Hutchinson City councilmembers Scott Meggers (left) and Greg Fast during the Feb. 4, 2025 meeting at City Hall CREDIT EMMIE BOESE By Emmie Boese The Hutchinson City Council had a light agenda on Monday night. The agenda contained a proposed draft of a Commercial Facade Improvement Program. The
By John Mesh The Hutchinson Central Christian High School girls and boys basketball teams host Norwich on Tuesday and Pretty Prairie on Friday, The Cougar girls defeated Solomon 55-22 Friday night and the Central Christian boys lost 49-29. Avery Duft led the Central Christian girls with 14 points.
CAPTION: Rob Kenney, founder of the YouTube channel “Dad, How Do I?” spoke at the first Dillon Lecture Series of the season at the Hutchinson Sports Arena on February 4. Kenney has over 5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and is affectionately known as “The Internet Dad.” CREDIT KATE IRELAN / THE HUTCHINSON TRIBUNE
By Kate Irelan
In the first lecture of the 44th Dillon Lecture Series at Hutchinson Community College, Rob Kenney, “The Internet Dad,” talked about his life, his rise to internet fame, and why he keeps things real.
“When I started the YouTube channel, “Dad, How Do I?” on April 1, 2020, I thought I would just be teaching people how to tie a necktie, but when some people started crying in response, I began to realize there is something more to it,” said Kenney. “I thought it would help 30 to 40 people, but the videos were viral by the end of May. I didn’t have time to process.”
“People started asking me a lot of questions, like, “Can you do this next?”” said Kenney. “I don’t want to pretend to know something I don’t know. Someone asked if I could show them how to rewire a house. I would say for something like that, you need to hire a professional. A lot of social media is fake. I like to keep it real.”
On his channel, he covers a variety of topics, like how to change a tire, how to cook a pumpkin pie, and how to manage your money. He said that his videos are for everyone. Teen girls need to watch how to change a tire. And boys need to watch how to cook. “What are you going to do if Mom or Dad are not around?” said Kenney. He also says that his videos are meant to walk along with someone. “You shouldn’t have to make your pumpkin pie look perfect. Don’t sweat the details. I’m just glad you made it.”
He also tells dad jokes. Kenney tells how his daughter is actually the driving force behind the channel. He asked for her advice first before he started telling the dad jokes. He was going to do a video about how to use a stud finder. He said, “There was an obvious Dad joke there, but I wasn’t sure if I should do it, so I asked my daughter for approval of the joke: “If you came here looking how to find a boyfriend, that’s a different stud finder.” His daughter said, “Yes!” And that’s how it started.
He opened his lecture with a Dad joke. He talked about how he was a Sunday school teacher early in his marriage, and he asked if kids wanted to encourage or discourage people. Since no one likes a lecture from Dad, he decided to call the Dillon Lecture Series the “Dillon Encouragement Series.”
Kenney also gives fatherly advice in his videos and most of his lecture was about how he lived his life and what he learned. As Kenny began, he talked about how life is precious. “I want you to grasp that we have a limited time on earth. Think of time as money. You spend both. You can get more money after you spend it, but you can’t get more time. I turned 60 years old last year. Keep in mind your own life and how you make choices.”
He talked about his parents, his siblings, and his cousins and the choices his father made that eventually led Kenney to decide he would be a better dad than his own. Kenney’s Mother, Barbara Horsch, was born in 1927 in Pretty Prairie, Kansas. His father was born in Wellington, Kansas. “I have a lot of cousins and relatives in Kansas, and some of my cousins are in the audience,” said Kenney as he waved at his family.
“My parents started out really well in 1951. My mom was a teacher and Dad worked at Boeing in Wichita as an engineer. By the time he was 35 years old, they had six children. He made the choice to move the family to New Orleans, Louisiana for the space program,” said Kenney. “And that’s where I was born,” Kenney said the move took a toll on all of them, and then his dad made a choice to make another move, this time to Seattle, Washington, and his mother was even further away from her family and support group.
“Over the years, we did make trips to Kansas,” said Kenney. “Mom tried to keep us connected. I wouldn’t change a thing. It made me who I am. If we’d stayed here [in Kansas], my life would be different. There is so much love here. I always say that the people in Kansas are the salt of the earth and they help each other. You are kind, for the most part. You don’t find the same in Washington.”
