CHAPTER THREE

The Prosperous 1950s

1951-1952

School opened in the fall of 1951 with 402 enrolled. It was considered full capacity and one of the largest enrollments, ever. Cadets came from twenty-eight states and twelve came from nine foreign countries. These included South and Central America, three American territories and France. One hundred eighty out of the 402 cadets were new boys.

Cadets and staff were treated to a new taste in food preparation when the academy engaged an institutional contractor, the Fred Prophet Co. of Detroit to supply food services. Larger-scale companies were beginning to replace Wentworth’s local food preparation managers and the same thing was happening at other colleges and schools.

One new faculty member came that year and would remain with the school for many years into the future. Capt. Fred Hepler, son of Robert and Beth Hepler, completed his degree at Central Missouri State and came to act as the study hall supervisor. Capt. Frank Thompson died shortly before Christmas vacation after almost a year of ill health. He had been at Wentworth since 1942, was a professor of political science, and had been assistant dean for two years.

Lt. Gen. William M. Hoge stopped through Lexington during the Christmas holidays. He had received his third star while commanding IX Corps in Korea and was on his way to command Fourth Army, headquartered at San Antonio, Texas. At that time Hoge continued to be Wentworth’s highest-ranking alumnus.

The second Wentworth Show was held in Kansas City and drew approximately 5500 persons into the audience. The success of these first two shows convinced the administration to make it an annual event because ”…it provides a chance for Kansas City and the neighboring area to see Kansas City’s own military academy in action.” It became a part of academy life for the next twenty-six years.

One hundred forty-nine cadets graduated in the spring, the group included seventy-six junior college students and seventy-three high school graduates. The second year of the Korean Conflict had had little effect on the academy except for casualties among alumni and an increasing turnover among the military department staff as military personnel changes were accelerated to cope with the increasingly drawn-out conflict.

1952-1953

School opened quietly this year with a new professor of military science and tactics and three new faculty members. The opening article in The Trumpeter called it “practically full enrollment.” Another alumnus, Lt. George McNerney, ’45, had been killed in action in Korea and another, Lt. Vance Fricke,’48, was reported missing in action in aerial combat between f-86 Sabrejets and MiG-15s. These same experiences were happening all over the country. Lt. Fricke would later be released at the end of the war after a year of captivity.

Another terror of the 1950s was the constant occurrence of poliomyelitis. Marvin Patton returned to school as a college sophomore and soon came down with symptoms of the disease. He was taken to a hospital in Kansas City and his condition took a turn for the worst and he died in early October.

Life at Wentworth this year was very much in keeping with a normal school year. Twenty new cadets enrolled at semester, the military ball was held on February 7 and the third annual Wentworth Show was held in Kansas City on February 21st.

One hundred twenty-two cadets graduated that year, sixty-three from the junior college and fifty-nine from the high school.

The last issue of The Trumpeter for this school year carried an article that mentioned the “Wentworth Cadet March” written by Kansas composer, D.W. MacAllister of Arkansas City. Evidently the composer became acquainted with the WMA band during its visits to the town’s annual festival. Wentworth administrators were going to send copies to all high school band leaders in Missouri and to out-of-state schools from which recent WMA bandsmen had come. If this music still exists, it would be fun to bring it back and have a march of our very own.

1953-1954

School opened that year with the usual routine of processing and picnics. Dean Dallas Buck reported that he had assigned Capt. A.R. Park to the duties of the head of the guidance and testing department. He would continue to teach college mathematics. Four others joined the faculty, two in the high school division and two in the college. One of the latter was Capt. James Wikoff, teaching economics and supervising bookkeeping. He had finished his master’s degree and taught for a semester in the East before returning home to Wentworth and Lexington.

The directors of the academy decided to complete fund raising and planning and build the memorial Chapel. They had delayed, looking in vain for a reduction in construction costs. They planned to start construction in the spring of 1954.

An article in the student paper of November, 1953, noted that Lt. Gen. William M. Hoge,’11, had been appointed commander in chief of U.S. Army forces in Europe and nominated for his fourth star. This alumnus remains the highest-ranking flag officer ever to graduate from Wentworth.

