Ross Beach has done all right for himself, managing successful careers in aviation, oil and gas, ranching, broadcasting and banking.

He and his wife, Marianna, could live well anywhere in the world. But they prefer Kansas, dividing their time between an apartment in Hays and a modest home in Lawrence.

Marianne and Ross Beach, who own Douglas County Bank, are among the state's most generous philanthropists.

“We like the people here,” Ross Beach said, sitting behind the clutter-free desk in his modest second-floor office at Douglas County Bank, 300 W. Ninth St.

“I’ve never thought it made much sense to live any place else.”

Without apologies, they are true Kansans.

Earlier this year, Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas honored Ross Beach with its prestigious 2001 Kansan of the Year Award. Marianna Beach won the award in 1989.

Both in their 80s, they are the first husband and wife to receive the award since its 1955 inception.

Together, they are among the state’s most generous philanthropists. Among their best known contributions:

l The Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art at Kansas State University;

l Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center and Beach Hall, the building that houses the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University;

l The Beach Center on Families and Disability at Kansas University.

All three universities have presented the Beaches with distinguished service citations.

But the couple have done more than build buildings.

“Their gifts have been far-reaching,” said John Scarffe, spokesman for the KU Endowment Association. “Their support has reached nearly every portion of the university.”

Their generosity is not limited to the universities.

“I can assure you that a lot of successful people got their start in business because of Ross Beach,” said Harold Stones, an aide to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and co-president of Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas.

“You’re going to have a hard time finding somebody who’s done more for more people than Ross and Marianna Beach.”

A diverse life

Ross Beach was born Feb. 22, 1918, in Abilene. His mother died 13 days later.

“She died as a result of childbirth,” Ross Beach said.

He was adopted by his aunt and uncle, for whom he’d been named. By the time Ross Beach was in third grade, the family had moved to Hays, where his adopted father ran Kansas Power Co., a regional utility company.

“They were great people,” Beach said. “I’ve never really thought much about being adopted because that was the way it always was. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know I was adopted.”

Beach’s older brother, Roy, remained with his widowed father.

At the height of the Great Depression, Beach graduated from Hays High School, where he was neither an athlete nor a scholar.

“I was doing good to get out of there,” he said, laughing.

But times were tough. “I remember I got a job at the pharmacy there in the old Lamar Hotel, and my father didn’t want me to take it because, well, there were others who needed it more than I did,” Beach said.

For college, Beach chose Kansas State University because “a lot of people were drilling for oil and gas (in western Kansas) back then” and KSU was thought to have the state’s best engineering school.

Marriage, Pearl Harbor

Graduating in 1940, he decided the oilfield could wait. “By the time I graduated, I was already flying,” Beach said. “So I became a pilot.”

A year later, he married Marianna, who was graduating from KSU with a degree in journalism.

Then came Pearl Harbor.

“I was in the air between Tulsa and St. Louis when it happened,” Beach said.

“Those were interesting times. Everybody was mad about what had happened, and a nationalistic pride took over everything even more than what we saw after Sept. 11.”

Suddenly, the U.S. Navy found itself with few trainers and in desperate need of pilots.

“They made me a flight instructor,” Beach said.

After the war, Beach returned to Hays, where he eventually started Kansas Natural Gas, a move that later allowed him to buy several radio and television stations, including KWCH Channel 12, the CBS affiliate in Wichita.

In 1964, Kansas Natural Gas bought Douglas County Bank. Today, the bank has six branches, 75 employees and $165 million in assets.

Beach is a past president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a former member of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Kansas City, Dillons Stores Inc., Woods Petroleum, American Home Life Insurance Co. and National Business Aircraft Assn.

He’s also a past chairman of the Kansas 4-H Foundation and the Kansas Fish and Game Commission.

More than money

Beach knows how to make money, but he also knows and is quick to point out that money does not buy happiness.

For him, happiness is family and being with Marianna.

“We’re pretty darned happy,” Beach said. “We’re as close today as we were 60 years ago.”

“No, we’re much closer,” Marianna Beach said, correcting her husband.

Ross Beach tells friends that when they were in college, Marianna “chased him” in hopes of some day getting married.

Marianna’s version of events: “He had said he would pick me up after play practice, so when play practice was over, I called him and said he could come get me.

“He says that’s when I ‘chased’ him,” she said.

“But she did call me, and she said ‘Come get me,'” Ross said, defending his position.

The Beaches will celebrate their 61st anniversary June 1. They have three daughters Mary McDowell, Port Townsend, Wash.; Terry Edwards, Hutchinson; Jane Hipp, Wichita and eight grandchildren.

Asked to explain their willingness to share so much with others, Ross said, “We’ve found that helping people is a good thing to do.”

Marianna put it this way: “We are happy with what we have we don’t want a big, beautiful home; we have a little, beautiful home. It’s ridiculous to have so much and not share.

“And to us, education is the most important thing in the world to share with others. There’s nothing better.”