For more information, contact Michael Dawes, 620-792-9307, dawesm@bartonccc.edu

Feb. 19, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Michael Dawes
dawesm@bartonccc.edu

In the fall of 1969, when Barton County Community Junior College opened for the first time to students, twins Dennis and Ken Wallace were high school juniors living nearly 300 miles away in their boyhood hometown of Pampa, Texas. Their distance to the College grew much closer later that year when their father moved the family to Great Bend for a job.

“My dad moved us under protest by my sister, brother and me,” remembered Dennis. “The only thing I knew about the town was it was where we visited my grandparents.”

After a brief stay in Great Bend, the family uprooted again, this time to Hobbs, N.M., where the boys attended their senior year of high school. A new oil-field job for their father took the family back to Great Bend, in time for the boys to attend Barton.

“What I didn’t know and what I was so upset about because of the move, God already had planned out,” said Dennis. “I met the woman of my dreams.”

Today, the senior pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church, Wichita, has been married to the former Ladonna Van Scyoc for 36 years, all because of a chance meeting in psychology class at Barton, the only class the two had together in college.

In January 1972, Dennis began calling every Van Scyoc in the Hoisington telephone directory, searching for Ladonna so he could ask her to the winter dance. Finally, he connected with her brother who provided him the number to contact her. From that point, the two began a courtship that resulted in marriage nearly two years later.

Ironically, twin-brother Ken also met his wife, the former Karen Penka, Great Bend, while the two attended Barton. The couple has been married for 36 years, also, and lives in Wichita, where Ken works as a geologist.

“We used to tease each other that we went to Barton to major in girls and we both graduated,” quipped Dennis.

A year before Dennis rummaged through the Hoisington telephone book, Clifton freshman pole vaulter Don Marrs began courting Great Bend sophomore Mona Guesnier. The two met the previous spring when Don came to Barton on a recruiting visit and Mona worked as a student employee for then Barton track and field coach Jack Bowman. Mona was a member of the original tennis team and the first graduating class at Barton. Now living in Salina where Don operates his architect firm, DMA Architects, PA, the couple have been married 36 years.

Two decades later, romance was still in the air at Barton. Topeka native Christina Arasmith opted to pursue a vocal music major at Barton in the fall of 1991. Eric Haselhorst noticed her in choir. She didn’t notice him until both attended the Great Bend homecoming football game and the dance that followed. He asked her to dance, they went for a Coca-Cola the next day, and they soon began a courtship that resulted in the couple marrying in August 1995.

“I used to spend my summers in Great Bend with my grandparents,” said Christina. “I would ride my bike by Eric’s house every summer, and we never ran into each other. It’s a weird thing that we ended up finding each other in college.”

Today, the couple lives in Dodge City with their three children. Eric serves as stewardship director for the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City. Christina works independently as an insurance biller and she serves two practices in Great Bend.

To paraphrase John Lennon, life happened while the couples were busy making other plans.

Mona graduated from Barton with a degree in physical education. She and Don transferred to K-State at the same time where Don entered architect school and pole vaulted for two years for the Wildcats. Mona attended K-State for a year and then entered the workforce for 1 ½ years before going back to earn a bachelor’s degree. The couple graduated at the same time in June 1976. They moved to Wichita where Don worked as an architect and Mona taught school.

In 1981, the couple moved to Salina, where Don established his architect firm and they raised four children. Life is coming full circle for the couple as Don is making plans to establish an office for DMA Architects in Great Bend. The couple already spends a few days a week in Great Bend, where they own a home, formerly owned by Mona’s mother. DMA Architects designed the plans for Barton’s latest renovations to its Technical Building, Science Building, and Learning Resource Center.

“It was a pleasure for me to be chosen as the architect to do the work,” said Don. “Having come out of high school and gone to Barton as a freshman in college and then going into architecture, being involved in the construction project has been gratifying for us as we help finish this next chapter in Barton’s history.”

When Dennis and Ladonna wed, they had no money to pursue college, so the two established a home in Hoisington and Dennis went to work for Superior Essex Inc. The couple were doing coffee-house ministries and interdenominational Bible studies, and Dennis served as a part-time youth pastor.

“Life was good and we enjoyed what we were doing, but I felt God was calling me into full-time ministry,” said Dennis. “God had other plans for us.”

Taking a leap of faith, with no job and not knowing anyone from the area, the couple moved to Wilmore, Ky., where Dennis pursued a bachelor’s degree at Asbury College.

“I tell you what, those were rich times in our lives.” said Dennis. Added Ladonna, “God provided; He unbelievably provided.”

After two years at Asbury College, Dennis attended three years of Asbury Seminary, also in Wilmore. During that time, the couple were raising three small children and Dennis was working a part-time job while going to school full time.

“He’d get up and go to school all day and then come home for 30 minutes and then go to work until 9:30, 10 o’clock at night,” said Ladonna. “I’d keep the kids up so that he could see them before we’d put them to bed. Then he would study until 1:30 or 2 in the morning.”

After seminary, Dennis served as a pastor in Arlington, Kan., for five years; he served as a pastor for eight years in Abilene, Kan., before assuming his current position with Asbury United Methodist Church 16 years ago. Ladonna has worked the past 10 years as a preschool teacher at Asbury Methodist.

“I’m just glad that Barton County Community Junior College was there for both of us at a very important time in our lives, which helped shape the direction of our lives for many, many years to come,” said Dennis.

Eric and Christina both transferred to K-State, after two years at Barton. Christina attended K-State for a year, but entered the workforce while Eric finished a bachelor’s degree in agriculture education. The couple moved to Ness City in 1997 where Eric landed a teaching position. He earned a master’s degree in secondary education while he was teaching in Ness City. During that time, Christina earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems through Friends University where she would attend classes once a week at Barton.

“I was sort of forced to go to Barton out of high school,” said Christina. “I wasn’t focusing on college like I should have been at that time of my life. I am fortunate I had people in my life like my high school music teacher and (Barton music instructor) Mr. (Ken) Shaheen, my grandparents and my mother, who pushed me to come to Barton. It all worked out for the best and I’m grateful every day that things worked out that way.”

Married couples who met at Barton Community College are left to right Don Marrs, Dennis and Ladonna Wallace, Eric and Christiana Haselhorst. Not pictured is Don's wife, Mona.