Background info on us

The Kansas Oyers started in 1987 when Gary Oyer and Louisa Swartley got married and they moved to Kansas right after their honeymoon.

Gary grew up in Rocky Ford, Colorado and near Canby,  Oregon.  He attended Hesston College, and then moved to Virginia where he worked as a recording engineer at what was then named Mennonite Board of Missions Media Ministries. His last year there Louisa started working there. They began their courtship during that year.  That didn't stop him from leaving for Goshen College at the end of that year.  After graduating from Goshen with a degree in Broadcast Communication, he moved to PA where Louisa then lived.  

Gary's mother and stepfather live in Oregon, his oldest brother Phil in Denver where he has an auto body shop, and other brother Stan and his family also live in Oregon.

Louisa grew up mostly in Virginia. She attended EMU in Virginia where she graduated with a degree in Business Administration. After graduation from EMU she also worked for Mennonite Board of Missions Media Ministries, her first year overlapping with Gary's last year.  After three years she moved to PA and worked at Philhaven Hospital. Her parents live in Elkhart, IN. Her mom retired from Bethany Christian High School and her dad is retired from AMBS.  Her brother Kenton and family live in northern Iowa.

After Gary graduated from Goshen College and moved to PA, Gary and Louisa got engaged and were married in the fall of 87.  They promptly moved to Kansas where Gary took his present job of Director of Media and Instructional Technology Services at Hesston College, and Louisa took a job as an administrative secretary in the Student Life office at Bethel College. She held that job until 1991 when John was born. Starting in the fall of 1999 she worked part-time as Administrative Assistant at our church--Whitestone Mennonite and is now currently working at Prairie View in Newton.

We are actively involved in our church, Whitestone Mennonite. Gary likes reading and collecting family history information, collecting license plates, and misc. baseball stuff.  He also enjoys being off work for some of the  summer to work on the house, in past spending time with the boys, and follow the Dodgers.  Louisa works year round, but in her minimal spare time, she  enjoys cooking, reading, occasional knitting or crocheting, and keeping track of her men in the household.  We all enjoy traveling.   See the traveling videos on YouTube.  Traveling Boys and "My Wife in 50 States" 

If you want to e-mail us, our address is theoyers@gmail.com