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Independence, MO —
The Truman Library and Museum will make an unusual payment next Wednesday in Overland Park, Kan.
During “We’re Just Wild About Harry” on May 23, about 300 residents of Tallgrass Creek retirement community will witness the official pay off of Harry Truman’s delinquent, decades-old newspaper bill, amounting today to $56.63, including interest. That will go to Tallgrass Creek resident George Lund, now 80, who was Truman’s paperboy in Independence, delivering The Independence Examiner.
In 1947, Lund was a 15-year-old paperboy who had the Truman home on his route for about 6 months. He remembers the amount owed was about $7.50, and when Lund handed the route over to the next paperboy, he told him that if he ever collected that amount, Lund wanted it.
The event also will include an overview of the Truman presidency presented by Jim Peters, director of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Kansas and author of the book “Arlington National Cemetery: Shrine to America’s Heroes”; a performance of Truman’s campaign song “I’m Just Wild About Harry!” by residents; “eyewitness” testimonials by Tallgrass Creek residents of what it was like to live during the Truman years; displays of memorabilia from the Truman years; and a Harry Truman look-a-like contest.
The Truman Library and Museum will make an unusual payment next Wednesday in Overland Park, Kan.
During “We’re Just Wild About Harry” on May 23, about 300 residents of Tallgrass Creek retirement community will witness the official pay off of Harry Truman’s delinquent, decades-old newspaper bill, amounting today to $56.63, including interest. That will go to Tallgrass Creek resident George Lund, now 80, who was Truman’s paperboy in Independence, delivering The Independence Examiner.
In 1947, Lund was a 15-year-old paperboy who had the Truman home on his route for about 6 months. He remembers the amount owed was about $7.50, and when Lund handed the route over to the next paperboy, he told him that if he ever collected that amount, Lund wanted it.
The event also will include an overview of the Truman presidency presented by Jim Peters, director of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Kansas and author of the book “Arlington National Cemetery: Shrine to America’s Heroes”; a performance of Truman’s campaign song “I’m Just Wild About Harry!” by residents; “eyewitness” testimonials by Tallgrass Creek residents of what it was like to live during the Truman years; displays of memorabilia from the Truman years; and a Harry Truman look-a-like contest.
