S U N D AY, F E B R U A RY 1 4 , 2 0 1 6

News

L&T

news@hpleader.com

B i ll a n d E . J.
S a ll e y r e l ax i n
t h e i r st or e ,
t h e S c ou t an d
O u td o o r
S h o p on E a st
S e c on d
S t r e e t F r id a y
a ft e r n oo n .
T h e co u p l e s
f am i li e s h a v e
b e e n in
S e w ar d
C o u n t y fo r
m o r e th a n
2 0 0 y e ar s
c om b i n e d .
L&T
photo/Robert
Pierce

Linda Miller, Live Your Dream award program chair, left, Mayra Gonzalez-Barrientos, 2016 Live Your
Dream award winner and Hope Alvarez, Soroptimist of Liberal Club President, right, share a moment
together for a photo. Courtesy photo

Gonzalez-Barrientos
lives her dream
Currently a student at Seward
County Community College
working on her Associates
Degree in Business
Administration, she has
further plans to finish a 4-year
degree through Fort Hays State
University

winner, Mayra Gonzalez-Barrientos, of Hooker, Okla. Mayra

Gonzalez-Barrientos was recognized with a cash award of $750
and a certificate, and she spoke to
the organization about her future
goals. She is currently a student at
Seward County Community
College working on her Associates
Degree in Business Administration.
She has further plans to finish a 4year degree in Business Administration through Fort Hays State
University.
The Live Your Dream award,
sponsored by Soroptimists, is an

Special to the Leader & Times

Soroptimist International of
Liberal has recognized the 2016
local Live Your Dream award

award for a woman who is enrolled

in a technical program or an undergraduate degree program and is the
primary financial support for her
and her dependents. This award
was established in 1972, then
known as the Womens Opportunity Award, to assist women who
were supporting their families, to
gain skills and increase their
standard of living.
Ms. Gonzalez-Barrientos application has been forwarded on to
the district level for further competition and possibility of an
additional award.

SWMC Auxiliary celebrates

community volunteers
Provided by Southwest Medical
Center

Southwest Medical Center

Auxiliary volunteers recognized 39
volunteers for more than 50,000
combined hours of service to the
hospital and Liberal community
during an awards ceremony in
January at Southwest Medical
Center.
Award recipients were as follows:
50 hours Anita Zielke; 100 hours
Susan James; 200 hours Katie
Berg, Judy Chance, Linda McCullough, Marion McCaulley; 300
hours Aleta Arnold, Shona
Blakely, Don Devinney, Connie
Richmeier; 400 hours Mary
Amerin, Bonnie Creamer, Shawne
Padilla; 500 hours Lila Hagaman,
Virginia McNitt, Sarah Odom, Jill
Pittman; 600 hours Judy Shelman;
800 hours Jane Devinney, Susan
Zielke; 900 hours Cathy Corn,
Barbara Hanson, Eula Kittle; 1,000
hours Peggy Bell, Cheryl Carson;
1,200 hours Velma Colter; 1,300
hours Barbara Perkins; 1,600
hours Marilyn Thompson; 1,800
hours Mary Downs; 1,900 hours
Alice Hill; 2,200 hours Jonice
Oblander; 2,500 hours Ann
Kilgore, Connie McPhail; 3,400

Members of the Southwest Medical Center Auxiliary attended a

ceremony during January to celebrate more than 50,000 hours of
combined service to Southwest Medical Center and the community.
Courtesy photo

New York City

officials
decide its too
cold for ice fest
NEW YORK (AP) Its too cold in
New York City for the annual Central
Park Ice Festival.
The Central Park Conservancy says
Saturdays event has been canceled.
The National Weather Service
predicts temperatures in the teens on
Saturday for New York. But wind
chills could drop to between zero and
minus-10, and wind gusts could reach
around 44 mph.
The free event was to feature icecarving artists and music.
Last month, Central Parks free
winter sports day called Winter Jam
was canceled due to
a
major
snowstorm.

hours Linda Staiger; 3,800 hours

Sharon Garcia; 3,900 hours
Aneta Compton; 4,000 hours
Saundra Koochel; 6,900 hours
Jana Widener; and Too Many to
Count Kay Hay.
Auxiliary Officers were also
installed during the awards
ceremony. Officers for 2016
include: Linda Staiger, President;
Katie Berg, First Vice-President;
Saundra Koochel, Second VicePresident; Aneta Compton,

Secretary; and Jana Widener,

Treasurer.
The Southwest Medical Center
Auxiliary welcomes volunteers of
all ages to become involved in
serving Southwest Medical Center.
The annual membership fee for the
Auxiliary is $5, which is applied
towards medical scholarships.
Those interested in becoming a
member can contact the SWMC
Gift Shop at (620) 629-6899 for
more information.

