071014 Mature Lifestyles

MATURE

Lifestyles July 2014

a special publication by

2 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Associated Press

Ken Wodrich, front, and his grandson Keton Schroeder paddle a handbuilt wooden canoe Thursday, June 19, 2014, on a lake near Concordia, Mo.

Grandpa and grandson will team up CONCORDIA, Mo. (AP) — Nobody in Ken Wodrich’s family was terribly surprised when he decided to take part in a canoe race.

He’s 71, a retired livestock feed seller, lives on a farm. He’s not a canoeist.

And the race — the Missouri American Water MR340 — goes all the way across the state in a Missouri River running fat and sassy right now from spring rain.

Probably take three days, at least. Some navigating in the dark, maybe dodging a barge or two. Lot of heat, bugs and sweat.

That’s how Wodrich is. An adventurous sort. Up early, curious. Spry in step and mind and, apparently, paddle.

The family didn’t even think much about it when, after buying a canoe, Wodrich decided he would build one instead — out of trees from timber on his place. But when he got to the point of weaving cane for the two seats, daughter Julie Schroeder had to say something.

“Dad, just buy the seats,” she told him.

He looked at her, looked at his work, then back at her.

“Why?” he asked.

Schroeder laughed telling that last week at her father’s farm northeast of Concordia in Lafayette County, The Kansas City Star reported.

And this time, Wodrich is rolling with his grandson, Keton Schroeder, 20, who’s wrapping up a final year at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before heading to medical school.

“He told me he wanted the seat in the back so I couldn’t tell if he was really rowing or not,” Keton said.

Team name: “We Got a Leak.”

Approaching the Wodrich farm on a gravel road, you can’t see the house because of a cornfield. That’s why directions include, “We’re the only rock mailbox on the road.”

Up the driveway, past the house, there it sits on a green lawn, about halfway to a pond: a 16-foot canoe that looks like a piece of furniture. Strips of white ash, dark walnut and cherry all bent, glued and polished, seemingly worthy of a

den, but bound for the muddy, murky water of the Missouri.

“Well,” Wodrich said, “I had some wood sitting around.”

Scott Mansker, race official for the Missouri American Water MR340, which runs July 8-11, said they see homemade canoes every year — mostly from a kit.

“They took the raw wood from their farm and turned it into a canoe,” he said. “We don’t see that. It’s pretty rare to have that kind of legacy.”

The Missouri 340 is called an endurance race. A third of the 400 or so entries won’t finish the route, which starts in Kansas City and ends in St. Charles.

Crews must hit nine checkpoints and finish within 88 hours.

Wodrich has been working out on a treadmill and elliptical machine.

Linda, his wife of 50 years, made him get a physical, and he’s in pretty good shape. He knows, though, that a participant in an earlier year died of a heart attack during the race. How old was that man?

“Older than 71, I hope,” Wodrich said.

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4 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

California woman staying fit at 82

By Martha Ross Contra Costa Times (MCT)

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.

— Eileen Birdsong has faced cancer three times over the past two decades, but she has never let it slow her down.

During eight months of radiation treatment for breast cancer in the mid-1990s, the Pleasanton woman walked the 6-mile round trip to her doctor’s appointments five days a week.

Two years ago, back home following surgery from esophageal cancer, she was walking as soon as she could, if only to the end of the block and back.

“It’s not how much you do or how far you walk, doing some form of exercise is better than doing nothing,” says Birdsong, 82. “My doctors

told me I survived because I had taken such good care of myself all my life through exercise and diet.”

Birdsong’s can-do spirit revealed itself when she was a young woman in the 1950s, living and working in the Canadian Arctic with that country’s Department of Defense. Birdsong, a native of Manitoba, was a dental assistant, supporting multinational military exercises at a base in Churchill, a town on the shore of Hudson Bay. At the time, Canada and the United States feared a Soviet invasion via an Arctic route, so from September to May, the allies trained soldiers and pilots to fight in extreme weather conditions.

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“We were above the tree line,” says Birdsong, who initially signed a one-year contract. For the six months of winter, she lived without sun. For the other six months, the sun shone all the time.

And it was cold, with average January temperatures falling into the double digits below zero. “It was the coldest place I’ve ever been in.”

But Birdsong loved the place and the work and stayed for five years. When she wasn’t providing dental services to soldiers, she was dispatched to take care of the teeth of Inuit and other natives.

