Western author Don Coldsmith of Emporia died Thursday, June 25, at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. He had suffered a stroke last week.
Coldsmith, who was 83, parlayed the chance find of a relic on the prairie into a series of 29 novels about the Native Americans of the Great Plains before the coming of the Europeans. The Spanish Bit Saga was popular with American readers and was translated into other languages. He was a past president of the Western Writers of America and in 1990 won the organization’s Golden Spur award for his novel “The Changing Wind.” In 2003, the group named him recipient of its Owen Wister Award.
Jim Hoy, fellow writer, lecturer and teacher at Emporia State University, said Coldsmith had a talent for connecting to his readers, even when writing about unfamiliar cultures.
“As a writer, he was just a really good storyteller,” Hoy said. “He had a real knack for universalizing …”
Coldsmith was born Feb. 28, 1926, in Iola, the son of a Methodist minister. After graduation from high school in Coffeyville, he joined the U.S. Army in 1944 and served as a combat medic in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he was assigned to the occupation troops in Japan, where he provided medical care for accused Japanese war criminals, including Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.
After his discharge from the Army, he attended and graduated from Baker University in Baldwin City, then was hired as youth director at a YMCA in Topeka, where he helped to integrate the YMCA swimming pool, the first in the state to be integrated.
He then went to medical school at the University of Kansas, where he received his medical degree in 1958. He practiced family medicine in Emporia until 1988, when he closed his practice and became a full-time writer, working in longhand for transcription. Besides his many novels, Coldsmith also wrote a weekly newspaper column, “Horsin’ Around,” and many magazine articles. He was a popular lecturer on the subject of the West and its history.
He and his wife, Edna, maintained a small ranch on the outskirts of Emporia, and for a time raised appaloosa horses.
In 1986, Coldsmith established the Tallgrass Writers Workshop at Emporia State University to bring aspiring writers together with experienced writers, editors and agents. The 24th workshop begins at the university on Friday.
Survivors include his wife.
For more, see Friday's print or pdf online editions.
Comments
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Posted by kira002 (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 11:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We'll miss you, Don.
Posted by barefootin (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 11:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We will miss your wonderful stories, Don. Rest in Peace.
Posted by neighbor (anonymous) on June 25, 2009 at 11:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Keep Horsin around Doc.
Posted by gazette_reader (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 12:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a loss for the literary world and our community.
Posted by biscuitboy (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm shocked.......Just a few days ago I was enjoying his last column in the Gazette....and now he is gone.
He was a class act......one of the few left it seems sometimes. He will be missed.
Posted by clueless (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 6:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I remember Dr Coldsmith as a gentle and patient,Dr who had a caring bedside manner,which is hard to find these days.He will truely be missed but not forgotten.
Posted by create (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 7:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a truly caring man, and a talented writer who could reach across generations in his storytelling. Rest in Peace, Don.
Posted by peanutbutter (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
today is Friday June 26th, Thursday would have been the 25th. . . Way to go with ACCURATE reporting
Posted by wildcatnurse (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 8:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was lucky enough to be introduced to Dr. Coldsmith's books in junior high. The Spanish Bit Saga is one of my most treasured book collections. I have every book he's ever written. What a sad, sad day. You will be missed Doc.
Posted by dougmarshall (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 8:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Way to show class peanutbutter
Posted by msw2003 (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 9:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I recall when I was in elementary school I was very sick a time or two he couldn't fit me in his schedule so he would just swing by my house to do a house call after hours. He was a great doctor. I actually have a copy of my medical records from when he was my doc which was simply written on a large index card. How times have changed. Did we have better care when we didn't have so much paperwork to do and doctors could just do their job??? A great doctor and writer. You will be missed.
Posted by biscuitboy (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree dougmarshall
Posted by Weltha (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 9:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Rest in Peace, Don. I loved your stories.
Posted by broncobetty (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
First he was my Doctor, then he was my Friend.
Happy Trails my Friend,
Bronco Betty
Posted by peanutbutter (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 11:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
b/c of the topic you are questioning my class? I am sorry that Mr. Coldsmith has passed and no disrespect to him or his family or friends was intended. I apologize is anybody took it that way. However, I also think that it was disrepspectful to print in accurate information. A date, which is something simple for a reporter to verify, should be accurate. The Gazette is notorious for printing inaccurate information. I see now that it is fixed. My question is, doesn't an editor read this info before it's posted?
