March 31, 2021 | By Rep. Elizabeth Bishop
On March 18, the Kansas House of Representatives returned to the House Chamber in regular order. No longer socially distanced by using every other desk. And you have never seen 125 more happy people in your life. The new legislators explored their new desks. They have been sitting on chairs or benches in the galleries […]
| By The League of Women Voters Wichita Metro
The League of Women Voters Wichita Metro was contacted last fall by an assisted living facility to help their residents with voter registration for the 2020 General Election. We were honored by this request, and based on this successful project and relationship, the League realized that this effort could be expanded to all senior living […]
| By Patrick O’Connor
The Country Overlook neighborhood was built in the late 1940s. Wichita had jobs and workers wanted to buy homes, often through the G.I. Bill. JAMES HAYS and his family shared a duplex with his grandparents. “We were right across the street from MacDonald Golf Course. We would hop over the fence and go sledding on […]
March 24, 2021 | By Joe Stumpe
The Downtown Senior Center and three others in Wichita will reopen on a limited basis April 1, more than a year after closing because of the coronavirus pandemic. Numerous congregate meal sites that provide lunch to seniors have also reopened for in-person dining or announced plans to do so. “Everybody is kind of ready to […]
March 1, 2021 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
David Dennis retired from two careers spanning 40 years before deciding to pick up another vocation: elected public official. At 74, Dennis is the oldest commissioner on the five-member Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners. In November, he was re-elected for his second four-year term representing District 3, the county’s western district that includes a big […]
| By Bonnie Bing
About now you’re wondering why last September you changed out spring and summer clothes to fall and winter. We haven’t gone many places. Not many people are seeing us and if they are, it’s from the waist up on FaceTime or Zoom. That doesn’t mean, however, there aren’t good times ahead and there is a […]
| By The Active Age
Sedgwick County on Friday reduced the age threshold from 70 to 65 for eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations. Here’s what you need to know to get your jab: HOW DO I SET UP AN APPOINTMENT? Appointments are offered Monday through Saturday and can be scheduled online at https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/covid-19/vaccine-information/covid-19-vaccine-dose-1/ ; those unable to schedule online can call the county […]
| By Mary Clarkin
It’s not a good time to be 93 years old, says DeAnn Triboulet, director of the Augusta Senior Center. Triboulet recently talked by phone with a friend that age who has family and lots of other friends but whose social interactions have been limited for health reasons during the pandemic. Many older adults enjoy even […]
| By Lacey Cruse
Dear Seniors, The abundance of information around vaccines is confusing and hard to follow. I know there is a problem, and I want you to know there is an entire team of public servants working to administer vaccines we received. We are working for our community so everyone can get back to a life filled […]
| By The Active Age
With March Madness here, you might ask why college kids should be having all the fun. Actually, they aren’t. Granny Basketball, founded in 2005, provides fun, exercise and a little good-natured competition for women 50 and older. This six-player version of women’s basketball dates back to 1898. Kansas teams were among the best in the […]
| By The Active Age
EL DORADO — Butler County history is being brought to life through a series of short documentaries produced by the Butler County Historical Society. Each episode in the “Rural Crossroads” series examines a different community. So far, segments have run on El Dorado, Augusta, Towanda, Douglass, Cassoday and Rosalia. More are planned for Beaumont, Benton, […]
| By Rep. Elizabeth Bishop
The Kansas Legislature is busy churning out bills in 2021. One reason for the frenetic activity is that many bills made it through either the House or Senate in 2020 but then were left incomplete when the pandemic panic set in and the 2020 legislature shut down early. However, so far, most of the action […]
| By The Active Age
Wichita’s bike transportation business, known as Bike ICT, is ready for riders again. The bikes, stations and prices are the same as before but it’s being run by a different management company. Bike ICT features 200 bikes, 40 stations and several pricing options. For a $30 annual fee, you get unlimited trips of up to […]
February 11, 2021 | By Joe Stumpe
The Active Age Sedgwick County has open appointments for free COVID-19 vaccines for people 70 and older, and those people can telephone for appointments if they aren’t able to register online. The appointments are for next week and beyond. “I know it’s awfully cold” but the county wants older residence to be vaccinated Adrienne Byrne, […]
February 5, 2021 | By Debbi Elmore
When Lakshmi Kambampati arrived in Liberia, the schools had been closed for 14 years due to Ebola and a civil war. It was just the kind of challenge the retired Wichita teacher was looking for when she signed up for the Peace Corps. “I wanted to help and I was looking for adventure,” she said. […]
| By Mary Clarkin
Life became a series of painful choices for the McCary family starting in early November, when Bill McCary, Sr. tested positive for COVID-19 at Ascension Via Christi-St. Francis. He was sent home but fell. He was back at St. Francis on Nov. 3. His wife, Norma McCary, tested positive for the virus soon after. She […]
| By Mary Clarkin
The Active Age New Year’s Eve brought a different kind of celebration at the Kansas Christian Home in Newton: Staff and residents received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “We were ecstatic, absolutely thrilled that we were finally getting a step toward protecting our residents, family, friends, ourselves,” said Donna Hett, assistant director of […]
| By Joe Stumpe
When Esther Lazos thinks back to her arrival in Wichita 42 years ago, she lets out a soft laugh. Both she and her husband came here from Mexico illegally, with no ability to speak English. Their possessions consisted of “a 6-year-old and empty hands.” They had one thing going for them, though. “Me and my […]
| By The Active Age
Some Kansas women are hitting the Santa Fe Trail to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that famed route. It’s actually not the first time that they’ve done so. Back in 1906, the Kansas Daughters of the American Revolution raised money and placed 89 granite markers along the trail throughout the state. As a result, Kansas […]
| By By Pat O’Connor
The South Central neighborhood is one of Wichita’s oldest. The Orme and Phillips Addition was platted in 1876, six years after the city was incorporated. In the early days, travel to work downtown was a quick walk or streetcar ride. Some of the city’s grandest homes were built among the many middle-class and more modest […]
| By The Active Age
Voters League starts pen pal program, blood drive Usually focused on elections, the League of Women Voters Wicita Metro chapter is launching a different kind of campaign — a pen pal program to relieve isolation related to the pandemic. The idea is to reach home-bound individuals with little or no access to companionship due to […]
| By Ted Blankenship
I’m sure you have noticed that we’re back in the space business in a big way. After years of paying the Russians big bucks to haul our astronauts back and forth to the International Space Station, we now have our own taxi service. Not only that, we’re sending more women to the station, and there […]
| By Ted Ayres
“Tombstone” by Tom Clavin (St. Martin’s Press, 386 Pages, $29.99) On Oct. 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Ariz., 30 bullets were exchanged in 30 seconds, leaving three men dead and three others wounded. And with that exchange of gunfire, the Earp brothers, John Henry “Doc” Holliday, Billy and Joe Clanton and the OK Corral were forever etched […]
| By Rep. Elizabeth Bishop
Editor’s note: The Active Age invited state Rep. Elizabeth Bishop of Wichita, the Kansas Legislature’s most senior member, to share some of her experiences during the 2021 session. This is her first column. TOPEKA — Starting my third term in the Kansas House of Representatives, I knew things were going to be different in the […]
January 28, 2021 | By Mary Clarkin
Life became a series of painful choices for the McCary family starting in early November, when Bill McCary, Sr. tested positive for COVID-19 at Ascension Via Christi-St. Francis. He was sent home but fell. He was back at St. Francis on Nov. 3. His wife, Norma McCary, tested positive for the virus soon after. She […]