Barton County Community College has been able to replace an antiquated video system in its Fine Arts Auditorium this year, thanks to the generous giving of a local benefactor more than two years ago. Before his death June 3, 2003, at the age of 100, Theodore Frank Deal willed one-third of his estate to the college and Barton’s Institutional Advancement Office received the bequest in December of that year.

A small portion of that money was used this year to purchase a Newtek TriCaster switcher/editing system along with three Sony remote-control unit cameras and construction of the video/editing room in the auditorium. Total expense came to about $23,500. The system was first used to videotape during the college’s spring musical performance of Cinderella in early March. Besides musicals, Barton also videotapes music, theater, nursing graduation, speaking performances and special ceremonies that take place on the Fine Arts stage. Many of these performances are shown on Barton’s Cougar Channel 17, which is provided through Cox Cable.

Humble Surroundings – Ted Deal sits in a chair at his home in this undated photograph. Deal, who was the middle child of three, grew up on a farm near Great Bend. The family later moved to a house his father, William, built on Morton Street. Ted also lived in the Morton Street home during a period of time in his life as an adult. “He had gone to New York University, which seems very out of keeping for this Kansas kid who had came from farmland,” said Ted’s niece, Lynda Wood about her uncle.

Ted Deal, circa 1990

“When I responded to his niece after receiving the donation, I wrote to her, ‘I think Ted is our Christmas angel,” said Barton’s Institutional Advancement Director Darnell Holopirek. “The only thing I regret is that I cannot personally thank him for his generous gift. He must have known how much good the college has done for the communities in central Kansas and that they continue to benefit from our educational services because of people like him.”

The BCCC Foundation is planning to establish a scholarship fund in Deal’s name and will use some of the money for other purchases to benefit the college because the donation is unrestricted, Holopirek said.

“The nicest thing I can say about him is I would call and ask, ‘How are you doing, Uncle Ted?’ remembered his niece Lynda Wood, who lives in Newport Beach, Calif., “and he would say, ‘getting better every day,’ even though he had lost his eyesight.”

“He wanted me to be sure and see the college,” she said. “Barton, that was our college, that’s how he referred to it.”

Born and raised in Great Bend, ironically Deal left the area and attended New York University, Manhattan, in the early 1920s to study business only to return to Great Bend following graduation and live the rest of his life in his hometown. He was employed by a railroad company for much of his working life, but also worked for FedEx Freight. He learned to invest in the stock market at a young age and was able to grow his assets that way. Wood said a “nice summary” of Deal is that of a frugal and wise investor who had a kind heart and recognized the value of education.

“He was so frugal that he tended to even deprive himself of things and did without,” said Wood. “He was really quite a character. He did decide after he reached 90 that he would not go up on the roof anymore. As blind as he was, he was certainly independent.”

Deal Family: Pictured in this formal 1920 photo taken of the Deal family are left to right, front row: William (father), youngest child Flora, and Mary (mother). Pictured standing left to right are oldest child Walter and middle child Ted. All three children were born and raised in Great Bend, but Ted is the only sibling to stay and reside in the area. Walter settled in New Jersey with his family. Flora and her husband moved to Washington and then to California. Ted never married.