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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
December 1, 2022 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
When Brian Byers’ wife of 29 years died suddenly in April 2014, he turned to a familiar activity — coaching football — to help work through his grief. But it wasn’t enough. “I was at a point where I realized I wasn’t in good shape, so I started losing weight and lifting,” said […]
October 31, 2022 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
Living on a fixed income with the current inflation means Wichitans Wakeelah Martinez and Jim Lichlyter are making some tough decisions. “I eat only one meal a day,” said Martinez, 72, a full-time caregiver for her mother, with whom she lives. The pair live on $2,000 a month. “Thank goodness Mom has Meals […]
October 1, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
Bill Reagan’s years at West High School were some of the best of his life. “All I remember are positives,” said Reagan, a member of the Pioneer class of ’64. “The teachers were great.” So when Reagan learned that the school’s graduation rate was languishing behind other Wichita schools, he decided to do something about […]
August 31, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
On a sweltering August day when the sensible thing to do would seem to be staying near an air conditioner, a half-dozen retirees are outside climbing ladders, pounding nails and sawing boards in a central Wichita neighborhood. Heat gone to their heads? No, more like hard-headed, soft-hearted Habitat for Humanity volunteers determined to get another […]
August 1, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
More mornings than not, Bill and Carrie Van Sickle can be found gliding along the Little Arkansas River in one or two kayaks, enjoying the exercise and scenery. They usually cover between four and seven miles, their oars and sleek craft barely rippling the mirror-like surface. “This river is basically a hidden gem,” Carrie said. […]
July 1, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
Janet Bachman wasn’t thrilled when her husband suggested they move to a new housing development he was developing in northwest Wichita, even if it was to be the first of its kind. “We were the only family for a while,” she said. “We had moved from a really nice area with lots of neighbors.” But, […]
June 1, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
Travel. Grandchildren. Age. Love. These are some of the reasons people give up jobs that have seemed more like callings. But even those compelling reasons don’t make the actual decision to retire easy. The Active Age spoke to five people who recently decided to step away from highly fulfilling careers. All were thankful for the […]
May 2, 2022 | By Amy Geiszler-Jones
If you see a woman walking a dog around the Hyde Park neighborhood east of downtown Wichita, there’s a decent chance it’s Jodi Bartman. Especially if the identity of the dog keeps changing. Four days a week, Bartman shows up at Beauties & Beasts, an animal rescue organization on South Pattie, to give its furry […]
March 31, 2022 | By Joe Stumpe
TOPEKA — Don’t hang out with Lynn Rogers at the Kansas state Capitol unless you want to talk to people. A lot of people. After a legislative hearing one afternoon last month, the state Treasurer and longtime Wichita resident lingered in the wing outside for 15 minutes chatting up lawmakers and anybody else who wandered […]
February 25, 2022 | By Mary Clarkin
In a span of months last year, a 26-year-old Afghanistan native named Wissa flew from his homeland to Qatar, then to Germany, next to Virginia and finally to Wichita. Wissa fled the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan along with his parents and three younger brothers, who range in age down to 14. He did not choose […]
January 28, 2022 | By Tammara Fogle
Growing up in the era of peace and love in the 1960s, Phil Thompson was certain of his future. “I wanted to be a DJ, a hippie or a rock star. Or a DJ hippie or a rock star hippie.” Given that he had no musical ability, hippie disc jockey it was. […]