By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
United States Senator Jerry Moran made a stop at Kansas Wesleyan University while in Salina on Friday.
Moran was on hand for the unveiling of a representation of the plaque that will denote Kansas Wesleyan's Pioneer Hall as being on the National Register of Historic Places. The building, which was finished in 1929, was named to the register in January.
READ: KWU's Pioneer Hall named to National Register of Historic Places
"My previous visits here have been on things about today and the future, and it's appropriate that today we take a look back on the beginnings of Kansas Wesleyan and the historic value of this building and its symbolic value to Salina, to Kansas, to the students and faculty at Kansas Wesleyan," Moran said to those assembled in front of the Pioneer Hall steps.
Moran said he also was in Salina Friday to attend the funeral of Jack Vanier.
"In addition to being with you today at Kansas Wesleyan, I'm attending the funeral services of Jack Vanier, one of those examples of a pioneer, as this building is named, that made a significant difference in this community and this state, and in this university," Moran said.
"We need to find those people and we need to honor them and we need to role model them," Moran continued. "This country desperately needs not politicians, but good citizens, and that's what we're honoring today, good citizens of the past who decided to make a bright future for the citizens of the future."
While he was on campus, Moran also received an update about Kansas Wesleyan from President Matt Thompson.