For more information, contact Darnell Holopirek, 620-792-9367, holopirekd@bartonccc.edu

Sept. 16, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Story by: Michael Dawes
dawesm@bartonccc.edu

Barton Community College Foundation owes its beginning to two business competitors who also were friends and shared a similar vision for a recently approved community college that was yet to be built. Insurance business owner Bruce Buehler, along with Grant Hoener, an agent with New York Life Insurance, believed that the upstart college needed an endowment association to help make it accessible to all area students. In early 1967, they visited with Board of Trustees Chairman Joe Mermis Jr., and he agreed.

The Endowment Association, which became the Foundation in 1981, was formed more than two years before the College opened its doors. It was established May 5, 1967 under the premise that no student should be denied a college education because he or she could not afford one.

“I’m a Kansas State graduate and I was on the board of the endowment association there, so I was aware of how endowment associations operated,” said Buehler, who chaired the first meeting, attended by 12 community leaders. “We thought it would be wise to have one established early to begin receiving endowments from day one. We knew we needed a receptacle for people who wanted to give so that we could get college scholarships started on the right footing.”

Sadly, Hoener never had the opportunity to see the success of his early efforts. He died less than a month before the establishment of the Endowment Association, after a brief illness. But the early proponent of the College still has a strong connection to the Foundation today. His family established a memorial scholarship fund to the College in his name, making his the first memorial gift and endowment fund for academic scholarships.

Great Bend banker Hody Thies initially took a lead role in the Foundation. He was elected by the founders as the association’s first president, but only served in that capacity for three months. He was also responsible for recruiting other members, including area farmer and businessman Keith Mull.

“I lived in Pawnee County but since we are farming people, we always farmed in Barton County, too,” remembered Mull, who put in 11 years on the Board. “I was banking at the American State Bank, and Hody and I had partnered on some things in the livestock business. He suggested the endowment committee to me.

“We didn’t have any blueprint to go on, even though Harvard and Yale had been doing it for hundreds of years. We didn’t have those types of resources. Most of our contacts and contributions were from businesses in that first year.”

Dale Oliver was a founder and he served as an original member of the Endowment Association. He became familiar with the cause because he worked at Security State Bank where Mermis served as president. Oliver went on to serve a total of 15 years on the Board during three different periods.

The first meeting of the organization’s founders was held at the College’s temporary office at 1910 17th, Great Bend. Bylaws were established and the first 30 Endowment Association Board members were elected.

Dr. Franklin Reinhardt remembers that many of the committee members, like him, were also members of the Great Bend Jaycees, an active and progressive civic organization that provided the original push to generate community interest for a new college. Reinhardt also remembers that there was an effort to have county-wide representation on the association, which could explain why so many sat on the first board.

The Foundation’s first fund drive was planned at the original meeting. Each bank in Barton County agreed to collectively donate approximately $15,000 if the College could raise a matching amount from county residents in a three-year period. The campaign, which began in the fall of 1968, also got a boost from a $10,000 donation made by the Barton County Medical Society. With the help of the Great Bend Jaycees and other volunteers, and led by campaign chairman Herb Rohleder, along with association president Bill Southern, more than $30,000 was raised one year later.

“We made a lot of calls for the drive,” remembered Reinhardt, who served eight years on the Board. “Jo Kopke Bushnell (Barton’s first secretary to the president) helped with the endeavor, or we may not have made our goal.”

Flash forward to today. The Foundation is on solid footing as the charitable arm of Barton, thanks largely to the volunteers who have served diligently each year through more than four decades. Over the years, private support through the Foundation has given thousands of students the opportunity to learn. Annually, the Foundation holds its Big Benefit Auction, as well as its Academic Enrichment Fund Campaign and a clay shoot as ways to raise money and awareness for academic scholarships and program enhancements at Barton.

“There are a lot of people who gave a lot to get the college started,” said Buehler, who lives in Wichita, having moved from Great Bend 24 years ago, after living in the community for 35 years. “I am proud that it is as successful as it is today. I’m proud of my association with Barton. We still consider Great Bend home.”

“It’s unbelievable,” added Reinhardt, about the progress the College has made in more than four decades. “I was at the College a few days ago, walking across campus. And I was thinking back. What a remarkable change has taken place, when I can recall the buildings going up on the campus. The foresight people had in designing it and then implementing the programs over the years. It has taken the efforts of a lot of people over a number of years to make something so tremendous happen.”

Original Endowment Association Board: Hody Thies, president May through August 1967; Bill Southern, president 1967-70; Dale Weller, vice president; Jerry Griffith, secretary; Dale Oliver, treasurer; Wendall Brenner; Max Bolick; Bruce Buehler; J. Alfred Casad; Grover Cobb; Mrs. Gregory Duncan; Roy Ehrlich; Robert Evans; C.O. Goetz; John Graham; Mrs. Earl Howard; M.A. Isern; Lloyd Jaynes; Dr. K.A. Kendall; Robert Miller; Keith Mull; Bob Pivonka; Dr. Franklin Reinhardt; Frank Schartz; D.N. Schmidt; Harold Titus; Elmer Ward; Don Whelan; and Dr. Clark Zugg.

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