Kenny talked about looking back, he can see how his mother was suffering from depression and anxiety. “It was the 1970s. She went to a therapist, and the advice she was given was to buy a new hat. Thankfully, there is better therapy available now,” said Kenney.
He said that when he was 13 years old, his mother was deemed an unfit mother and his father got custody of the children. His dad met another woman and soon was leaving the kids alone at home for an entire week, buying them groceries at the beginning of the week and putting the older siblings in charge.
“It was tough,” said Kenney. “But we didn’t know any better.” At 14 years old, Kenney said his dad’s heart had grown cold and he said he was done raising the kids. His dad ordered that the older kids would take care of the younger kids or he would put them in foster homes.
“That was devastating to have that happen while also going through puberty and trying to figure out who I was,” said Kenney. He went to live with his older brother Rick, who was a newlywed at 23 years old. It was at that time Kenney decided he would be a better dad.
They lived in a trailer home with just over 200 square feet of living space. His brother built a shelf at one end of the trailer home and that was where Kenney slept. When Kenney was 17 years old, his brother and his wife decided to move to pursue a better job. Kenney made the choice to stay and finish high school. His father gave him $200 a month, and he had to work for the rest of the money he needed to live. He played football, but couldn’t afford to play basketball.
When his mother died in 1986 at 58 years old, Kenney decided to try his shot at football at Central Washington University. At the time, he didn’t know the difference between a community college and a university. He didn’t have anyone who told him the difference. But the experience he had there gave him the dad advice he has today. “I highly recommend community college, if you don’t know what you want to do and you can’t afford the expenses, community college is the way to go,” said Kenney. “Get your two years of credits so it will transfer.”
He said that being a walk-on for the football team at Central was hard. “My self-esteem was really low. I didn’t even like to say my name at the time,” said Kenney. His dad called with a job offer at Boeing, and Kenney made the choice to leave school before graduating, a choice he doesn’t recommend to others. “Get your degree.”
He met his wife, Annelli, and made the choice to leave Boeing because they paid more to employees with degrees, which he didn’t have. He worked for a few years at an audio-visual company that was not successful and he lost his job. In 1991, he married Annelli. Kenney said, “My life was in a hard place. I had lost my job, my wife was pregnant and working. I prayed to God for guidance. When things started getting better, I got even more scared. This is not a story of pulling myself up by my bootstraps.”
With his own children, he said he started learning things by trial and error. “I wasn’t the perfect dad,” said Kenney. “If I was out of line with my kids, I asked them for forgiveness.” His older children are now in their 30s.
“The years went by in a flash. I remember thinking about how I used to put Christmas lights up every year and then take them down a month later. I started out being pretty meticulous with them. I began to notice the years ticking by each time I put up the lights. And now it makes sense why my neighbor leaves them up,” said Kenney as the audience laughed.
“You hear about mid-life crisis. My mid-life crisis was that I felt like I accomplished my goal of raising kids equipped to do well in the world. I began to think of what’s next and about doing videos to help others who may not have had a father or a mother to help them learn the basics. I thought of my kids yelling from the other room, “Dad, how do I…?” I took the suction cup phone holder out of the car, placed it on the bathroom window, and recorded my first video, how to tie a tie.”
“I thought about 40 people would follow. Now over 5 million follow me on YouTube,” said Kenney. He said that the comments on his social media come from all over the world, including South Africa and Iraq, and some of them are heartbreaking. “Because of my background, I have empathy. I was ignorant at first of how it would resonate.” He told the story of a woman who commented that she had been a victim of domestic abuse and had brain damage from the abuse. She told him she listens to his videos and his calming voice as part of her therapy.
He said, “I’m a Boomer. And Millenials and Boomers make fun of each other, but we need each other. Boomers make fun of Millenials for not knowing how to do things, and Millenials make fun of Boomers for complaining but not teaching anything.”
“I’m also an introvert. I have said that if I’m ever speaking in front of a large group, you know God’s involved and has a sense of humor.” Kenney said he’s always pushing himself to say yes to things. “I could have stayed in the comfort of my recliner, but God has me on this crazy ride.”
Kenney asked about how he was doing on time, and then said, “I’ve got to hurry up because there is stuff I want to teach you.” He then gave fatherly advice about L.I.F.E., an acronym he writes about in his new book, “Dad, How Do I?” published by Harper Collins in May of 2021.
