Anna Minnis, board president (and charter board member), has lived in St. John since 1959. Back then, she and her husband, Jim, were a young married couple who had just bought the town’s mortuary and house on North Broadway, a block from the town square. Shortly after Anna arrived in St. John, she was pregnant and unpacked the boxes from moving. She decided to take a walk to the square, where she met another young, pregnant woman – Virginia Russell. Together, the two became life-long friends. The Minnis Funeral Home – which Jim and Anna ran together for decades -- is one of the oldest, family-owned funeral homes in the state of Kansas. It is now in its fifth generation. Her husband, Jim, passed in 2001. And although Anna was not the first woman to become a licensed funeral director in Kansas, she was among some of the first who helped lead the way for others. She obtained her first license beginning in the 1960s. Anna and Jim had three sons: Mark, Mitch and Jay; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren with two more expected this spring. Anna has long been a moving force in Stafford County. She is a friend of CORE Community of Stafford County. It’s a local organization that believes no families should live in poverty – and that when people are seen struggling, other individuals and communities can step forward and help those people take charge of their own destinies. Anna is a member of the local PEO, plays hand bells, makes homemade cards, volunteers at the local thrift shop and is a longtime member of the St. John First United Methodist Church. But more importantly, she is a mighty prayer warrior who looks out for others. We aren’t just lucky to have Anna as our board president, we are blessed.
Janet Richardson has called St John and Stafford County home most of her life. She graduated from St John and married her high school sweetheart Ron. After college, the Richardson’s taught school and started a family before returning home where she taught Home Ec/FACS at St John for many years. In retirement she enjoys reading, sewing and going to grandchildren's events.
Bobbett Davis is a St. John native and charter board member of the museum. She graduated from St. John High and spent two years at Fort Hays State University. She is married to Jack Davis. They started Davis Plumbing in 1968, and Bobbett worked as bookkeeper for the business. They have two sons, Brian and Kevin, and a lively and lovely little granddaughter, Olivia. Bobbett is an active member of the First Baptist Church.
Kim Hullman bio is pending / not received. Photo not received.
The Stafford County roots of Wendy Mawhirter run deep. She is a fourth-generation farmer along with her husband, Jeff. She cooks, works the fields, hauls the grain and leaps tall buildings. And Jeff helps. (That was a joke. As you can imagine, he is equally as busy and doing as many things as possible.). Her father, Ward Beaver, was instrumental in helping found the Kansas Crippled Children’s Commission. Her great-aunt, Kate Carter, was a longtime Stafford County School Superintendent and principal of St. John High School. Wendy and Jeff farm both irrigation and dryland crops. They have three grown children – Darren, Cole and Kara; and eight grandchildren. In their spare time, both Wendy and Jeff enjoy the antics of Josie, their Jack Russell Terrier—who catches squirrels. Wendy is the vice president of the Stafford County Soil Conservation District and a member of the Eden Valley Church of the Brethren. Incidentally, she is also a member of the St. John Chapter of the Porch Party Gals and has been known to make a “mean” margarita. More importantly, Wendy is the St. John Homecoming Hall and Museum’s “Get-er-done-Gal.” She truly gets things done. It is not unusual for her to get up at 5 in the morning and send all the rest of us peppy dance videos to “get us all up and moving.”
Besides being the Scarlett O’Hara of Stafford County – with references to Gone With the Wind, Diane Getty is a fourth generation Stafford Countian, as well. She is a retired family farmer and stockman and, when her husband, Leonard, was still alive, known as the family’s official “Gatekeeper” and “Chief Cattle Checker.” She’s pulled baby calves, shot deer and – in her high school days was known for driving way too fast in hot cars on county roads. Mostly, these days, she takes great pride in fixing Sunday family dinners with rich, succulent foods that makes everyone else jealous when they hear about it. She is an active member of the Porch Party Gals and knows a good red beer when she sees one. Diane’s great aunt was Ida Long Goodman, the benefactor of our St. John library. She is the mother of three grown children – Leah, Travis and Heath; and grandmother to four. Her husband, Leonard, died in 2012 in a tragic farm accident. Leonard had been a longtime St. John Fire Chief. Her son, Heath, is an expert marksman in both bow and arrow and guns. Using his bow and arrow, he can accurately shoot dimes tossed in the air. Diane has an affinity for black labs – well really, any kind of labs. It is not unusual for three labs to be at her house at once. Moral of the story: don’t make those Gettys mad!
