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Don Oswald was born January 12, 1934 at Ottawa, Kansas. He grew up in Princeton and attended Princeton schools, graduating from Princeton High School in 1952. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1957. Don later graduated from the Manhattan Bible College in Manhattan, Kansas. He served as pastor for several Christian churches in Eastern Kansas. He then returned to Kansas State Teachers College and graduated in 1963 with a BE degree in education. He taught business courses for several years at Arrowhead Junior High School and Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas. He retired from teaching in 1975 due to ill health. In January of 1979 he purchased "The Chess House" from Jack Winters, who started it in 1972. An amazing 15 years later, the mailing list had grown from 1,000 to over 8,000, becoming a world-wide mail-order and chess-related supply and retail store. Don owned and operated the business in Kansas City, Kansas, until his death. He was widely recognized as "Mr. Chess" throughout the Midwest. He had directed numerous chess tournaments in the area for many years, and was responsible for teaching and instructing chess to countless numbers of people throughout the years. Don was a member of the United States Chess Federation, and had served as Senior Affiliate Tournament Director for many years. Don passed away on Tuesday afternoon, May 24,1994, at his home and business in Kansas City. He was 60 years of age. Chess in Kansas City has never been the same. |