I live in a town called Wellington, Kan. (pop. around 8,000). There’s a golf course, park, swimming pool and walking trail near my house. There are three historical museums in town, which is cool if you’re a humanities nerd, which I am. Sellers Park, where the high school football team has played home games since 1929, is in a pretty cool location.
As in many communities, the local school system is the heart of Wellington. The greatest documentarian – in this digital age – of the USD 353 school district, Wellington, Kan., USA, passed away recently. Steve Sturgis started a website for the school system in the 1999-2000 school year when school websites were still in the nascent stage.
After years of living in Wichita, Sturgis, a 1974 graduate of Wellington High School, had recently returned to his hometown to care for his aging parents. It was shortly after the Columbine school shooting that shocked the nation. Sturgis heard TV news commentators refer to a “lost generation” and he wasn’t buying it. He wanted to prove that the vast majority of high school kids weren’t like the Columbine shooters.
This was many years before everyone had a smartphone with a camera. Digital photography was a new thing and Steve had the equipment to get high quality pictures of kids participating in sports and other extracurricular activities. Parents looked to Steve to take pictures of their kids.
No school activity got short shrift from Steve. He covered everything equally. Football and basketball games. Wrestling tournaments. School plays and musicals. Band and choir concerts. FFA. Art Club. Scholar’s Bowl. He was there, encapsulating school spirit. Steve was all about the Wellington Crusaders. Their biggest fan.
After the football team suffered a loss in nearby Mulvane and Steve heard kids talking trash about Wellington, Steve said, “What school has two state football championships.”
He was webmaster for the school district. Along with his pictures, he produced artwork and did spirited write-ups of school activities. He was instrumental in starting the WHS television station, KWHS and mentored students gaining experience as anchors and reporters.
Mentoring and relating to students at their level were Steve’s greatest gifts. It’s what he lived for.
He graduated, with honors, from Wichita State University in 1979 with a criminal justice degree, and I guess what amazes me most about Steve is that with his education, talents and knowledge, he could have gone anywhere. That he chose to focus his attention on promoting his hometown and being a trusted friend to youth coming of age there is remarkable.
When I was editor of the Wellington Daily News, I’d run into Steve at school events. “Hey Sturgis,” I’d say. He was always kind to me and treated me like an equal. When I was new with the paper, I asked my friend, Daniel, an Edward Jones representative and Lions Club member for suggestions on possible feature stories. He gave me Steve’s name, noting his altruistic ventures in starting a scholarship fund and giving laptops to graduating seniors.
Steve was certainly humble and a gentleman when I spoke with him and we got along well, but the students, parents, teachers, coaches and administrators had the tightest connections to him. The best thing about him, in my opinion, is that he filled a gap in the lives of kids who, otherwise, wouldn’t have had a positive male role model in their lives. That’s a tall legacy to leave.
It all came back to Steve a hundred fold in his last days after it became known that he’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer. A candlelight vigil was held for him outside the high school. WHS Athletic Director Luke Smith said the 18 years he’d known Steve had made him a better man. A Facebook page, “Wellington Loves Steve Sturgis,” was launched.
Someone on the site commented that the outpouring of accolades for Steve was akin to the final scene of It’s a Wonderful Life where the whole town steps up for George Bailey. It is amazing, the kind of thing you see in movies or TV shows like CBS Sunday Morning. I’ve heard of such things in relation to small towns, but I’ve never witnessed anything like this before.
The tributes would have embarrassed Steve, but when people referred to him as a “Wellington icon” and “Wellington institution,” when they quoted the scripture from Matthew 25:21 – “well done my faithful servant” – and mentioned the poem, “The Dash,” I didn’t see it as hyperbole, or an exaggeration. The City Council declared Feb. 8 Steve Sturgis Day, and it was all fitting.
The great thing for me is that Steve wasn’t the only person to welcome me to town when I was new here. Several people offered their hands in friendship. You hear about towns being insular and contemptuous of “outsiders,” but I’ve lived in a lot of different towns and nobody has ever made me feel less than welcomed.
I can’t describe any of these towns as jerkwater. Maybe there’s no such thing as a trivial, or unimportant community. Even in the worst, most problematic places, you will find that bright spot, humanity, if you really look for it.
There are good people in the world; it takes a village to raise a kid, and the people Steve inspired will inspire others so there will be a ripple effect. Homecomings, graduations and life will go on.
Comentarios