A list of activities published in the Trumpeter in the fall of 1953 gave a picture of cadet extra-curricular life. Activities met following the last class period Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday was drill day. This list included Orchestra and Band; Aviation and Ground School; Camera Club; The Trumpeter: Cosmopolitan Club; Rifle Marksmanship; Debate; Honor Guard; Remedial Reading; Woodworking and Model Airplanes Club; Dramatics; Indian Crafts; Art; and Stamp Club. The Cosmopolitan Club was for any student interested in international affairs, not just foreign students. Saturday morning classes and limited week-end passes made these activities very important parts of the students' recreation.

Through out all these years The Trumpeter acted as a newspaper of record, a source of great value to the historian of the future and an informative reference for the internal public of the institution. It made students, staff, and faculty an informed group as well as building their sense of community.

Another tradition of the era was the “stop Day” when all activities, classes or practices were stopped and the cadets had freedom of limits in the evening. A late breakfast and late classes were scheduled for the next day if the stop began after the last class. It was, by no means, confined to that time of day.

A monthly faculty social was held at the country club consisting of a dinner and card games afterwards. The winners with the highest scores in bridge, pinochle, and canasta were awarded prizes and the results were faithfully reported in the paper.

The Trumpeter of March 17, 1954, contained an article by Lynne Anderson about Maj. Frank Brown. This feature article is worth quoting in full to illustrate the quality of writing that was typical of this student newspaper and to enable readers to remember and appreciate the qualities of this long-term commandant which so contributed to the accomplishment of the school’s mission.

Wentworth’s Genial Commandant by Lynne Anderson

For a fellow who is tops as a commandant, you would have to hunt high and low to find a better candidate than our own Maj. Frank W. Brown.

Cadets swear by him. They’ll tell you that he’s fair and square and that he’s a good Joe. Believe it or not, but he’s the most popular faculty officer here. Every time that he is introduced at a function here, he gets a roaring ovation from the corps.

Major Brown can hand a cadet a fistful of demerits, and the cadet will take them with a smile, for by the time the two have talked over the matter, Wentworth’s commandant has assured the lad that he is giving the cadet the demerits for his own good.

This is Major Brown’s 32nd year at Wentworth. During that time he has built up a friendly disciplinary system that clicks.

Don’t feel bad if you think that you are being disciplined for an infraction. “Everyone needs discipline,” says the Major. “When a number of people, young or old, get together in any one organization, there is bound to be some violations of manners, politeness and moral conduct. Discipline results in a high state of morale and conduct. It teaches one to put forth his best foot forward at all times.”

Sure, he is strict and stern, but not in an overbearing manner. He listens to reason. He wants the “cadet'’ side of the story, always delaying final action until he has all the facts.

As to fights between boys, Major Brown says, “It takes two to fight.” Then a gleam comes into his eyes as he adds, “if you don’t believe it, ask any married man.”

Any weaknesses? We all have them. Major Brown’s one great weakness is baseball. Next to doing his daily check of the barracks, he likes to listen to a radio’s baseball broadcast. He swears by the Detroit Tigers the way Brooklyn fans swear by their Bums (Dodgers to the uninitiated) and he never takes a trip back home to Michigan without watching his Tigers in action.

According to Major Brown, you can always spot a citizen with a very high IQ, for said citizen always votes the Republican ticket.

He’s a great guy! When he dresses you down he can make you feel the size of a midget. When he pats you on the back, you think dad should know and that he should get the letter by special delivery.

Wentworth cadets like him, but he likes Wentworth cadets, too. “You can’t find a better group of boys anywhere. They should be good. They are my boys.”

The academy began a program that would become a commonplace of employee benefits in the future: a group insurance program. That early program covered benefits up to $35.00 per week accident and health indemnity for a maximum of 13 weeks of disability; hospitalization for each employee and family member that covered daily bed, board, surgical and maternity benefits and fees for 31 days. This program was a product of Connecticut General Life Insurance of Hartford. The school had a tradition of taking good care of its employees and in return, Col. Wikoff insisted upon a rigid adherence to his policies.

The contract for construction of the Memorial Chapel was let to Busboom and Rauh of Salina, KS, who had built the Scholastic Building in 1940 and later constructed the Lexington Memorial Hospital. The contract was for $150,000, of which, $60,000 was in hand. The construction would continue through the next school year.

