A Difficult Decade

1980-1981

The 101st year opened with enrollment of 294. That year Wentworth launched a capital fund drive to raise $4.3 million, the first of this kind of drive in the institution’s history. The need was obvious. There was still no endowment to generate funds and the need to rebuild the nearly 32,000 square feet of space lost in the Great Fire of 1975 demanded attention.

Phase I was set to start an endowment with $150,000 and the rest of the money would go toward rebuilding the inside of the façade of the west side of the administration building. This would cost around $1 million. Phase II was to raise $2.1 million for addition to the endowment, and completion of the building, and building a $1.4 million 74-cadet barracks to the west of the administration complex. Phase II was to provide money for the rest of the endowment and to pay for renovations and improvements on the campus. It was to prove to be a very ambitious plan, only part of which was completed.

During the fall, Wentworth dedicated the “million-dollar” fieldhouse to become the Wikoff Fieldhouse in memory of the man who gave over fifty years of his life to the academy. It was a very appropriate memorial to the man whose enterprise had enabled its construction.

In January, Col. George Hoge, U.S. Army (Ret.), presented his father’s medals and awards to the school. These were added to the collection of artifacts and memorabilia which may be displayed in a museum on campus some day.

The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools came to Wentworth in March to see if the school was still doing what it said it was doing. The last evaluation had been in 1976 and became a regular feature every five years. At the end of the visit, the institution received a report along with recommendations from the team. The report extended the reaccredidation for another five years as it would do each report period for the next twenty years. The subsequent visits occurred in 1986, 1991, and 1997.

At the end of the year, fifty-seven graduated, seventeen from the junior college and thirty-nine from the high school.

1981-1982

The academic year opened with an enrollment of 305. Each year the corps start-up process was the same and has been so for many years. Athletes arrive for football and soccer practice and then the cadre of new corps officers and NCOs, and usually the band members. Organization and training starts with the reading of Order # One, naming the cadets who will hold the leadership positions in the battalion and companies.

Once they take the oath of office, the organization and preparations begin. Soon the new cadets arrive and old cadets return. While the faculty prepare for classes and attend in-service training, the corps is made ready for the first day of classes and the rest of the year. The only change that has been made is the addition of the “Sounding of the Cannon” ceremony, added since 1995. This hour-long observance makes a formal start to the school year a memorable one.

The next event of importance was the ground breaking for the construction of what was to be known as the James McBrayer Sellers Building. This was built within the walls of the building that had been gutted by the Great Fire. The occasion happened at Homecoming and began construction. It was to cost over $1.5 million when completed, They had $1.07 million in hand or pledged when the contracts were let. Construction proceeded until the building was enclosed and construction stopped to enable more money to be raised. It has never been completed as other more pressing uses for the capital fund drive money became apparent. Plans for the 21st Century include its completion for the military department and music program.

The Trumpeter of 11 December, 1981 carried an article relating that WMA had another alumnus who had received the Medal of Honor in addition to Bill Adams,’60, Mr. Ralph Martin, ’60, and roommate of Bill Adams, wrote that he had discovered that George Benton Turner had received the award for gallantry in Phillipisberg, France in January, 1945.

Turner came to WMA in 1914 and left in 1917 to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. He did not serve overseas because the armistice was signed before his unit deployed. He tried to enlist before WW II but was refused because of age, but was drafted in 1942 at age forty-one.

Turner landed in France with the 14th Armored Division as an artillery observer and later, in the Battle of the bulge, he was cited for destroying two tanks, driving off an enemy attack with a machine gun and evacuating casualties under heavy fire. Pfc. Turner received the Medal of Honor for his “…great courage…” during the battle and became the oldest person awarded the medal during WW II.

The Trumpeter reported two historic events in the February 19,1982 edition. Col. Sandford Sellers, Jr., died at age 89 and Cadet Mark P. Kaetzel was awarded the ROTC Medal of Heroism for pulling a child from a burning trailer near Casey’s.

Col. Sandford Sellers, Jr., ’08, had served at WMA as superintendent from 1923 to 1933 and later was superintendent of Morgan Park Military Academy in Chicago. He subsequently served in education capacities in the U.S. Army. Col. Sellers’ ashes were later interred in Machpelah Cemetery in Lexington.

