Annual Meeting Set for Saturday, June 5

The annual meeting of the WCHS will be held at the Alma Community Center located west of the high school athletic field on the north edge of town.  Reservations are $10 and can be made by contacting the museum by June 1.  The event will include a catered meal starting at 11:30 a.m. followed by a short meeting, and then a program.

This year the WCHS is focusing on the Native Americans who lived in our area before the arrival of the white settlers.  We are pleased to have Jon Boursaw from Topeka, KS as our speaker.  His ancestors, Jude and Joseph Bourassa, operated gristmills along Mill Creek for the government in the late 1840’s to supply flour and corn meal for the Potawatomi Reservation.  The mills were located on the present day ranch owned by Dr. William and Sylvia Brethour south of Maple Hill.

Jon Boursaw was born December 29, 1939 at Topeka.  He graduated from Washburn University in 1961 and entered the U.S. Air Force with a commission through the Air Force ROTC program.  He served at a number of stations in the U.S, including three years as a ROTC instructor at Kansas State University, and fours years at Air Force Headquarters in Washington D. C.  He also served in Canada, Thailand, and West Germany where he was promoted to Colonel in 1981.  He became a base commander in Italy in 1983.

After his retirement from the Air Force, Jon served as Executive Director of San Bernardino, CA Foundation for Medical Care; Assistant Vice-President of Aetna, Government Health Plans; and Director of Tri-care Operations in Reston, VA.  In 1999 he became Executive Director of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribal Government at Mayetta, KS where he served until the end of 2005.  In 2006 he became the Director of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center at Shawnee, OK until November of 2008. 

Jon is very knowledgeable of Potawatomi history and will provide an interesting view of history from the Native American perspective.

Earlier this spring the WCHS Board made the decision to create a designated area in the museum for traveling exhibits.  The former bedroom and child displays were removed and Larry Garrison of Alma was selected to create the exhibit area.  We are pleased to have the Citizen Potawatomi Exhibit be the first to utilize the space.  The grand opening of this exhibit will occur after the annual meeting at the museum and be presented by members of the CPN (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) starting at 2 pm.  The display will include various maps, documents and images of Citizen Potawatomi showing their migration from the St. Lawrence River in Canada, and the trail of Death where they were forced to move from Twin Lakes, Indiana to Kansas Territory.  There will also be highlights of the Kansas Reserve showing the locations of the Louis Vieux Crossing, Ferry Crossings, Uniontown, Jude Bourassa’s Grist Mill, and Abram Burnett’s Homestead, burial site and mound. There will also be images of Tribal members in Kansas, especially the Wilmette family who lived north of Maple Hill.  The public is invited to come.  The CPN Nation will serve refreshments at this event.~