[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18246-18248]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



              TRIBUTE TO DANE GRAY BALES, A KANSAS LEGACY

 Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to call attention to 
the death, August 26, 2001, of a good friend and distinguished Kansan, 
Dane Gray Bales of Logan, KS.
  Mr. Bales was born in 1918 to a pioneer Kansas family. He served in 
the Army Air Corps in WWII and returned home to Kansas to work for the 
Hansen Oil Company.
  Throughout his life he was a community builder and civic leader known 
across the State. Fort Hays State University gave him its Distinguished 
Service Award in 1985.
  Mr. Bales is best known for his untiring support for higher education 
in Kansas. With his wife, Polly, he was life member of the University 
of Kansas Chancellor's Club, the School of Business Dean's Club, the 
School of Fine Arts Dean's Club, the Williams Fund, Jayhawks for higher 
education, the Mt. Oread Fund and other organizations.
  They were major contributors for the Dane and Polly Bales Organ 
Recital Hall and the Wolff Organ and they established the first organ 
professorship at the University of Kansas.
  I submit for the record a recent article from the Hays Daily News 
that comments on Mr. Bales' outstanding life of service to Kansas and 
the eulogy delivered by Kenneth Tidball, superintendent of schools in 
Logan.
  I ask that the article and eulogy be printed in the Record.
  The material follows:

               [From the Hays Daily News, Sept. 2, 2001]

                              Logan Legacy

       Flags flew at half-staff. Downtown businesses closed early. 
     For at least an hour on

[[Page 18247]]

