G Alden Krider

G. Alden Krider, 95, of Manhattan, a professor emeritus in the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design, Kansas State University, died Sunday, October 10, 2004, at Stoneybrook Assisted Living Center.

He was born December 17, 1908, in Newton, to Leroy Glen Krider and Avis Ina Reynolds, the oldest of three brothers.  Professor Krider’s family provided the following obituary information:

He married Margaret Bacon in 1932; she shared nearly all the many adventures of his adult life until she died in 1994.  A precocious boy, he graduated from Newton High School in 1925 with a well-formed talent and love for painting, and the desire to be a physicist.

These wide-flung interests were to characterize the rest of his life.  He enrolled at Bethel College in Newton, studying basic courses, music, art and French.  He worked at a variety of jobs, painted and saved his money.

In 1928, he hitched a ride to Manhattan to begin his career at Kansas State where he enrolled in architecture.  His first job was as a busboy at the Gillette Hotel, which came with a small room in the basement and board.  He later worked for Mrs. Varney at the Campus Bookstore.  He won the freshman architecture prize in 1929, and in 1932 he entered and won the Schnackenberg Scholarship to the Art Student’s League, for a year in New York City, where he studied under the painter John Steuart Curry.  He returned to Kansas to finish his architecture degree in 1933.

Architecture positions were few in 1933, so Alden and his wife Peggy, who also graduated in architecture, formed their marionette company, “The Jesters.”  They traveled throughout Kansas and into Oklahoma giving shows until 1935, when Krider was hired by the National Youth Administration to teach arts and crafts in the Kansas NYA Girls Camps.  He painted a large mural for the NYA, which became a part of the National Archives and for which he received great recognition in 2003.

From 1937 until World War II, he was the director of occupational therapy of the Southard School at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka.  From 1941 to 1945, he served as assistant supervisor of plant facilities at North American Aviation in Kansas City.

After the war, Krider worked two years for the Alfred Benberg Architectural firm, and then began his private architectural practice in Kansas City.  He is listed as architect for the Frederick Stein House in Atchison, Kansas, which was added to the Kansas Historical Buildings record in 2003.  After the war, he and Peg built their own house in Kansas City, which was featured in a national magazine for its architectural innovations.

In 1949, Krider joined the faculty of Kansas State, where he began developing the architectural history courses of which he became a master teacher.  Working with small budgets and often designing and building his own photographic equipment, he established a slide, film and visual aids library.  During travels through Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Central and South America, Alden and Peggy Krider photographed important architecture for study by students and faculty.  The slide and film library he developed was dedicated the Krider Visual Resource and Learning Center in 1990.  He helped form the core pre-professional curriculum and was named the first director of basic studies in the college. 

In earning his master’s degree at Kansas State, he returned to art with his thesis:  “Some Observations of the Uses of Fresco in Modern Architecture.”  He also founded classes in mosaics that have left an unparalleled legacy in the many murals found on the K-State campus and elsewhere (his favorite is at Bluemont School.)  Fountains and courtyards of his design also grace the campus.

In 1956, he was a Voorhees-Walker Fellow in New York and in 1960 an ACSA Fellow in Michigan.  He lectured at universities worldwide.  He maintained private architectural work, with several houses in Manhattan to his credit.  Krider house plans, which were featured in a national magazine, were sold throughout the United States.  He retired from Kansas State in 1977 and then spent a term as visiting professor at Mississippi State University in 1979.

In his retirement, he built the solar collector for his home and resumed travel, architectural research and writing, among other things.  In 1990, Kansas State University presented Krider with the Distinguished Service Award for his significant contribution to his profession and to higher education.

In 2003, Alden Krider’s mural was chosen to hang in the new Wallace Visitor’s Center at the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY.  Krider was invited to, and attended, their dedication ceremony in November of 2003.  In June of 2004, the National Archives formally interviewed Krider on audio and video tape about his experiences and about the painting.

Consummate artist and architect, always the teacher with a dash of entertainer, Professor Krider will be remembered by legions of students throughout the world, as well as by his friends and loving family.  The family said they were thankful for the long life of this talented man.

He is survived by his daughter Janet Duncan and husband Pat of Manhattan; six grandchildren, Deanna Trumble of Newton, Michael J Duncan of Manhattan, Steven Duncan of Alexandria, VA, Elizabeth Kelly of Topeka, Nicole Lillard of Mission, Molly Krause of Lawrence; and seven great grandchildren, Max Shelby of Topeka, Corinne Shelby of Topeka, Sam Goodwin of Topeka, Rebecca Trumble of Newton, Alex Trumble of Newton, Kendall Kelly of Mission, and William Duncan of Alexandria, VA.  His son, John Alden Krider, died in 1996.

A memorial service will be announced later.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Krider Visual Resource and Learning Center, 218 Seaton Hall, College of Architecture, Planning, and Design, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 or to the Children’s Division of the Manhattan Public Library, 629 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan KS 66502.  Contributions may be left with the Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home, 1317 Poyntz Ave, Manhattan KS 66502.

Sympathies may be extended to Janet and Pat Duncan at 1270 Bluemont Scenic Dr, Manhattan KS 66502.