Another construction project started was the building of four eight-boy cabins for the summer campers who would live in them that summer. A washroom facility and an outdoor oven were also constructed for a total project cost of about $7,000. The cabins were built by the academy’s in-house physical plant staff and would endure into the 1980s.

This project, plus a newly constructed outdoor firing range, considerably enhanced the academy’s capabilities to offer improved summer programs. The school year ended with 131 cadets graduating. Forty-seven were junior college students and eighty-four were from the high school.

From the perspective of the later historian one can see that life in the academy reflected life in the United States during the Eisenhower Administration. It was a period of stability under the direction of a father-like figure who gave most people confidence in his leadership. It was a period where a cold war rivalry was set against a background of nuclear development and deterrent strategy and most Americans were confident that American prosperity and strength would see them through any crisis. It was a period that many would look back upon, fifty years later, with great nostalgia.

Few will look back upon the Vietnam era of the 1960s and 1970s with anything like the fondness with which people regard the 1950s.

1954 – 1955

Wentworth’s 75th Anniversary year began with anticipation of many significant events in connection with the commemoration.

The cornerstone for the chapel under construction was laid at the Dad’s Day observance on October 16th. The Homecoming observation on November 13th was followed by Founder’s Day on November 14th with former president Harry S Truman as the featured speaker. He was honored by being commissioned a colonel in the WMA corps and later laid wreaths on the graves of Stephen G. Wentworth and Sandford Sellers, Sr.

The ceremonies were filmed and broadcast on the National Broadcasting Company “Today” program the following day. Truman had been to the campus once before to address the cadet corps while still a senator. Observers estimated that about 2500 persons attended the observance.

Wentworth captured even more national attention when the American Broadcasting Company carried a half-hour live broadcast on its radio stations from the Military Ball held on January 29th.

Planning went on the entire school year in preparation for the first reenactment of the Battle of Lexington, set for May 12, 1955. Col. Wikoff headed the event committee and it involved a great deal of research and detailed planning to stage such a big event. The state of Missouri was involved, as was the county court of Lafayette County. The county owned the battle site and the nearby Anderson House and they were attempting to develop the site into a large tourist attraction.

When the day of the reenactment came on May 12, an estimated 5000 spectators observed the two sides refight the battle in a pouring rain which cut it somewhat short. Wentworth cadets portrayed many of the troops involved. They were assisted by Kansas City area ROTC units and national guardsmen.

The reenactment was featured in the September 12, 1955 issue of Life magazine entitled “Great Revival in Song and Story: The U.S. Lives Its Civil War Once Again.” Two Life photographers had covered the reenactment as it took place in Lexington. NBC and CBS television networks had also run film of the event.

School went on as it normally does that year and 110 graduated at the end of the year, forty-one from the junior college and seventy-two from the high school.

Construction on the Memorial Chapel went on as well and the building was completed and readied for dedication in the fall of the year.

1955- 1956

The academic year began with an enrollment of 384 cadets from twenty-six states and forty-six foreign students. This was a practical capacity for the school at that time. The crew of twenty-eight men from the physical plant had completed extensive painting and spruce-up tasks in preparation for the school year and the big event of the fall: the dedication of the Memorial Chapel.

That occasion came on November 6th and featured the noted speaker and mayor of Kansas City, H. Roe Bartle, who spoke at the dedication of the new building. It was dedicated to the 2000 former cadets, ranging from privates to generals who fought in W.W. II and the Korean Conflict. One hundred six of them made the supreme sacrifice.

Clarence Mooney, whose son, Lt. Robert Mooney, was the first alumnus killed in W.W. II, instigated the chapel idea and fund drive. The chapel cost $165,000 and was dedicated to the use of the students for non-denominational religious services and educational purposes such as assemblies and dramatic productions.

The school year continued along its normal course through January and February. One harbinger of future change came with an announcement in January that drill would now be two hours only on Wednesday afternoon and that there would be no drill on Saturday afternoon. This was a part of a general trend in education that saw fewer classes and educational activities on campuses on Saturdays. Years in the future, Wentworth would abandon Saturday classes altogether except for adults in continuing education.

