Thad Beach presented “Postcards from the Dust Bowl” to the 7th and 8th grade English classes of Kinsley-Offerle Schools. They developed fictional characters who wrote three postcards about the drought, Black Sunday, and when the rains came back. Scroll down to see the cards and read the messages.
RACHEL ALVAREZ
Character: Becky
I am 22 years old and live in Kinsley. I work at J.C. Penny’s. My daughter, Molly, stays with my sister Jane while I work. My husband works for the railroad and only comes home one day every two weeks. My best friend is Ruth.
MARTIN AMAYA
Character: Frank Mitchell
I am 16 years old and live with my parents 1 mile north of Kinsley on my parents’ farm. I work in the grocery store in Kinsley. I work for a little but sometimes the owner lets me have the old vegetables.
NATALIE ARMENTA
Character: Katelyn White
I am 21 years old and live in Kinsley, Kans. I live on my own on the edge of town. I work as a photographer for the news paper. My older brother Alex is 22 and we are really close. We like to send letters to each other. He is married and expecting a child. His wife lives down with my parents while he works down at the railroad.
TIARA BARNETT
Character: Jill
I am 25 years old and live on a farm with my husband Jack and my 4 year old daughter Jackie. My brother Tim and his wife Lillian moved to California because his wife is pregnant and about to give so they moved away from the dust.
BEN BENISH
Character: Albert Rogers
I am 19 years old. I live northwest of Ardell, Kansas in a small farm house. I work for George Benish, Sr. on his farm northwest of Offerle. He bought a new Allis-Chambers tractor. I might get to drive it. My wife, Mary Ann, and I have a son named jack who is 3 months old. I have a sister, Abigale, who lives in Kinsley and works at J. C. Penny’s. She is 23 years old.
WILL DAVIES
Character: Stan Davies
I am 22 years old and a banker in the City Bank in Kinsley Kansas. I live with my wife and my year-old son. My father left to go work for the army. My mother is a teacher at the school.
TASHAN DUPREE
Character: Fauna Mae Conner
I am 12 years old. I live on the farm right outside Kinsley with my mom and dad and my two older sisters who are 16 and 14. My brother Phillip moved away because he got a job fixing machinery. My older sister is getting married next week and moving out of state.
TOSHEA DUPREE
Character: Mary Lou
I am 24 years old. I live in a small apartment in Kinsley. I am a beautician at Maxi’s. My husband works on a farm north of Lewis. My child is 5 months old.
My sister Reeta just went to Oklahoma City for a job as a nurse.
RAYMOND ESPARZA
Character: Peter Scott
I am seventeen years old and live in Kinsley with my two older brothers. I work at a tire shop and bakery. Our dad just moved to Denver, Colorado for a better job.
ANDREW FAGAN
Character: Benoni Reeder
I am married land live in Kinsley. I am 32 year old and am the sheriff. My deputy is Charles “Shorty” Davis. He died of dust pneumonia, and his wife is now my wife. I pretty much live at the jail house. My father is in Dodge City trying to make a living and my mother is dead.
DANIEL FAGAN
Character: Billy
I am 26 years old and live in a one-story house in Kinsley. I work at Max’s as a barber. I’m a retired military officer after being shot in the leg, tearing ligaments that never healed. My wife is Daisy and we have a 2 year old son. My brother-in-law Jack left to go to the military. Mom died last year of dust pneumonia.
TARA FERGUSON
Character: Sadie Lynn
I am 21 years old. I live in the country outside of Kinsley. I work and help my husband on the farm. I also stay at home with the baby who is 8 months old. My friend just recently moved away with her husband who just got a job.
ALEJANDRA FUENTES
Character: Emily
I am 17 years old and live in Kinsley with my mom Erika and my sister Abby who is 12. I have a 24 year old brother, Bob, who is in the Navy. I work in the tractor supply store. I work around the house and I help my grandpa a lot.
BRETT GLEASON
Character: John McGraw
I am 20 years old and live on a farm 3 miles north of Offerle, Kansas. I am trying to grow wheat and raise Hereford Cattle on my grandpa’s old farm which I inherited. I live with my wife pregnant Jessie and our German Sheppard, Bessie. My farmhand left for a better job in Kinsley working the tractor store. My brother Sam left to join the Army Air Corps.
RYLEE GLEASON
Character: Ruth Hamilton
I am 28 years old and live in Kinsley. I am a lawyer at the Moffat firm. I live with my 6 year old daughter named Monica. My husband died three years ago of dust pneumonia. My brother Jack and his wife Ester moved to northern Kansas about a year ago for a job opportunity. My best friends are Becky and Jolene.