     Wednesday afternoon, this small Phillips County community 
     closed up shop to pay its respect to a man who was more than 
     just a lifelong resident.
       Dane Bales embodied the tradition of small-town Kansas. 
     While he carried the portfolio of an accomplished 
     businessman, political activist and world traveler, Bales' 
     appreciation and love for his hometown was one of his 
     greatest attributes.
       It was something he had learned at an early age.
       His uncle, Dane G. Hansen, the namesake of a multimillion-
     dollar trust fund and not-for-profit foundation in downtown 
     Logan, exemplified the same characteristics.
       Hansen never married, and at the time of his death in 1965, 
     his estate, valued at between $9 million and $16 million, was 
     left to a foundation bearing his name. Those funds were to be 
     used explicitly for the betterment of area residents.
       That money had grown first from a simple general store, 
     handed down to Hansen by his parents, Danish immigrants who 
     were part of Logan's original settlement in the late 19th 
     century. His business dealings later developed into a 
     lumberyard, then road construction and finally the oil 
     business. Ultimately, Hansen's success developed into exactly 
     what he wanted, innumerable opportunities for Kansas 
     residents.
       For 36 years, it all overseen by his nephew, the lone 
     descendant of the Hansen family.
       At the time of Hansen's death, Bales was named to head the 
     family trust and also was one of seven men handpicked by his 
     uncle to head the Hansen Foundation. Now, Bales' widow, 
     Polly, said the family legacy will continue, just without a 
     family patriarch heading the board.
       The couple's only son, Dane G. Bales Jr., died of leukemia 
     in May 1998. His widow, Carol, now of Atchison, still serves 
     as a trustee for the trust and foundation.
       Polly Bales said legal documents stipulate that the trust 
     will continue for 20 years after the death of the Hansen 
     family's final descendant. That now ensures it will continue 
     through 2021.
       Although his life was surrounded by great experiences and 
     people of all walks of life, this week Bales was remembered 
     as a man who loved a few simple things.
       The Rev. Ron Lowry told the hundreds of people who packed 
     into the Logan United Methodist Church for Bales' funeral 
     that he frequently tries to ``find the unique'' things in a 
     person. That was a simple task this week, he said. ``There 
     were so many unique things about Dane.''
       Neighbor Kenneth Tidball talked about Bales' passion for 
     golf. And while he loved Kansas football and basketball, golf 
     had been his game for a number of years. He played his last 
     round of 18 holes less than a month ago.
       Following a lifelong admiration for airplanes, at age 46 he 
     learned to fly and bought his first plane. Also an 
     accomplished ham radio operator, Lowry said he shared that 
     hobby with Bales. As he talked to Polly Bales about it, she 
     joked with Lowry that if he's ever able to send a message to 
     Bales' signal, he was to notify Bales that she also expected 
     to hear from him.
       ``I appreciated the kind of love they had for each other,'' 
     Lowry said. ``They were such a complement to each other.''
       The two met while students at the University of Kansas. 
     Polly Bales said her husband of nearly 60 years was dating 
     her roommate while they were in school.
       ``I was trying to get the two of them together,'' she 
     recalled.
       Then one night, Bales called and asked if she wanted to go 
     to Kansas City to attend an Ella Fitzgerald concert.
       ``I said, `Oh I sure did.' That's how it started. We dated 
     for at least a year and a half. I wasn't trying to get him. I 
     didn't really notice him, but that's how it worked out,'' she 
     said.
       Their love of the Jayhawks was a shared passion. They were 
     members of countless school-related organizations and 
     activities, all dedicated to the promotion of higher 
     education.
       For 21 years they have hosted the area KU Honors Program, 
     and in recent years have welcomed KU Chancellor Robert 
     Hemenway's Wheat State Whirlwind Tour to the Dane G. Hansen 
     Memorial Museum and Hansen Plaza. They were among the first 
     to tour with the KU Flying Jayhawks and traveled with the 
     group on 30 international trips.
       They were major contributors for the Dane and Polly Bales 
     Organ Recital Hall, adjacent to KU's performing arts center 
     in Lawrence, and the couple since have established the 
     university's first organ professorship.
       Although Polly Bales said at first they ``protested a 
     little bit'' the name of the recital hall, school officials 
     told them that the Board of Regents already had decided on 
     its name.
       ``So much of what we have is because of the Hansens. We 
     thought that would be the name attached to it, but they said 
     it was done. That was what they had decided,'' said Polly 
     Bales, a former organ student at KU. ``What an honor.''
       In 1985, the couple were awarded the Fort Hays State 
     University Distinguished Service Award. Two years later, they 
     were included in the KU Gallery of Outstanding Kansans, and 
     both have received the Fred Ellsworth Medallion from the 
     university.
       ``We were in pretty heady company,'' Polly Bales said with 
     a smile.
       Earlier this year, the couple received the Volunteers of 
     the Year award from a 10-state district of the Council for 
     Advancement and Support of Education.
       All of those recognitions, which Polly Bales said they both 
     cherished, hang in the hallway of the couple's home, built on 
     the same stretch of land where Bales was born and where he 
     died, and just across the street from Hansen Plaza.
       ``I always told him he didn't go too far,'' Polly Bales 
     said of her husband, joking that he was born, worked and even 
     died in an area equivalent to the size of a couple of city 
     blocks.
       His steadfast commitment to his hometown has not gone 
     unnoticed. His death in fact brought an end to a long-
     standing record in Logan, 130 continuous years of business by 
     a member of the Hansen family.
       This week's issue of the Logan Republican, the weekly 
     newspaper, refers to Bales on its front page as ``a legend.''
       ``The love he had for our community was extraordinary. He 
     could have chosen to make his home anywhere in the world but 
     he chose to stay in Logan, Kansas, where his family roots had 
     long been a part of our community. The recognition and 
     prestige he gave our little town will forever be 
     remembered.''
       Even among all of their success and fortune, Polly Bales 
     said she knows her husband would be floored by all the 
     attention showered on him this week. Floral shops delivered 
     more than 80 arrangements in his name, and just one day's 
     mail, full of sympathy cards and condolences, filled a couple 
     of shoeboxes.
       ``He would be so thankful. I know he would,'' she said as 
     tears filled the corners of her eyes. ``I'm so lucky that I 
     fell into this family. They're so loving, and they've always 
     taken care of me. But I'm going to miss him.''
                                  ____


                       Eulogy for Dane Gray Bales

 (By Kenneth Tidball, Superintendent of Schools, Logan, KS, August 29, 
                                 2001)

