Born in Casey, Illinois, on October 13, 1896, Payne Ratner moved to Parsons in 1920. A Republican lawyer who held several elective offices prior to his elevation to the state's highest in 1939, Governor Ratner oversaw the state's transition to a wartime economy. On December 27, 1974, soon after his 78th birthday, the two-term Kansas governor died in Wichita.

Governor biographies courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society.