In April of 1982 the school installed its first computer lab with Commodore VIC computers. This first generation of academic computers were replaced with Radio Shack TRS80s in a networked lab given by George Reinhardt,’32, The third generation came in 1986 with ten Zenith EZ PCs and the fourth became a reality in 1991-92, with a network of twenty IBM PS1, 286-class computers. The fifth generation, now Pentium-class, was put in use in the Scholastic Building in 1998 and the next year a further lab was put into operation in Groendyke Hall for college students. Wentworth will have to continue to update as long as technology makes itself obsolete every few years.

At the end of the academic year, ninety-eight graduated, forty-one from the junior college and fifty-seven from the high school. The amount raised in the capital fund drive stood at $1.25 million. Phase One of the drive was completed and the building was enclosed and the shell stabilized. Phase Two was underway to complete the building

1982-1983

The academic year started with an enrollment of 307 and increased at the start of the next semester by 10%. The football team ended up with a 2 and 6 record and the soccer team scored one victory, but the basketball team attained a 6-0 conference record to win the Central River Conference title. The team had an overall record of 16 and 4 under the direction of Lt. Col. John Edwards, head coach. This has remained the best record in at least the last twenty years and possibly longer.

The Wentworth Junior College observed its sixtieth anniversary. The college was founded under the leadership of Major Sandford Sellers, Jr., then assistant superintendent. The college has been in operation ever since that time and has proven to be an asset to the Wentworth high school students who wished to go on the next educational level, to students seeking an ROTC commission, and to students from the community. Those who were day cadets (sometimes called “day dodgers”) and those who came from the surrounding areas and satellite sites at Cameron (North of the River), Hermitage (Lake area), and Sheldon (Nevada area) were given the opportunity to earn associate’s degrees through the continuing education program.

That year, of the seventy-four graduates, thirty-two were from the junior college and forty-two came from the high school.

1983-1984

Enrollment at the start of the school year was 267 and a few differences were noted in the school. A seventh period was added to the academic day to better accommodate the increased graduation requirements advocated by the state. As a private institution, Wentworth is not required to meet any state standards, but, as a practical matter, we must follow common practice because our students go into the workforce or into the next level of undergraduate education and they must be able to compete. This is the reason WMA follows state guidelines and those recommended by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. This form of voluntary, competitive, regulation has been in effect for many years in this country, but may be changed by the 21st Century movement toward national standards.

Before the end of the school year, athletic director Paul Butherus retired because of ill-health following his stroke the year before. He was greatly respected for his twenty-six years of service to the boys and men who passed through the academy during his years here. Students, faculty, and staff participated in a committee to select his successor, Major dick Gwinn, who was hired during the summer, and would be athletic director and football coach into the early 1990s.

Col. Leon Ungles, 77, former superintendent from 1970-1973, and member of the board of trustees until 1980, died in May, 1984. He had served the academy in many capacities for forty-five years.

Wentworth alumnus, Charles H. Price,II, ’47, was named U.S. ambassador to Great Britain by President Reagan and would serve a number of years in that capacity, returning eventually to Kansas City.

Marlin Perkins, ’21, was the graduation speaker. He was curator emeritus of the St. Louis Zoo and host of Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” on television. Seventy-one graduated, thirty –one from the junior college and forty from the high school.

In the late summer, the Joe Busby, ’33, Armory opened for use. This was the first section of the J. M. Sellers Building to open for use and storage of firearms.

1984-1985

School opened with 273 enrolled and the reinstatement of the Falcon Scholar Program. Four cadets, candidates for admission to the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) through a one-year preparatory program at Wentworth and the other military junior colleges. It has been a very successful program since 1984 with 100% of its members being appointed to a class at the USAFA the following year. The program had started briefly in 1970 with an initial class of four, but was not continued until 1984. Since that time, through 2000, 112 have completed the program here. The majority have been successful at the Air Force Academy.

Mrs. Beth Hepler died early in 1985 after having been retired for nine years. She had been hostess for the school for thirty-two years prior to retirement in 1976.

Col. J.M. Sellers, Sr. celebrated his 90th birthday in a banquet held on May 4th when alumni came to participate. Rebekah Evans Sellers, 83, died May 9th at her home. She was, besides being the wife of Col. J. M. Sellers, Sr., the great granddaughter of Stephen G. Wentworth. Her death came five days after husband celebrated his 90th birthday at the banquet on campus. She left three surviving sons, six grandsons, and a granddaughter.

Sixty-six graduated, twenty-four from the junior college and forty-two from the high school.

