News Releases
10/17/06
A scholarship honoring the life of Lester Suhler, a Sharon Valley native, has been established for University of Kansas students from the area.
The scholarship fund at KU Endowment will offer financial assistance to students from the Sharon area who graduate from Medicine Lodge High School and are accepted to KU. The scholarship also is available to Pratt Community College students who transfer to KU.
Lester Suhler grew up in the Sharon area and graduated in 1930 from KU, where he studied journalism. He entered the publishing business after graduation and worked for Capper’s Farmer in Topeka, Kan., and Child Life magazine in Chicago. Then for more than 30 years, he worked for Look magazine, which he helped build to a circulation of more than 7 million. He was responsible for the Look operations in Des Moines, Iowa, and served as a member of the parent company’s board of directors, based in New York.
Over his career, Les Suhler remembered his family and friends in Sharon and Medicine Lodge. His father, John, and many of the Suhler brothers emigrated from Germany around the beginning of the 20th century. Many of them settled in Barber County and the surrounding area. Les Suhler felt privileged to have roots in the Sharon Valley, and in most years of his life brought his family to Sharon and the family farm. He also was a devoted KU sports fan. Both of his children, the donors of the scholarship, are graduates of KU’s William Allen White School of Journalism.
For additional information about applying for the scholarship, please contact Cheryl Theis, guidance counselor at Medicine Lodge High School, (620) 886-5667 or ctheis@cyberlodg.com, or Dennis Angle, director of advising and counseling services at Pratt Community College, (620) 450-2138 or dennisa@prattcc.edu.
KU Endowment is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.
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