Wichita Community Matters January 2022

Wichita Presbyterian Manor

JANUARY 2022

New resident has fond memories of European adventures

New residents owe their relationship to the U.S. Navy Otho “O.V.” and Lola Williams met at the Naval Photographic Interpretation Center, near Washington, D.C. The couple, who moved into the assisted living neighborhood at Wichita Presbyterian Manor last July, enlisted one month apart: O.V. in January of 1955 in Kansas and Lola in February in California.

When he was stationed in Germany, Richard acquired an old Mercedes for $200 so he and his wife could travel around Europe. They gave the car a coat of fresh paint on the street outside their apartment building.

“Joining the Navy was something I wanted to do from the eighth grade on, and why I couldn’t tell you,” Lola said. “I knew I didn’t want to go to college, I wanted to join the Navy.”

O.V. enlisted with four friends from Caldwell High School. The five young men were the subjects of a story in the Wichita newspaper.

O.V. and Lola Williams with some of their Navy memorabilia, including the cruise books produced for each of O.V.’s tours.

He enrolled at the University of Wichita, but it didn’t feel like the right fit.

“I started at Wichita U. and didn’t like it, so I joined the canoe club,” O.V. joked.

Lola did secretarial work for NPIC during her four years of service. Over the last two and a half years, she worked for a classified division. O.V. was a photographer and provided a variety of documentation for the Navy, from recording everyday life on an aircraft carrier to documenting plane crash sites. Sometimes he even photographed the celebrities who performed for the servicemen. Many of his photos wound up in the “cruise books” produced for each tour at sea.

Navy – continued on page 2

Newlyweds Richard and Bonnie Brown spent the early days of their marriage in Germany, where Richard was serving in the United States Army in the late 1950s.

“It really is nice to be over there when you’re young,” said Richard, who moved into the assisted living neighborhood at Wichita Presbyterian Manor last year.

In Germany, Richard met another married man who wanted his wife to join him there. However, he feared she couldn’t make the trip by herself.

Richard said he knew his wife was

The Browns – continued on page 3

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Navy – continued from page 1 The couple went to see “The Ten Commandments” on their first “official” date. They spent a lot of their free time at the home of friends, where they often played charades or cards.

Military life meant they were occasionally transferred to another base. They were even stationed in Cuba for two and a half years, although it was a closed base, so the Williams never got to explore the island.

O.V. was also gone for long stretches at a time on one of his five tours. There were two darkrooms on each aircraft carrier which, when at full capacity, housed more than 5,000 sailors.

The couple’s last stop was

Pensacola, Florida, where O.V. retired. They lived there for 38 years before moving to Wichita seven years ago to be closer O.V.’s brother, sister-in-law and niece.

One of O.V.’s passions is collecting old records. One of his favorites is Bob Wills, who used to perform at the Blue Moon in Wichita. He also likes Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and Rosemary Clooney.

When tape decks were still in fashion, he got into the habit of taping his records and then swapping them for new ones.

Later, he burned CDs of his favorite tunes, which are now organized in numerous zippered storage cases in the Williams’

O.V. photographed celebrities Bob Hope and Zsa Zsa Gabor when they visited American military personnel stationed in Cuba.

stereo cabinet in their spacious living room at Presbyterian Manor.

“We’ve been blessed. We just celebrated our 62nd wedding anniversary,” Lola said. “O.V. either says he’s lost track, or it’s been forever.”

“Being out to sea so much helped a lot,” O.V. joked. u

Lola Williams during her Naval swearing-in ceremony in 1955.

O.V. as a young man in the Navy.

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | January 2022

The Browns – continued from page 1 perfectly capable of making the journey, so the two women traveled together.

Bonnie had a degree in home economics and teaching from Kansas State University, which is where she and Richard met. She had begun a teaching career at Clearwater High School before joining Richard in Germany where she worked for a U.S. military school. Richard served as a meteorologist for the Army, sending up weather balloons to test the air density. fact that the artifact chosen for Kansas was a tumbleweed.

When the couple wasn’t working, they enjoyed exploring their new environment and traveling around Europe. Richard jokes that he bought his first Mercedes-Benz while they were there. The joke is the car wasn’t much to brag about, a beat-up 1949 model he purchased for $200.

Bonnie suggested they paint the frame, and they did — applying a coat of black on the street in front of their four-story apartment building.

When they returned to Kansas, Bonnie insisted on having a Christmas tumbleweed instead of a tree during the following holiday season.

The Browns’ first child was born in Germany shortly before the couple returned to Kansas. Richard completed his degree in business administration from Wichita State

Richard and Bonnie brought this trio of elves back from Germany, and they are now displayed in Richard’s apartment at Presbyterian Manor.

When their clothes started to show wear, Bonnie fixed them up with bright new duds.

and went on to work for International Harvester for more than 30 years, first in accounts receivable and then in sales.

Bonnie went back to teach at Clearwater High School. When she died in 2018, the couple had been married for 63 years. Richard said that although they spent many wonderful years together, some of his favorite memories are from those European adventures when they were young. u

The couple put a lot of miles on that old Mercedes. They visited Munich and Paris. Switzerland was “absolutely gorgeous,” and they were amazed by the architecture in Venice, Italy’s “floating city.”

“Everything we got to see was just fantastic,” Richard said.

The Browns even attended Expo 58, otherwise known as the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. They walked so much there that Bonnie wore a hole in the bottom of one of her shoes.

The American Pavilion at Expo 58 included objects representing all 50 Richard still has the “baby orders” for his first child, who was born while he and states, and they laughed about the Bonnie were living in Germany.

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | January 2022