1985-1986

The academy’s 106th year began with 246 students enrolled and proceeded normally. The academy recognized Bill and Josie Giblin for running the snack bar for fifty years. The operation was a private concession given by the school which needed it for the benefit of its students. Bill’s brother, George, and his wife, Linda, joined in the family business and had main responsibility for the operations. Bill and Josie ran it on weekends in 1985.

Bill died a few years later and George and Linda continued the snack bar in its accustomed place next to the Quartermaster store into the 1990s when the snack bar was moved to Sandford Sellers Hall and management was turned over to the food service company.

Wentworth formed an national alumni council that year to expand its relations with its alumni. This change was an attempt by the institution to interest more alumni in the school and to help develop support among those alumni. They were attempting to expand the giving base as funds were beginning to dry up in the capital campaign to finish the J.M. Sellers Building.

That year The Trumpeter was published an average of once a month and had excellent coverage of events on campus and a good many more feature stories on people than in the immediately preceding years. The Trumpeter was one of the easy things to cut back when funds became tight, as they did, periodically, through the 1980s.

The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools came back for another of their five-year visits to the institution. The NCA team spent three days on campus and renewed the accreditation for five more years.

Their comments reflect a good picture of the strengths and concerns about the institution in the mid-1980s:

1. The institution has great strength due to its longevity and the dedication of its faculty and staff.

2. The demonstrated success of its alumni brings great credit to the institution.

3. The trustees demonstrate noteworthy concern for and knowledge of the school.

4. The personal concern for students demonstrated by the faculty is impressive.

5. Students also express great concern and dedication to the school.

The concerns expressed were mainly in the areas of external financial resources and in increasing enrollment. These factors led to a deterioration in the physical plant which has a negative impact on admissions and retention of students.

The team also expressed some concern that the relationship with the military science department had some issues that needed to be resolved, as well. They felt that there needed to be goals set beyond six to twelve months and that was caused by the intense concentration on day-to-day operations necessitated by very tight budgets. Their final concern was that the faculty had little support for professional development and again that grew out of budgetary constraints.

The problems in the relationship with the military department grew out of some competition between the Senior ROTC program and the corps activities program over student time and availability. Both sections had missions to accomplish and both depended upon each other for success. The conflicts that inevitability arose have been resolved or not resolved depending on the personalities of the heads of the school and military department.

Some years the chemistry was better than in others due to the fairly frequent shifts in personnel in the military department and the relatively long tenure of school personnel. The problems that have existed will continue to be cyclic and will probably return and disappear in future years. The one constant is that the school and the ROTC unit both realize that they need each other and that any problems can be solved.

The academic year ended in May with fifty-nine graduates, twenty-four from the junior college and thirty-five from the high school.

1986-1987

WMA opened that year with 188 cadets enrolled. Those students wore a new uniform. For the first time, the corps wore a new cadet uniform that featured gray trousers with a black stripe, a light-gray shirt in long and short sleeves, and a gray garrison cap. The shirt, trousers, and caps were cut in the same style as the Army-green shirt and trousers worn by cadets since 1958. The traditional maroon sweater had been switched to the Army-black pull-over at the end of 1982. The traditional blue dress uniform has changed little since the 1930s. Materials, styles and availability have usually dictated what uniforms our cadets have worn down through the last fifty years.

A new press box appeared in Alumni Stadium as a gift to the school by W. Dave Amis in memory of his father, Wilburn Amis, and a large number of minor repairs were made to improve the efficiency of the heating and air conditioning equipment on campus.

The state of Missouri forestry department came to campus and measured the large burr oak near the Indian council ring and declared it to be the largest tree of that species in Missouri. They estimated that it was nearly 400 years old and stood 102 feet tall with an average crown of 113 feet. It has a girth of twenty feet and nine inches. Its foliage spreads eighty-eight feet and shoots up to 142 feet.

1986-1987 was a year for memorial gifts to the Academy. A WWII veteran who was an alumnus financed the construction of the display cases to honor Wentworth alumni who had attained distinctive rank and decorations. The Hall of Honor became a showpiece for the building now known as Groendyke Hall and a central attraction for visitors to the campus.

Down the hill from the quadrangle the efforts of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity led by cadet Jim Bloomberg and advisor Tom Butler, paid off with the installation of a surplus U.S. Army UH-1 helicopter as a Vietnam War memorial. The aircraft was donated by the Arm and construction of the base and installation was provided by Company C of the 110th Engineer Battalion, Missouri National Guard, commanded by Lt. Col. John Holman, also an alumnus.

