The following is a list of notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Great Bend, Kansas.
The following is a list of notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Great Bend, Kansas.
Jack St. Clair Kilby was an American electrical engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on 10 December 2000.
Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 14,733. It is home to Barton Community College.
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux (; was an American author, film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Although the short-lived Lincoln Motion Picture Company was the first movie company owned and controlled by black filmmakers, Micheaux is regarded as the first major African-American feature filmmaker, a prominent producer of race films, and has been described as "the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century". He produced both silent films and sound films.
Gerald Wesley Moran is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Kansas, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 113th U.S. Congress, during which he led successful Republican efforts in the 2014 election, producing the first Republican Senate majority since 2006. Previously, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Kansas's 1st congressional district.
Piano Jazz is a weekly one-hour radio show produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It began on June 4, 1978, and was hosted by jazz pianist Marian McPartland (1918–2013) until 2011. It is the longest-running cultural program on NPR. The show generally features a single guest, and usually consists of about an equal mixture of discussion and playing, often duets with McPartland. Initially the guests were limited to jazz pianists, but the format was later expanded to include performers on other instruments as well as other genres. The show provides an inside look at the relationships of jazz musicians, since McPartland often had long friendships with many of her guests. Piano Jazz won a Peabody Award in 1983. The show is an exclusive production of South Carolina public radio on WLTR and is offered nationally by NPR.
"Help Me" is a love song written, produced, and performed by Joni Mitchell and released on her 1974 album Court and Spark. The song was recorded with jazz band Tom Scott's L.A. Express as the backing band.
Karrin Allyson is an American jazz vocalist. She has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has received positive reviews from several prominent sources, including the New York Times, which has called her a "singer with a feline touch and impeccable intonation."
Holy Names High School is a private Catholic girls college preparatory high school located in the Oakland Hills in Oakland, California. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland. The campus is also home to Aurora Elementary School and the former home to the convent for the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Holy Names High School is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
"'S Wonderful" is a 1927 popular song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics written by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced in the Broadway musical Funny Face (1927) by Adele Astaire and Allen Kearns.
Great Bend High School is a public high school located in Great Bend, Kansas, serving students in grades 9–12. The school is the only high school in Great Bend USD 428 public school district. The athletic teams are known as the Panthers and all athletic programs compete in the 5A division according to the KSHSAA.
Mike Metheny is an American jazz musician and music journalist. He is the older brother of the jazz guitarist Pat Metheny.
Steve Wilson is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, who is best known in the musical community as a flutist and an alto and soprano saxophonist. He also plays the clarinet and the piccolo. Wilson performs on many different instruments and has performed and recorded on over twenty-five albums. His interests include folk, jazz, classical, world music, and experimental music. Wilson is currently on the faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. He was elected as an American Champion by the National Flute Association. Wilson has maintained a busy career working as a session musician, and has contributed to many musicians of note both in the recording studios, but as a sideman on tours. Over the years he has participated in engagements with several musical ensembles, as well as his own solo efforts.
Nancy King is a jazz singer from Portland, Oregon. Known for her masterful scatting and elastic range, King has performed in worldwide tours and recordings, as well as collaborations with such artists as Jon Hendricks, Vince Guaraldi, Ralph Towner, Dave Friesen and others.
Joan Valerie Bondurant (1918–2006) was an American political scientist and former spy for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. She is best known as the author of Conquest of Violence: The Ghandian Philosophy of Conflict (1958), a book on Gandhian political philosophy.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Kansas was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Kansas, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on August 2.
FC Wichita is a soccer club based in Wichita, Kansas that plays in USL League Two's Heartland Conference. The club was a member of the Heartland Conference in the National Premier Soccer League, a national semi-professional league at the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid, up until the end of the 2019 season.
David Ira Bass is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and lyricist who has released six albums: Gone (2010), NYC Sessions (2015), No Boundaries (2019),The Trio Vol. 1. (2021), The Trio Vol. 2 (2022) and The Trio Vol. 3 (2023). Due to a wrist injury in the mid-1980s, Bass left music to become an attorney. In January 2015, he retired from his position as a Deputy Attorney General for the California State Attorney General's office to devote himself to music.
"Sous le ciel de Paris" is a song initially written for the 1951 French film Sous le ciel de Paris, directed by Julien Duvivier. In the film it was sung by Jean Bretonnière.
