New Members
Raymond & Linda Keifer are no strangers to Northside as they’ve been attending for the past nine years. He was born in Brownsville, TX, lived in the Philippines and Louisiana for a few years, then moved to Valley Center at the age of 4 when his dad was transferred to McConnell AFB. Raymond graduated from Valley Center High School in 1978 and spent 33 years working as a bus mechanic for the Valley Center School District USD262. He retired in 2012 with a 100% pass record on Highway Patrol inspections of his buses. Raymond then worked for a couple of years as a special education para at VCHS before fully retiring. He loves to trim trees and has been keeping Northside’s trees looking good for several years. Raymond also enjoys reading. He was on a kidney transplant wait list for 4.5 years, and when he finally received a new kidney on May 23, 2024, his kidneys were just functioning at 10%, though he never had to go on dialysis. Now, eight months after the transplant, Raymond’s kidney function is 75% better. Linda was born and raised in Wichita, Valley Center, and Park City. She graduated from Wichita Heights High School in 1970. Linda worked for 33 years for Emprise and Intrust Banks as a teller, in operations, and as a branch manager. She retired in 2018. Linda loves to read history, romance novels, Christian novels, and biographies. The couple has a spoiled, 14-year-old cat named Alli (short for Alligator).
Liv Leon has lived in Wichita her whole life and is a senior at Wichita Heights High School. After she graduates this May, Liv plans to study medical speech and language pathology at KU, WSU, or Spelman College. (She has been accepted to all three.) Spelman is a global leader in the education of women of African descent and is very hard to get into. Liv is a talented and well-rounded young lady. She has played the violin for nine years and is the first chair violinist (concertmaster) of her school’s honor orchestra. She has also played in the All-City Honors Orchestra since middle school and is learning to play the banjo. Liv is a member of the National Speech and Debate Association and has gone to the Kansas state speech competition for the past three years and the national tournament one year. If that’s not enough to keep her busy, she also ran on the cross-country team for two years until she suffered an ankle injury and she played on the tennis team one year. Liv also loves to write, and she has published two novels (available to purchase on Amazon). She has also written a not-yet-published fantasy book for children. Liv has worked as a server at Carrabba’s for two years. She came to Northside wanting to be part of an active youth group and totally enjoyed getting to go to Teen Camp last August. Liv has an old, tiny Shihpoo dog named Maddy and has been the proud owner of two pet crickets. Her original cricket was named Kyle the First (he lived three weeks) and his successor was named Kyle the Second. Sadly, he only made it for three days. Liv’s parents are Patrick and Chanel and her sister is Gabby. Chanel’s father is the brother of Northside member, Al West.