October 30, 2024 | By Ted Ayres
“Like What You Do” by Dr. W. Walt Menninger and Todd Fertig (Flint Hills Publishing, 2024, 457 pages, $40.00) There are a few names associated with Kansas that have become recognizable on an international basis: Earp, Earhart, Landon and Eisenhower, to name a handful. Another such name is Menninger. Four generations of Menningers created and ran a world-renowned […]
| By Joe Stumpe
Nancy Wooten Blanchat was the youngest student attending a one-room schoolhouse near Stafford, Kan., when her teacher sent her outside while older pupils worked on their cursive handwriting. As Blanchat recalls, she was supposed to study shadows as some kind of science project. Instead, the unsupervised 5-year-old found herself being stared down by a giant […]
| By Diana Morton
Forum Theatre, at the Wilke Center, 1st United Methodist Church, 330 N. Broadway. Dial M for Murder. A new version of the celebrated murder mystery that inspired Hitchcock’s masterpiece. Tony is convinced that his wife Margot has been cheating on him. Now it seems that the affair is over, but in his jealousy, Tony spins […]
October 1, 2024 | By Sherry Graham Howerton
John F. Kennedy was leading the nation when Neal Bakker immigrated to the United States more than six decades ago. Twenty-four years old and speaking little English, Bakker arrived in Kansas under the sponsorship of a fellow Dutchman, Wichitan John Borst, to work in Borst’s greenhouse, Livingston Rose Garden & Nursery. As Bakker evolved from […]
| By Joe Norris
In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, there’s a beautiful town square park that you enter through one of two huge arches made of elk antlers. When huckleberries are in season, you can sit in the park and enjoy a huckleberry lemonade or one of several other tasty huckleberry concoctions. They’re crazy for huckleberries in that part of […]
| By Becky Funke
GODDARD — The Goddard Senior Center is on a roll. What had been a group of older residents getting together informally cut the ribbon on the new Goddard Senior Center last month, days after the Goddard City Council approved $46,000 in funding for it ($6,000 of which came from Sedgwick County). This month, the center […]
| By The Active Age
Three new members have joined the board of directors of The Active Age. Steve Criser is one of the founders and owners of CGP Group, LLC, a tax and accounting firm. A Wichita native, he graduated from East High and Wichita State University. Criser jokes that a job he held during college — drawing blood […]
| By The Active Age
Diabetes fair offers free testing Free testing for diabetes, flu vaccines, foot exams and more will be offered during the 8th annual Live Well with Diabetes Fair, held from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Wichita State Metroplex, 5015 E. 29th St. N. Sponsored by the Great Plains Diabetes Center, the […]
| By Lynn Avants
“Wichita Blues: Music in the African American Community” by Patrick Joseph O’Connor (2024, University Press of Mississippi, 282 pages, $30 on Amazon) The traditions and history of the blues as a music form have been well-documented in some regions of the United States. The new book “Wichita Blues” does the same for the genre in […]
| By The Active Age
The Active Age is now available in audio form through NFB-Newsline, a service of the National Federation of the Blind and State Library of Kansas. NFB-Newsline is intended to help those who are visually impaired or have difficulty because of a physical impairment or reading disability. There is no charge for the service, but users […]
| By The League of Women Voters Wichita-Metro
Whether you’re 19 or 99, you are an important member of our democracy. Be sure to exercise your right to vote in the November 2024 election. Here’s how to plan ahead. Check your registration Go to KSvotes.org or call the Sedgwick County Election Office at (316) 660-7100 to see if you are registered and if your information […]
| By The Active Age
Here are some facts you might not know about Lincoln Heights Village, which became Wichita’s first shopping center when it opened in 1949. It was named for Abraham Lincoln, whom realtor and developer Walter Morris greatly admired. Morris bought the property at Douglas and Oliver in 1926 from a wealthy St. Louis financier, Harry F. […]
| By Ted Blankenship
If you are a genuine Kansan, say born in Bazaar, you probably already know this. But if you’re a native of, say, Dallas or Minneapolis, you probably grew up mispronouncing the name of a native Kansas animal, the coyote. It’s co-yote, not co-yot-ee. The frustrating part of this is that people who put the “ee” […]
