March 1, 2025 | By Joe Norris
It was April 24, 1924. In Germany, Hitler had just begun the first month of a 5-year prison term for the treasonous Beer Hall Putsch. In Wichita, people were paying a quarter to see the new Buster Keaton movie. And in Lucas, Kansas, S.P. Dinsmoor was exchanging wedding vows with his second wife, Emilie. The […]
January 29, 2025 | By Joe Stumpe
The first history Gerald Norwood got interested in was his own family’s, and who could blame him? Norwood’s grandfather, Henry, spent his childhood enslaved on plantations in North Carolina and southwest Arkansas. Following the Civil War, Henry and his older brother made their way on foot about 130 miles north in Arkansas, settling near Fort […]
December 30, 2024 | By Sherry Graham Howerton
If souls ministered to translated into dollars earned, pastors Homer and Lois Smuck’s lives might be very different right now. The retired couple spent more than 40 years in ministry, serving hundreds of congregants across four states in predominantly rural communities and small churches. Making ends meet while raising three children was tough, and financial […]
December 1, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
After a lull of a decade, Wichita is once again participating in AARP’s age-friendly community program. It’s unclear what, if any, changes residents can expect to see as a result, but supporters are hopeful. “For me, our community should be the best place to live, work and raise a family,” Mayor Lily Wu said. “When […]
October 30, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
Nancy Wooten Blanchat was the youngest student attending a one-room schoolhouse near Stafford, Kan., when her teacher sent her outside while older pupils worked on their cursive handwriting. As Blanchat recalls, she was supposed to study shadows as some kind of science project. Instead, the unsupervised 5-year-old found herself being stared down by a giant […]
October 1, 2024 | By Sherry Graham Howerton
John F. Kennedy was leading the nation when Neal Bakker immigrated to the United States more than six decades ago. Twenty-four years old and speaking little English, Bakker arrived in Kansas under the sponsorship of a fellow Dutchman, Wichitan John Borst, to work in Borst’s greenhouse, Livingston Rose Garden & Nursery. As Bakker evolved from […]
August 30, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
DERBY — Jodee Dalton has seen a few younger students shed tears as her Derby school bus pulls up in the morning. Her pep talk goes something like this: “You’re on here with your friends. I know it’s early, and it’s hard to go. We’re buddies.” Most of the time, it’s the students who keep […]
July 31, 2024 | By Carl Williams
Working in Wichita’s aircraft industry during the 1960s, Herb Schnoetzinger met many other immigrants from around the world. Whatever the cultural and language barriers, they often shared a love of the world’s most popular sport — soccer (actually, “football” to most of the world). It was through those new friends that Schnoetzinger, a native of […]
July 1, 2024 | By The Active Age
Dorothy Kaiser made a decision with lasting benefits when she married for the second time in 1970, and it wasn’t her choice of husbands (although he worked out, too). “I decided I did not want to be a golf widow,” said Kaiser, who married an avid golfer. “I just made up my mind I would […]
May 31, 2024 | By The Active Age
Peggy Smith isn’t sure how many quilts she’s made over the years. She stopped counting at 100. Multiplied by the time each required, that’s the equivalent of years of full-time work. Smith considers it time well spent. “It’s something I taught my daughter to do,” Smith, of Haysville, said. “I’m getting ready to teach my […]
May 1, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
You know your family’s been around Wichita awhile when it has a street named for it. Or in Don Martinson’s case, three of them. There’s Martinson Street, which runs through Delano and south Wichita. It was named by Martinson’s grandfather, who developed much of Delano in the late 1880s. A little farther west are Charles […]
April 1, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
Saved by concerned citizens from possible demolition, Century II is starting to look like its old self again. Make that its new self. Restoration work on the downtown landmark’s iconic blue dome is nearly done, with completion expected by the end of summer. Nearly gone is the pale turquiose shade that’s loomed over the convention […]
February 27, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
As lovers of all things old, Larry and Cathy Mong were thrilled with the home they bought for $50,000 in Wichita 23 years ago: a 1906 Victorian in south central Wichita, less than a mile from the heart of downtown. The neighborhood was a little rough, but the Mongs had seen similar neighborhoods in the […]
