No 5, 2014 I $5 Self Portraits Fanciful faces launch ‘Elsa Rhae’ to Internet stardom n G ARDENSGROW n O NLINEAERIE Contents | September 2014 30 38 22 30 22 38 Face to Face The Wow Factor Fine Feathers Elsa Rhae’s fanciful creations— Nancy O’Connor believes Once available only for the which use her own face as a school gardens can plant a seed privileged few, the pristine canvas—have turned the of wonder that inspires kids to examples of 19th-century young free spirit into an rethink their relationship with ornithological illustration in Internet star. food. KU’s John Gould collection are now accessible to a worldwide By Chris Lazzarino By Steven Hill audience. By Chris Lazzarino Cover photograph by Steve Puppe Established in 1902 as e Graduate Magazine Volume 112, No.5, 2014 ISSUE 5, 2014 | 1 Lift the Chorus McSorley’s toast Steven Hill [“True Crime,” issue No. 3, 2014]. T including 2) I have Colorado hiking classroom, her beloved chair, the wonderful story by Bob associates who liked Katherine on strolls down Jayhawk Day [“We’ll Always Have Millett’s piece about mountain Boulevard. ... these were McSorley’s,” issue No. 4] in the climber Lynn Hartwell Prebble precious moments for me and most recent edition of Kansas [“Peak Performer,” issue No. 3, any impressionable young man Alumni! I love reading about 2012]. or woman on their singular the work of our alumni, and Jay Janzen, c’62 journey growing up. the McSorley’s essay is a great Golden, Colorado As touched on gracefully in example of the sort of thing Chris Lazzarino’s prole, Mary that makes me dive into the Editor’s Note: We received values benevolence, retrospec- magazine the day it arrives! several angry responses to a letter tion and introspection as Sandra Bornholdt Cook, c’64 that appeared in issue No. 4, means of connecting with Piedmont, California 2014, regarding alumnus Steve Doocy’s appearance as master of (and, cleverly, empowering) Cover credit ceremonies at the Rock Chalk Ball others. e piece captures her in Kansas City. Those who wrote K essence with heart and clarity. I Vivid lecture did not wish their letters to be crew for the clever, colorful was moved. published, but they requested that Kansas Alumni cover [“Story “... Life is bigger than K N’ we respond. Lines,” issue No. 4] featuring ourselves,” she says. Indeed, [“Who’s counting,” Li the The Alumni Association and its painted bricks as books! kindness shis us out of the Chorus, issue No. 4] reminded magazine strive to remain Contemporary titles authored center-of-our-own-world me of another professor who nonpartisan, but in publishing the by alumni Laura Moriarty, perspectives, and Mary, from oen had students who were letter about Mr. Doocy, we Gillian Flynn and Robert Day the moment I met her at not enrolled in his class attend inadvertently introduced partisan arranged on steps among Honors Program orientation, the nal lecture of his course: discussion into the magazine. We regret the error. classics written by Charles was generous and respectful. philosophy professor Cliord Mr. Doocy’s appearance at the Dickens, Virginia Woolf and She listened, and I very much P. Osborne. I attended once Rock Chalk Ball was completely Mark Twain perfectly captured enjoyed listening back. I loved and those present gave him a nonpartisan in nature; he agreed one of summer’s most endur- her brilliant independence. I standing ovation. to participate because of his ing, pleasurable pastimes— valued the moments spent with Franklin Shobe, c’64, g’77 allegiance to the University of reading a brick-thick page- her. It all felt authentic. And it Muncie, Indiana Kansas—a loyalty that thousands turner while sipping a cold was, and is today. of alumni share, regardless of our drink on a shaded porch. End How tting that the topic of political aliations. of story. family anchors the piece. Mary Not just for Kimberly Gronniger, g’83 hosted an English alumni Topeka gathering in New York City on Jayhawks May 2, where a large number of East Coasters spent the Y Mary’s chair evening reconnecting, meeting invites letters commenting on new members of the “family,” the content of the magazine, so I, , Mary Klayder and generally basking in the here’s mine: [“It’ll Be Fine,” issue No. 4] familiarity and comfort of the I usually (read, almost a friend, adviser, professor, Kansas- and Mary-ness of it all. always) nd at least one of the Your travel guide, sage, and, perhaps Yes, the chair is a fantastic, feature articles to be of opinion counts most inuentially, a vivid tangible, nostalgic thing. But, signicant interest to me and/ Please email us a note conversationalist. thankfully, Mary’s magical or people I know who are not at [email protected] Mary’s passion for literature, chair can reach out its arms KU-connected. to tell us what you think of for stories and storytelling, is and embrace you wherever you Two recent examples are: your alumni magazine. the root of her empathy. What are in the world. 