Kathryn L. Culbertson

is honored with a Brick from Kathy Frieze and Pat Wiggins.

Kathryn Lansdowne, the daughter of J.E. and Sophie Lansdowne, is a native Wichitan. She graduated from North High School in 1935 and attended Wichita University from 1935 to 1939. While at W.U. she was a member of Alpha Tau Sigma sorority and served as president her senior year. Kathryn was also active in the drama department. She spent two summers performing with the Estes Festival Players in Estes Park, CO, and played the leading role in "Stage Door" her senior year. Kathryn was elected to "Honor Five" (an honor society which later became Mortar Board) and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in English and minors in Speech and French.

After graduation, she worked as a librarian at the Wichita Public Library developing what would become a lifelong devotion to language and literature. Her career as a librarian was interrupted in 1941 when Kathryn married Sherman Culbertson, Jr., who was also a graduate of W.U. The couple lived briefly in Wichita, but when Sherman joined the FBI during World War II, they moved several times living first on the East Coast and later in California.

When the war ended, the Culbertsons returned to Wichita to rear their family. Kathryn's talents and energy were devoted to her roles of wife and mother. However, throughout her life she has continued to be involved with libraries and literacy. She served as volunteer librarian at Plymouth Congregational church for many years and later founded the library at University Congregational Church. Kathryn's career as a librarian has come full circle. She is again serving the Wichita Public Library, this time as a volunteer in the Friends of the Public Library Used Bookstore. And she continues to share her love of language with others by working as a literacy volunteer tutoring elementary school students.

Throughout her life Kathryn's first priority has always been her family which consists of her two daughters (Pat Wiggins and Kathy Frieze) and their husbands, four grandchildren, one granddaughter-in-law and one great-grandson. She is our role model and our "heroine." Her love and strength inspire us all.

September 17, 1998