In the 1950s, Birdsong says, people didn’t think about going out to exercise just for the sake of exercise, but

Birdsong couldn’t help but get fit.

“You were always walking outdoors in cold weather,” she says. “You could eat like a horse because you burned a lot of calories just surviving.”

Her Arctic adventure ended after she met her first husband, U.S. Army Col. William Trapp, who had accompanied Wernher von Braun, considered the German father of rocket science, to the Canadian north to test rockets.

Birdsong became a military wife. She maintained her sense of adventure while finding something to enjoy in every place they were posted, from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Taiwan and Bangkok.

See “FIT” on Page 5

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Associated Press

Abel Yarrito, left, assists Erica Griffin, right, during a service at Woodhaven Baptist Deaf Church, Sunday, June 15, 2014, in Houston. Woodhaven, which typically draws as many as 100 worshippers to its Sunday services, 60 percent of them deaf, this year will mark its 90th anniversary.

Houston church is for the deaf

HOUSTON (AP) — First came the prayers and the congregational singing. Then the worshippers at Woodhaven Baptist Church tensed with excitement. Something special was about to happen.

Recorded music boomed through the Spring Branch chapel as four middle-aged women, identically attired in

eye-popping outfits, stepped up to the altar to deliver a meticulously choreographed rendition of a lively gospel tune.

The women, though, uttered nary a sound. The performance was greeted by a standing ovation. It, too, was silent.

The lyrics and the resultant applause all were conveyed in

Fit Continued from Page 4

After Trapp died, Birdsong met her second husband, U.S. Air Force Col. George “Buzz” Birdsong, a famed World War II pilot, at a cocktail party in Washington, D.C., in 1967. Col. Birdsong participated in the first daylight raids over Germany, and his plane, the Delta Rebel, was the first to complete 25 missions in Europe.

After the colonel retired, they married in

American Sign Language. At Woodhaven, Houston’s oldest church for the deaf, there is more than one way to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

Woodhaven, which typically draws as many as 100 worshippers to its Sunday services, 60 percent of them deaf, this year will mark its 90th anniversary.

1970 and eventually settled in Pleasanton to be closer to three of his four children from an earlier marriage.

Eileen Birdsong stayed active by working as a receptionist at a Pleasanton law firm and volunteering at the Camp Parks Reserve Forces Training Area in Dublin and the Livermore Veterans Administration Hospital. She joined wildlife and birding groups that had her trooping all over the East Bay hills, and

played after-work rounds of golf with her husband. Col. Birdsong died in 2004.

Birdsong began her six-mile walks after she retired from the law firm. Since her cancer

Tracing its history to a Bible study group created

by Houston’s First Baptist Church, it has evolved into a multi-faceted ministry, operating a multi-service center for the deaf, offering religious services to deaf prison inmates and actively supporting a missionary outpost in Ukraine.

See “CHURCH” on Page 7

surgery two years ago, she reduced walking from six miles to three but is satisfied with that distance because she maintains a pace that has her done in an hour.

These days, she also stretches every morning. Four times a week, she uses eight-pound weights to do a series of lifts to strengthen her upper body and to “get my blood going first thing in the morning.”

Not only does the exercise make her feel better, she knows it’s key to maintaining her independence.

“I am thankful every day that I am able to be active,” she says, “and hopefully, in the process, encourage other seniors to get moving.”

6 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Social security offices are closing WASHINGTON (AP) — Budget cuts have forced the Social Security Administration to close dozens of field offices even as millions of baby boomers approach retirement, swamping the agency with applications for benefits, a senior agency official told Congress Wednesday.

Better Internet access and more online services are easing the transition, said Nancy Berryhill, the agency’s deputy commissioner for operations.

“We are fully committed — now and in the future — to sustaining a field office structure that provides face-toface service for those customers who need or prefer such service,” Berryhill told the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “We also understand, however, that customer expectations are evolving due to changes in technology, demographics and other factors.”

Senators appeared unconvinced.

“The fact of the matter is, millions of seniors and disabled Americans are not accustomed to doing business online,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Aging Committee. “Even as computer and broadband technologies become more widespread, the idea that the

Associated Press

A parking sign for the former Social Security Administration office is seen in Houston, Wednesday, June 18, 2014.

Social Security Administration can serve beneficiaries primarily online ignores the very real needs of the senior and disabled populations.”