The aircraft was painted in the same scheme as the one flown by Major Bill Adams when he earned the Medal of Honor. The entire installation was dedicated to those from Wentworth who lost their lives serving in Vietnam. The dedication of these two memorials took place in the spring of 1987.

The same month, the school dedicated the Marlin Perkins Fitness and Nature Trail to Mr. Perkins, who died in the summer of 1986 after being commencement speaker in 1985.

These improvements and memorials added a great deal to the traditions of the campus and its atmosphere and were financed by money donated to the campus. Future development would have to concentrate on raising money for capital improvements to modernize and replace the essential infrastructure of the institution.

The school year ended with forty cadets graduating, eleven from the junior college and twenty-nine from the high school.

1987-1988

This school year began with 231 enrolled. A new commandant took over, Lt. Col. Gary Green, an U.S. Army intelligence officer, who had retired from active duty. Lt. Col. Gant stepped down as commandant, but remained with the department as an assistant for about five more years.

The commandant’s department created a new position of Activities Director to expose the cadets to a wide variety of cultural and social activities. The post has been filled for a number of years since that time. It can be of considerable importance in providing things for cadets to do on week-ends when disciplinary problems often arise and it can often make a difference in retaining cadets for the following year.

In September of that year, Gen. William M. Hoge, ’10, was inducted into the Ft. Leavenworth Hall of Fame and an officer living quarters was dedicated as Hoge Barracks. The students using the facility usually are attending the residence phases of the Combined Arms Services Staff School (CAS Cubed) at Ft. Leavenworth. The Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding leaders who have served at Ft. Leavenworth and who have contributed to the achievement, tradition or history of the United States Army or the Confederates States Army. It was established in 1970 and its members also include Col. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Gen Dwight D,. Eisenhower, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. There is also another building, Hoge Hall, dedicated to this leader at Ft. Leonard Wood which houses the U.S. Army Engineer School. Hoge commanded the school and Ft. Belvoir for two and a half years just after WWII.

Lt. Col. Robert D. Hepler died in retirement this year. He had been a history and English teacher and assistant dean from 1946-1976 and could still be seen on campus into the early 1980s teaching an extra section of college American History when it was needed.

The Trumpeter of April, 1988, had a reprint of a thirty year-old article about the origins of the Wentworth Song. It seems that Col. Sellers, Sr., told the story at an assembly and it is worth summarizing it:

The song was based on the old tune “Honey.” If one were to substitute that word for the first two in the school song, he would soon discover its meaning. Many years ago, there were two girl’s schools in Lexington along with Wentworth, Central College and Baptist College. Boys being boys, they would leave the barracks, contrary to regulations, and serenade outside a school’s girls dorm, “Central, Central, bless your heart, etc., or Baptist, Baptist…” The girls would sing back “Wentworth, Wentworth, bless your heart, etc.” Later the Wentworth version would be adopted as the school song and has been used ever since.

It is as good an explanation as any, and given its source, it is probably as good as we could possibly get. The old gentleman had a remarkable memory and a whole store of good tales to pass on. His years at WMA: 1920-1928 – Commandant, 1928-1933 – Executive Officer, 1933-1960 – Superintendent, and 1960-1988 – President. In his later years, he taught his Latin class and gave advice and public relations work to all who wanted to listen. It was only in 1990 that he was forced to go to a nursing home shortly before his death.

Forty-eight graduated in May, nineteen from the junior college and twenty-nine from the high school.

1988-1989

The opening of school was saddened by the death of Major Keith Maring during the previous summer. He succumbed to two heart attacks three weeks apart. Major Maring came to WMA in 1957, having previously taught in Chanute, Kansas, high school and junior college. He served as the head of the math department and had been an inspiration and mentor to a large number of students over the years. His wife, Norma Maring, had become the alumni director and has served the academy over forty-three years at the end of the century, including teaching dancing classes, and in swimming instruction. The Keith Maring Math Scholarship and the Maring Award for excellence in teaching were established in his memory.

The school’s enrollment expanded slightly up to 251 at the start of school and swelled to about 300 by the end of the year.

Activities and events that year were routine and normal. Col. Sellers, Jr., underwent surgery during Christmas vacation to remove a malignant tumor from a kidney. There was no indication that there had been any spread of the cancer and he had no further treatment. It was not long before he returned to his duties as superintendent.

