Laurel Rickard, son of Charles and Mima Rickard, was born March 16, 1920,
     at Zenda, Kansas. He is the 12th child in a family of eleven boys and one
     girl. A son died in infancy. In 1925 he moved with his parents to a farm
     near Medicine Lodge and attended country school for two years. When his
     parents moved to town, he finished his education in Medicine Lodge, graduating
     in 1939. The summer of 1940 Laurel went to Wyoming to work with his brother
     who was in the Singer Sewing Machine business in Rock Springs.
       In fall, 1940, he enrolled at Fort Hays State College. He attended that
     school for two year, until he entered the U.S. Army in 1942. "Dub" spent
     forty months in the 91st Evacuation Hospital - thirty-four months was
     overseas duty during World War II in Africa, Sicily, England, Germany,
     Holland, and France.
       Soon after returning from the war, he married Mary Jean Hibbard of
     Medicine Lodge in 1945.
       They moved to Hays to continue college for a year.
       In 1950 Laurel and Jay Johnson, a pharmacist, bought Hibbards Rexall
     Drug Store. John Johnson, w ho worked at the store when he was in high
     school, is now the partner.
       In 1932 when he was twelve years old, Laurel and his brother, L.O. "Sam"
     lived in a covered wagon one summer in Pratt County. They herded one
     hundred head of horses along the untraveled roads, keeping them alive on
     the grass along the roadside. There was a great drought that year. They
     met lots of people who had them in occasionally for a home-cooked meal.
       Through high school he was custodian at the Methodist Church, carried 
     ice in the summer for Dawsons Ice Plant, and drove a team of mules for
     harvest.
       Laural has always been very active in community affairs and acquired
     the name "Mr. Medicine Lodge" due to his interest in people especially
     the newcomers that came to town looking for a place to live. He belongs
     to several civic organizations and is presently president of Frontier
     County - a 12-county group that promotes tourism for Kansas.
       His favorite hobbies are his mare and colt project, and trail riding.
       Mary Jean Hibbard Rickard was born September 29, 1922, in Medicine
     Lodge. She is the second daughter of Fay and Allan Hibbard. Her sister,
     Helen, died in 1960.
       After graduation from the Medicine Lodge schools, she went on to college
     for two years. When World War II began, she came home to work at the
     Barber County Savings and Loan for three years.
       Jean remembers when the drug store was open every evening until 9:00 or
     10:00. At that time her grandfather, George Hibbard, and her father were
     the owners. On Saturdays townspeople and the farmers and ranchers all 
     came to town to shop and visit. Hours at the store were endless, and her
     dad would usually arrive home on Saturday nights around 12:00. So much
     visiting went on that no one did much stocking up for the week until the
     last minute. Saturday evening was also community concert band night, when
     anyone who played an instrument came to play. Cars would be parked three-
     deep at that time.
       Mary Jean belongs to several organizations and is a piano teacher and
     accompanist.
       Laurel and Jean belong to St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Laurel is Lay
     Reader and Jean the organist.
       They have two daughters, Georgia Ann, born April 9, 1948, and Martha
     Jean, born November 16, 1953. Georgia and her husband, Jonathan Small,
     have two children: Arron and Jennifer. Martha and her husband, William 
     Bogner, have a daughter, Julie Ann. 
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 384