       A reporter from a big city newspaper called me Monday at my 
     office to ask me why I was doing the eulogy for Dane Gray 
     Bales. He said why isn't the governor or the chancellor of KU 
     or Congressman Moran doing it. I told him I didn't know why, 
     but I could tell him this, no one could be more honored, no 
     one could feel more privileged than I did to talk about what 
     a wonderful, kind, loving man Dane was.
       I told that reporter that I felt so inadequate to do 
     justice to the man we've come to honor today. There are so 
     many of you gathered here that have had a much longer 
     relationship with Dane that I have; some of you did business 
     with Dane; some of you played golf with Dane; some of you 
     flew, or skiied, or traveled or went to ballgames or 
     supported KU or loved chocolate or did several of those 
     things that made up such a large part of Dane's life; I 
     didn't have those special opportunities.
       My special opportunity was that Dane was my neighbor. When 
     we moved back to Logan, God saw to it that we had the special 
     privilege of moving next door to the Bales. There I learned 
     to respect and admire a descendent of true pioneer stock, a 
     man with more determination and tenacity than most of us have 
     bones in our body, a man who could do hand-to-hand combat 
     with his fountain in the yard, or underground sprinkler and 
     make them work again. He could also talk about world affairs, 
     the stock market, education and consumer prices.
       But a special delight was I always knew things were right 
     with the world when I would look out my east window and see 
     Dane up on his roof with his leaf blower, or getting ready to 
     go play golf; wrestling with his fountain or getting ready to 
     play golf; filling his bird feeder, putting ears of corn out 
     for the squirrels, or getting ready to go play golf. There's 
     no doubt about it, Dane loved to play golf.
       Some of his golfing buddies have told me stories about 
     Dane's game. Rich Wallgren says his special putting 
     technique, the jump-n-putt, should be adopted by the PGA 
     tour.
       Jerry Patterson gave me the following observation from 
     which I now quote:
       ``I have played a lot of golf with Dane, all over the state 
     of Kansas and in a few other states as well. Dane was a very 
     honest person in all that he was involved in. At the age of 
     83 his golf game wasn't as good as it might have once been 
     and after tallying up, say an 8 on a hole, the scorekeeper, 
     which was usually Rich or I, would try to make it a little 
     easier on him. We'd ask Dane, `You had a 7 didn't you?' He 
     would answer back `No, I had a dag-blasted 8.' If you are a 
     golfer you know when someone offers to give you one less 
     stroke on a hole, it tests your honesty. Dane always 
     declined.
       Dane loved the game of golf and when we had finished for 
     the day, he would often ask, `Where are we going tomorrow?' 
     The answer from the rest of us usually was, `I don't care, 
     wherever you guys want to.' ''
       Dane played 18 holes less than a month ago.
       As dedicated as he was to his golf, he was even more 
     dedicated to the responsibility of his office. Less than 
     three weeks ago, Dane came back from KU medical center to 
     work

[[Page 18248]]

     in his office for two hours because the trustee meeting was 
     the following day. Dane faithfully felt the responsibility 
     and the importance of carrying out the wishes of his Uncle 
     Dane and rarely missed a meeting of either the Foundation or 
     the Trust. As they traveled around the world, to 60 different 
     countries, I always knew they would be home for the third 
     Friday of the month.
       There is no doubt that Dane was respected by important 
     people and men of position. He was invited by then Secretary 
     of Defense Dick Cheney to become a member of the Joint 
     Civilian Orientation Committee and later the Defense 
     Orientation Conference Association. With these organizations, 
     Dane visited U.S. military installations in the U.S. and 
     abroad.
       Dane was among the first six men inducted into the Kansas 
     Oil Pioneer Hall of Fame.
       He and Polly were awarded the Fred Ellsworth Medallion for 
     unique and significant service to KU and the Distinguished 
     Service Award from Fort Hays State University. He and Polly 
     received the Volunteer Award for District 6 for the 
     Advancement and Support of Education.
       He was a member of the Chancellor's Club, School of 
     Business Dean's Club, Williams Fund, School of Fine Arts 
     Dean's Club, Friends of the Lied Center, Friends of KU 
     Libraries, Friends of Spencer Museum of Art.
       Dane and Polly were honored by the KU Gallery of 
     Outstanding Kansans in 1987.
       There is no doubt about it, Dane has made his mark on the 
     face of this earth. In the oil industry, in defense, in 
     education, in the world of music with his role in the 
     construction of the Bales Recital Hall at KU, and in cancer 
     research.
       A few years ago, I wrote Dane a short letter congratulating 
     him for some recent honor bestowed upon him. I'm going to 
     share with you the gist of that letter. ``In 1964 my father 
     met D.G. Hansen. When he came back from that meeting he told 
     me he had just met the smartest man he'd ever met. I would 
     say the smartest man I ever met was Dane Bales.''
       You know something, Dane would not like for us to make over 
     him this way, he would be uncomfortable and embarrassed.
       But I can't help it. I admired him so, I respected him so, 
     and I, like the rest of you, will miss him so.
       Dane was not a demonstrative person, but his love for Polly 
     was legendary, and although they won't get to celebrate their 
     60th wedding anniversary this November, the last sentence 
     that Dane said to Polly was ``I love you.'' What a beautiful 
     memory.
       I'm going to close with a quotation from a letter written 
     by a grand-nephew of Dane's just last week. ``A man who 
     spends his life doing God's work and helping others, is a man 
     that will be remembered forever in the hearts of loved ones 
     and all who have known him. I feel my life has been enriched 
     having been able to say that Dane is my uncle. I know in the 
     Bible that a `proud person' is a sinner, but I will be 
     forever `honored' for what my Uncle Dane stands for and 
     believes in. With all my love, Michael.''
       My life has been enriched having been able to say that Dane 
     was my neighbor.

                          ____________________