afternoon to Pittsburg, could not wait to tell John. We had a house, a job, and a town to live in. All in a days work.

We moved into the house in August of 1969, adopted a dog in Wichita, and unpacked. We were ready to start a new life. We were ready to make new friends. We on our way to make memories that would last us a life time. We would leave Cedar Vale, eventually, with sadness, with a new last name, and a new baby sister. The time in between, was priceless. The people we came to know where wonderful. My little boy ran free and safe, and grew, in a little town that was hard to find on a map, but was found by the love my Uncle had for Kansas, and I firmly believe the love of a high power. We would not change it or want to. We can tell people, we lived in Cedar Vale, Kansas. The prettiest place in Kansas.