b'Perhaps the plaid will never be torn from card rooms where spirited debate happens and relationships are built over good bourbon. But without the quality of friendship shared by Elliott and Hilst, we will begin to lose the most important asset we have as a Club: our culture. Listening to the stories, reading the many tributes, we can find the gold threads of the Prairie Dunes life we believe theyd want the next generation of members to continue to pay forward.MEN STANDING ON THE HIGHEST RUNG OF THE LADDERThis is not a reference to the career victories Jim Elliott and Rusty Hilst enjoyed, although their educational, professional, civic and industry accomplishments are significant. It is ratherJim joined Prairie Dunes in 1985. He served as president in a commentary on their telescoping view of and interest in the2011. The guy nicknamed Jimmy Night Night by one of his sanctity of all things Prairie Dunes. twin grandchildren(that boy, his surviving wife Shelia says, Rusty joined Prairie Dunes in 1976 at age 34. He served ashad just started playing golf when he was invited by Jimmy to play at Prairie Dunes)a member of the PD Greens Committee for 20 years. He and who called everyone baby didnt chaired the 1988 USGA U.S. Mid-Amateur championship.put a good idea to bed just because he wasnt a fan. Shelia Cypress Point, he is noted for saying in Banana Man, hissays he wasnt originally in favor of the Clubs lodge concept, autobiography, available on Amazon, is the only course Ibut came around.have played that I might rank ahead of Prairie Dunes.For both members, Prairie Dunes Country Club was home Golf course Architect Dave Axland shares that in 2004 heaway from home, and they loved and served it well. One of was part of the Coore and Crenshaw team charged withthe public records surviving Rustya June 21, 2025,PDs golf course renewal in preparation for the 2006 MensKansas.com tributesays he carded a birdie on the last hole Senior Open. I can remember many instances where wehe ever played, #7 with youngest sibling Kent in January found ourselves in need of strong Club leadership for quality2024, two years after he was diagnosed with ALS. That decision making. Rusty provided that leadership. His goalsame tribute says he ended every broadcast with Goodnight was that Prairie Dunes always remain relevant as one of thiseverybody. Kindred spirit always to PD brother Jim Elliott.nations great golfing treasures. He would stay on me for years or even decades in order that we get something done that he thought was best for PD.THE 30,000-FOOT VIEWJimmy Jim P. ElliottSEPTEMBER 24, 1934APRIL 20, 2025Survived by his wife, Shelia Ann (Scott) Austin, to whom he was married for 28 years Earned a bachelors degree in business administration,Masters Transportation, selling Collins buses, until 2013engineering/industrial management from the University of KansasRejoined Collins Bus as a sales consultant for its Central andin 1957. University of Kansas track star, infamous for talking KU Western regions until 2020, when he officially retiredfreshman basketball player (and later NBA Hall of Fame legend)Loved the arts, serving on the historic Fox Theatre board ofWilt Chamberlain into going out for track directors for six years and the Hutchinson Symphony Association Protracted sales career across three states: board of directors for three years In the petrochemical industry with Spencer Chemical, whichLong-time member of Trinity United Methodist Church. Withbecame Gulf Oil Shelia, big dog lover. Shelia, a history and geography teacher who Rubbermaid built and operated a puzzle business until 1996 on the first pieces Henredon and Broyhill Furniture companies of a state of Kansas puzzle, recounts that she had gone to work at Investment banking Hutchinson Correctional Facility as a prison GED instructor. Jim Ground floor of cellular phone sales did a Bible study there one night a week and adopted two of the Superior Boiler dogs they trained at the facility. Both 45 to 50 pounds. Lucky Collins Bus, retiring in 1994 dogs, she says.6'