May 27, 2026 | By Joe Norris
This year, America’s most iconic highway is celebrating its 100th birthday. Established in 1926, Route 66 was one of the first national highways, extending all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica. The historic route ran through eight states, covering a total of 2,448 miles. Only 13.2 of those miles are on Kansas soil. But […]
| By Amy Geiszler-Jones
When Bob Nelson heard his pastor talk about a new faith-based social justice coalition in Wichita, he was wary. “I told her this could be dangerous and divisive,” said Nelson, who initially associated justice with revenge or polarized politics. After attending the initial meetings when Justice Together was forming in late 2022, he came to […]
| By Sherry Graham Howerton
Edith Clark has put over 300,000 miles on her 2013 Subaru Outback. She hasn’t logged all those miles taking cross-country vacations. Clark, who lives in Newton, has racked up more than 100,000 miles transporting homeless animals in the seven years since she retired. Clark is one of many older volunteers who participate in pet transport, […]
| By The Active Age
For the folks who pushed for a public library in Wichita, persistence paid off. “They weren’t very successful the first couple of years,” Michelle Enke, the Wichita Public Library’s special collections manager, recounted during a presentation on the library’s first 150 years last month. Discussions of a library started in 1872 but went nowhere, probably […]
| By Bonnie Bing
Editor’s note: We’re delighted that Bonnie Bing plans to write a regular column for The Active Age. Please join us in welcoming her. When you hear a speaker who inspires and/or amazes you, things he or she said come to mind long after you heard them. Here’s a great example. Last month, Sarah Thomas was […]
| By The Active Age
Joshua Mostowitz and Patricia Harris-Mostowitz knew the property where they planned their dream house harbored challenges. “When the wind blows 20 miles an hour in Wichita, it blows 50 miles an hour out here,” Josh said of the five-acre plot of former farmland in eastern Sedgwick County. So a decade before they built, the couple […]
| By Joe Stumpe
My kitchen companion Sue Chef sets a lovely table, especially when it comes to centerpieces for dinner parties. Don’t imagine that she stops at flowers. Fallen branches and leaves scavenged from our yard, old photographs, twinkling Christmas lights, G.I. Joe dolls, Matchbox cars and various other objects have made their way on to our table […]
| By Cynthia Rhodes
On a chilly day in early April, children’s voices could be heard and classes were in session once again in the historic McCormick School Museum building. Fifty-three second- graders and their teachers from Kelly Liberal Arts Elementary School in southwest Wichita spent the morning learning about what school was like at the turn of the […]
| By The Active Age
Kansas author Cynthia Mines ventures into new territory this month. Mines, founder of the Wichita Times and Travel Kansas magazine, is releasing her first novel, “Heaven in a Wildflower.” It’ll debut June 20 during the Midsummer’s Festival in Lindsborg, which not incidentally is the prototype for the Swedish-settled, central Kansas town at the center of […]
| By The Active Age
Caregivers should get as much help as possible when it comes to caring for people with dementia — and not ignore their own feelings of loss. That’s the message Stacy Gladfelter planned to deliver during the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America educational conference in Wichita last month. “One of the biggest things I talk about is […]
| By The Active Age
Retired teacher appointed to school board Sheila Brown-Kinnard has been appointed to fill the at-large position on the Wichita Board of Education made vacant by the death of Melody McCray-Miller this spring. Brown-Kinnard taught drama at Mayberry Cultural and Fine Arts Magnet Middle School before retiring in 2020. She’s the daughter of Jo Brown, the […]
| By The Active Age
Lynn Salvo’s friends in Wichita’s biking community are looking forward to her return visit here. Salvo is a long-distance cyclist who’s set several Guinness World Records while promoting peace. Over six years, for instance, she pedaled 14,500 miles to trace a gigantic peace sign across North America, with Wichita serving as the hub where the […]
| By The Active Age
