Nature or nurture? Sometimes, by a happy coincidence, a person ends up exactly where she should be. That happened when Helen Findlay went into the family business. Her paternal grandfather, […]

“We’ve only just begun to live / White lace and promises…”  If the words you’re hearing in your head are, “A kiss for luck and we’re on our way…”  – […]

Mary Conover Mellon lived much of her life away from Kansas City. Her memorial still stands, decades after her death. It is a building on what is now the lower […]

Louis L. Touton was an educator for many years, but he is best remembered as the head of Camp Sosawagaming (sometimes called Camp Soso or Camp So-So) in Big Bay, […]

Giles Pendleton Cain began writing for The Independent in 1911. His column focused on the theater. It was originally titled “Little Stories of Plays and Players,” later shortened to “Concerning […]

“Dan Cupid pranced merrily this summer, positive his persuasive powers would tie a nuptial knot of importance to Kansas City, a union of big business and much musical ability,” our […]

The course of true love was anything but smooth for Lillian and Dr. Rex Diveley. The couple was involved in not one, but two serious car accidents in a short […]

It’s absolutely true that fun is where you find it — and we’ve decided to look for it in 1978. We’re harking back to a time of dressing up and […]

Arthur Kraft: that wouldn’t be a good name for an artist in fiction (insert your own Arts and Crafts joke here), but he was a fine artist, none the less. […]

Holiday flowers? We’re thinking hyacinths. Why? In honor of Mary Adele Bryant Georgen, known as Adele, who served for many years as the hostess (the term in use at the […]

Chairman of the board of the Columbian Hog and Cattle Powder Company: by 20th century standards, that sounds like a very masculine title. Not even her college classmates could have […]

A 1937 ad for Stine & McClure (yes, the undertakers – nostalgia sells) perhaps said it best:  “No one who ever rode on the ‘loop-the-loop’ will ever forget the glamour […]

Logan Clendening was a longtime faculty member at The University of Kansas School of Medicine, but his interests ranged far beyond that academic discipline. His mother encouraged him to follow […]

Paul Gardner arrived in Our Town early in 1932. At that time, he was the assistant to the Trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust. Paul took up residence at […]

When Lucy Christie Drage died in September 1965, our scribe wrote: “Gallant was the word for this indomitable woman whose life was touched by an over-abundant share of tragedies. Three […]

It was a wedding announcement in this magazine from about 50 years ago that got us thinking about the role of the bridegroom. The photo featured a traditionally clad bride […]

Find what you love to do, and find the time to pursue it – that’s advice for a happy life. Virginia French Mackie got a head start. She was only […]

There are people whose lives seem meant to be pictorial spreads in magazines. It’s not that they have no sorrows – they do, just as everyone does. Having an artist’s […]

Sometimes, what life has planned isn’t what we had in mind. That’s definitely true lately. Dorothy Scarritt McKibbin knew the feeling long before most of us were born. Several times, […]

Virginia Page was born on October 27, 1909. She was the daughter of Louise J. Page and Henry Clay Page. Her father was a lawyer. He was serving as the […]

In May 1933, The Independent published an anecdote about Patti Harding Abernathy and Taylor Stevenson Abernathy, who had been Mr. and Mrs. for more than 15 years. Patti changed her […]