Beccy Tanner takes pride in also being a fourth-generation Stafford Countian. She spent four decades as a Kansas journalist, has taught Kansas History at Wichita State University and in her spare time leads bus trips on the back roads of Kansas. She loves Kansas, history and homegrown tomatoes. She moved back to St. John in 2018 and lives with a menagerie of cats and dogs. In 2018, she was named one of “Kansas’s Finest” by the Travel Industry Association of Kansas. And … like Wendy and Diane, she too is a member of the St. John Chapter of the Porch Party Gals – not that it is any real club or anything. It’s just we’ve all been friends since the beginning of time. Anyone can join us. Mostly, we like to just sit, kvetch and talk about the embarrassing things that happen as our bodies age – except for Diane. We believe Diane will live to be 150 years old and still look like she did in high school. Simply put, friends are friends. It sometimes takes decades of old friends working together to make a local museum work.
Cami Austin Raines was born and raised in Stafford, graduating from Stafford High School in 1972. Her maternal great-grandparents migrated to Stafford County from Syria in the 1920s. They left behind four additional generations of the Farris-Austin family to live and raise their families. Cami worked for 35 years as a Physician’s Assistant before retiring in 2015. At that point, she and her husband, Aaron, decided it was time to head back to Kansas, leaving Colorado Springs behind. She is the proud mother of two daughters and four grandchildren. When not traveling to see her loved ones, Cami stays busy hand making greeting cards, playing pickleball, volunteering at the local thrift shop and the St. John Homecoming Hall and Museum. At the museum, she too is one of those that makes things happen. Notice her eye for design as you walk in door and see her handiwork in our window displays and exhibits. Trinity Community Church in Hudson is where you will find her on Sunday mornings praising and worshipping. Her dog, Lucy, born at our local Smith Hill, is the museum’s mascot.
Jesse Mosman’s roots to St. John stretch back to 1997 when he moved here. The town beckoned to him because it felt like home and good friends became like family. Jesse is married to Kaylene Rudy and together they have two children – Kash and Teagan. His day job is as an oilfield worker. But, on his off hours, Jesse is a moving force in local preservation. In recent years, he has purchased the old Valentine Diner in hopes of restoring it to its original form and turning it back into a part-time diner. He also owns the old filling station on the corner of First & Main, next to the Diner, and is in the process of fixing that up, as well. Jesse describes himself as “a big collector of old things.” Truth is, he is a passionate do-er, fixer and a rising star on our board. We love him to pieces –although that would embarrass him – but we will say it anyway. We are so fortunate to have him serving and being a vital part of our community.
Michael Hathaway is a 6th generation Stafford Countian, descended from four settlers who homesteaded and farmed in Stafford County in the late 19th century: John Fitzgerald, Benjamin Franklin Stauffer, and John William & Reno Hathaway. His father, Jerry, retired from KDOT and the Army Reserves after 40 years, and is well-known around St. John as a painter and handyman. Michael has been working as Executive Director of the Stafford County Museum in Stafford since March of 2000, where his pet projects are taking care of the W.R. Gray Studio glass plate negatives and helping others with genealogy. In addition to that, he volunteers as director of St. John Homecoming Hall and Museum. In his spare time, he takes care of a clowder of kitties and has become adept at herding cats. He publishes and edits Chiron Review literary magazine, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022 with four special anthologies. Chiron Review’s archive is housed at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. He has published more than 400 of his own poems and stories in literary anthologies and magazines, and 13 books, the latest of which is: Postmarked Home: New & Selected Poems 1979-2019 (Spartan Press).
David Kurtis bio is pending / not received.
Ixchel Gomez is the St John JR / Senior High School technology / robotics and Spanish teacher. She moved to Stafford County in 2020 after hurricanes scared her out of the New Orleans gulf coast area. She has web development and marketing background which she uses to teach her students and St John Tech Club members. She teaches a range of different technologies to students and adults including drones, computing, programming, typing, near field communication (NFC), web design and development. She is a mother to a look-alike teenage girl and has a little boy on the way.
Auriel Hathaway is a seventh generation Stafford Countian. In 1875, Auriel's great-great-great-great-grandfather John Fitzgerald left his Royal George Tavern in England, which he owned, to homestead in Stafford County’s Ohio Township. Auriel comes from a long line of farmers, road builders and maintainers. For the St. John Homecoming Hall and Museum, Auriel is our go-to video production specialist. Auriel attended the Los Angeles Film Connections trade school in 2019 and interned with Justin McClure in Wichita, for which Auriel received a diploma. When not working on videos at the museum, Auriel is the caregiver to grandfather, Jerry Hathaway. Auriel makes all “techy” things at the museum possible.