| By Joe Stumpe
Hunger-inducing. That’s one good description of a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza when it’s pulled out of the oven. The fact that it takes only a handful of inexpensive store-bought ingredients to put together makes it even more appetizing. Chicago-style Deep-dish Pizza Olive oil 1 bag (16 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough, brought to room temperature 1/2 […]
| By Nancy Wheeler
Paranormal events are phenomena whose existence cannot be explained by science. As Halloween approaches, let’s review our working knowledge of these reported occurrences. The answers appear below. 1. What name is given to the colorful spiritual energy that surrounds a person’s physical body and indicates a person’s emotional or physical well-being? 2. What term is […]
| By Diana Morton
Forum Theatre, at the Wilke Center, 1st United Methodist Church, 330 N. Broadway. Dial M for Murder. A jealous husband, his wealthy wife and the seemingly perfect crime are at the center of this new version of the celebrated murder mystery that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s film masterpiece. Oct 31- Nov 17. 8pm; Tickets $34 – […]
| By Jim Miller
How to Assess What You Need in a Walker Dear Savvy Senior, Can you give me some tips on choosing an appropriate walker for my elderly father? He has some balance issues along with arthritis in his hips and could use a little more help than a cane provides. Wobbly in Wisconsin Dear Wobbly, When […]
| By Bob Rives
Like their Major League careers, the news was welcome but a bit late for two Wichita baseball stars. Earlier this year, Major League Baseball announced that Negro League statistics would be considered big league stats. For Bob Thurman, who started a Major League career at age 38 after three seasons of Negro League play, and […]
| By The Active Age
Vera Jane Davis, seen with her “Sunset on the Farm,” and Naomi Ullum, pictured with “Peonies-Sunlit Luminescence,” are among artists chosen to have their work featured in the 2025 Art is Ageless calendar, postcards and greeting cards produced by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America. Others include Patt Sharpe, for “Catus;” Paulette Mattingly, for “Giraffe Fabric Collage”; […]
September 26, 2024 | By The Active Age
Here are some facts you might not know about Lincoln Heights Village, which became Wichita’s first shopping center when it opened in 1949. It was named for Abraham Lincoln, whom realtor and developer Walter Morris greatly admired. Morris bought the property at Douglas and Oliver in 1926 from a wealthy St. Louis financier, Harry F. […]
September 4, 2024 | By The Active Age
A man who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of mistreating a 90-year-old resident of a Bel Aire nursing home was sentenced Wednesday to a year of probation and ordered not to be employed in any capacity where he would be providing medical care to patients. According to a news release from the District Attorney’s […]
September 3, 2024 | By Joel Mathis The Journal
On the day after Valentine’s Day, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach went to the Capitol and made a surprising announcement to the media: Nearly 60 years after the state carried out its last execution – and almost exactly 30 years after its current death penalty law went into effect – Kansas might soon be ready […]
August 30, 2024 | By Sherry Graham Howerton
Don Suderman discovered his passion for roses more than four decades ago. “I grew some roses starting in the 1980s. Then I went to a garden tour in Wichita and got invited to a Wichita Rose Society meeting, which increased my knowledge on how to grow them,” said Suderman, who is now president of that […]
| By Joe Stumpe
BTK wasn’t Wichita’s only serial killer to escape detection for decades. On April 11, 1992, 23-year-old Patricia Smith and 32-year-old Patricia Magers were shot to death while working late at Magers’ bridal shop, La Bride d’ Elegance, on east Kellogg. Less than a month later, police announced that their killer had murdered four other people […]
| By The Active Age
Senior Carnival fun night Senior Services, Inc. is holding a Senior Carnival for people 55 and older from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13 at Linwood Senior Center, 1901 S. Kansas St. The $5 admission includes a hot dog dinner, games, goodie bag and more. RSVP to (316) 263-3703 by Sept. 11. Senior Services operates the […]