May 14, 2020 | By Mary Clarkin & The Active Age
The concentration of COVID-19 fatalities in one Wichita long-term care center is greater than previously reported. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Chisholm Place, 1859 N. Webb Rd., said seven of its residents have died of the virus. When Sedgwick County announced April 29 that Chisholm Place was the second COVID-19 cluster site at a long-term […]
May 1, 2020 | By Joe Stumpe and Leslie Chaffin
Normally this time of year, Jim Unruh would be puttering around the house, traveling with his wife or working part-time for a funeral home. “Just a very relaxing lifestyle,” he says. The coronavirus pandemic has thrust him into a new role: Two mornings a week, the retired banker volunteers to shop for and deliver groceries […]
| By Joe Stumpe
The lifting of stay-at-home orders caused by the coronavirus — whenever that happens — won’t signal that things are back to normal, a health expert says. “The world’s going to look different even after the peak of this epidemic has passed,” said Dr. Garold Minns, an infectious disease specialist who serves as Sedgwick County’s health […]
| By The Active Age
You walk, bike, stretch, garden. Lift weights, swim, do yoga and water aerobics. Team up with neighbors, friends and spouses. Turn for help to physical trainers and therapists. Age is no barrier, and you’re not letting the coronavirus slow you down, except for maybe those trips to the gym. Readers of the active age shared […]
| By Keith Wondra
Postcards from the past: The original Kansas Masonic Home, left, was built as a residence in 1889 by early settler Robert Lawrence. It was bought and enlarged by the Masons in 1896 before being destroyed by fire in 1916. Wichita Hospital, center, located where QuikTrip now sits at Seneca and Douglas, opened in 1898 and […]
| By Beth Bower
So. Five weeks and counting of staying at home and trying to be creative with dinner. Breakfast is toast, lunch is soup or a sandwich but dinner … that requires a little more thought. Fortunately, my husband Guy and I like to cook. He creates recipes, I use recipes others have developed and manipulate them […]
| By Kollen Long
It’s obvious where Bob Lutz stands on the pressing issue of American cheese on crackers. Clearly against it, as evidenced by a debate on his daily radio show with his son and co-host, Jeff. Lutz’s opinion on soccer has been made clear. All good if you are watching your kids play the sport, but a […]
| By Diana Breit Wolfe
Hmm…what was I doing when I was 28 years old? That’s what came to mind as I wrote to one of my one of my great-nieces on her 28th birthday. I have plenty of time to send cards and write stories in them — just as you do, Dear Reader — since we are all […]
| By Nancy Wheeler
How much do you remember about life in Wichita during the 1950’s? Remember eating at Wolf’s Cafeteria, seeing performances at the Wichita Forum and attending sock hops? Try your hand at these questions, and let your mind drift back to a different era. The answers are on page 14. What legendary star gave two performances […]
| By Ted Blankenship
I have been fascinated by humor as long as I can remember. Maybe it was compensation for being a fat kid. How could I feel inadequate if I came up with fat jokes before my friends could think of them? Because of the fear we’re all experiencing now, we think it’s wrong to laugh. The […]
| By Ted Ayers
“Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church,” by Megan Phelps-Roper (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2019, 286 pages, $27.00) In this time of global calamity and concern, I feel compelled to remind us all that books can be a source of hope, diversion, information, encouragement, courage and companionship. What an important time to pick […]
| By Janice Sroufe
Spring has never been quite like this. Many of us have spent weeks at home, trying to make do with what we have and distancing ourselves from other people. I’ve been trying to figure out my garden without wandering around in the garden centers like I usually do. Although I have taken advantage of the […]
April 23, 2020 | By The Active Age
Normally this time of year, Jim Unruh would be puttering around the house, traveling with his wife or working part-time for a funeral home. “Just a very relaxing lifestyle,” he says. The coronavirus pandemic has thrust him into a new role: Two mornings a week, the retired banker volunteers to shop for and deliver groceries […]
March 31, 2020 | By Joe Stumpe
Jazz formed the soundtrack of Bob Scheid’s childhood in pre-World War II south Chicago, a swinging big-band beat that some think has never been equaled. It was powered by famous drummers such as Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, and it found its way into Scheid’s heart and hands before he could even form complete sentences. […]
| By Bob Rives
When Wichita’s first real baseball stadium opened in 1905, it cost $1,500 and was painted green, like most of its kind. In fact, reverent fans spoke lovingly of their ballparks as “green cathedrals.” But if the old green structures were cathedrals, what would those fans expect from Wichita’s new $75 million Riverfront Stadium? Pearls on […]
| By By Joe Stumpe
As a resident in a small memory care home in Wichita, 83-year-old Patricia “Pat” Shibley could count on daily visits from one or more of her four children. That ended March 16, when the coronavirus pandemic caused it to be closed to virtually all visitors. “Family will not be allowed in unless this is a […]
| By Susan Hill
Editor’s note: Susan Hill, a member of the active age board of directors, lives at Larksfield Place, one of many area senior communities affected by the threat of coronavirus. On Thursday, March 12, independent living residents of Larksfield Place were told it was being placed under restricted access because of the threat of coronavirus. But […]
| By Celisa Calacal and Matthew Long-Middleton
Kansas News Service Kansas’ 36th attorney general was infamous for popping out of trunks, inciting gunfights on buses, and going toe-to-toe with other lawmen and politicians. It was this unabashed, brash approach to law enforcement that earned Vern Miller the nickname “Lawman of the State.” “He was just kind of a cowboy who did things […]
| By Pat Gallagher
I have enjoyed cooking and reading for most of my life. I don’t cook as much anymore but I have broadened my reading interest to include cookbooks so maybe I am simply cooking vicariously. My grandmother and my mother were both excellent cooks and that’s where it all began — mostly with desserts and donuts […]
| By Kollen Long
At 8:15 on a chilly morning two days before Thanksgiving, Janet Eaton, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Wichita, held the door and greeted teachers as they entered Bishop Carroll High School for religious education classes. It was reminiscent of the time she surprised St. Joseph Ost Catholic School by visiting on […]
| By Janice Sroufe
City-dwelling gardeners like me often have limited space to grow all of the wonderful fruits and vegetables they would like. Over the years, I have experimented with different types of structures that provide a vertical element to the garden. Plants that tend to sprawl and take up a lot of space on the ground can […]
| By The Active Age
Old Cowtown Museum wants to recreate one of Wichita’s early business buildings to store and display its “rolling stock” of wagons, buggies and buckboards. The museum currently uses a dilapidated brick building for storing those vehicles. Plans call for building a structure modeled on the Wichita Carriage Works, which was founded in 1885. That business […]
| By Leslie Chaffin
The Wichita area has always taken pride in its skilled workers, and an organization called MakeICT shows that talent isn’t limited to employees performing their regular jobs. The “maker community” – a group of people who like to make things – is expanding for the third time in its eight-year history. The former Booth […]
| By The Active Age
Give Anthony Dozier a box of old decals or expired gift cards and you might get a work of art back in return. “Some people take things for granted,” Dozier said. “I don’t.” That goes for life in general. Dozier grew up with a severe stutter, an affliction that got him bullied and that he […]
| By The Active Age
What’s your favorite way to stay fit? Is it a nightly walk around the neighborhood, a Silver Sneakers class at your local YMCA, a regular round of golf? Or is it a brisk game of pickleball, hopping on your bicycle or the stretching and reaching that goes with gardening? The active age invites you to […]