Alumni Jill S. Docking and Tom Docking of Wichita gave $500,000 toward the construction of a gateway at the northeast edge of the main campus, near the Kansas Union. It comprises a fountain, brick pylon and plantings fitted into an oval stone surround.
The Dockings’ children and his brother, William, also are alumni, as were his father and grandfather, former Kansas governors Robert Docking (1967-75) and George Docking (1957-61); and his mother, the late Meredith Gear Docking. Tom Docking was lieutenant governor of Kansas 1983-87.
Robert H. Malott and his wife, Elizabeth Hubert Malott, donated $1 million to create this gateway on the western edge of the main campus in honor of his parents, former Chancellor Deane W. Malott and Eleanor Sisson Malott. It comprises a curved, 70-foot stone wall engraved with the name University of Kansas and a marker to the left of the Visitor Center entrance reading “Malott Gateway.” A brick pedestrian plaza is landscaped with trees and shrubs.
During his tenure as chancellor, 1939-51, Malott and his wife worked to beautify the campus. She spearheaded projects to plant redbud, plum and crab apple trees and forsythia and other flowering shrubs. Eleanor Malott died Jan. 14, 1994, at age 94; Deane Malott died Sept. 11, 1996, at age 98. Both are inurned at Pioneer Cemetery.
See also: Malott Plaza and Memorial Garden; Malott Hall
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