Mary Vance Humphrey of Junction City, Kansas, has written a series of
short stories on the property rights of women in Kansas, a subject that
was and is, still, of vital importance to the women of the state. "The
Legal Status of Mrs. O'Rourke" and "King Lear in Kansas" are two of the
series.
When young in heart and experience, Mrs. Humphrey wrote a number of
poems. Her work in later years has been only prose. Her novel, "The
Squatter Sovereign" is an historical romance of pioneer days, the
settlement of Kansas in the fifties.
Mrs. Humphrey is one of the founders of the Kansas State Social Science
Club and the Woman's Kansas Day Club and the founder of the Reading Club
of Junction City. She has served as President of the State Federation
and as Director of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and President
of the Woman's Kansas Day Club. Her work as member of the Board of
Education has done much for Junction City and her interest in libraries
has done equally as much for the State of Kansas.
Of her record as an official, Margaret Hill McCarter has written: "Her
whole soul is in her work. She is the genuine metal, shirking nothing,
cheapening nothing, and withal happy in the enjoyment of her obligation.
She stands for patriotism, progress and peace. Something of the message
of the shepherds heard out beyond Bethlehem that Christmas morning long
ago sounds in the chords she strikes."
As the wife of the late Judge James Humphrey, she proved herself the
able companion of such a worthy man.