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S8 Sunday, February 17 1991Hometown Sallna%%Mortician keeps tabs on town's history*0*UV • :; !• ,■■ :.'A~ 'tkx4VWv f a* rSi'- '• ' 'V'iVj’.tHHiof Saliii-.1 tr, , ...-»ttihjoyed db tftfe 3rno Niil ,Rivr.j nWBMi.; th^ ^ceh^^ Iri'SaliiiaPhotos courttsyol iomit CsiiindorlTT'V S’*-. r;;.. ;■lt; ^ .'*. S'.. . »V....V! * k%N • .Adam and back,” he recalled.By GORDON D. FIEDLER JR.Business EditorJames Geisendorf s first view of Saiina was from the window of the City of Saiina streamliner in thesummer of 1936.The 20-year-old rural Sedgwick County native was fresh from theWilliams Institute of Embalming and Mortuary Science and was reporting for his first job.“I came to Saiina to work for Rush Smith Funeral Home—$12 a week,” Geisendorf said.That he would eventually take over the venerable funeral home was inconceivable at the time. In fact, he left Rush Smith after a few years for a job in Independence and doubted he would ever see Saiina again.If fellow rural Sedwick County native Marjorie Frey had not entered the picture, he might never have. They were married in Wichita in 1939 after he left Saiina.“Marjorie visited me just once here, and after one visit here she always wanted to move back,” Geisendorf said from an office he keeps at the funeral home. He sold the business to Roger Brent in 1985.‘ ‘I think what attracted Marjorie was the school system,” he said.The Geisendorf s returned in 1945 and have lived here since, James Geisendorf said he quickly warmed to the community and has watched it grow from a Depression-era flour milling town that boasted a population of 14,000 into a regional trade center of more than 40,000.A history buff, Geisendorf has accumulated a collection of photographs and postcards of Saiina and the historical data of some of the city’s older buildings.Some of the landmarks, such as a boat dock along the banks of the Smoky Hill River, near the intersection of South and Fourth streets, have vanished.• “For 50 cents you could get a boat and motor and ride up to the old millThe river itself has undergone a marked transformation in the name of flood control, but efforts by the city and a corps of volunteers have succeeded in returning a portion of the river almost back to its former grandeur. Having enjoyed the river, Geisendorf hopes the river restoration will continue.Geisendorf is also pleased to hear about young people who have moved back to Saiina to take over family. businesses.“Saiina isn’t losing its appeal.”He suspects they recognize what he and his wife discovered years ago: Saiina is a good place to rear children.* ‘We can’t think of a better place to be than Saiina, ” Geisendorf said.Some who move to a community maintain ties with their originalhometowns; Although the Geisen-dorfs aren’t native Salinans, they consider themselves so.“It’s home and always will be home.”STRENGTH.SAFETY.Geisendorf
Newspaper Details
Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Sun, Feb 17, 1991
Page 27
Full Page
Clipped by
Salina P.
KS, USA 19 Jan 2023
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