In Memoriam
These Wichita State University alumni and friends leave lasting legacies.
Rock and Steel
The youngest of four brothers, artist Thomas “Bart” Ewonus fs ’94 learned early on how to fend for himself, a talent that came in handy years later when in the late 1970s and a student at Wichita State he faced hostile audiences as the singer for Wichita’s first punk rock bands: The Censors, The Lemurs and The Bradfords. “A lot of the music in Wichita wouldn’t have happened without [his] fearlessness,” Ewonus’ longtime friend Henry Nelson told The...
Of Passion and Protest
Vashti E. (Crutcher) Lewis ’71, educator and pioneer in the Wichita civil rights movement, was among the first African-American women to teach at Wichita State. While working toward a bachelor’s degree in biology at Friends University, she led sit-ins at area theaters and other businesses to protest discriminatory business practices. In 1969, she began working on a master’s degree in English at Wichita State. She taught at WSU from 1969 until 1977, focusing on English and Afric...
