William J. Wertz

William Jennings Wertz (October 28, 1896 – March 10, 1987) was a lawyer, Kansas state senator from 1941 to 1942 and a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from March 1, 1950, to December 4, 1950, and again from January 8, 1951, to October 1, 1965. Life and education He was born October 28, 1896, in Bedford, Pennsylvania the son of Mr and Mrs S. W. Wertz, before moving to Wichita, Kansas where he went to high school. He obtained his first degree from Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas. He then enrolled in the University of Kansas School of Law but his studies were disrupted by joining the Navy to serve in World War I. He signed up in July 1918 as a private and returned later that year to the Great Lakes Training Station where he was promoted to deputy instructor. He re-enrolled at the law school on his return, and later met his wife to be Miss Pauline Elouise Pingrey from Neodesha, Kansas, and whom he married February 11, 1920. In university Wertz was well known in the social circles on "the hill". During his vacations while at Kansas University he read law with local Attorney John W. Adams. He was a member of the American Legion, Camber of Commerce and Masonic bodies as well as St. Paul's Lutheran Church.