““L” is to learn as much as you possibly can, and learn from others. I read proverbs daily. Don’t limit yourself with your own thinking,” said Kenney. “Guard your mind with social media. Learn what you need to learn, then go do something. Go outside. We need to hang out with someone.”
““I” is for your individual gifts. Each of us has a unique gift. I kept putting off my idea for the YouTube channel for a long time because I didn’t think I had much to offer. You are not doing anyone favors by hiding your gifts.
““F” is for Forgive. It takes strength to forgive. You have the choice. The person might not deserve it but do it anyway. If you are living in the past, you are giving up what you have now. Don’t play the victim card either. Move on.”
““E” is for embracing the journey, the present. Live in the moment. Remember life, your wild and precious life. You want to live a life that’s full of learning.”
Kenney then talked about critics and that on social media, everyone has an opinion that may not be right or helpful. “If you are handing out $100 bills on the corner, you’ll still have critics telling you that you are not doing it right,” Kenney said. “Be your own best friend. Be kind to yourself.”
In closing, Kenney read a passage from the “Citizenship in the Republic,” a speech by Teddy Roosevelt and is popularly known as “The Man in the Arena.”
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.“
Kenney thanked the audience for having him and said, “God Bless You.”
To watch Kenney’s YouTube videos, visit https://www.youtube.com/@DadhowdoI.
For more information about the Dillon Lecture Series, visit the website, https://www.hutchcc.edu/dillon-lecture-series
CAPTION: Rob Kenney, founder of the YouTube channel "Dad, How Do I?" spoke at the first Dillon Lecture Series of the season at the Hutchinson Sports Arena on February 4. Kenney has over 5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and is affectionately known as
CAPTION: The scene of the early morning Feb. 1 house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson. Wendell Payton was arrested on multiple charges Tuesday in connection to the fire. CREDIT KATE IRELAN/THE HUTCHINSON TRIBUNE
By Kate Irelan
Hutchinson Police have arrested Wendell Payton and charged him with two counts of 1st-degree murder, one count of aggravated arson, one count of aggravated endangering a child and two counts of felony interference with law enforcement for the Feb. 1 early morning house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street.
Kalsey Payton and a juvenile female were found deceased and another juvenile female has been medically released from Saint Francis Hospital in Wichita. Wendell Payton was transported to the Reno County Correctional Facility after being medically released.
That’s according to an HPD press release, which said after first responders arrived on scene, they located four individuals at the residence. Two of the individuals, Kalsey M. Payton, 32-year-old female of Hutchinson, and one juvenile female, were found deceased. The other two individuals, Wendell Payton, 37-year-old male of Hutchinson, and one juvenile female, were transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, and later to Saint Francis in Wichita. The juvenile has since been medically released from Saint Francis.
Since responding to the scene, officers and detectives have been working around the clock to follow all leads. During the investigation, probable cause was established, and after being medically released, Wendell Payton was arrested and transported to the Reno County Correctional Facility and charged with one count of 1st-degree murder for the death of Kalsey Payton, one count of 1st degree murder for the death of the juvenile female, one count of aggravated arson, one count of aggravated endangering a child, and two counts of felony interference with law enforcement.
These charges have been forwarded to the Reno County District Attorney’s Office.
“We would like to thank the community and media for their patience,” the press release wrote. “We were confident there was no immediate threat to the community, and out of respect to the victims and their families, and to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we limited the amount of information that was released. We share in the grief of this tragic loss, and we stand with the family and community in seeking justice. Please keep this family in your thoughts and if you have any information that you feel would be beneficial to the investigation, please contact our agency at the information provided below.”
If you have any information regarding this case, contact Reno County Crime Stoppers or call Hutchinson Police Department 620-694-2816 and reference case number 2025-4633. Any further inquiries about this case should be directed to the Reno County District Attorney’s Office at 620-694-2715. All suspects are innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
CAPTION: The scene of the early morning Feb. 1 house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson. Wendell Payton was arrested on multiple charges Tuesday in connection to the fire. CREDIT KATE IRELAN/THE HUTCHINSON TRIBUNE By Kate Irelan Hutchinson Police have arrested Wendell
By John Mesh The Hutchinson Central Christian High School girls and boys basketball teams host Norwich on Tuesday and Pretty Prairie on Friday, The Cougar girls defeated Solomon 55-22 Friday night and the Central Christian boys lost 49-29. Avery Duft led the Central Christian girls with 14 points.
