In Memory...

Orville Gregory died April 19 in Overland Park, Kan. He was 91. Gregory served as the college’s first athletic director from 1947-1969. He also served as director of Region VI for 16 years and founded the NJCAA women’s basketball tournament. Gregory was inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001 and the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2002. He was also a member of the Olympic Track and Field coaching staff, retiring in 1984 after 25 years of service.

Gregory was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Mary Gregory, two brothers, Donald and Earl Gregory and two sisters, Venetta Wolf and Ilene Goodman.

Survivors include his wife, of 68 years, Daisy Patterson Gregory; sisters, Helen Orr, Modesto, Calif., and Glenna Tritt, San Jose, Calif.; sister-in-law, Lois Gregory, Overland Park, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Charles Jay Burton died June 8 at Midland Hospice House in Topeka, Kan. He was 76. He graduated from Arkansas City High School in 1949 and Arkansas City Junior College in 1951. He was third in the nation for automotive design in a contest sponsored by General Motors. The prize was a $2,000 scholarship, which could be used at the university of the contestant’s choice. He chose the Kansas State University College of Architecture where he achieved a Bachelor of Architecture and Architectural Engineering degree. He went on to a 35-year career in architecture; licensed in the state of Kansas. He became a partner in the firm of Edkahl, Davis, Depew and Persson in Topeka. He designed the Rain Forest building at the Topeka Zoo and received an A.I.A. award for the design of Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Topeka. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954 and served in the occupation forces in Germany. Charles married Patricia C. Casey on March 20, 1955, in Arkansas City. She survives him. Other survivors include daughters Kathleen E., and her husband, Greg, Thorne, of Erie, Colo., and Annette E., and her husband, Ronald, Martin, of Lincoln, Neb.; grandchildren Nichole Thorne, Charles Martin, Sara Martin and R.J. Martin; half brother Robert Wasson; and stepsister Barbara Wasson-McPherson.

Joline L. (Selan) Iverson died June 8 in Arkansas City. She was 82. She attended Arkansas City schools and graduated from Arkansas City Junior College in 1944. She was active in musicals, operettas and plays. She was a soloist in several capacities and sang the contralto solo in Handel’s “Messiah.” She attended the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, having studied voice and directing from John Finley Williamson, founder of the college. She directed the youth choir and assisted the music community at the First Presbyterian Church in Arkansas City until the late 1970s. Joline married Lt. Norman M. Iverson, Army Air Force, stationed at Strother Field, Arkansas City, Aug. 5, 1944, at the First Presbyterian Church. At the time of Norman’s death, they had been married 56 years. Joline grew up living in Arkansas City her entire life and in her early years, worked at numerous businesses, such as Fitch’s Music Store, Montgomery Ward, Newman’s Dry Goods, Kress, McLellan, Woolworth, Mode O’Day, Acton Manufacturing, all in Ark City. She also worked many years at her husband’s law office. During these same years, she also worked on finishing her teaching certificate by attending Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. She graduated in 1963. She then taught english and social studies at the old junior high and at the middle school the first year it opened. She was a member of the Soroptimist Club and enjoyed the great and loving work they do for the needy and deserving girls and women of Arkansas City and around the world. She was also a member and supporter of the ACE Fund committee.

Survivors include her three sons, N.M. Jr., and his wife Vicky, Randy J. Iverson, and his wife, Barbara, E. Rodney Iverson, and his wife, Karen, all of Arkansas City; two daughters, Carol Griffin, and her husband, Monte, of Wichita, Kan., Jody Hicks, and her husband, Joe Hicks, of Orlando, Fla.; eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Summer 2008