Retired educator pens book on old schools
Staff writer
A complete list of teachers, principals, and superintendents at all Marion County schools is the subject of a book by a Marion high school graduate who spent his career in education.
Lowell Ensey, son of longtime Marion physician T.C. Ensey, graduated from high school in 1963. He then earned a degree in mathematics, taught high school math for three years, and earned advanced degrees for a 34-year career in education. He retired in 2006.
A friend’s question of which school his great-grandfather had earned a diploma set Ensey on a records search of Marion County schools from the settling of the county until today.
“I worked on it off and on for five years,” Ensey said.
He discovered not only the name of every school, but the names of superintendents, principals, and teachers. The end result is the 254-page book, “Schools and Teachers of Marion County, Kansas 1865-1969.”
“I had it published this past year,” Ensey said.
He researched the archives of museums, libraries, newspapers, and schools.
“This book is the only place you can find a complete list of teachers in one place,” Ensey said. “They are scattered in different places, and that’s what took me so long to find all of it.”
His most surprising discovery along was that some schools turned into homes and moved into towns, mainly in the 1940s.
“There are two or three in Marion and one or two in Hillsboro,” Ensey said.
He has given copies of his book to people who helped him with his research, libraries, museums, each of the county’s five unified school districts, Marion Assisted Living, the senior center, and others who expressed an interest in having it.