The committee held a hearing Wednesday after issuing a bipar-

tisan report showing that Social Security has closed 64 field offices since 2010, the largest number of closures in a five-year period in the agency’s history.

young,” McBurney said. “Somebody took me for a ride a number of years ago, so I’m still paying down loans, but, even if money wasn’t an issue at all, I think I’d still be working somewhere.”

Figuring out if and when to retire is a decision that is more complex today than ever before thanks to factors such as America’s robust and aging baby boomer demographic, the nation’s economic uncertainty and longer life expectancies.

Locally, it’s no secret that South Dakota’s population is in the midst of a major maturing process, but what exactly that means for the workforce isn’t completely clear.

During his presentation at a workforce summit in Aberdeen on June 4, Drexel University professor and labor market expert Paul Harrington said researchers

are witnessing a trend where workers who are 55-plus have been staying in the workforce longer and planning for additional years working in the wake of the 2007 recession.

Determining what exactly retirement age is, however, can be tricky. While the American Association of Retired Persons has a membership cutoff age of 50, Americans aren’t eligible to begin receiving Social Security benefits until age 62, according to the Social Security Administration’s website. Also, with people living longer on average than in previous decades and with the uncertainty surrounding Social Security’s long-term viability, many are simply assuming they’ll be in the workforce longer than they had originally planned.

See “OFFICE” on Page 10

See “CHURCH” on Page 10

Senior citizens still in the workforce ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — Like a number of senior citizens in the workforce today, Gert McBurney has thought about settling into the full retirement stage of her life, but, for now, she’s content with her part-time gig at McDonald’s on Aberdeen’s east side.

“I think about retiring, but I don’t know what I would do with myself,” McBurney said. “As long as I can still get around, I think I’ll be working. I like being around people, and I really like the people I work with.”

Though she’ll turn 80 in December, McBurney still possesses a zest for life, partly, she said, because of the fact she keeps herself busy at the restaurant and she enjoys working and interacting with people of all ages.

“I really like working with the young people we have here; it keeps me feeling

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 7

Church Continued from Page 5

In Houston and Texas, Baptist leaders say, it is a key player in an effort the serve the deaf, only a tiny fraction of who have been recruited to Christ.

The Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services reports 3.5 percent of Texas’ 27 million residents suffer from severe hearing loss.

Nationally, Southern Baptist efforts to evangelize deaf people in the United States date at least to the 1930s, said Woodhaven senior pastor, the Rev. Arthur Craig. Still, he told the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1iHUkqU), “In America, only about 2 percent of deaf people have a faith in God through Jesus. In Houston, you’d be hard-pressed to find 500 deaf people in church on Sunday mornings. There’s just a communication barrier; a cultural barrier.”

Ways to address such challenges will be the focus this weekend as leaders of the Texas Baptist Conference of the

Deaf, an association of about 50 churches serving 5,000 worshippers, meet for their annual conference in Tyler.

Often such ministries start small, energized by a singularly dedicated person or group of people.

At Woodhaven, Craig said, the outreach to the deaf was facilitated by Lillian Beard, who was only 15 when she became American Sign Language interpreter for First Baptist’s deaf class in 1924. Beard, he said, learned to use hand signals to communicate with the hearing-impaired when, as an orphaned child, she was adopted by a deaf couple.

Beard began interpreting for her mother, then extended the work to church. “I love deaf people,” she said on the occasion of her 100th birthday.

“It’s a privilege to minister to deaf people.”

Before her death at 101 in June 2010, Beard had become a church emissary, interpreting for the deaf in hospitals and jails and traveling abroad to encourage the starting of deaf ministries.

“She was active right up to the end,” Craig said. “She was an amazing lady.

She wrote a book on signing music. She

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started many church and secular organizations. She was a mentor for many, many interpreters.”

First Baptist’s senior pastor, the Rev. Gregg Matte, credited Beard with helping the church grow into the religious and social institution it has become.

Woodhaven functions as a semi-autonomous ministry of First Baptist.

“We took great joy in seeing this group grow into a vibrant church as it reached out to the deaf community in ways that a hearing community church family could not,” Matte said.

Craig, 66, has been since 1983 senior pastor at the deaf church. He is assisted by associate pastor the Rev. Jim Dermon and administrative pastor the Rev. Dan Mustain. Craig and Mustain can hear; Dermon is deaf.