CAPTION: Hutchinson Vice Mayor Scott Meggers visits with City of Hutchinson Housing Coordinator Carissa Paxton Monday noon in advance of Paxton’s speech to the Hutchinson Rotary Club held at the Hutchinson Community College. By Richard Shank Assuming the role as Hutchinson’s Housing Coordinator in April 2024, Carissa
CAPTION: Rep. Joe Seiwert, R-Pretty Prairie, addresses members of a House committee before hearing from Scott Ekberg, an administrator for the state’s 911 call handling system, in a Jan. 2021 meeting. CREDIT SHERMAN SMITH/KANSAS REFLECTOR By Michael Glenn Reps. Joe Seiwert and Kevin Schwertfeger, along with
CAPTION: The early morning February 1 house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson is still under investigation and the house and property are being treated as a crime scene with continued police surveillance. An adult and juvenile were found deceased and another adult and juvenile were transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. CREDIT KATE IRELAN / THE HUTCHINSON TRIBUNE
By Michael Glenn and Kate Irelan
As of 4:00 p.m. on Feb. 3rd, Hutchinson Police are not releasing any further details about the early morning Feb. 1 house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson.
“Out of respect to the family and to preserve the integrity of the investigation, we are not releasing information to the media at this time,” Police Captain Dayton Gates said. “I am hoping in the next day or so to have an updated press release. We don’t want to accidentally release information early that might harm the investigation.”
The house and property are still under police surveillance and are being treated as a crime scene with yellow crime tape across the front yard and a police vehicle blocking the driveway and the alley in the back. The house has little visible fire damage from the street, except for some smoke residue above one broken window facing the street. A pink blanket with stars is hanging from inside the window covering the hole. Items in the yard and nearby homes do not appear to have fire damage.
Chief Steve Beer with the Hutchinson Fire Department and the Kansas State Fire Marshal, who are both involved with the investigation, could not be reached for comment at the time of this update.
As reported in the Hutchinson Tribune on February 1:
At 3:22 a.m. Saturday morning, the Hutchinson Fire Department was dispatched to the 1000 Block of East 3rd to a report of a structure fire with possible people trapped.
While en route, dispatch advised a neighbor notified the house was on fire and there were people in the basement. Hutchinson Police Department arrived on the scene and found one juvenile standing out front of the residence and they transferred care directly to EMS who was on scene.
First arriving fire crews found smoke coming from the 900 sq ft single-family residence. They initiated an aggressive interior fire attack and search operation. Crews were immediately met with a hole in the first floor. They were able to navigate to the interior stairwell and made entry into the basement where they found 3 victims and the fire. Crews worked diligently to remove all three victims from the basement as the stairwell had been compromised due to fire.
The fire was considered controlled shortly after. Two of the victims, one adult and one juvenile, were found deceased and 2, one adult and one juvenile, were transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. The incident is still under investigation in collaboration with Kansas State Fire Marshals Office.
At this time any inquiries can be directed through the Hutchinson Police Department. There will be Hutchinson Fire and Hutchinson Police presence at the site for an extended period of time for investigation purposes.
This case is still under investigation. If you have any information regarding it, please contact Reno County Crime Stoppers or call Hutchinson Police Department 620-694-2816 and reference case number 2025-4633.
We would like to thank Hutchinson Reno County Emergency Communications, Reno County EMS, Kansas State Fire Marshalls Office, Kansas Gas, Evergy, Hutchinson Public Works, and Hutchinson Animal Control Officers.
CAPTION: The early morning February 1 house fire in the 1000 block of East 3rd Street in Hutchinson is still under investigation and the house and property are being treated as a crime scene with continued police surveillance. An adult and juvenile were found deceased
Hutchinson High School alumnus Nate Dreiling, the former interim head coach at Utah State University and New Mexico State University who briefly served as defensive coordinator at Arkansas State University, recently was named defensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma. (Utah State University file photo). By
Tuesday Feb 4 Rob Kenney, host of YouTube’s “Dad, How Do I? Show, part of the Dillon Lecture Series, 10:30 a.m. at the Hutchinson Sports Arena, 700 E 11th Ave. General admission tickets are $10. Students and school groups are admitted free of charge with a
