Photograph: Alumna meeting with student.

2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Kay Arvin, 1951

Photograph: Kay Arvin.
Photograph: Kay Arvin.Kay Arvin, 1951, Kay Arvin grew up on in 1920's Kansas on a working farm. At 3 years old, she followed her sister to a 1-room schoolhouse near Cullison, Kan. Blessed with an enlightened teacher, Kay was given a desk and invited to listen. Thus began a life of engaged learning that never faltered.

In 1942, while a student at Ottawa University in northeast Kansas, Kay met Les Arvin at a Valentine's Day dance. They fell in love that night, but World War II delayed their marriage until 1944. Love prevailed however, when Les, stationed in Honolulu with a communications unit, conspired to get Kay a job on the island with the War Department. The plan required Kay to hide her wedding bands by sewing them in the shoulder of a dress, and for the couple to pretend to meet in Honolulu as though strangers. The 2 were eventually married in a local Hawaiian church overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Shortly after the war, Kay was blinded by an accident. Unwilling to remain captive in their small apartment, Kay inquired if she could accompany Les to his classes at Washburn, where Les was enrolled in law school. When faculty agreed, Kay quickly discovered her own fascination with the law. She enrolled and thrived at Washburn, serving as Secretary for the Washburn Bar Association.

After graduation, Les and Kay became Wichita attorneys and raised their 2 sons near Rose Hill. Les Arvin also served as a state legislator. In spite of the challenges of blindness, Kay embraced the dual roles of mother and working professional. Kay's practice specialized in adoption and divorce, and later, in mediation. Her book on marriage, 1+1=1, was published by Broadman Press in 1969. Kay was an in-demand speaker on marriage and Christian faith, and considered her legal career an extension of her commitment to helping others.

Kay was skeptical of the term "feminist", but quietly embraced what she considered the best of the movement's ideals. She championed the cause of abused women, interviewed several women incarcerated for killing abusive husbands, and advocated for their behalf with then-Governor Joan Finney. She was the first woman to try a case in her state's Supreme Court and win. She was listed in Harvard's Best Lawyers in America.

Kay broke ground for Kansas women in the legal profession. She was appointed in 1978 to fill out a four-month term as a judge in Sedgwick County, and although she made clear she had no desire to run for election beyond the term, became one of the first female judges in the state. Among many other appointments, Kay served on the Kansas Racing Commission.

Kay considered civic and pro bono work an obligation. She served on the boards of many organizations, and was a founding board member of ENVISION, a Kansas-based nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of the vision-impaired. Among her many awards is the National Brotherhood Award from the National Association of Christians and Jews. She was a Lifetime Trustee of her alma mater, Ottawa University, where a scholarship in the name of Les and Kay Arvin is established.

Kay traveled the world, including a trip to the former Soviet Union to study their legal system. She and Les taught a class in legal principles in Singapore. In addition, Kay was an award-winning sculptor in both wood and clay. Her pieces astonished those unaware that she worked in total darkness.

"She was such a woman of courage," said Sally Dewey, a former Wichita City Council member. "She was one of my heroes."

Nola Foulston, the former Sedgwick County district attorney, recalled how she would announce her name whenever she and Mrs. Arvin ran into each other in the courthouse.

"Kay was a phenomenal, lovely woman," Foulston said. "She was able to go to law school while blind. There weren't many women in the (Wichita) bar at the time, probably fewer than 10.

Arvin's sister-in-law, Ernestine Krehbiel shared: "Kay was an inspiration to me...She never, never complained about being blind or that she couldn't do this or that."

In 2001, Kay and Les Arvin moved to Nashville to be closer to family.

Mrs. Arvin died June 1, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee, six days before her 92nd birthday.


Winton M. Hinkle, 1968

Photograph: Winton Hinkle.Winton M. Hinkle, 1968, was born in Hays, Kansas on March 2, 1942, and grew up in Garden City, Kansas. He received his B.S.E. cum laude in English from Emporia State University in 1964. He earned his J.D. degree magna cum laude from the Washburn University School of Law in 1968. Hinkle was a member of Phi Alpha Delta and Editor-in-Chief of the Washburn Law Journal.

In December 2014 Hinkle retired from Hinkle Law Firm LLC, a company he founded in 1987. He was Senior Counsel, concentrating his practice in municipal finance and securities law. The Hinkle Law Firm currently has 40 attorneys, and more than 70 support staff, including paralegals and accountants, representing private and publicly held businesses.

Hinkle served as Chief Legal Counsel for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce from July 2005 to 2013. He also served on the Chamber's Board of Directors and as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee.