LAUREN HASLHORST
Character: Laura Lou
I am 14 year old and live with my mom, dad, and 9 year old brother on a farm in Edwards County. My family works on my grandfather’s farm. My brother and I go to school, but when it is busy on the farm we do not go to school. My boyfriend Mark just moved away because his dad got a job in Colorado.
NICK HERNANDEZ-MARTINEZ
Character: John
My name is John and I am 41 years old. I work on a farm 20 miles from Kinsley. I have a wife and two kids: a boy that is 10 and a girl that is 15. My wife’s mom and dad have just left to go to Texas to live.
BRYCE HERRMANN
Character: Ben Shackle
I am 16 years old and live just north of Kinsley on a small farm. I live with and help my dad out at the farm where I get the eggs from the barn every morning. The rest of the family lives in town. I write to Jill, a friend from another county.
KELLEN HERRMANN
Character: James
I am sixteen years old and live in downtown Kinsley. I work at the local barber shop on weekdays, and help my 30 year old father on the farm on weekends. I have a dog named Buster. My grandfather is very ill and in a hospital in Dallas, Texas.
TYLER HEYEN-GERHARDT
Character: Charles “Shorty Davis”
I am 30 years old and live in Kinsley. I am a deputy under Sheriff Benoni Reeder. I live with my 20 year old wife Rachel and my 4 year old boy whom she stays home with. My fellow deputy has currently left Kinsley to become a marshal.
KRISSTAL HOLGUIN
Character: Melissa White
I am 16 years old and live in Kinsley with my parents and sister, Anne, who is 2 years younger. I help my parents at the house and my mom at the hospital. My dad is a lawyer. We are moving to Texas where my aunt lives because of my dad’s work.
LUIS HOLGUIN
Character: Fred
I am 22 years old and live and work on a farm 10 miles outside of Nettleton, 17 miles from Kinsley. I have a wife and two kids: one is two and the other is 3 months old. My wife’s sister just left with her husband for Colorado to mine gold.
TIFFANY HUMPHREY
Character: Annabelle Smith
I am 16 years old and live on a farm near Offerle, about 5 miles towards Kinsley. I live with my mom Edith, dad John, and little sister Mae who is 5. I have to milk the cow, feed the chickens, and hang the clothes on the clothesline. I also have an older brother Charlie but he left to study photography in Nebraska. He hopes to travel the world and be a very well-known photographer.
CHEYENNE INGVALSON
Character: Stephanie
I am 14 years old and live in Kinsley. I live with my parents and brother and work as a clerk at the store. My sister Amy moved to Offerle to become an actress.
BRENDA MARTINEZ
Character: Rin Merlin
I am 21 years old and live in Kinsley. My husband Max is 25 years old and my two kids are a 3 year old boy and a 1 month baby girl. I work as a policeman. Sometimes I’m out of my house and can’t spend much time with my family. At least my kids have a good babysitter, Anney. My husband works at the railroad. He has been gone for a while now.
STACEY MARTINEZ
Character: Brooke
I am 25 years old. I live in town with my mom, dad, and little sister. I work at the bank. My brother Dave and my sister-in-law moved to Denver from Kinsley last week because he got a new job.
MADISON McELWAIN
Character: Jolene Miller
I am 24 years old and live in a small house in Kinsley by myself. I am a teacher. I left my family in Missouri and moved to Kinsley.
HARLEY SAYLER
Character: Libby Thorne
I am 20 years old and live with my husband Jackson Thorne in Kinsley. He is 25 years old. He works as an actor. I also have a 1 year old baby girl, Arika, and I am 3 months pregnant. I am a newspaper journalist and I work for the Mercury newspaper. I have 5 bestest friends: Holly West who is my best friend and Jackson’s little sister, Amy Kinder, Maria Sanchez, Carrie West, and Ashley Kinder. I don’t get along with my mum and pops (It’s a long story.) Holly moved to Colorado for a new fancy job. I miss her very much.
BRET SCHALLER
Character: Charles
I am 20 years old and life on a farm by Kinsley with my wife and my kid, Luke. I am a farmer. I ploy fields and raise livestock. My grandpa has moved away and became and a blacksmith.
GISSELLE SAENEZ
Character: Aalihay
I am 22 years old and live in Kinsley. I work as a nurse. I just started my career about 4 months ago. I live on my own right now as I am concentrating in being a great nurse. I used to live with my sister Carla. She is 21 but she had to leave because she got offered a job.