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Atwood woman leaves legacy of reading
ATWOOD -- The legacy of Barbara Creighton may well be children who love to read as much as she did.
Barbara Creighton's family has created "The Barbara Creighton Reading Fund," to encourage parents to read to their young children and to instill a love of reading in those same children.
"Barbara was a voracious reader," said Bob, her husband of 43 years. "Each spring she looked forward so much to reading to young students at school."
With enrollment in the reading program, every Rawlins County child under the age of five will receive one new hardback book each month from a collection of books called "Dolly Parton's Imagination Library." The first book will be "The Little Engine that Could." The last book children will receive -- when they turn five -- is, "Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come."
There is no charge to participate in the program.
A computer will keep track of what books each family has received, and shouldn't duplicate book titles, Bob said.
According to census figures, there are 133 children in Rawlins County five years old and younger. Twenty-two have enrolled thus far; Bob encourages more to do so.
There are only four requirements for enrollment: The child must live in Rawlins County, a parent or guardian must complete the official registration form and notify fund coordinators of address changes, and, perhaps most importantly, "Read with your child."
Children gain very important things when their parents read to or with them, Bob said. "First, they pick up knowledge, and secondly, they're interacting with their parents." He continued, "As a matter of logic, children who read and have good verbal skills do better in school."
Bob said Barbara read to their sons, Alec and John, and now they and their wives read to their children. The circle goes 'round; the tradition continues.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a program John came upon, Bob said. "We felt it was an appropriate memorial for Barbara," he said.
The Creightons have funded their annual payments for the reading program through the Atwood-area's ACE (Area Community Enrichment) Foundation. Bob said he plans, in his will, to endow the reading fund through the ACE Foundation.
"The fund should go on for a long time," Bob said. "Maybe forever ... "
Bob and Barbara met when both were attending Kansas University. Although Barbara graduated from high school in Delaware, she was a fourth-generation KU student, Bob said, and a Phi Beta Kappa undergraduate studying liberal arts. She graduated in 1959, and the couple married in 1960.
The same year, they moved to Atwood, where Bob -- fresh out of law school -- had started his law career, working for Atwood attorney Forest W. Brown.
The couple has two sons, Alec, born in 1961, and John, born in 1964. Both are KU graduates.
Alec and his wife, Christie, have a son, Ben, 9 years old, and a daughter, Rachel, 2, and live in Flagler, Colo. John and his wife, Joni, have three children, Emma, 7, Joseph, 5, and Grace, 2, and live in Longmont, Colo.
Barbara died May 28, 2002, after two battles with cancer.
For more information on "The Barbara Creighton Reading Fund," and to obtain enrollment forms, write to: Barbara Creighton Reading Fund, c/o Bob Creighton, P.O. Box 46, Atwood, KS 67730.