Corrine Agreta Baruth Kautzman

Corrine Agreta (Baruth) Kautzman born April 28, 1924 at the farm of her parents, August Henry Baruth and Cora Mae (Clark) Baruth near Powell, NE. She attended District 102 County School for 8 years; Alexandria High School, Alexandria, NE, for 3 years; and then Fairbury Senior High School, Fairbury, NE, graduating May of 1941. In the fall of 1941 she enrolled in the newly formed Junior College in Fairbury and was a member of the Pioneer Club in that institution. In January 1942, she began work as the secretary for the Base Engineer at Bruning Army Airfield near Bruning, NE, one of hundreds of temporary airbases built during WWII to train B24 crews. As Patton’s army moved toward Berlin, it was changed to train P47 fighter pilots for the planned invasion of Japan. Later she became administrative assistant to the Base Transportation Officer. In 1944 she and her sister Evelyn moved to New York City, working for the Army Signal Corps days and attending the Barbizon School of Fashion Modeling nights from which they graduated in the spring of 1945. Due to the illness of their father, they returned to Nebraska. Corrine then worked at the Lincoln Army Airbase and later transferred to Forbes Army Airbase in Topeka, KS. After WWII she became secretary to the Construction Engineer, Kansas Highway Commission in Topeka, KS. On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1949, Corrine married Louis N. Kautzman, Jr., of Pittsburg, KS, at the First Methodist Church, Topeka, KS. In 1953 they moved to Lincoln, NE, where their daughter Cynthia Sue was born September 14, 1954. The family moved to Kansas City, MO, in 1957. Corrine ghostwrote two family histories for James E. Murray. Learning from this experience, she wrote her own paternal and maternal family histories. This led to writing stories of her grandparents homesteading Nebraska and her working for the U.S. Army, which turned into two books of memoirs, “Stories by a Girl From Little Sandy Creek,” published in 2012, “And Life Goes On,” in 2016. Her writing was also included in two separate books, “Army Air Corp History of Bruning Army Airfield” and “Those Who Flew.” Several stories were published in Reminisce magazines. She earned her associates degree from Maple Woods Community College in 1976 and worked for the North Kansas City School District for a number of years. She retired in 1984 as Traffic Coordinator for the Mid-America Program Service Center, Social Security Administration in Kansas City, MO. Corrine and Louis traveled extensively, often with their daughter who was a Delta flight attendant. Their travels included Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Great Britain, Bermuda, Alaska, Hawaii, and the United States. She was a member of the Fairview Christian Church and Beta Sigma Phi, a business women’s sorority. She volunteered for the ARC thrift shop and enjoyed cleaning and mending dolls to prepare them for their next life. Corrine and Louis belonged to the same Marriage Encounter Group for 18 years and lived in the North Kansas City area for 41 years before moving to Florence, KY, in 1997 to care for their ailing daughter, Cynthia Sue. Following the deaths of her husband Louis in 2002 and her daughter Cynthia Sue in 2004, she returned to Kansas City in 2005 after a telephone call from her grandson Austin who said, “Grandma, I think you would be lonely living in that big house with your dog Chyna. If you want to go back to Kansas City, I will be okay.” Corrine was active in the Barnes and Noble Writing Group in Zona Rosa, Red Hats, a book club, and Sheppard Center Lunch Group. Preceding her in death, her parents, half-brother John Baruth, half-sister Clara (Baruth) Landkamer and Flora (Baruth) Doehring; brother Walter Baruth; sisters Esther (Baruth) Kritz and Evelyn (Baruth) Prchal, nieces Karen Baruth Kritz and Georgianna Baruth; nephews Fred, John, and Ray Landkamer; Pampa the white poodle; Diamond Lil, a black and white cat; and her 14-year-old Shih Tzu companion Chyna. Surviving are grandson Austin Smith, Portland, OR; nieces Pauline Baruth (Leroy) Niederklein, Tobias, NE, and Kleo Baruth (Tomas H. Hurst) Kritz, Fitchburg, WI; nephews Kraig Kritz, Avoca, WI, and Leo (Joan) Landkamer, Denton, IA; great-nephews Jerry Niederklein, Syracuse, NE, and Terry (Stephanie) Niederklein, O’Neill, NE; a very special great-niece Renae and her husband Bob DeWald, Smithville, MO; and their families; and her black and white Shi Tzu companion Bailey. Corrine wrote, “I am in my 92nd year, carrying with me a lifetime of minor and monumental events. It was a long, short, sad, and happy ride.”