Stratton would work as a paper boy during the day and stay in the basement of the old Wichita Beacon building at night. As a preteen, Stratton got jobs cooking in local burger restaurants.

The poem, “Shirley Locks” – based on a child’s “Curly Locks” rhyme – later was mailed to The Wichita Eagle-Beacon after the 1977 murder of Shirley Vian Relford. She was the sixth ...