1) Two attorney friends from is storytelling if not the relation Cheers, Mary. Kansas (not KU) were inter- of shared experiences? In her David Wilcox, c’10 ested in the Jesse James Brooklyn, New York investigative history article by 2 | KANSAS ALUMNI September 2014 16 Publisher Kevin J. Corbett, c’88 Editor Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81 2 Lift the Chorus Letters from our readers Creative Director Susan Younger, f’91 Associate Editors Chris Lazzarino, j’86 Steven Hill 5 First Word e editor’s turn Editorial Assistant Karen Goodell Photographers Steve Puppe, j’98 Dan Storey 6 On the Boulevard KU & Alumni Association events Graphic Designer Valerie Spicher, j’94 Communications Coordinator Leah Kohlman, c’11 8 Jayhawk Walk Surplus supplies, lottery luck, forever friends Advertising Sales Representative and more David Johnston, j’94, g’06 Editorial and Advertising Oce KU Alumni Association 10 Hilltopics 1266 Oread Avenue News and notes: Special advocate helps students; Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 KU Hospital targets western-Kansas health care. 785-864-4760 800-584-2957 www.kualumni.org 16 Sports [email protected] New coordinators move to football fore; soccer scores big in Rock Chalk Park debut. KANSAS ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN 0745-3345) is published by the KU Alumni Association six times a year in January, March, May, July, September and November. $55 annual subscription includes member- 44 Association News ship in the Alumni Association. Oce of Publication: 1266 Oread Ellsworth Medallion honors Shirk and Howard; Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Periodicals postage paid at Lawrence, KS. Millies celebrate stalwart community volunteers. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kansas Alumni Magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-3169 © 2014 by Kansas Alumni 52 Class Notes Magazine. Non-member issue price: $7 Proles of a top tennis coach, an autism educator, an unlikely Ironman and more 68 In Memory Letters to the Editor: Deaths in the KU family Kansas Alumni welcomes letters to the editor. Our address is Kansas Alumni magazine, 1266 Oread Avenue, 72 Rock Chalk Review Lawrence, KS 66045-3169. Email responses may be sent to Kansas Repertory eatre debuts; alumna Laura the Alumni Association, [email protected]. Moriarty brings KU touch to Common Book. Letters appearing in the magazine may be edited for space and clarity. For letters published, we’ll send a free gift of KU 76 Glorious to View Campus Playing Cards, a $5 value. Scene on campus ISSUE 5, 2014 | 3 by Jennifer Jackson Sanner First Word director for e Merc Co-op, the city’s customer-owned food cooperative and natural grocery. She also leads Growing Food, STEVE PUPPE (2) STEVE Growing Health, an innovative partnership of e Merc’s non- prot foundation and the Lawrence Public Schools to create school gardens across the city. O’Connor, g’95, teaches students about healthy eating by putting them to work outside, tending plants that produce wholesome fare for their own school cafete- rias. Associate Editor Steve Hill traces O’Connor’s winding trek from New Jersey through Illinois to Kansas and her abiding passion for the simple wonders of homegrown food. Another odyssey is the subject of our third feature. Kansas Alumni rst described KU’s lustrous John Gould Ornithological Collection in a 1985 cover story; now the collection has arrived at its ultimate destination, the Internet. anks in part to a National Pageler agazine-making is messy, full of spills and surprises—and therein lies the fun. Our early plans for this issue of Kansas M O’Connor Alumni did not even mention Elsa Rhae Pageler, the young alumna who graces our cover, but aer we learned the Internet favorite was one of our Endowment for the Humanities grant, sta own, we wanted to share her artistry. Pageler, members in the Kenneth Spencer Research c’13, dely wields brushes and paint to Library have completed a painstaking transform her face into astonishing four-year project to catalog and digitize the characters. vibrant, richly detailed illustrations and Using skills she developed as a student manuscripts of Gould, a 19th-century video assistant for KU Marketing Communi- British ornithologist, and his team of cations and Kansas Athletics, along with talented artists. Lazzarino recounts the techniques she learned from a course on stage fascinating tales of a gied scientist; an makeup, the lm and media studies graduate eccentric, obsessive collector; a revered KU has launched a promising online enterprise. scholar, E. Raymond Hall, c’24; and a As Associate Editor Chris Lazzarino explains, visionary chancellor, Deane Malott, c’21. her ingenuity and social media savvy oer Nearly 70 years aer the collection rst lessons for fellow new graduates—and landed on Mount Oread, fans can view the perhaps those not so new—in the ne art of luminous birds via the Internet, where there creating a career.