Category: Main Feature

Seniors face housing squeeze: A lifetime of work can’t guarantee some older adults their own home

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 […]

Wichita rejoins AARP’s age-friendly network

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 […]

When one room schooled all: As one-room schools return, the originals spark memories

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 […]

‘This is the best country in the world’: Holland native, 88, eager to cast his first vote in America next month

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 […]

‘We’re buddies’: Bus driver teaches, learns plenty while moving kids

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 […]

Just for Kicks:Weekly soccer game draws players of all ages and backgrounds

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 […]

Camaraderie is par for golfing gal pals

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 […]

Quilt Crazy: Quilters Create Treasured Pieces For Friends, Family And Good Causes

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 […]

A family legacy: Grandson of homesteader helps others into homes

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 […]

True Blue: Century II dome nears restoration

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 […]

South central at crossroads

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 […]

Grins and wins

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, […]

From culture to couture

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 […]

The Chapel of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother as seen from an inner room of Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital.

Hidden chapel is ‘heart’ of hospital

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,” […]

Volunteers earn PhDs in retail

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 […]

Retired prof captures crowd, spelling bee title

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 […]

Dancers don’t want music to stop

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 […]

Artificial intelligence tools helpful, fun, but not perfect

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 […]

How old is too old? Seniors weigh in on age of presidential candidates

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 […]

Working moms: Parents return to workforce with their children as bosses

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 […]

Latinos face tough choice: uphold cultural tradition or trust strangers to care for their parents?

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 […]

Wichita Bridge Club makes a bid for comeback

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 […]

Happy Campers: Outdoor-loving couples find fun and friendships serving as camp hosts

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 […]

All in the family: Century farms buck consolidation trend

February 1, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe

NEWTON — As Margaret Goering watches her husband, Larry, amble across their barnyard in boots, jeans and John Deere ballcap pulled low, she knows he’s right where he wants to be. “He’s an outdoor farm person,” she said of her husband. “As long as he’s physically able, he’s going to farm.” “Well,” Larry, 77, said, […]

Save Century II founder expands watchdog role

January 1, 2023 | By Joe Stumpe

The city of Wichita has a new auditor. Celeste Racette isn’t actually on the city payroll, but the self-appointed watchdog is adept at getting things done — and undone. Take the hidden 8 percent “ballpark development fee” imposed by owners of the Wichita Wind Surge baseball team on popcorn, T-shirts and other purchases at city-owned […]