----- Original Message ----- From: James Laird To: KSJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2002 11:00 AM Subject: Obituary: Mrs. L.K. ROBINSON... The Perry Mirror Thursday February 11, 1954 Mrs. L. K. Robinson. Mother of Mrs. Abels Was Early Day Settler In Eudora Community. Lizzie Kunkle ROBINSON, one of the last of the early day, Douglas county pioneers, passed away at ther home in Lawrence on Feb. 6 at the age of 93. She was born at Orville, Wayne Co., Ohio, Sept. 5, 1860, the youngest daughter of John and Maria KUNKLE who were pioneers in Ohio moving there from Pennsylvania. The Swiss and German ancestry of the family has been traced back as far at the 15th century. As a child she helped her father with the farm work and the milking. She did not use the side-saddle like other girls who rode horses. Not only did she help sow and flax and harvest it but she helped with the breaking of the stalks, the spinning of the thread and the weaving of the cloth, some of which is still in use in her home. In those early days even the bed ticks (replaced today by a mattress) and grain sacks were made from the homemade linen spun by hand from the flax grown on the farm. Throughout the years and almost to the date of her death she told of the outdoor cooking and baking and the making of lye from wood ashes saved carefully all winter. The lye was then used for making soap from the grease and waste at butchering time. Baking was done in an outdoor oven when 20 or more pies, coffee cake and dozens of loaves of bread were made at one time--enough to last the family a week or more. The stern discipline of her girlhood home instilled in her an umcomprising regard for truth and right. It was on this background of convictions taught by parents and verified by nature as she met life on a pioneer farm that her formal education was based. At first she rebelled against going to school but her interest in political affairs which started during the campaign of Horace Greeley for the presidency in 1872 when she was only 12 years old inspired her to such an extent that she became an excellent student. She graduated from the Fremont (Indiana) Normal School in 1879 and did post graduate work there the following year. Her first public work consisted in organizing a countywife meeting and program in observance of the 62nd birthday anniverssary of Susan B. Anthony, the leader for woman suffrage. It was during this work that she challenged anyone to debate the woman suffrage issue, a challenge that was never accepted. In 1885, Mrs. ROBINSON and her sister Emma came to Kansas going first to Burlingame to the home of a relative, then to Fall River in Elk county where she taught in the Indian Creek school, the first school in that county. The next year she taught a term at Newton after which the two sisters moved to Eudora. Mrs. ROBINSON taught the Farmland school in the Kaw valley. The sisters lived in the American House, the city hotel, and opened a millinery shop there. The late Dr. W.H. ROBINSON had his office there and on March 28, 1890, the Doctor married Lizzie, the younger of the two sisters. It was during her married life in the Eudora community through her active particiapation in political and civic affairs that Mrs. ROBINSON's influence helped in the building of a better community and state. She led the bitter fight to establish a high school in Eudora; it took five elections before necessary bonds were voted and the building built in 1903. The law required a six-months wait after a defeat before another petitiion could be circulated; the day it became legal she was out with another petition in her continuing fight for a high school. Mrs. ROBINSON served on the Board of Education in Eudora for four terms. She was responsible for the bringing of Lyceum courses and Chautaquas to her community so the boys and girls could have the right kind of entertainment. Along with this local, community activity she took an active part in state and national politics. She was a loyal Republican but placed great emphasis on the character of the candidates. In 1912 she took an active part in the campaign for woman suffrage traveling over the state making speeches. In 1920 she took part in the national campaign for woman suffrage. In 1909 she was elected county president of the W.C.T.U. and served in that capacity for nine years. She was state treasurer of the W.C.T.U. for five years from 1919 to 1924. In 1922 she was one of the 9 sates delegates to the World W.C.T.U. convention in Philadelphia. Early in her life Mrs. ROBINSON decided it was the duty of a citizen to work for the best interests in her community, state and nation. She gave up all social life in order to give all of her spare time to political questions. Once her decision was made on a question there was no compromise. During the Gov. Clyde M. Reed administration she was offered and accepted a position on the State Board of Censorship for motion pictures and traveled extensively over the state. Throughout her life she worked for principles of the Republican party and was active in every campaign. She was ill and helpless at election time in 1952 but insisted on being carried to the polls so she could vote for Eisenhower for president and the rest of the republican ticket. She is survived by Mrs. Edwin F. ABEL, her only child; her granddaughter, Mrs. Emerson HARLETT and two grandsons. Funeral services were held on Tuesday afternoon from the Schubert Funeral Home with the Rev. Frank Waring, an old friend of the family in charge. Burial was in the Eudora cemetery.