October 26, 1999
Contact: Joe Potts, international student services, (785) 864-3617 or Mary Jane Dunlap, University Relations, (785) 864-8853.
LAWRENCE -- In 1954, Betty Grimwood and her friend Bonnie Lorentz invited University of Kansas international students to the town of Burns, about 60 miles northeast of Wichita, for Thanksgiving dinner. They began a tradition that gained Burns national attention and has continued for 45 years.
This Thanksgiving, the event will be bittersweet for residents of Burns, population 280. Betty Grimwood died May 5, 1999, of cancer.
Her husband, Ed Grimwood, and their friends and family are working to continue the tradition, which was featured in the Saturday Evening Post in 1959.
KU officials are naming the program, which includes other Kansas and greater Kansas City area families, the Betty Grimwood Thanksgiving Homestay Program.
Joe Potts, KU director of international student services, said, "Betty Grimwood's devotion to opening homes of area residents to international students each Thanksgiving has enriched the experience of studying in Kansas for hundreds of international students over the years."
"In visiting with Betty and Ed over the years, we know that they and other Burns residents often have kept in touch for many years with some of the students they met. In some cases, the brief Thanksgiving visits forged lifetime friendships bridging cultures and generations."
In 1959, then Vice President Richard Nixon presented the Grimwoods a Distinguished Service Award from the Institute of International Education. The program was featured in the Sept. 5, 1959, Saturday Evening Post magazine.
Ed Grimwood continues to hear from former KU students who spent a Thanksgiving in Burns. Many have only recently learned of Betty Grimwood's death and are sending condolences. In recent years, the Grimwoods had traveled throughout Europe and South America and were guests in the homes of many young people they had met during Thanksgivings in Burns.
Last fall, as Betty Grimwood was battling cancer, Calvin and Esta Hall helped the Grimwoods locate families to host one or two international students for the Thanksgiving weekend as well as arrange transportation for the students to Burns. In addition to Thanksgiving dinner in private homes, Burns United Methodist Women sponsors a supper at the Burns Methodist Church on Friday night.
On Saturdays, Burns hosts often take their international guests to Peabody, El Dorado or Wichita for sightseeing and perhaps some shopping. After Sunday church services, the students and their hosts are invited to a luncheon at the Methodist church, before the three-hour drive to Lawrence to return the students to campus.
The Halls have participated in the program for most of the 44 years they have lived in Burns. Calvin Hall is a retired employee of the Texaco refinery in El Dorado. Esta Hall is a housewife.
Many of the international students are from metropolitan centers in their own countries. Esta Hall doesn't recall any students talking about not having anything to do. The town has a post office, a bank, a restaurant and a feedstore.
"The quiet is just awesome for them," she said. Many students visiting her have remarked about the quiet of the rural community.