Craig said he entered the deaf ministry as a result of his wife’s interest in learning sign language. An auto accident that injured her arm derailed her plans, but the seed had been planted in Craig, who already was considering a ministerial career.

“The wreck gave it time to work on me,” he said.

See “CHURCH” on Page 10

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8 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Associated Press

In this photo taken on June 20, 2014, Veterinarian Herschel Lewis examines Kelly Farlow’s dog Skye, for a skin ailment, at his clinic in Lawrence, Kan. Herschel, who is in his late 70’s says he has been practicing in Lawrence the same way for decades, not taking appointments, no fancy equipment or technology.

Veterinarian turns back the clock LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Walk into Lawrence’s Lewis Veterinary Clinic, and you might you feel like you’ve just stepped off a time machine, 50 years in the past.

There’s not a computer in sight, no beeping from high-tech medical equipment (because there isn’t any). The receptionist still uses a typewriter and keeps patients’ records on paper. The office has an intercom system that’s never been used.

But if you’re going to the no-frills clinic at Sixth Street and Lawrence Avenue, there’s a good chance veterinarian Herschel Lewis, 78, and his longtime office manager, Brenda Newell, know you, your family and your pets. Heck, they might have even taken care of your grandparents’ animals.

Lewis, the oldest clinical veterinarian still practicing in Lawrence, started all the way back in 1969 at 809 Vermont St., in the former office of the first American woman to graduate from dental school. A few years later, Lewis put up the building at 3101 W. Sixth St., where his practice

remains to this day.

Lewis Veterinary Clinic hasn’t changed much in that time. It still has the same phone number Lewis inherited from veterinarian T.J. Leasure when he took over his practice. “I don’t have a $100,000 digital X-ray, and I’m not going to get one, at my age. If I want an ultrasound done, I’ll send them to Dr. Tom,” Lewis said, referring to Clinton Parkway Animal Hospital’s Tom Liebl, who often gets Lewis’ more complicated referrals. Lewis readily admits that if he doesn’t know something he will refer a patient to someone who does.

That’s another that’s changed about veterinary care, he says: specialization.

That didn’t exist before, so vets would simply do what they could and hope for the best. At that time, people didn’t usually consider pets family members, as they now do.

But Lewis isn’t anti-progress. The advances in medical treatment and technology since he started have been exponential, extending the lives of countless family pets in the process. “I suppose I’m

being forced kicking and screaming into the 20th century, not the 21st century, the 20th century,” he said. “I don’t have a computer. My wife has one. But I can do most of the things I want to do without a computer.”

The clinic is walk-in only (except for veterinary procedures). Asked why he does it this way, Lewis said: “People won’t keep half the appointments they make, even for surgery, and they don’t even bother to call.”

The lack of bells and whistles, as well as products for sale, helps keep visits to the clinic affordable. “I hear that all the time: ‘You don’t try to sell us stuff we don’t really need,’” said Newell, who joined in the early 1970s and, besides breaks for raising kids, has been there ever since. Behind where she sits are metal filing cabinets topped with packages of flea-and-tick medicine and a rack of pet treats with a couple bags left on it. Lewis’ laid-back approach must be working, she added, because people “keep coming back, generation after generation.”

See “VET” on Page 18

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 9

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Church Continued from Page 7

“I went to a service one time and heard a man preaching about the deaf.

He made the statement that deaf people without Jesus die and go to hell just like hearing people. That touched my heart.

I realized that God was pointing me in that direction.”

After obtaining his divinity degree from Fort Worth’s Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Craig entered the deaf ministry.

Woodhaven’s Sunday service begins at 11 a.m. and is accessible to the hearing, the deaf and the deaf and blind.

During congregational sign language

Office

singing, lyrics are projected on a large screen above the altar. For those who can neither hear nor see, special interpreters convey the message through a code involving touch. On a wall near the entrance is stenciled a passage from the biblical Book of Isaiah: “In that day, the deaf shall hear.”

Sunday’s service is just the beginning of the church’s Christian outreach.

“Here at the church we provide a full range of services,” said Craig, adding that many are provided through the multi-service center named in Beard’s honor. “We provide life skills classes, job placement, food and clothing. We have a support group for the hearing parents of deaf children. We have a coffee house.

Many also have spiritual needs, and this is a gateway to the church.”