Capt. Albert R. Park died in late March of a heart attack at his home. He was forty-eight years of age and had taught at Wentworth since 1947. He was professor of mathematics and had recently been assigned to head the guidance and testing department. Park’s son, Medford (Med), ’51, was a pro-basketball player and eventually came back to work for Wentworth and was head of the Wentworth Foundation when he died at a relatively young age in 1999.

Each year Wentworth cadets held a spring maneuver and many times it was held in conjunction with Marine Corps air reservists based in Olathe Naval Air Station, Ks. The Marines would fly simulated close air support missions and exercise their air-ground control capabilities. This tactical event had been omitted the previous year because of the Battle of Lexington reenactment. The 1956 event was to be the first one in which the Marines would use jet aircraft. The air operations were cancelled at the last minute due to extremely poor flying weather, but the cadets did the rest of the maneuvers in Lexington’s Community Park.

Graduation saw 129 graduates, forty-three from the junior college and eighty-six from the high school receive their diplomas. School closed for another year and staff and faculty looked forward to rest and summer school.

1956- 1957

Wentworth opened full that year. They had turned way approximately fifty boys after mid-August. Full enrollment “with every room full and every bed taken” amounted to 422 cadets. 357 were from twenty-two states and sixty-five came from foreign countries.

The few cadets in temporary quarters were moved into more permanent facilities when the inevitable early attrition took place among new boys, some of whom had never been away from home before. The prospects who were turned away, were given priority for the second semester or for next year’s class of new boys.

The academy opened after completing $43,000 worth of maintenance, renovation, and improvements that included applying over 600 gallons of paint. The school was taking advantage of full enrollment to do necessary maintenance when it was timely.

Two long-term faculty members died over the summer. Capt. Roe Clemens, 65, died of the effects of a stroke that had plagued him over the past year. Capt. Edgar A. Muench, 59, died of a heart attack just before the fourth of July at the edge of the swimming pool just before a lesson. Clemens had been a professor of chemistry and Muench had been an instructor of mathematics. Both had served the academy for thirty-six years.

Wentworth cadets staged the Battle of Lexington again for the Mid-America Jubilee in St Louis in mid-September. About sixty cadets reenacted the 1861 event as part of the heritage of Missouri in the Midwest, the topic of the exhibition. The cadets traveled to St Louis by train on Thursday and were back at school for classes on Monday morning. Wentworth took every advantage of opportunities to keep the name of the school before the public and the cadets carved out a niche for themselves as reenactors of the Battle of Lexington.

One hundred twenty-six cadets, thirty-nine in the junior college and eighty-seven in the high school were awarded diplomas and degrees at the end of the school year.

1957-1958

School opened again with full enrollment of 423. Three hundred fifty nine were from the United States and sixty-four were from outside the country. They reached capacity and cut off recruiting in July, a full month ahead of the previous year. The administration estimated that they could have filled another barracks, had it been constructed.

Capt. L. Keith Maring came to teach mathematics from a Chanute, Kansas, junior college and would remain for just over thirty years.

That year the academy applied for a loan to construct a barracks estimated to cost $750,000. It would be borrowed from the Housing and Home Finance Agency under the College Housing Program and be repaid over a forty-year period. The barracks was to have room for 120 men and have three levels, a dining facility, quarters for faculty supervisors, a concession room, and central air conditioning.

The plan included creating a paved quadrangle in front to remove formations from the street. The loan was to be used for college purposes only, requiring the school to pay for part of the dining hall with money raised by the institution because all grade levels and faculty and staff would use the facility.

The final approval for the loan of $550,000 was received in April, As a result of a speed-up program to put energy into a sluggish economy, the federal government asked that the school start construction within ninety days. They did not quite make that target, but did start in the last week of August.

The rest of the school year was very much routine. Dad’s Day, Homecoming, and Christmas break came and went and so did the Military Ball in February and some 6,000 persons attended the eighth annual Wentworth Show in Kansas City.

One hundred eight graduated at the end of May, thirty-five from the junior college and seventy-three from the high school. Summer school commenced and was completed as the campus was readied to build what would become the largest building built in Lexington up to that time.

1958-1959

School opened that year with the ground breaking for the new college dormitory. The structure was designed to house 122 cadets on three floors and to incorporate a new dining hall and kitchen area. It was also to be the first centrally air conditioned building on campus.

