Robert S. Shope is superintendent of the city schools of Bigelow, Kansas. While not a native of the state, his life had been spent largely within the borders of Kansas, and he is a product of its schools and his work had becn chiefly as a teacher.
He belongs to the colonial branch of the Shope family, which originally came out of Germany. His grandfather, William Shope, spent his life in Kentucky, and was a carpenter by trade. His father is David W. Shope, for many years a resident of Maraball County, Kansas. He was born in Kentucky in 1867 and came to Kansas in 1887, loeating at Barrett in Marshall County. He had been a resident of Kansas ever since with the exception of six years spent in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma. His present home is eight miles south of Frankfort. David W. Shope is a democrat in politics. He married Elizabeth Snodgrass, who was born in Iowa. Robert S. Shope is the oldest of their children. Bertha is the wife of Seth Mosher, a farmer living nine miles north of bigelow, Kansas. Cecil died at the age of two years. Beda married William Sehreiner, a farmer eight miles south of Frankfort. Velma died at the age of sixteen months. Otis, Wilma, David and Howard, the youngest children, are all living with their parents.
Mr. Robert S. Shope was born while his parents lived in Oklahoma at the Town of Hennessey, January 29, 1891. However, his first recollections are of the Marshall County farm of his father and while growing up in that locality he attended rural schools. In 1909, at the age of eighteen, he graduated from tho Frankfort High School and the following year taught in Marshall County. For two years he was a student in the University of Kansas, and then farmed another year. Mr. Shope resumed teaching in the rural district of Marshall County in the fall of 1913 and in 1915 entered upon his duties as superintendent of the schools of Bigelow.
He is an active member of the Marshall County Teachers Association, is a democrat, and is affiliated with Bigelow Lodge No. 617 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In 1915, at Marysville, Kansas, Mr. Shope married Miss Lyla Wager, daughter of O. H. and Blanche (Fairchild) Wager. her parents live on a farm five milas north of Bigelow. Mr. and Mrs. Shope have two children: Robert, Born March 22, 1916; and Oliver, born May 8, 1917.