A response to Roger Pearson’s letter in the May 25 letter to the Ellsworth Indy-Reporter.

I was privileged to have Alice Peterka as a teacher at Wilson High School early in her career. I only had her for one class, but one memory I have was after graduation and attending college.

I was home from college for a weekend and attending a WHS basketball game. Mrs. Peterka was the teacher that sat with me part of the game to see how I was handling college life and college courses. That was an example of how much she cared about her students, even after they were out of school.

This memory brought to mind a quote I heard from Dr. David Mugler (Associate Dean, College of Agriculture, Kansas State University) several times.

“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

This was how Mrs. Peterka lived her teaching career. After college, I returned to this community and my children and grandson all had Mrs. Peterka for a teacher. They all found the same caring teacher that I had. The cornerstone of teaching for Mrs. Peterka was caring for, and about, her students, both in and out of the classroom.

A postscript to this letter is my graduating class recently had our 50th reunion. Mrs. Peterka visited with us during our time together before the banquet. She still cared about her students 50 years later.

Lyman Nuss Dorrance

‘Paper Moon’ memories

Dear Editor, Linda Mowery-Denning’s article on Wilson’s 50th anniversary of the area filming of Peter Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon” recalls my father, then proprietor of the Dorrance Heffel Retail Liquor Store. My father was a quick-witted, popular owner who is said to have sold a third, drank a third and given another third away — making more friends than money — as his son remembers it.

The filming company’s Hollywood caterer found my father’s store to his liking. I recall my dad telling me the caterer spent a week or two hanging out in his store. My dad said he never ate so well in his life.

Larry Heffel Lenexa