NOTC to unveil 24th statue

The National Orphan Train Complex will unveil its 24th Orphan Train Rider Statue at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Concordia Elementary School.
Sponsored by the Concordia Elementary School Parents in Education, and Lyle, Jane, Lisa and Kevin Ross, the statue will honor Orphan Train riders Hayes Rutherford Devore and Alfred Weinhold and Helen Weinhold Ross.
Following the unveiling, there will be a reception at the Orphan Train Complex, 300 Washington St.
Elementary school students will welcome Orphan Train riders during a dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. Monday.
On November 10, 1911, 18 boys and girls arrived in Clyde under the care of agent Anna Laura Hill of the Children's Aid Society of New York. Among those children were Hayes, Alfred and Helen.
Hays was placed with John Christian and family, Clifton. Hayes moved to a home in Marion, Kan. by 1915. In 1919, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Army, and was sent to France for American Expeditionary Forces as part of the 59th Co. Camp Mead Replacement Unit #10.
In 1920, Hayes spent time as a patient in the U.S. Army Hospital at Fort Sheridan before returning to Europe. He returned from Antwerp, Belgium on January 14, 1922, and arrived in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alfred and Helen were placed in the home of J. Ed and Libbie Simmons in Clyde.
Helen attended normal training and became a teacher. She taught in Washington and Clay Center. She married Elmer Ross in 1933. The couple had two children, Shirley and Lyle Ross.
Alfred, after a year with the Simmons family, was moved between homes in Clay Center and Marion until he enlisted in the United States Navy. He served in World War I and World Ward II. He made his home in Wichita and worked at the Broadway Hotel after attending Wichita Business College.