Diana Keefover Lauer

jhlauer@prodigy.net

After graduating from Kansas State University in 1966 with a degree in Interior Design, I mainly worked with residential clients through Design Forum in Topeka. In 1977, I joined Kiene and Bradley Design Group and was fortunate to work on the interiors of many area buildings. The renovation of Topeka's Municipal Auditorium (remember where the Circus, the Harlem Globe Trotters games, and even Liberace's concert were held?) into Topeka Performing Arts Center has been the most exciting and rewarding. I left the firm in 1992 to work independently with a local developer on several Holiday Inns throughout the Midwest. Since then I have worked with other developers and owners of commercial properties and with home owners doing extensive remodeling. Because of several factors, with the downturn in the economy being the main one, since 2008 I have also worked for the Kansas Legislature which keeps me busy from January into May each year. I had become curious about the process of making (and changing!) our laws and when several friends suggested "@that I might like working during session, I decided to give it a try. It's a lot more complicated and drawn out than I ever imagined, but I have enjoyed watching the process every year and look forward to going back each year.

My family has always been my number one priority and I attended every school function, athletic event and band performance, summer sports and dance recital my children participated in, as well as helping out when I could with Boy Scouts, Bluebirds and school carnivals! Now I do the same for my grandsons. That keeps me busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way! I have been involved in several professional and women's organizations at the local level over the years, serving in various offices. I am still very active in one that encourages and supports women who either own their own business or who would like to do so.

John and I love spending time with family and friends here in Topeka, Kansas City, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Florida and there are other states we have yet to go. We enjoy visiting historical sites in Kansas and anywhere along the way our travels take us. Antiquing and attending auctions are also things we like to do.

I came to HPHS as a Freshman from a class of 14 at Wanamaker School in the Washburn Rural District where I had attended only for the last six months of eighth grade. We moved to rural Topeka from Clay Center, KS with a population of 5,000, and then in July of 1958, we moved into the Highland Crest area. As I recall there were around 300 students in our class alone that fall, and I remember being overwhelmed by so many new students and teachers, as well as the size of the school! Because talking in class was naturally frowned on, I decided, with the prodding of my mother and the suggestion given during Freshman Orientation, that the best way to get to know other students was to join extracurricular clubs, including the Pep Club. I remember Pep Club initiation, swimming at the "Y", field trips, initiation into Girls' H Club, overnights held at the school, the Bobby Sox Club (wasn't that an ex-officio club?), running for class office and Student Council, planning the Prom our Junior year, and riding a school bus to out of town football and basketball games. I not only developed friendships that lasted throughout high school, but also some that I still enjoy!