The contract was let for $570,410 for the building, financed by a $550,000 loan from the federal government with the balance of the $750,000 financed with funds raised by Wentworth. The College Housing Program enabled the school to seek the loan that could be paid off over the next forty years. Wentworth officials anticipated occupying the building at the start of the 1959-1960 school year.

Four hundred twenty-nine cadets from twenty-seven states and nine foreign countries enrolled that fall. It was capacity enrollment and the academy looked forward to being able to house even more students with the completion of the new dormitory.

These students were all clothed in the new Army Green uniform that had been recently adopted by the U.S. Army. The old olive drab coats and pink trousers were eliminated for students and faculty alike. They all donned new outfits from socks to caps, with only the old tan dress shirts remaining part of the uniform. The rest of the Army completely phased out the old uniform over a short period of time. This marked the first major change in the Army uniform in over twenty years.

The ninth annual Wentworth Show was staged at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium on February 22. This had become a regular feature of each school year and your author needs to tell the story of just what went into this show for friends, all interested alumni, and local citizens of the Kansas City area. This data came from an account published in The Trumpeter.

The show, produced by Col. Lester Wikoff, played to an audience of more than 6000 on a Friday evening. It began with an informal band concert by the WMA band and the two-hour show that followed entertained the crowd with a slice of life at the academy. The first acts included military drill by the Honor Guard, Indian dancing, and a number of vaudeville acts.

This part of the show was followed by a “…tactical sham battle using over 3,000 rounds of blank ammunition.” The military department organized this aspect and used it to showcase what they taught in their ROTC program. After that a formal dress parade of the battalion showed the patrons what each Sunday’s parade looked like. Following that, there was a reception and dance with music provided by the academy’s own Cavaliers dance band, led by the band director.

The cadets returned to campus in a seventeen-bus convoy, leaving at 11:45 p.m. and arriving back at Lexington at 1:15 a.m. The members of the corps were no doubt ready to sleep a little later over the weekend.

This was the unique public relations event that lasted twenty-six years altogether. It was apparently a very successful way to keep the academy before the Kansas City public, from which so many of its students came.

One hundred twenty-six graduated that May. Forty-five came from the junior college and eighty-one from the high school. Graduates from the junior college were moving on to schools such as Dartmouth, Colorado State, Kansas City Art Institute, the University of Nebraska, Denver, Northwest Missouri, Alabama, Missouri at Columbia, and the University of Kansas. The graduate’s school choices reflect the widespread origins of the student body.

1959-1960

College cadets occupied the newly completed barracks with the opening of school. A record 554 was enrolled in the academy that semester. They came from twenty-nine states and thirteen foreign counties to Lexington that fall. The largest contingent came from the states of Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas, a list that had a combined total of 260. The new dormitory and dining hall accommodated the additional 125 cadets. The air-conditioned building also accommodated three families. The new building was dedicated as Sandford Sellers Hall during the Dad’s Day observance at the end of October.

Other facility changes came with the opening of the new building. The Military Department moved into space vacated in the old dormitory building and the former dining hall was converted into a new rifle range.

Ten former cadets were appointed as tactical officers for the academic year. They were given the rank of lieutenant and assisted the commandant in the management of cadets and other duties.

Near the first of February, campus officials announced a major change in leadership. Col. J. M. Sellers announced his retirement as superintendent, effective at the end of the current academic year. He had held the post since 1933, when he succeeded his brother, Sandford Sellers, Jr. He continued as president of the Board of Trustees until just before his death in 1990.

The Board of Directors named Col. Lester B. Wikoff to succeed him as superintendent. Col. Wikoff had been at the academy since joining the faculty as a coach in1915 and was a co-owner of the school from the early 1930s until conversion to nonprofit status in 1959. He had held most of the school's administrative positions over the years.

A five-member team of visitors came from the University of Missouri in April to evaluate whether or not Wentworth’s college met the same standards as held by the University of Missouri and the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. In those days accrediting associations inspected by sending a team of peers from nearby institutions to look at classrooms, libraries, and records and to meet with faculty.

One hundred sixty-seven cadets, sixty-one from the junior college and one hundred six high school seniors graduated from Wentworth that spring.

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