March 31, 2021 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
The troubling calls from Pat and Linda O’Donnell’s only daughter often came in the middle of the night. Prompted by her boyfriend, then 23-year-old Patricia would blame her parents for her failings. The O’Donnells, who were then in their 60s, believed their daughter was being controlled and intimidated as part of an unhealthy relationship. They […]
| By Amee Bohrer
Linda Jabara was a happily married mother of two young boys when military personnel from McConnell Air Force Base knocked on her door. She was informed that her husband, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Thomas, had been killed in a missile silo accident. The date was Aug. 24, 1978. “It was my 28th birthday, and I […]
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 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, […]
February 5, 2021 | 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 […]
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 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 […]
October 1, 2018 | By Joe Stumpe
Project Beauty, Inc. may be down in numbers, but it’s not out. President Sue Boewe admits to an ambitious goal for the 50-year-old group founded to spruce up Wichita. “I’m hoping we’re going to double our membership this year,” she said. “I’ve asked everybody to bring in one member. That’s the challenge I’ve put to […]
August 29, 2018 | By Joe Stumpe
A tiny dog named Theodore is turning out to be worth his weight in gold. Mary Enstrom acquired the 2.3-pound Teacup Yorkie as a sidekick for her ministry serving nursing home residents. Theodore ended up saving her life. It happened late on the night of July 5, when the normally well-mannered pooch started yapping and […]
| By Debbi Elmore
Gerald McCoy was a boy when he saw Isaiah “Fireball” Jackson pitch in Wichita’s National Baseball Congress tournament. Jackson’s explosive fastball wasn’t the only remarkable thing about him. There was also the team he played for, made up of fellow prison inmates. “My dad and I watched him lead the prison team to another tournament […]
| By The Active Age
Valley Center’s old library sat so close to railroad tracks that it used to shake when a train passed. “We didn’t know whether it was an earthquake or train,” the library’s office manager, Terry Foster, recalls. Two months after its grand opening, VC’s new $2.2 million, 13,400-square-foot community center and library at 314 E. Clay […]
| By Amy Geiszler-Jones
3rd annual Railfest features train rides This year’s Railfest offers a rare opportunity to ride the rails in downtown Wichita. Volunteers with the Great Plains Transportation Museum, located at 700 E. Douglas across from Union Station, have restored the museum’s 1934 Whitcomb locomotive. It will pull several of the museum’s vintage cabooses during the third […]
| By Joe Stumpe
If you look at a map of Wichita today, you won’t find Tremont Street. In its time, though, it was one of the city’s best-known thoroughfares. Indeed, Tremont was notorious across the Southwest for commercialized vice – prostitution, liquor and gambling – plus the usual array of felonies and misdemeanors associated with those pursuits. […]