Peace Treaty 1947 is when Jack Mott and I, Anita Keltner, were introduced.
     In September 1948 Jack and I were married.
       Our lives began in very different places and under different circumstances.
       Jack was the fourth of 8 children born to Albert and Della (Pore) Mott.
     He was born at home (1920) on the farm homesteaded by his father in western
     Kansas.
       Jack found work began at an early age, for he was herding sheep and driving
     a team of horses in the field before he was old enough to attend school. This
     set the pattern for hard work he continues today.
       Compared to the lives of his children, it would seem a very hard life.
     Highlights of his childhood include a small real rubber ball which he
     received one Christmas, a tiny tractor another. There were occasional trips
     to Iuka to visit his grandparents, and best of all a family trip to Grand
     Canyon when he was five. Jack has many happy memories of those days before
     leaving dusty Western Kansas and moving to Barber Kansas in 1935.
       I am the oldest of two daughters born to H.O. and Lyndell (Cole) Keltner.
     I was born in 1932 in Oklahoma City. Evelyn, was born in 1934, married Howard 
     Schnelle (b. 1930).
       My father was one of the first men employed by Champlin Oil Company. He
     and his brother Arthur worked on Champlin's first drilling rig.
       As we moved back and forth from Oklahoma to Kansas, we passed through
     Medicine Lodge many times. I always loved the tall trees on Main Street 
     and the winding old highway south of town.
       I was happy to attend sixth grade here in the old grade school building.
     The next year, I was back in Oklahoma.
       Finally, in 1946, we returned to Barber County. We bought the 'Old Palmer
     Place' east of Medicine Lodge where I grew up.
       When Jack and I married we moved into the 'Jackson Place' near Amber
     School. With remodelings and additions, we raised our five children here.
       Our eldest son, Wendell (b.1954) married Connie (Kimball). They have a
     son, Tony, the New Year Baby of '78.
       Renee (b,1956) has one semester left. She will graduate from college in
     Missouri where she is majoring in Geology and Ecology. She is active in 
     Campus Crusade for Christ and leaves in September for Guam where she will
     work for a year with Crusade.
       Lori (b.1958) is married to Richard Singleton. They have twin girls,
     Jessica and Jacquelyn (b.1977) and anticipate another arrival in mid '79.
       John (b.1965) and Jeff (b.1966) are students and part-time ranch hands.
     Their interests are sports and horses.
       Wendell and Rick live on the ranch and are an important part of the
     ranch operation.
       Jack is interested in preserving nature and the animals. We often see
     deer and wild turkey from our yard. We have bobcat, beaver and try to have
     a safe place for migrating ducks and geese.
       Jack's hard work, our prayers and God's blessings have made the ranch
     more than a source of income. It is our way of life. With the whole family
     working and having fun together, lasting traditions have been created tying
     the whole family close together, from the brand new grandchildren on up.
       Memories are made daily as we share the ponds, creek and hills with friends
     for picnics, 4-H and church parties, and the Easter Sunrise Service. All
     these have become a part of the full, blessed life on the ranch which God
     has generously allowed us to have.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 338 
     Submitted by: Ann Mott