On Monday, March
24th, at 6:30 p.m., Vickie Stangl, Andover, will present the program “Etta
Semple – Kansas Free Thinker” to Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society
members and guests at the Wellington Senior Center, 308 S. Washington,
Wellington. In case of inclement
weather, contact Jane Moore: 620-447-3266.
Stangl was required
to do a “piece on a Kansas person” for her Master’s degree at Wichita State
University, and after reading about Etta Semple, she became fascinated, and asked
her instructor if she could “write about this heretic in Ottawa.”
Stangl said
that Etta Semple, born near Quincy, Illiniois in 1855, had views that were
considered radical for the time.
Stangl said
that Semple was a humanitarian, and had a state of the art sanitarium, but she
was also an activist.
“She and her second husband were active in the
labor movement,” Stangl said.
“I began
reading her newspapers and I was fascinated,” Stangl said, adding that she
worked on her thesis for three years.
Stangl said
that Semple died in Ottawa of influenza in 1914.