Steve Castaneda was the winner of The Active Age’s drawing for a diamond necklace, but he didn’t keep it for long. Castaneda immediately presented it to his girlfriend, Karry Jacobson, shown with Steve at right. The Active Age thanks Mike Seltzer of Mike Seltzer Jewelers for donating the necklace, and also all the readers who […]
| By Starla Criser
Seniors On the Go – June 3 @ 1:30 pm monthly meeting at Linwood Senior Center SENIOR DAYS/COFFEE CONNECTIONS Jun 1 Mo 9 am – Coffee Connection: Director of Marketing @ Sedgwick County Zoo – Free Jun 11 Th 10 am – Senior Thursday: @ Kansas Aviation Museum – Free 10 am – Empowered Seniors: […]
| By Nancy Wheeler
Americans’ fascination with the Old West continues to this day. Test your knowledge of this historic period by answering these questions. The answers appear at right. 1. Who rallied his troops using the war-cry, “Remember the Alamo” when he caught Santa Anna’s army? 2. What American Indian warrior is memorialized on a mountainside in the […]
| By Diana Morton
Act 1 Players, 206 S. Main, El Dorado, Burritos from Amarillo by Larry Johnson. Several couples from different backgrounds experience a hilarious turn of events when stranded in a New Mexico motel during a snowstorm. Doors open at 6 pm; dinner is served at 6:15 pm; the play begins at 7 pm. Dinner and play […]
| By Jim Miller
The Letter Your Loved Ones Will Treasure Dear Savvy Senior, I want to leave something meaningful for my children and grandchildren, beyond just money or property. I’ve heard about “legacy letters,” but I don’t really know what they are or how to start one. Can you help? […]
April 29, 2026 | By Joe Stumpe
ANDOVER — A real estate development that’s changing the face of Andover might not have happened if Mike Lies hadn’t taken the long view. The retired periodontist didn’t get discouraged when his first attempts to buy some well-positioned agricultural property on the city’s east side failed two decades ago. He was patient […]
| By Amy Geiszler-Jones
DERBY — One of the area’s most active senior centers is likely to become even more so now that it’s moved into a new $7.3 million, 13,750-square-foot home. That’s the consensus of those who’ve checked out the Derby Senior Center, which opened April 20 at 1315 S. Rock Road. “This is a premier senior center […]
| By Joe Stumpe
For an organization called Wichita Community Gardens, Inc., community seems just as important as the thriving garden they’ve created in Riverside. Yes, the tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, cucumbers, fresh herbs and more are a mouth-watering sight along Amidon Avenue during the growing season. Not to mention the beautiful flowers. But the group has a handful of […]
| By Joe Norris
In 1917, a young Kansas couple found themselves on a South Sea island 7,000 miles from home, surrounded by cannibals. Martin and Osa Johnson had been taken prisoner by a tribe called the Big Nambas. The natives gathered in a tight circle around the strangers, staring intently at them. Martin and Osa feared that by […]
| By Ted Ayres
“In True Face: A Woman’s Life in the CIA, Unmasked,” by Jonna Mendez with Wyndham Wood (Public Affairs, 2024, 295 pages, $30.00) Jonna Hiestand graduated from high school in Wichita and attended Wichita State University, majoring in English literature. She spent most of her childhood in a large house on 20 acres that butted up […]
| By Beth Bower
“What do you get when you drop a piano down a mine shaft?” Jerry Gillespie asks. “What?” you say. “A-flat miner,” he responds. If you don’t laugh, that’s okay. Gillespie will just tell you another joke. He has at least one for every occasion: get-togethers of retired U.S. Air Force pilots, church meetings, vacation lunches […]
| By The Active Age
Donna Rae Pearson feels like she’s just scratched the surface of a topic that doesn’t get much attention: the history of black leisure in Wichita. “Yes, we enjoy recreation and leisure activities,” said Pearson, a Wichita native and museum curator at the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka. “That’s not what you ordinarily hear about when […]
| By The Active Age
Vedrana Barbir’s trips to Croatia follow a tasty theme. “When we go back home, all we do is eat,” she said. There’s time for family and friends, of course, but it’s easy to see why food plays such a prominent role. For one thing, Barbir worked as a chef in Croatia and still has friends […]