Bill Giblin, who had operated the snack bar from 1936 through 1987, died in December. He had not yet been retired two years. Tom and Linda Giblin kept the snack bar open under their management for a few years longer.

At the conclusion of the year in May, seventy-two graduated, thirty-nine from the junior college and thirty-nine from the high school.

1989-1990

School opened that year with 223 enrolled. Mrs. Jean Hough retired at the end of the summer after twenty years service as Registrar and the academy started out with a remodeled high school chemistry lab, and resurfaced tennis courts. These improvements mark the beginning of many such improvements that had to be made in the next ten years.

The Marlin Perkins, ’21, Nature Trail, which had been built in 1987 as a tribute to the famous zoologist, was being used by the Lexington Middle School science students as a field experience in all aspects of the environment. The students collected insects and plant samples and studied ecological issues such as food chains and erosion. The one and one-quarter mile long trail runs around the perimeter of the campus behind the buildings and is covered with wood chips. There is a wide variety of plants, trees and wild life observable, including the Wentworth Burr Oak, estimated to be over 400 years old.

It was Wentworth’s turn to host the annual meeting of area military schools. This had become a fixture of each fall’s activities for administrators. Staff members from Kemper Military School, Missouri Military Academy, St. John’s Military Academy, and Howe Military Academy (this year only) met for a day with their opposite numbers from Wentworth.

Usually superintendents, operations officers, deans, ROTC heads, development officials, admissions directors and physical plant heads would look over the facilities of the host and discuss mutual problems in their areas. It also provided a venue for the corps of the host institution to show its prowess in executing a military parade.

Another routine event of the school year at a military academy was and is a field-training exercise for ROTC students. Usually these are most beneficial to the senior ROTC cadets involved in the commissioning program. These plan and execute the tactical aspects of the problem under the supervision of the active-duty cadre. The logistic support comes from using the resources of local military units and installations. All of these units have a vested interested in training future military officers who may someday be in those units.

In 1989-1990, the fall exercise took place at the Lake City Ammunition plant in Independence, MO, and used the resources of the Army Reserve helicopter regiment from Bellevue, IL. Those aircrew flew cadets from WMA to Lake City on Saturday and returned them to campus on Sunday. That way the Army Reserve unit got a real transport assault mission and flying training and the ROTC cadets got to take advantage of the multitude of training opportunities (and motivation opportunities) that arise from a week-end adventure such as this.

A Blue Ribbon Panel was convened by the academy on a Saturday in January to talk and brainstorm ideas to help guide the academy into and through the last decade of the century. A group of about eighty people met for discussions. They consisted of alumni, staff, faculty, members of the community, and friends and alumni from the larger community.

The assembly divided up into discussion groups and rotated during the sessions among at least two groups. At the end they filled out a survey. The main areas were academic, discipline and school life, sports, WMA reputation, community relations, night school and physical plant.

Almost all of the participants thought that this had been a very useful experience and the superintendent took the discussion group reports and analyzed them in conjunction with the responses to the surveys. As this historian looks back from the perspective of ten years of hindsight, he sees a number of issue points that could be answered the same and where a number of the items were tried, some failed and some succeeded and some are still pending. Perhaps this is where most of the value of history becomes apparent to those who use it.

Another who was dear to the hearts of the Wentworth community passed away in April. Margaret Wikoff was ninety years of age. She had been at her husband’s side during most of his service to the academy and was remembered fondly by all that knew her.

A physical reminder of the past came down in 1990 when the old Mainstreet Theatre was torn down to make room for a Hardee’s fast-food restaurant. During its sixty-six year history from 1924, many cadets had attended films and other events at the place and had many fond memories of it.

Seventy-four graduated in May, thirty-nine from the junior college and thirty-five from the high school. Mrs Gerda Fitts retired as the academy hostess after fifteen years of service. She and her husband, Major Jim Fitts of the commandant’s department, moved upon retirement to Hermitage, MO, on Lake Pomme De Terre to relax, but only for a short time. She soon took over management of the Wentworth Junior College extension site when it was moved from Lamar to Hermitage, and did that for a number of years, before fully retiring. Mrs. Fitts handed over her duties as hostess, travel agent and many other things to Mrs. Mary Ann Florence who held the position into the new century.

Another retiree was Col. Jim Altendorf who had been associate dean and professor of geology for about ten years. He had come to Wentworth in the early 1980s after being an administrator in a junior college in Kansas and then took over the management of the Wentworth Junior College division. Col. Altendorf went to live in Joplin.

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