Horace Adelbert Kersey retired from teaching in 1962, but his former students remember him well. Kersey taught industrial arts in Kansas for 38 years, advising amateur carpenters about everything from drawing up house plans to building cabinets.
He was born in December of 1896 at Quenemo, Kansas. After high school, Kersey qualified for a teaching position with a two-year certificate from Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, but World War I delayed the start of his teaching career. Private Kersey served in the Spruce Production Division at Vancouver, Washington. This division was responsible for carrying out logging operations in the Pacific Northwest to provide raw wood necessary to build airplanes for the Army’s burgeoning air force.
Kersey returned to Kansas after his Army stint and started his teaching career at Severy. There he taught high school industrial arts from 1919 to 1922. He then taught at Chase for one year. Next, he moved to Herington where he spent 20 years teaching industrial arts. He also coached football for 10 years, and was the superintendent and a teacher in the vocational education night classes.
During the depression years, Kersey returned to summer school and earned his Bachelor of Science degree. From 1943 to 1948, he joined the millions of other Americans who were called upon by the government to serve their country. He was employed for two years at the Herington Army Air Field as a civilian training coordinator and sheet metal work. As Chief Air Raid Warden of the Herington Civilian Defense Council, he was responsible for educating and supervising other air raid wardens, auxiliary police and firemen, and for ensuring the civilian population followed safety procedures during air raids and blackouts. He then went to Camp Crowder, Missouri where he supervised civilian training for one year. He returned to Kansas and was a training specialist for the Veterans Administration for two more years before resuming teaching at Portis.
In 1949, Kersey moved to Lakin where he taught industrial arts until his retirement in 1962. He was beloved by his students who, along with his friends, affectionately called him “Pop,” and the 1961 Lakin High School yearbook was dedicated to him. During his tenure at LHS, Pop and his students helped to build and set up the manger scene and other decorations in the City Park.
After his retirement, “Pop” Kersey continued to give of himself in service to his community. He was appointed to the Lakin City Council in 1962 to fill an unexpired term and then was elected mayor in 1963, a position he held until 1969. During his term of service as mayor, many city streets were paved, a new swimming pool was constructed, and several city parks were developed. Kersey received a Certificate of Meritorious Service from the League of Municipalities for his work in city government. He also was appointed to the Kearny County Library Board in 1965 and served as chairman during the building of the Kearny County Library. He served as clerk of the Lakin Township board as well.
Kersey received many awards, but most notably, he was inducted into the Kansas Teachers’ Hall of Fame in 1979. Although Kersey himself could not pinpoint any specific thing that led to the honor, his wife said, “He got along mighty well with his students for one thing.” So well, in fact, that Pop kept in touch with many of his former students at both Lakin and Herington, and a number of his students went into the woodworking, building and contracting trades. Throughout his teaching career, Kersey taught such industrial arts subjects as sheet metal, mechanical drawing and woodworking/furniture making. “It seems to me we tried to keep in touch more with furniture styles then. As the furniture changed, we changed with it. We studied different styles, like Queen Anne, etc., so we’d know what they were. Students started out on small pieces and progressed to larger ones.” Kersey said his beginners “tried out all the woodworking tools” such as the cutoff saw, rip saw, back saw, miter saw, and band saw. The power saw was experimented with towards the end of the year “so they wouldn’t lose any fingers.” Pop was a Master Builder himself, and the Kersey home was filled with wood furnishings he had made. This included a lathe-turned plantstand made from an old post that was once part of a rotunda at Emporia State University.
Kersey was a life member of the Kansas State Teachers Association and the KSTA Alumni Association. He was also a member of the National Education Association, joining KNEA when it was known as the Kansas Industrial Arts Association. He was secretary of that organization for three years. While at Herington, Kersey served as commander and chaplain of the American Legion Post #12 and also as president of the Herington Lions Club. He was a member of the Quenemo Masonic Lodge for 61 years. He served on church boards for the Presbyterian Church at Lakin and at Herington and was a member of the First Christian Church while at Liberal.
Horace and first wife, Janet Allan, had two daughters, Betty and Patricia. Janet passed while Kersey was teaching at Herington, and he remarried in 1950 at Lakin. His second wife, Ruby Mull Dorsey, had also been widowed. She had three adult children – Gene, Wayne and Margie. In 1979, the Kerseys moved to a new home in Liberal where they were closer to Horace’s daughter Patricia and Ruby’s son Gene. Horace “Pop” Kersey was 89 years of age when he died at Liberal in 1986. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the town of his birth, Quenemo.
SOURCES: National Archives; Lakin Bronc Yearbook; The Kearny County Kernels by Monte Canfield, Sr.; History of Kearny County Vol. II; findagrave.com; Museum archives, and archives of The Lakin Independent, Herington Times, Herington Advertiser, Southwest Daily Times and Wichita Eagle.