Homer Venters was born at Sterling, Kansas, April 16, 185, the son of
     John H. and Mary Elizabeth Johnson Venters. His parents were both school
     teachers, his father being an administrator at Sterling and later at
     Pratt. Homer's two sisters also became teachers.
       Home, however, lacked the family fondness for schooling and quit while
     in high school, after breaking an arm and shoulder on a gymnastic bar. 
     He was one of Pratt's first salaried baseball nine and played against
     the famous Cy Young, who was pitching for Wichita in the old Western
     Association.
       He began working for Western Union in 1907, as a telephone installer
     at railroad points. He later took an electrical course, qualifying
     himself to become a traveling communications technician. Homer worked
     as a trouble shooter in communications and, as synchronized time was a
     vital element in railroading, he might be required to travel 500 miles
     to spend five minutes adjusting a clock that was ten second off. At one
     time, Homer held passes to seven railroads in the United States and Canada.
       In 1911, Homer purchased an Eastman Kodak camera for $4 and began what
     was to become his life's work. He was especially fond of rodeo action; his
     first rodeo photos were taken at Greensburg.
       Homer quit Western Union in 1920, purchased a $210 Graflex and was hired
     as the official photographer fot he National Rodeo Association. In addition
     to doing advertisement photography for the member rodeos, he mass-produced
     twenty-four of his better shots as picture postcards and sold them in packets
     of twelve for twenty-five cents. Boy Scouts were hired to sell the packets
     at the various rodeos; an average day netted Homer $300.
       Homer worked with his camera resting on or near the ground and, by closely
     watching the animal, snapped spectacular air-borne poses of the animal and
     often the rider, also! During winter months, Homer did free lance work for
     National Gypsum Company and eventually became a fulltime electrician and
     photographer for them. He was associated with National Gypsum for thirty
     years, retiring in 1960.
       His home in Lake City included a dark room, where he developed the pictures
     he continued to take after his retirement. 
       Homer remained a bachelor throughout his life. He enjoyed good cigars
     and appreciated the doctor who approved of hisuse of whiskey for medicinal
     purposes.
       Life was a happy adventure for Homer, who was neither ahead or behind
     the times. He wasted few opportunities and once stated that if he had to
     change his life to live again, he wouldn't change anything.
       Homer Venters died October 30, 1975.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 465