For nearly forty years, LaDene Morton has lived and worked in the Brookside area, including ten years as a tenant in Brookside and later serving as project manager to the Brookside Community Improvement District. For almost as long, she has worked in the field of community development research and analysis and spent her career studying how communities like Brookside work. She is the author of three books for Arcadia Publishing/The History Press: The Brookside Story: Shops of Every Necessary Character; The Waldo Story: Home of Friendly Merchants; and Kansas City's Country Club District. In addition, her historical novel, What Lies West, was a 2010 finalist for the WILLA Literary Award, presented by the writers' association Women Writing the West.