Shortly after the breakup of the Soviet

serve remote areas. Hours have been reduced in the 1,245 field offices that are still open, the report said.

As a result, seniors seeking information and help from the agency are facing increasingly long waits, in person and on the phone, the report

Continued from Page 6

In addition, the agency has closed 533 temporary mobile offices that often

Union in 1991, church delegates toured Russia and the Ukraine to assess religious needs of the deaf. As a result, Craig said, the church began actively assisting mission efforts in Ukraine.

In Texas, Woodhaven has played a significant part in ministering to deaf state prison inmates.”

Craig and his Woodhaven associates have been active at the Estelle Unit near Huntsville for 27 years. Often as many as 120 of the unit’s approximately 180 deaf prisoners will attend sermons or Bible study classes. Eleven years ago, Woodhaven began a halfway house for recently released deaf inmates.

Still, Craig conceded, bringing inmates to Christ is a challenge.

“The success stories are few and far between,” he said, “but when we have one, that makes it all worthwhile.”

said.

“They don’t do any kind of analysis on what would happen to a community when their field office closes, including figuring out how the most vulnerable populations would make their way to the next-closest office,” said Sen.

Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Aging Committee.

The closings come as applications for retirement and disability benefits are soaring, a trend that will continue as aging baby boomers approach retirement.

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TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 11

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12 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Head trauma linked to dementia

By Alan Zarembo

Los Angeles Times (MCT) A new study of nearly 200,000 older military veterans has found that those with traumatic brain injuries are 60 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

The study, published online Wednesday in the journal Neurology, adds to a growing body of evidence that TBIs can have a wide range of consequences long after a patient appears to recover.

But the study did not answer the key question of whether the risk of dementia is elevated in cases of mild brain trauma — a common injury from roadside bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as in football and other contact sports.

“It’s still controversial,” said Donald Stein, a brain injury expert at Emory University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.

The study was based on medical records of 188,764 veterans ages 55 and

older who had been patients in the Veterans Affairs health system from 2000 to 2003 and did not have a diagnosis of dementia during that time.

Of those, 1,229 had a TBI diagnosis.

The researchers used medical records from 2003 to 2012 to compare the fates of the veterans with TBIs to the much larger group without brain injuries.

Among the veterans with TBIs, 16 percent went on to develop various types of dementia. That figure was 10 percent in the comparison group.

Dementia also tended to develop sooner in the TBI patients — two years earlier, on average.

A statistical analysis ruled out the possibility that a history of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and diseases of the blood vessels supplying the brain were responsible for the higher rates of dementia, said Deborah Barnes, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who led the study.

Still, it was not clear that brain injuries were the cause of the dementia. It is pos-

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sible that other unexplored variables — genetic predisposition or alcohol abuse, for example — could be the drivers.

Although the study looked at veterans, their injuries weren’t necessarily related to military service, and experts said the results could just as easily apply to the civilian world.

“These injuries are very similar to what you would find in industrial accidents, automobile accidents and sports,” Stein said.

The researchers did not classify the brain injuries by severity or determine when or how they occurred, leaving open the question of whether mild TBIs — which involve relative brief periods of disorientation and sometimes loss of consciousness — are associated with increased risk of dementia.

John Corrigan, a brain injury expert at Ohio State University, said scientific evidence of a link is stronger for moderate and severe TBIs, which often involve penetrating wounds, skull fractures and extended blackouts.

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TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 13

Babies could determine longevity

By Melissa Healy

Los Angeles Times (MCT) Attention, women who were declared to be of “advanced maternal age” even as their bellies swelled with life, who chased after a toddler with more patience than vigor, and who have simultaneously navigated menopause and parented an adolescent: Late-life mothering — if it occurred naturally at least — doubles your odds of living to an unusually old age, according to a new study.

Compared with a woman who wrapped up her childbearing by the age of 29, a woman whose last child was born after she reached the age of 33 was roughly twice as likely to survive long enough to outlive 95 percent of her female peers born in the same year. Women who bore their last child between the ages of 33 and 37 had the best shot at becoming a longevity champion. They were 2.08 times as likely to live to an exceptional age as moms who had no more children after 29. Women whose last child came after the age of 37 were 1.92 times as likely to

live so long.

