Mystery Photo Finds Its Way Home

We recently shared a vintage photograph that a resident discovered tucked between cabinets in the garage at 13 Sunset in Wellington. Hoping to return the photo to the family it belonged to, the homeowner asked for help identifying the mystery girl.

Several readers wrote in suggesting the girl might be former Wellington resident Phyllis Malkmus Johnson. Soon after, her daughter, DeAun Johnson Norris, reached out to confirm.

“It’s a picture of my mother as a child. Why it was in the garage, I have no idea, but while they were building the house my brother and I were there a lot—so who knows what treasures we may have stashed here and there,” DeAun wrote.

Phyllis moved to Wellington from Kansas City during her sophomore year of high school and was crowned Wellington High School Duchess her senior year in 1951. That same year, Jesse Ybarra was named Duke.

She later attended Washburn University, where she was crowned Miss Topeka. Phyllis married William “Bill” Johnson on January 23, 1954, at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Wellington. The couple built the home on Sunset in 1966 and were married for 57 years before her passing in 2011.

“We don’t have a lot of pictures of my mother,” DeAun said. “So we are really grateful to have this one back.”