Posted by shelfel (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You know what peanutbutter..typos happen all the time, and yes something as easy as a date can be missed by the best of editors. Give it a rest and get off the gazettes back.
Posted by biscuitboy (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I normally only mention typos to make fun of my own, and that is very fertile ground. But when somebody is blasting another for a typo they might want to check their own work first.
peanutbutter....I counted a minimum of six typos in your two post on this thread today.
Glass houses and stones don't mix...which is why I am normally reluctant to mention other peoples typos.
Posted by quietspoken01 (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 1:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dr. Coldsmith was my physician in the early 1980's and delivered two of my children. His compassionate care of me led me to choose the medical field later in life. I hope that as a Registered Nurse, I show the same compassion towards my patients now. Please give my sympathies to his family. Carla Powell, RN Amarillo, Texas
Posted by peanutbutter (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 3:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
well, doughboy. . oops, I mean biscuitboy, I don't write for the Gazette, I didn't choose that as my profession and it's a good thing. . . b/c I do make typo errors.
What I am saying is posting somebody's death is an important event and I would hope that they could have gotten it correct. you are the one turning this into a bigger issue than it is. Are you the one who made the error? Geez. . .. get over it already.
R. I. P. Mr. Coldsmith.
Posted by esugrad97 (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 4:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dr. Coldsmith will really be missed. I started reading his books, before my 2nd bone marrow transplant, back in 1990. While I was in the hospital, he sent me a bound galley of Quest for the White Bull. I met him, a couple years later, when I took a college class from him. He was a great guy, and an excellent story teller. I was saddened when I read the headline, this evening. RIP Dr. Coldsmith. You will be missed.
Posted by giggles (anonymous) on June 26, 2009 at 4:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I loved his stories, they were always such a treat. May he grace them with a good one now.
Posted by flinthillsmom (anonymous) on June 27, 2009 at 6:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don wore boots no one will be able to fill. He was a real inspiration to young and new writiers to just keep working at it and he made you believe you could do it. The Tallgrass Writer's Workshop has helped me and many others. Don you definately paid if forward.
Posted by srochat (Scott Rochat) on June 27, 2009 at 10:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I was shocked and saddened to find out about Don's death. He and I enjoyed each other's writing and friendship many times during my stay in Emporia. When Heather and I finally got ready to return to Colorado, he and Edna gave us a "goodbye dinner" and some lovely conversation. It's hard to believe that this really is goodbye.
Don was blessed with a writer's ear, a neighbor's heart and a truly wicked sense of humor. That's a rare combination and a rare man. He will be missed.
God bless you, Don. See you down the road.
--Scott Rochat
Longmont, Colo.
Posted by buffaloman (anonymous) on June 28, 2009 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am severe dyslexic. I have lived with it all of my life. I was a functional Illiterate.
One day while going through an airport, I found the 15th part of the Spanish Bit Saga. I started reading it and could not put it down, it held my interest so. It took me about a month to get through it. But the story and the style of his writhing so captured what I wanted in a history lesson, I had to have more. I found in the back of the book an order form for more of Dr. Coldsmith's books. I ordered as many as were listed. I was so taken with his stories, I would set-up late into the night and early into the morning reading his stories.
Amazed, I found I no longer hated reading and could actually do it pretty well. Although I am still dyslexic, and still don't spell well, I read much better and now have a Master's in Education and Teach High School. I attribute my current level of reading success to the good Dr and his wonderful stories and writing style.
I looked-up Dr. Coldsmith on the net a few years ago. I called him and was able to talk to him and let him know how he had helped me to overcome the learning disability where no one else could help. He told me them that he had one more story in manuscript. I have been looking everywhere for it, but have not seen it on the book shelves. How I wish I could get it.
Dr. Don Coldsmith, how I loved your writing and stories. I will miss you GREATLY.
Lee Satterfield
Posted by OutsiderJ (anonymous) on June 29, 2009 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a shame about Dr. Coldsmith. I know that many Emporians will miss him. At least his family didn't use Roberts Blue Barnett, so we don't have to see them act like they care, when it is a prominent citizen.
Posted by custom (anonymous) on June 29, 2009 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I've known "Doc" almost all my life. I've been here 51 yrs. and spent many christmas's with him. All i want to say about Don is i am damn proud to have known him and shared many laughs with him. I will truly miss this man.
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