BILL McNUTT was an impressive man. Forty or so years ago, he would sail down the streets of Emporia on foot or in his enormous convertible, his tall but globular body clothed in gleaming, impeccably cut suits of silk or wool. He was always shod in gleaming leather, his vast shirts shown like the sun and his neckties — sometime subdued, sometimes alarming — were always perfectly knotted beneath crisp collars.
Bill, his carriage always erect and his step improbably light for such a large man, was a living advertisement for his trade, which was tailor’s representative. He sold made-to-measure clothing to the gentlemen of Emporia and he made it part of his job to show them just how well — and how creatively — they could be turned out for a modest investment and a little attention to detail. He was not doctrinaire about fashion; he just wanted people to look good, be creative and have fun.
As a teenager, he was once sent home from school for wearing a pair of bell-bottomed pants on which he had sewn real bells.
Bill was not a shill for shoddy goods nor was he Willy Loman, trying to slip past fate on a smile and a shoeshine. He was a genial man who genuinely liked good clothing and was determined to give Emporians the chance to look as good as any folks in the world. He was also a fine conversationalist and story-teller, ranging from wise to silly as the mood took him. Bill’s arrival at The Gazette office was always a sign that the day was going to be a good one.
The Gazette was one of his regular stops. Another regular stop was the Emporia Public Library, where he would go each day to read the Christian Science Monitor and the Wall Street Journal.
Bill McNutt died in 1979 and Emporia has been a less interesting place ever since.
But his spirit returns to Emporia today.
This afternoon, his daughter and her husband, Lona and Donald Ingwerson, and their son, Marshall, will be in town to dedicate a reading area in Bill’s honor. The corner has leather chairs and reading lamps — just the sort of place for a well-turned-out man or woman to sit in comfort and read a book or newspaper.
Marshall Ingwerson would probably recommend the Christian Science Monitor. He is, after all, the managing editor.
His grandfather would have been so proud. He might even have popped a button on one of his bright, perfect suits.