5A

Salley ...
O Continued from Page 1A

from a car accident, living the remainder of his life in

the hospital until his death in 1968.
The rest of the Salley family followed Ira to Liberal
in 1917. His brother, J. Herman, joined in a
partnership with W.H. Vickers and became co-owner
of Vickers-Salley Grain and Seed Company, providing
seed for area farmers.
The business included an extensive grain and
shipping business that had business as far as the
Atlantic coast.
William Edward joined J. Herman in the VickersSalley business before it was sold to Joe Pittman in the
1940s.
The youngest of William Edwards sons, Hiram,
with a degree from Wichita College, followed in his
fathers footsteps in a career in farming and ranching
in Seward County. Prior to his retirement, he became
a successful cattle buyer for a packing business in
Wichita.
Jerry Salley, Hirams son, was a business man all of
his life and has several business ventures, including
the grain business and maintaining cattle and
ranching interests in both Kansas and Colorado.
Bill is the fourth generation of Salleys to live in
Seward County, and along with his dad and brothers
and sister Kay Salley Housley, he has a working
history locally.
E.J. said her husband began working for a NAPA
auto parts store located on Second Street in 1972.
There was an old service station that was turned
into it, she said. In 77, he bought it.
That business was in 1979 was moved to 218 S.
Kansas, and Bill said after working under owner Ralph
Pennington, who had started the business in 1952, he
owned it for a few years and increasing the payroll
from three employees to 11.
Bill would later buy what is now the Scout and
Outdoor Shop from owner Ralph Miller who started
that small business at Seventh and Washington in
Liberal.
Ralph Miller had the Boy Scout distribution in his
bicycle shop, E.J. said. Boy Scouts was very big, and
they didnt want to lose that ability to find things local.
He took it upon himself to get the distributor sales.
The store has been moved many times since then
before coming to what will be its final stop on East
Second Street.
Penneys had it for a while and then Kellys
Menswear, Bill said. He had it in the back of the
store with all the suits and the shirts. Its right next to
where Collins had their jewelry store.
After buying the store from Miller, Bill moved the
Scout shop to the NAPA location at 218 S. Kansas.
I had it up front by the window, he said. I took
out that whole section of shelving that had all the auto
parts on it. I put in the Boy Scouts stuff. At the time,
all the guys that I had working for me, none of them
had any boys. It was very interesting to try to teach all
of them how to sell Boy Scout stuff. It was out of
their league.
Bill would later buy a building across the street that
is the former business home of local photographer
Jack Dorris and put the store in there.

She looks even better when its

Squeaky Clean

Squeaky Clean Car Wash

1305 N. Western Ave, Liberal
8am-6pm Mon - Sat
Tunnel Wash Closed on Sunday

Bill said the customers the Salleyss shop brings in

come from a wide area.
Weve been able to cover Kansas, all of the
Oklahoma Panhandle, part of the Texas Panhandle,
and as far up as Hays, Kansas, with Boy Scout stuff,
he said. We were the only one around between
Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Oklahoma City and
Wichita to sell Boy Scout stuff.
It was when the store moved across the street from
the NAPA store that it began carrying camping
merchandise. In 2010, the Salleys bought the building
that was the home of another local photographer,
Henry Andrade, officially moving in and starting
business in 2012.
In December 2015, the Salleys began selling what
was left of their inventory, as they are planning to
close up shop. Bill said while many dates have been
tossed around, he is unsure of when the Scout and
Outdoor Shop will officially close.
I dont have the building sold, and theres no
reason to be in a hurry, he said. I want to just get rid
of the merchandise inventory first as much as we can.
The closing of the business is not the end of the
Salleys story, as they still own farm land and rental
properties in Seward County, but it will likely be the
last of the familys legacy here. The fifth generation
has opted to go elsewhere, as Bill explained.
Our son is in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a soil
geographer, and our daughter is a teacher at Wichita
East High, he said. They both went to school here
and graduated, did some junior college and went on
to Emporia and graduated. My wife has taught school
here for 28 years.
With Bills family coming to Seward County in 1917
and E.J.s coming in 1907, the two families have more
than 200 years of history in the area. E.J. said her
family came to the region even earlier, homesteading
in neighboring Stevens County in 1886.
We just have a long history of our families being
part of the community, she said.
E.J. said she has always been very proud of the
heritage of the two families, but she doesnt know
how much future generations will understand the
trials, tribulations and triumphs of the two families.
Bill said he feels fortunate to have gotten a sense for
business from his uncles and granddads.
I had some very awesome people that guided me
and trusted me to take over the parts business when I
was 24, he said. We were fortunate to purchase
property.
With E.J.s heritage in Seward County going back to
1907, when 500 new businesses were created in the
span of one year, she said the early generations of her
family picked up on the agricultural industry and were
very innovative.
Bills grandfather worked in the railroad yard in
Kansas City before coming to Liberal.
He got tired of doing it one day and hopped on the
train and came out here. They started farming out
north and west of town. My grandparents farmed just
north of town. My uncles had farms north and east.
Bill said this meant everyone in the family was interested in many different things, and everything tied
together in some way.
A lot of its related to farming and oil field, he said.
Bill even spent one year as president of the Liberal
Chamber of Commerce, something that he felt gave
him guidance on his career path.
My one year as Chamber president taught me that
politics were not my thing, he said. It taught me
quite well.