Battin-Lester Corporate Responsibility Fellowships Landing Page

John Young, a 1965 Wichita State University history and political science major, established this fund in 2020, with his wife Kathleen. The fund is in memory of his maternal great-grandfather, E.T. Battin and his maternal grandfather, H.D. Lester. 

E.T. Battin

E.T. Battin was born in 1852 and died in Wichita in 1931. From ages 14 to 26 he was his birth family’s breadwinner because his father was captured as a Union soldier who became ill in a rebel prison, and came home to die. E.T. Mr. Battin moved west to Kansas, Oklahoma Indian territory and Texas as a cowboy driving cattle north. When Oklahoma opened to white settlers, E.T. started hardware stores to provide them with the tools they needed for farming and ranching, and also continued his involvement in the cattle industry. He got involved in a grain storage business, built hardware stores in Wichita and elsewhere, a paint business, the Martin Metal business, and real estate investments. He helped organize the National Bank of Wichita, which became Kansas’ largest bank as the 4^th National and is now part of Bank of America.

Battin had great faith in Wichita. He was elected to the City Commission in 1911 and served for four years as its commissioner of finance. He was largely responsible for the city’s excellent system of paying off bond issues yearly. In 1917, the Commission adopted the Commission-City Manager form of government, and E.T. was prevailed upon to become Wichita’s first City Manager until a professional could be hired, but did so as a volunteer. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Wesley Hospital and a leader in the First Methodist Episcopal Church.

H.D. Lester

E.T. Battin's daughter, Edna, met her future husband, H.D. Lester, on a pleasure boat trip up the Hudson River from NYC to West Point. Lester had grown up on his family’s farm in Haddock, Georgia, which they had owned since 1790. He was working for a Florida railroad when H.D. and Edna met. He moved to Wichita and worked in a coal company, organized and ran an insurance company, and then worked his way up within the 4^th National Bank, eventually serving as its Vice President and was also involved in several Federal Savings and Loan businesses. He owned several Wichita-area farms and kept up the Georgia estate with great affection and regular visits.

H.D. Lester was active in Wichita civic leadership for 43 years. He served as City Clerk from 1915 to 1922, as an enthusiastic expander of Wichita’s park system, was a member of its Park Board for 17 years, was hired as its City Manager, and served as a City Commissioner from 1953 to 1957, including a term as Wichita’s Mayor.

1. Two (2) scholarships/fellowships of $1,900 each will be awarded annually to undergraduate or graduate students enrolled full or part time at Wichita State University.
2. No recipient will be excluded from consideration on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disablility, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, political affiliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a veteran. 
3. Awards will be made without regard to financial need. 
4. Recipients must meet and maintain the academic eligiibility criteria determined by their college. 
5. Recipients will work each summer, under the direction of a faculty mentor, producing a written research report that will be publicly presented to the Battin-Lester Corporate Responsibility Panel on or around Constitution Day (Sept. 17) annually. The Panel will consist of a prominent Wichita political or business leader and two additional questioners representing Wichita's diverse leadership population. 
6. The Scholarship Officce of Wichita State University will administer the scholarships/fellowships and make the awards based on the recommendations submitted by the Department of Political Science.
7. The Scholarships/Fellowships are one-time awards.