01-30-26

Kansas Snapshots by Gloria Freeland - January 30, 2026

My friend Jim

For a time, Jim and I met every month or so at a local coffee shop to talk about this and that - our children, his grandchildren, his cattle herd on his Morris County farm, my mother's work on a book about rural schools in that same county, the state of the world, and so on, as friends do. But with his moving into an apartment at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community a few years ago and my retirement from the university, those meetings became less and less. The last time I chatted with Jim was in summer 2024.

I had known Jim for so long, that even though he was 101, I was startled to learn of his death just before Christmas.

While very few people make it to 100, Jim was not your average centenarian. After his death, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas paid tribute to him on the Senate floor.

I have tried to recall how Jim and I met, but I have repeatedly failed. Jim was born in Morris County, grew to manhood, and ran the family farm while his brothers were off fighting in World War II and his dad was managing a business. Jim enlisted, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, was selected as a Sergeant of the Guard at the Nuremberg war crimes trial, used the GI Bill to earn a degree at Kansas State University, became the head of data processing at Farm Bureau Insurance, and taught programming classes at K-State. He married Marilyn Mitchell and they raised three children together.

And these milestones were all events before I met him!

Jim and I served together for a few years on the Riley County Historical Society board of directors, and I always appreciated his wise counsel on how to preserve the county’s history and stories. But while we certainly found a variety of topics to talk about when we were together, many of our interactions were related to various commemorations connected to World War II.

When I decided to have my spring 2008 journalism students interview veterans and write stories about their experiences, Jim helped me identify those who would be willing to participate.

Jim’s main focus was remembering those who served, particularly those who lost their lives. He was among the first to participate in the historical museum's project to record the oral histories of those who served in that war. Eighty-one years ago this month, he was in the thick of the Battle of the Bulge in eastern Belgium, northern Luxembourg and western Germany. Conditions were brutal, and Jim often said he was afraid he might freeze to death.

He was a founding member of the Northeast Kansas Battle of the Bulge organization, and the group had reunions for a number of years. Husband Art and I attended the first one in January 2010. During that reunion, several veterans described their war-time experiences and governmental representatives from Belgium and Luxembourg thanked the veterans for liberating their nations.

On May 8, 2010 - the 65th anniversary of Victory-in-Europe Day - World War II veterans met again. Jim had invited a group of young women, including daughter Katie, to perform songs from "Swingtime Canteen" - the musical they had just performed the month before at Riley County High School. As I looked up and down the rows of listeners, I saw many smiles and a few tears as the girls sang "You’ll Never Know," "Don’t Fence Me In," "Sentimental Journey," an Andrews Sisters medley, and other favorites from the 1940s. Katie remarked later how much more meaningful it felt performing for the appreciative veterans than for the general public.

Jim was also active in raising funds for K-State's World War II Memorial and for the preservation of Manhattan's Peace Memorial Auditorium to remember the 101 Riley Countians who died in the war.

Jim fervently wanted to honor those who had sacrificed so much for their country, but he harbored no illusions about war. He always said he wished we would spend as much time and money working for peace as waging war. In fact, it was one of the last things he told me. He would sometimes comment, "War is just legalized murder."

I wasn't able to attend Jim's memorial service on January 16, but I asked friend Kathy to share her impressions.

It was a lovely service. ... A common theme was Jim didn't tell his kids and grandchildren how to live their lives, but the way he lived his life provided the model for them. ... Of course, his military service was featured, and it was mentioned that Jim felt God's hand was on his shoulder guiding him through his years in the service. ... His brothers were already serving in WWII when Jim enlisted, which created a hardship for the family farm ...

Meadowlark's chaplain spoke and said she hadn't known Jim had done all the things he'd done until someone else told her because he was modest and humble. The chaplain said Jim was the kind of person this Jewish expression applied to: "If not me, then who? If not now, then when?" Meaning, he would step up and get things done. ...

Kathy said one of the speakers mentioned the last scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" "where the townsfolk show up to George Bailey's home to chip in to cover the lost savings and loan funds, and his brother, Harry Bailey, calls George 'the richest man in town,' meaning Jim was that person - the richest man in town."

One of Jim's fellow guards at Nuremberg was Leo Di Palma. When he died, his daughter said, "I’m Honoring His Life, Not How He Died" Those words apply equally well to his sergeant.

I will miss Jim, but I feel privileged that he was my friend.

A sampling of past columns featuring Jim's efforts

Battle of the Bulge
Swingtime Songs
Tags of Honor
Peace Memorial Auditorium