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 […]
January 11, 2021 | 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 nursing at the retirement […]
December 30, 2020 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
Wichita bowler Maggi Watson may not be able to see her score due to her failing eyesight, but she can still knock down some pins. In her fifth frame and after hitting her second spare, she asks a senior league teammate for her score. “You’re at 45,” responds Johnny Kirk, who makes sure Watson gets […]
| By Matthew Kelly
Gary O’Neal of Bel Aire stood on his deck, the smell of frying bacon wafting up from the grill. He wasn’t just enjoying a leisurely Wednesday evening, though. He was meal-prepping for yet another school day. O’Neal has been retired for almost 10 years. At 73, he certainly wasn’t expecting to go back to school […]
| By Amy Geiszler-Jones
Retired mail carrier Linda Barnes doesn’t care for dealing with the wind, cold, ice and snow that can mark a Kansas winter. For the fifth year in a row, Barnes, 71, and her 72-year-old husband, George, a retired Wichita police officer, will migrate south to spend the early winter months of the year. The Barneses […]
| By Mary Clarkin
The coronavirus pandemic has reached at least 46 federally licensed long-term care homes in the Wichita area, causing or contributing to 113 deaths, according to records of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The 46 homes, located in Sedgwick, Butler and Harvey counties, had at least one resident and/or staff member with a confirmed […]
| By Joe Stumpe
Now that a COVID-19 vaccine has reached Kansas, residents and employees of long-term care homes are expected to be among the first groups of people offered the vaccine. The question is how many of them will choose to take it. Public health officials and the homes’ operators strongly endorse the vaccine, but polls have shown […]
| By Jennifer Sanders
Throughout the course of the pandemic, the world and our nation have cheered on our “healthcare heroes.” We have lent them our spirit and hoped that somehow it would help sustain them for the battle that they are waging. I share in these sentiments and am truly grateful for the men and women of our […]
| By Tammara Fogle
By Ted Blankenship We old folks have enough problems what with getting shorter and losing most of our hair. But now we are told that our feet are getting bigger, too. That may not seem fair, but bigger feet help to keep us upright. If we don’t have an ample base, we tend to lean […]
| By Joe Stumpe
As a child in Wichita, Barbara Elliott was fascinated by the story of the Mayflower. “I thought that the Mayflower was the most wonderful thing that had happened in this country,” she recalled. “They were good people, and they did so much. They had a horrible, horrible time […]
| By Pat O’Connor
Planeview came into being during World War II as temporary housing for more than 20,000 defense workers. It was federally built and outside Wichita City limits until 1955. In these interviews, conducted for the Wichita Old Neighborhood Project, people who lived there in the 1940s-50s tell what it was like. The community spirit and diversity […]
| By The Active Age
Envision has installed a new art show at Fred & Barney’s Restaurant, which recently opened at 2424 N. Woodlawn in Wichita. The show features 35 paintings, paper and ceramic sculptures, drawings and mixed media pieces. All works were created by artists who are blind or visually impaired, ranging from […]
| By Joe Stumpe
Isn’t it amazing how great minds think alike? Average ones, too! There was I, thinking about starting a regular feature on recipes that serve one or two people when reader Claudine Cook telephoned with the same idea. Well, actually she called to let me know we had been spelling her name wrong (“Cauldine” would indeed […]
| By The Active Age
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| By The Active Age
When Wichita experienced a 3.3 magnitude earthquake followed by several smaller ones last month, Wichita State University invited the media to interview its earthquake expert, Dr. William Parcell, chair of the Department of Geology. So we did. The Active Age: Why does WSU have an earthquake expert? It’s not like we live on the San […]