By Jan Landon
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Barbara Wolff is coming home. Not just to her new home in Bluebird Crossing at Tallgrass Creek, but also to the place where she was born and grew up.

Raised in Gardner, Kans., a community that sits on the southwest corner of the Kansas City metropolitan area, Wolff has since lived in Denver for many years.

“I wanted to get back to my beginnings,” she says.

Words, theater, and sports
Wolff will bring with her a passion for writing. She has sold numerous freelance articles and is writing a novel with characters based on people in her Kansas  hometown. She enjoys dancing and loves to both act in and watch theater.

And she is an avid fan of Denver sports. But she says she might also be  convinced to cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Growing up in Gardner
She grew up in her grandparents’ home in Gardner, where the family included nine children and two grandchildren. Her grandfather, Steve Cordell, was the mayor of Gardner for 18 years.

“I never saw my grandfather campaign,” she says. “People just liked his  administration. He was an honest man, and they liked what he did for Gardner.”

Wolff went to the University of Kansas in Lawrence where she majored in journalism.

“My first assignment  was to write about a play rehearsal on campus,” she says. “The story was on the front page of the Daily Kansan. I fell in love with drama, and I changed my major to speech and drama.”

After graduation Wolff headed for New York City.

Broadway bound
“I went to New York City to become a star on Broadway,” she says. “Doesn’t everybody who majors in theater think they will be a star on  Broadway?”

Wolff lived in Greenwich Village. “I fell in love with the city,” she says. “It was so exciting, so vibrant. I loved it.”