LAWRENCE, Kan. — University of Kansas alumni Charles and Sharon Kimbell like their hawks, including not only KU Jayhawks, but also Hutchinson High School Salthawks.
The Kimbells, of Hutchinson, have made a $435,000 gift to establish a renewable scholarship for graduates of Hutchinson High School who are inbound KU freshmen. One new recipient will be selected each year, and the scholarship, which will provide $5,000 per student, per year, eventually will support four students concurrently.
Charles Kimbell earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1954. He owned a fire and casualty insurance company in Hutchinson and retired in 1990. Sharon Lynch Kimbell earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1958 and is a former teacher. Both are second-generation Jayhawks.
Sharon Kimbell grew up in Salina; her husband and their two children in Hutchinson. Their son, Michael Kimbell, earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1987 and an MBA in 1991; and their daughter, Katherine Kimbell Almanza, earned a bachelor’s degree in theatre and media arts in 1988. Their son-in-law, Dan Almanza, also graduated from Hutchinson High School and from KU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in art history.
Dayton LaMunyon, a 2014 graduate of Hutchinson High School, is the first recipient of the Charles and Sharon Kimbell Family Scholarship.