HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5038

      A Concurrent Resolution in memory of the Honorable Frank G. Theis.

    WHEREAS, Frank G. Theis, 86, of Arkansas City, died January 17,
1998, in Wichita; and

    WHEREAS, Frank G. Theis, an Arkansas City attorney, was appointed
to be a federal district judge, district of Kansas, in 1967. He served as
Chief Judge of the district of Kansas from 1977 to 1981 when he was
granted senior status. Among the noteworthy cases over which he pre-
sided were the Karen Silkwood whistleblower case against Kerr-McGee
Oil Corporation and obscenity charges brought against Screw magazine
and its publisher, Al Goldstein. He has been described as a lawyer's judge
and a beautiful writer. Prior to his appointment to the federal bench he
had served as the city attorney for Arkansas City and as an attorney for
the Kansas State Tax Commission; and

    WHEREAS, Frank G. Theis was a long-time participant in Demo-
cratic party politics. He was president of the Young Democrats of Kansas
from 1942 to 1946, Chairman of the Kansas Democratic Committee from
1955 to 1960, national committeeman from Kansas from 1957 to 1967,
Democratic nominee for the Kansas Supreme Court in 1950 and Dem-
ocratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1960. He managed George Dock-
ing's campaign for governor in 1956 and Lyndon Johnson's presidential
campaign in 1964. He served as the Kansas chairman for the constitu-
tional bicentennial celebration in 1987; and

    WHEREAS, Frank G. Theis was born in 1911 in Yale, a small town
in southeast Kansas. He attended Arma High School, was graduated cum
laude from the University of Kansas in 1933 and the University of Mich-
igan Law School in 1936. He married Marjorie Riddle in 1939; she pre-
ceded him in death in 1970. Survivors include two sons, Franklin Theis,
Berryton, and Roger Theis, Wichita, and two grandsons: Now, therefore,

    Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
the Senate concurring therein: That we extend our deepest sympathy to
the family of the Honorable Frank G. Theis.

I hereby certify that the above Concurrent Resolution originated in the House,
and was adopted by that body

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                                                __________________________________
                                                Speaker of the House.

                                                __________________________________
                                                Chief Clerk of the House.

Adopted by the Senate __________________________

                                                __________________________________
                                                President of the Senate

                                                __________________________________
                                                Secretary of the Senate.