Lanny and Joan Bachtle, married for 47 years, have strengthened their bonds even more by supporting causes for which they share a passion.

Lanny, 68, and Joan, 67, have lived in Shawnee for 22 years, but they came from other parts of the Midwest. Lanny, a transplant from Iowa, and Joan, a Minnesota native, were smitten by Cupid's arrow when they were in their junior year at Albert Lee High School in Albert Lee, Minn. During their junior year in college in Rochester, Minn., Lanny popped the question, and they were married in 1964.

Shortly afterward, Lanny was drafted into the U.S. Army. For two of the three years of his Army career, he and Joan were stationed in Germany.

Returning from the Army, Lanny finished his degree in business at the University of Minnesota and went to work for Montgomery Ward, which later was bought by General Electric. After 16 years (14 in St. Paul, Minn., and two in Dallas), Lanny was transferred to G.E. in Merriam, retiring eight years ago as a community relations manager. With his position at G.E., Lanny involved the company's employees in community volunteerism and sponsored many volunteer events in Merriam.

Joan, who holds a degree in English and art and taught for 15 years, has always been Lanny's greatest supporter.
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The couple's desire to help vulnerable people began more than 40 years ago. For Lanny, much of the focus was prison inmates. He has been a mentor to at least 25 felons in the prison system and he sits on the Donnelly College Advisory Board, which works with Lansing Prison to give inmates the opportunity to earn a two-year associate's degree.

He remembers one man who was released after 25 years in prison and who asked Lanny to be the best man at his wedding. The man is doing well and lives a successful life.

And there was the time in Minnesota when a warden called Lanny into his office and asked him to escort an American Indian inmate to see his sick mother at her home on the reservation. The trip was a heart-rending experience for Lanny. The inmate, who was later released, asked Lanny to be his best man at his wedding in a teepee.

Lanny and Joan have strong sympathy for people facing great challenges. For 22 years, both have devoted time and money to Cross-Lines Community Outreach. For nearly 50 years, Cross-Lines, a nonprofit organization, has enlisted businesses, churches, organizations, and individuals to help vulnerable residents through programs of hunger relief, thrift stores, clothing drives, and school supply kits for young people from kindergarten through college.

After he retired, Lanny was executive director of Cross-Lines for two years. For 13 years, Joan has headed the organization's school supply distribution and Christmas Store. She is always delighted to observe the excitement exhibited by the children as they pick up their supplies.

For 22 years, Lanny and Joan have volunteered their services to the Shawnee Presbyterian Church. Joan is clerk of the church governing board and sits on the Mission Outreach Committee's International Fund. Lanny is financial secretary for the church and is on its Personnel Committee.
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Through a friend in the network of local Presbyterian churches, the Bachtles were introduced to David Nzoika, a native of the village of Thwake (population about 400) in Kenya. He was raised and received his primary education in the village, where the main food every day is a mixture of mashed maize and peas. Nzoika was one of the fortunate 24 percent of residents able to attend secondary school. When he traveled home from the school, where he boarded, he endured an eight-hour walk. Since he arrived in the Kansas City area eight years ago, he has earned a theology degree and is finishing his doctoral thesis.

Through Village Presbyterian Church, Nzoika is pastor of the Neema Community Church, which serves Kenyan people in this area. Nzoika developed a mission task force that established a two-week mission to Thwake. The purpose was to establish a productive relationship between Presbyterians in America and Africa to aid Thwake. The Bachtles volunteered for the mission, and in February 2010 they left their cozy, comfortable environment for a village that was very poor, very hot, and had no electricity or purified water.

All water for the village was carried on donkeys from a small stream a mile away. The same stream was used for bathing, cooking, and sundry other things, and animals used it. The mission group prepared for the situation by taking bottled water. Joan reminisces about her "two-bottle showers."

The small homes in the village were made of mud and had dirt floors. The Bachtles witnessed the start of construction of a school and a health center, staffed by one nurse, who works for $250 a month, and a doctor who would make scheduled visits from Nairobi.

Twenty five percent of newborns and children die of malaria. There are no dentists. The average age of villagers is 42. A passion exists in the hearts of Lanny and Joan to improve the quality of life for the people of the village.

The Bachtles will return this month to participate in the dedication of the health center and a third classroom in the secondary school and to view the new well, from which people can obtain fresh water. In the meantime, Lanny and Joan give presentations to anyone interested, striving to raise funds for the impoverished village.

The Bachtles have three children—Kristan, Mike, and Lisa—and five grandchildren.