2001: Beryl was one proud mom

Still dares you to come to their hometown and find someone to say something bad about her only child. "He was such a good young man," Beryl said. "He was wonderful. Never any trouble at all."

It's mutual admiration. The son still calls his mom "a great gal."

Beryl still drives. Steers her '98 Buick LeSabre to the Christian Church every Sunday, and 27 miles to Dodge City when she needs the perks of a little bigger town, and two or three times a week to the community center for pot-luck lunches, where everyone's invited but mostly only old folks show up.

She's been out in western Kansas most of these 91 years. Born in Mullinville, Beryl grew up in nearby Joy, a map dot with a grain elevator, which her father ran.

Beryl played basketball at Mullinville High and eventually married Orville, a man who could do anything. He was a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter, a mechanic, a farmer.

Beryl's son was born in Dodge City, and during World War II they moved all over Kansas, to Winfield and Wellington and Wichita and Salina and Leavenworth, as Orville worked for a construction company, building military bases.