Kathryn Welton McSpadden came to Medicine Lodge from Kansas City, 
     Missouri, in January 1972, to live in the new Indian Hills Lodge. A
     daughter, Kathryn Roberta "Brenda" McLain, urged her to make the move,
     even though she would be leaving other relatives and friends.
       Kathryn was born in 1889 and raised on a farm near Excelso Springs,
     Missouri. She and a brother, Eli, attended a rural school and church
     in Prathersville, Missouri, when weather and health permitted. She
     also attended Yeager and Spalding Business Schools in Kansas City,
     Missouri, and was employed at a shoe store on Petticoat Lane.
       She and Elzie Robert McSpadden were married June 26, 1913. Elzie
     had been born and raised on a farm near Freeman, Missouri. There are
     four children: Virginia Ruth, Kathryn Roberta, Franklin Welton, and
     Elizabeth Isabelle.
       Due to illness, Kathryn and the children lived in California (the
     youngest, Elizabeth, was born there) and Arizona; then the family
     moved to Colorado Springs in 1931, where her health improved.
       After working 31 years as railway mail clerk, Elzie Robert retired
     in 1939, and the family returned to Kansas City, Missouri. He liked 
     to work in the yard and usually had a vegetable garden, but always was
     busy at home or doing odd jobs for the neighbors. He worked several 
     years in the Swope Park Greenhouse before his death in 1953.
       Kathryn enjoyed working in the yard with flowers beside doing handwork
     and playing the piano. Church activities have been an important part of
     her life, and she attends Golden Agers. She's always happy to make a
     trip back to the old homestead, which her niece and nephew operate now.
     She visits old friends and relatives, but is grateful for the many new
     friends in Barber County.
                 
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 309 
     Submitted by: Kathryn McSpadden