August 28, 2026 | By Jim Miller
With Social Security Uncertainty, Should You Claim Benefits Early? Smartphones Made Simple for Seniors A Caregiver’s Guide to Medicare With Social Security Uncertainty, Should You Claim Benefits Early? Dear Savvy Senior, I turn 62 early next year and plan to retire soon after. Most advice says I should wait to claim Social Security because my […]
| By The Active Age
The Orpheum Theatre is back, and this time the venerable venue itself may steal the show. Wichita’s oldest theater closed its doors in May 2025 to embark on a 15-month renovation project to fully restore the interior. The improvements include new seating on the main and balcony floors, new sound and lighting, an upgraded HVAC […]
| By Melanie Jenney
Usually when a Kansan heads to the Caribbean, it’s for beaches and a deck chair, fancy drinks and lots of sun. Dr. Patrick Pirotte derived an entirely different kind of enjoyment from his trip earlier this year — the satisfaction of bringing better vision to children in the Dominican Republic. Pirotte, a pediatric optometrist in […]
| By Joe Stumpe
If you possess an interesting face and happen to run into Patti Doll, don’t be surprised if she makes an unusual request. “I’ll stop people on the street if I think I want to do a picture,” Doll said. By picture, she means painting a portrait. “I’ve just been fascinated with portraits forever,” Doll said. […]
| By The Active Age
Exploration Place hosts free riverfront concerts Wichita digs electric guitars, and it’s paying off big-time with a three-year series of free concerts along the Arkansas River. Last year, Exploration Place applied to the national Levitt Family Foundation for a grant to bring concerts featuring national touring acts to EP’s new riverfront amphitheater. […]
| By Greg Perkins
I recently attended a reunion of sailors who served aboard the USS Nimitz, once the largest warship in the world. It was the last such reunion before the aircraft carrier is decommissioned next year, and it brought back a shipload of memories. I grew up in the College Hill neighborhood of Wichita, about as far from […]
| By Joe Norris
If you’ve been to a wedding recently, you may have noticed that the production has become a bit more elaborate than the ones you remember. According to The Knot, a wedding planning website, the average cost of a wedding today is $34,200. Kansas celebrations average closer to $23,000. Still costly enough to melt a Visa […]
| By Joe Stumpe
Every time I think I’ve seen the last of garlic salad, it raises its uniquely Wichita-flavored head. During my tenure as the Wichita Eagle’s food editor (2000-2009), I received more requests for the garlic salad recipe from Doc’s Steakhouse on North Broadway than any other local dish. But Doc’s closed for good more than a […]
| By The Active Age
DERBY — Growing up, Loretta Hoffsetz admired her mother for volunteering to deliver Meals on Wheels in Atwood, Kan., a tiny farming community in the northwest corner of the state. Hoffsetz’s 50-year career as a hairdresser didn’t leave her much free time for volunteering, but she’s more than made up for it […]
| By Bonnie Bing
I hope by the time you’re reading this we will be having much cooler weather. As I write this, it is 103 degrees in Wichita, and it is 89 degrees in our house. No, we don’t set the thermostat that high. Our air conditioner is out. Done. Finished. Shot. Not […]
| By Bonnie Bing
It might still be hotter than you know where into early September, but before long we’ll be changing out our closets to fall and winter clothes. And with any will power at all, we’ll make decisions about what to keep, what to donate and what to toss out. This seasonal job is for all closets, […]
| By The Active Age
The Wichita City Council last month adopted a plan for downtown that will guide development of the area for the next decade. The council first stripped the plan of any references to creating a new performing arts center. The arts center move came after supporters of Century II — the city’s current performing arts and […]
| By The Active Age
A Meals on Wheels recipient named Brent can’t say enough good things about the program, which delivers hot meals to homebound residents each weekday. If his pets could talk, they’d probably say the same thing. In 2022, Senior Services, Inc., which operates Meals on Wheels, launched a project called Pet Pals with start-up funds from […]
| By The Active Age
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging offers free, award-winning mental health counseling to people who qualify. The agency’s In-Home Counseling and Community Support Groups Program this summer received a 2026 Aging Innovations Award from USAging, a national association of area agencies on aging. The program offers individual therapy for adults aged 60 and over and […]
| By The Active Age
NORTH NEWTON — Kidron Bethel Village is celebrating a century in the senior care and living industry this summer. What is known today as Kidron Bethel Village began in 1926 as the Bethel Home for the Aged, an auxiliary ministry of the Bethel Deaconess Hospital. The need for such a community had been evident for […]
| By Nancy Wheeler
Since they keep score in sports, we’ll do the same with this month’s quiz. Follow these clues to name great names and moments in sports history. Ten correct answers qualify you as a casual fan (below that, better stick with pop culture). Thirteen correct answers mark you as a knowledgeable fan, ready for almost any […]
| By Diana Morton
Kechi Playhouse, 100 E. Kechi Road, Office Party. Comedy follows three friends as they do whatever is necessary to launch a new business venture. Curtain time 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday nights with a ticket price of $18; Sunday matinees at 2:30 with a ticket price of $17. Walk-ins are welcome or call 316-744-2152 […]
| By Starla Criser
Seniors On The Go will hold its monthly meeting at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2 at Linwood Senior Center. Events that SOTG members plan to attend are boldfaced. SENIOR DAYS/COFFEE CONNECTIONS Sep 10 – Th 10 am – Senior Thursday: @ Kansas Aviation Museum – Free 10 am – Empowered Seniors: The Untold Influences of […]
| By The Active Age
September 11 is National Day of Service and Remembance, and The Active Age salutes our volunteers, who help us bring you this publication all year round. Shown at left are volunteers (clockwise from top left) Fritz Hensler, Linda Jesseph, Melanie Wetta, Diana Dobbins and Carol King. Not pictured is Val Dettwiler. Our board of directors […]
| By The Active Age
A new talent show is one of several special events the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program has planned for the remainder of 2026. For more information about any of these, contact Jennfier Youngers, RSVP program for Sedgwick County, at Jennifer.youngers@sedgwick.gov or by calling (316) 660-5136. Here’s the schedule Sept. 11 Kansas State Fair – Young at […]
| By The Active Age
The city of Wichita last month opened a new fitness court at Osage Park, 2121 W. 31st St. Free to use, the court lets users leverage their body weight on seven exercise stations.
July 28, 2026 | By Zachary Ruth
From laps around his neighborhood to cruise ship exercise bikes, Mac McCarthy has biked every day for more than nine years — and found a way to give back to his community along the way. The retired mechanic’s streak began on Nov. 15, 2016, when he decided to ride every day for a year. Some […]
| By Sherry Graham Howerton
Nothing says “I love my town” like joining a service organization. Service clubs such as Optimists Clubs, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions Clubs and the Shriners make our communities stronger, more interesting and more engaging. But are they dying out? Decades ago, membership in such clubs was thriving, serving as the backbone of community life in America. […]
| By Joe Norris
PRATT — In the 1870s, a trapper named Johnson was one of the few residents of Pratt County. Digging into the yellow clay and gypsum along the Ninnescah River near where the town of Pratt now sits, Johnson excavated a cozy two-room cave from the side of the riverbank. In good weather, he trapped bobcat, […]
| By The Active Age
For filmmaker Kevin Patrick Allen, the 50th anniversary of the Holiday Inn Sniper shootings was more than an opportunity to retell that tragedy. In his new documentary, “Long Echo,” Allen focuses instead on how the event shaped the lives of those most affected by it over the past half-century, from victims’ families and bystanders to […]