He was named a Fellow of the American College of Bond Counsel (ACBC). Hinkle is the only Wichita attorney to achieve the prestigious status of Fellow, and is one of a handful of ACBA Fellows in Kansas. Membership in the ACBC is limited to those attorneys with at least 10 years of substantial experience in bond law, and nomination as a Fellow is a peer recognition for the lawyer's accomplishments and expertise in the area of public finance law.

Hinkle is a member of the American, Kansas, and Wichita bar associations; National Association of Bond Lawyers; and was a member of the New York Stock Exchange Arbitration Panel from 1988 to 2013.

He is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit and U.S. District Court, District of Kansas.

Hinkle's many contributions to Washburn Law School include:

  • Washburn University School of Law Alumni Association Board of Governors from 2002 to 2013, and President, 2010-2013.
  • Board of Advisors, Business & Transactional Law Center, Washburn University School of Law, 2004-present.

Hinkle and his wife established an endowed unrestricted program fund in the Business and Transactional Law Center during the Centennial Celebration. The Hinkle Elkouri Law Firm, L.L.C. established a $50,000 scholarship at Washburn Law during the Centennial. The firm also makes cash awards to Washburn students in the National Negotiation Competition.

Winton and his wife Pauletta have four adult children.


The Honorable Alexander A. Hotchkiss, 1927

Photograph: Alexander Hotchkiss.
Photograph: Alexander Hotchkiss.The Honorable Alexander A. Hotchkiss, 1927, was born in Burlingame, Kansas on August 12, 1904. He was born of naturalized, immigrant parents from Scotland and his father was a coal miner in Osage County, Kansas.

After grading from Washburn University School of Law in 1927, Judge Hotchkiss moved to Lyndon, Kansas in Osage County to practice law and run for County Attorney. He later returned to Topeka to accept a legal position with the then Oil Department of Kansas. While in Topeka, Judge Hotchkiss met Mary Van Tries, a teacher in the Topeka school district. They were married on June 16, 1933 and shortly thereafter moved to Lyndon where Hotchkiss practiced general law. While in Lyndon, Hotchkiss ran for County Attorney and in 1943 was elected to the Kansas Senate.

In 1960, Judge Hotchkiss became judge of the Fourth Judicial District, encompassing Osage and Wabaunsee counties. Judge Hotchkiss was also called on occasion by the Kansas Supreme Court to preside over cases throughout the state. He was appointed to hear the 1965 appeal of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, on the convicted murders of four members of the Clutter family, in the Finney County District Court in Garden City, Kansas.

Judge Hotchkiss was a leader in progressive legal reform. As a member of the Kansas Judicial Council, he made significant contributions to the judicial system in his committee work. Judge Hotchkiss was one of the early moving forces behind the publication of the "Pattern Instructions for Kansas," available to judges and lawyers in both civil and criminal cases, and providing clarity and instructions for jurors in the courtroom.

Judge Hotchkiss served as Washburn Law Alumni Association President from 1954 to 1955. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from Washburn University School of Law in 1967.

In addition, Judge Hotchkiss was a mentor to law students and young lawyers. He was devoted in preparing them for the bar examination. The Washburn Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta renamed itself after Judge Hotchkiss in tribute for his many hours of service. Judge Hotchkiss served as justice of the national fraternity in 1967, and later was appointed Supreme Justice of Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity, International. He offered a bar review course exclusively for Benson Chapter members at no cost because he was a devoted P.A.D. His several one-man shows around the country were quite uncommon. He started the review the year his son Bruce graduated from Washburn Law, driving from Lyndon, Kansas to teach in the library in the attic of the P.A.D. house at 1612 College. In later years, graduates drove to Lyndon and the Judge lectured for several hours each afternoon in the non-air conditional Osage County Courthouse. The success rate on the bar exam for those completing this course was unsurpassed. Judge Hotchkiss became known as the "Oracle of Lyndon."

Judge Hotchkiss was recognized as having an outstanding legal mind and was considered one of the best district judges in the state. He was highly regarded among his colleagues and his community as a fair and impartial judge who followed the law.

In remembering Judge Hotchkiss, The Honorable George Templar of the U.S. District Court of Kansas, a close friend, commented: "Judge Hotchkiss was, without doubt, one of the ablest trial judges in the state...He seemed at his best with a jury in the box and a counsel table filled with able trial lawyers. Those who watched him at such times realized that here was a trial judge who believed that every man, no matter what the dispute, was entitled to his full day in court and he saw to it that the day in court included fairness, impartiality and dignity."

Another close friend, The Honorable Harold Fatzer, Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, made the following statement: "It is commonly understood the deeds of great men survive them. Such is the case with Judge Alex Hotchkiss - his deeds will live on...The impression he made upon the jurisprudence of this state will be lasting."

Judge Hotchkiss passed away on May 9, 1973.