My daddy, Arlos Rusk, came home from Korea, married my dear mama, Maxine, and soon headed west from the family feedlot and wheat fields of Sumner County. It was 1960. At age 28, he signed the note for nearly 7,000 acres; moved mom and three toddlers (soon to be five), and went to work.
We were 22 miles to Medicine Lodge and 19 miles to Coldwater from the mailbox, 2.5 miles south of the house. We got mail from Sun City three times a week—Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The folks put Sun City on the map with their passion to give (along with the help of many volunteers). They hosted the annual field day for 4-H and FFA youth, plus State Hereford and Angus Field Days and Tours, the American Junior Hereford Field Day in 1974, and Barber County Cattlemen’s Tours. Daddy always wanted the lunch stop; and mama obliged. We pit barbequed beef and the meals were free!
It’s now 2018 and Sun City is part of the Kansas Scenic Highway Designation. I guess people still want to go west.
As for me, John Wayne said it best, “mis raices estan aqui,” my roots are buried here.
Mona Rusk can be reached at [email protected].
