Roger says he writes about “the good, the bad and the ugly” of Kansas history. In his latest book, “True Tales of Kansas,” Roger tells about famous and not-so-famous Kansans in short, well-researched vignettes. Recently, the Kansas Authors Club awarded Ringer’s newest book the 2021 Martin History Book Award.
Ringer, who grew up near Goddard, said the tales he heard as a youngster from both his family and his high school history teachers led him down the path of discovering more tales that tell the history and the people of the Sunflower State.
Included in “True Tales” are stories from across the state, including a tattoo artist from the late 1800s, an inventor of an airplane from Hays and stories of President Theodore Roosevelt visiting Abilene, Junction City and Topeka.
One of Ringer’s favorite stories is about Lloyd Ratts of Stafford County. Ratts started farming with horses and died at 103, witnessing GPS in tractors. Ringer writes that Ratts spoke of riding a four-horse team when he was 6 and moving over to a tractor when he was 10.
“He’s just a fascinating character,” Ringer said.
Later on, Ratts invented a device that could open and close a grain bin from the ground. This invention, Ringer said, saved many lives.
Another story that Ringer thought was fascinating was that of Maud Stevens Wagner, who was born Maud Stevens in 1877 and grew up on a farm in Lyon County, close to Emporia. Eventually, she joined the circus, becoming an aerialist and a contortionist.
Her husband, Gus Wagner, taught her how to tattoo. He learned the art in the South Pacific. Using the hand-poked method, the couple plied their trade around the world. According to Ringer, Maud Wagner became one of “the most decorated women in the world” at that time.
“There is a tattoo parlor named after her in Emporia,” he said. “What a story. It is so untypical of Kansas’ conservative roots.”
Ringer also speaks of two deaths at a young age. One of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. James Allen Maxwell, the other of country musician Joey Feek.
“What I’m trying to do is to tell the story of people and places that have fallen through the cracks of the standard histories,” Ringer said. “They are not going to be generally people or topics that you would normally think of in Kansas.”
Ringer said some of the stories are not known in their own families.
“There’s a lot that makes my research very difficult,” he said. But, Ringer feels they are all stories that should not be forgotten.
“I don’t pull any punches,” he said. “Not all my stories are feel-good stories. The way I say it is I write about the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Ringer’s other books are “Kansas Oddities: Just Bill the Acting Rooster, The Locust Plagues of Grasshopper Falls, Naturalist Camps And More” and “Eccentric Kansas: Tales from Atchison to Winfield.”
Along with purchasing his books at local bookstores, Ringer, who lives near Medicine Lodge, has a website that details his works.
