Retirement came to Marshall H. Ensor at age 65, but much work lie before him. He and Loretta, long before had planned that their life’s home should be preserved, so that in the future others might see what a family dairy farm of Kansas was like during the lives of its owners. The Ensor family farm, complete with its equipment, the buildings necessary to carry on everyday chores of farm life, and the incidental objects, belongings and creations of individual family members, would be left much as it was ordinarily used.

Perhaps, they thought, the County might be the custodians and look after it all. There was time to make those considerations. There was also family savings from many years’ hard work and frugal lifestyle and much more acreage than was needed for a museum. Marshall knew that there was a need to arrange a place for his machines, radios and farm tools. They would need to displayed.

Much of the shop equipment that was used at Olathe high school had actually belonged to Marshall. In the early days of his teaching position, he knew what equipment was necessary for students to gain useful training in the woodworking classes. He also figured that the school budget would not likely support his ideals. So Marshall bargained with the school board that his variety of working tools and machines would not place a burden on school funds because he would personally own the equipment. The arrangement suited all concerned.

In the south 1/3 of the old peg barn, where five horses had been stabled, a near replica of the school wood shop emerged. Very orderly, with a place for everything and everything in its place, that’s what he wanted. The many farm tools and many remnants of a life of making things work, fixing things with the inventory of parts and pieces, odds and ends… it all had to go somewhere. The North 1/3 of the barns lower level was as orderly as he could make it. There were a number of shelves able to hold the Ford spark coils, camping utensils, spare car parts, and many, many other miscellaneous things. There was room for the old Atwater Kent model 35 radio, The huge generators used to give electricity for the farm batteries to be charged, the welding partition that allowed protection from the damaging brightness of the welding torch. The walls were used to hold many items supported by hooks and nails.

The upper level of the barn had 25 by 40 feet of area. Before he was finished, it contained much of his life’s creativity. In one corner he put a model set up of a drafting table and associated items. Another corner held a complete mixture of photographic darkroom equipment. Next to that was a variety of printing cuts, etched copper and zinc, and the hand wheel printing press used for many things including the annual hand cut plates for the family Christmas cards. The mid 1930s school athletic scoreboard that he made was an ingenious affair of electro-mechanical score keeping by remote control. A large and heavy unit, it had, like other things, to be hoisted up and through the old hayloft door at the end of the barn. There were no stairs usable for getting these things to their resting place. There was only a wall-mounted ladder used by those workers in the loft. Also stored in the loft was most of the radio equipment, radio magazines, camping tent, cook stove, and too much to itemize here.

The point is, that for a long time, Marshall at a late age and growing frail, accomplished a terrific amount of preparation for the museum that he and sister Loretta wanted to have as the family remembrance.

In the radio logbook, during the last year of life, Marshall was seldom listed as operator.

Marshall Hamilton Ensor came to this world June 22, 1899. After only five years of retirement, ill health took him away from us on February 26, 1970.

Marshall’s wife, Ina May Dana, lived on in Olathe until her death on September 18, 1983.

Loretta Ensor had the mind necessary to deal with the final affairs of the family. Her health was one of continual misery due to severe arthritis that required a cane followed by a wheelchair. She turned the property over to the County as planned with the provision that she live out her life there. She became restricted to living on the lower level of the house. There were a number of caretakers who more or less took care of the property. The acreage dwindled to considerable less mostly due to her generosity to her neighbors. Loretta still enjoyed talking to occasional visitors and was quick to hand out one of the famous photographs of her and Marshall at the old Kilowatt Transmitter.

The county worked to prepare the needs of the old buildings and house. In the late 1980s, the county and Miss Loretta Ensor had a conflict regarding the removing of items of the museum for display elsewhere at other county museums. Taking notice of this, she asked that nothing ever leave the site for any of the reasons offered. When a stalemate was reached she had her lawyer intercede and removed the museum from county control. Loretta named trusted individuals to be museum trustees in her Will. They all agreed upon her death.

To this day, the Ensor Museum is a private, non-profit, trust-operated museum. Operating solely through invested assets, grants and donations, it has been as frugal with a dollar as when the family lived there. Volunteerism has been helpful and continues. In 2003, the Ensor Museum became recognized as a Kansas Historical Place, and in 2004 became a National Historic Site to everyone’s delight.