February 1, 2024 | By Joe Stumpe
For years, Denise Johnston’s life followed a familiar pattern. Come spring, she and her husband, Rusty, would start preparing for women’s senior softball tournaments. A roster would be assembled, practices held and the team would travel to tournaments from California to Florida. Denise played and Rusty coached. Their team was known as the P’Nut Batters, […]
December 29, 2023 | By The Active Age
To say that Wichitan Hazel Stabler, perhaps best known as a member of the Wichita school board, is currently experiencing some of the highest and lowest moments of her life is an understatement. First, a pinnacle of achievement for the fashion designer: She’s been invited to present a show at Paris Fashion Week. The Milan […]
November 29, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe
There’s a reason why going from point A to point B in Ascension Via Christi St. Francis hospital can seem like a circuitous process: the Chapel of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, which the hospital grew up and around over the decades. “The Sisters were so stubborn, they just refused to demolish the chapel,” […]
November 1, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe
Susan Hussey finished her career in education as principal at Chisholm Trail elementary school. Then, she says, she got “a PhD in retail.” Hussey is chair of the Assistance League of Wichita’s thrift shop and one of about 50 volunteers who keep the store at 2431 E. Douglas running. At a time when some of […]
October 2, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe
Think all spelling bee champions are overachieving middle schoolers with minds racing as fast as their metabolisms? Meet Charlie Hunter, who won KMUW’s first spelling bee last month at age 77. Granted, the event was an adult spelling bee, but Hunter still bested a field made up largely of twenty-, thirty- and forty-somethings. He became […]
September 1, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe
“Take the ribbon from your hair.” As the Reno County country band eases into “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” Betty and Jack Sawyer rise and take their position at one end of the basketball court in the Orchard Park Recreation Center, slowly swaying to the music. At 94, Jack can’t hear or see […]
July 31, 2023 | By David Kamerer
You may not know it, but you’ve probably benefited from some recent advances in artificial intelligence, or AI. AI powers your Siri and Alexa, those cheerful personal assistants that answer your questions about the weather or who won the big game last night. AI controls self-driving cars and the maps we use to navigate when […]
June 27, 2023 | By Mary Clarkin
How does a senior voter view a senior candidate running for president of the United States? It depends. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan sought a second term at age 73. He captured the older voters. In 1996, presidential candidate Sen. Robert Dole, 73, lost the 60-and-over voter group. President Joe Biden, 80, and former President Donald […]
May 30, 2023 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
When two Wichita women were looking for new jobs, they turned to a couple of employers they know best: their children. Lori Farha and Squeek Crouse give new meaning to the phrase “working moms.” Farha, 67, had been working in the geriatric behavioral health unit at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph when the COVID-19 pandemic […]
April 27, 2023 | By Stefania Lugli Planeta Venus/The Active Age
Two tasks start Elizabeth Montes’ day: a morning prayer and a routine check to make sure her mother woke up, too. Then: breakfast. Medication. Food. Shower. Hospice. More food. Standby in case her mother decides to make a trek for the kitchen. Bedtime. And, usually, a 2:30 a.m. wakeup call from Montes’ mother’s low blood […]
March 31, 2023 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
Every Tuesday morning, Wanda Lonnon tries to help fellow members of the Wichita Bridge Club get better at the challenging but addictive card game. Projecting various hands on an overhead screen, Lonnon offers tips and strategies before the players move to tables where they’ll spend the next three hours or so playing. “Can I be […]
February 28, 2023 | By The Active Age
A lot of people’s retirement plans include outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, whale watching and learning more about nature, but some people have found a way to do it for free or, in some cases, even get paid a little for it. They are camp hosts. These campground workers are volunteers or people easing […]