The latest research on motherhood and survival comes from a larger study of 4,875 people from 551 families in the United States (Boston, New York and Pittsburgh) and Denmark. Between 2006 and 2008, the “Long Life Family Study,” which set out to discern what factors predicted exceptional longevity, enrolled groups of siblings who had lived to exceptional ages. The offspring of that long-lived generation of participants were also drawn into the study, and spouses served as a comparison group.

The women who supplied the data for the current study had all borne at least one child. The researchers compared the childbearing histories of two groups.

The first group comprised 311 women from the Long Life Family Study who had survived longer than 95 percent of their female peers; the comparison group was made up of 151 women who had lived to at least 70 years old, but were not in the top 5 percent of longlived women.

The generation examined lived in a

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very different world than do women of childbearing age today, and one that more closely approximates the circumstances of childbearing since the dawn of human evolution. Contraceptives were largely unavailable, and those that were were crude and prone to failure. The current trend of delaying childbearing was not the social norm. Treatments for infertility were few and rarely effective; it would decades before babies could be conceived through in vitro fertilization.

In these circumstances, for women who were sexually active and healthy enough to become pregnant and sustain a pregnancy, babies generally came along.

So what, you ask, links the length of a woman’s childbearing years and her likelihood of becoming the oldest of old ladies? What doesn’t kill women makes them stronger? The kids need mom to stick around to make just one more sandwich, to drive her grandchildren to the mall, or to dispense one more bit of advice?

See “BABIES” on Page 15

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Work Continued from Page 6 “We have noticed that some have postponed retirement,” said Dawn Dovre, director of communications and research at the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation.

“It’s difficult for us to know the exact trend because retirement is such a personal choice for people. We know we have a lot of baby boomers who will be retiring soon that perhaps have been delaying retirement.”

The word “retirement” also is not all encompassing. Some seniors, such as Ramona Strohfus, who also is employed at McDonald’s, works only a few hours per week, while others continue to work full or part time and might be collecting outside pensions or other government benefits.

“My decision to work isn’t financial,” said the 80-year-old Strohfus.

“I’ve been here at McDonald’s for seven years, and, sometimes, I think it’s time to quit, but I don’t work many hours and I really do enjoy it.

My job is one where you need to be able to get along with people and talk to people and I enjoy doing those things.”

While retiring used to mean playing leisurely rounds of golf or bridge and spending time with the grandkids, trends are beginning to show a different definition of the term. In fact, more than 47 percent of today’s retirees report they have worked or are planning to work during their retirement, according to a recent study called “Work in Retirement: Myths and Motivations,” commissioned by financial giant Merrill Lynch.

The study also stated that 72 percent of un-retired people aged 50

Babies

Continued from Page 13

Maybe all of those things, suggest the authors of the study, which was published in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society. The latest research confirms and extends the findings of sever-

and beyond relayed a desire to keep working, even during traditional retirement years.

Harrington and Dovre pointed to the very real possibility that more seniors staying longer in the workforce could be taking opportunities from teenagers and other younger workers who typically might look for traditional summer jobs, retail and service jobs and other non-career path types of employment.

“When we talk about summer employment and those types of jobs, there certainly may be young people out there who are not getting a job because of the added competition,” Dovre said. “It’s just hard to get a good read on how those numbers stack up. That probably isn’t as big of a factor in South Dakota as it could be in other areas of the country.”

A more pressing problem in Aberdeen may be simply finding enough employees to round out the workforce. Strohfus, for one, isn’t convinced her employment is taking away from someone else.

“I don’t feel like I’m taking someone’s job at all,” she said. “There are enough jobs in Aberdeen. Plus, not everybody wants a job like I have. I think there is definitely something that us older workers bring to the table for employers and roles we fit into.”

Classified as those aged 65-plus, in 2012 South Dakota’s nearly 20,000 older workers made up 5.2 percent of the state’s overall workforce, according to the Department of Labor and Regulation. Projecting into the future, the South Dakota State University Rural Life and Census Data Center projects that older South Dakotans will account for a whopping 23.2 percent of the state’s population by 2035 (that number was 14.3 percent in 2010, according to Census numbers).

al other studies. Collectively, their findings suggest that robust women — those likely to live longest — may first manifest their good health by remaining fertile for several decades.

The research also points to some evolutionary advantage enjoyed by women capable of conceiving and bearing children for longer stretches. In turn, her lon-

In the Aberdeen Micropolitan Statistical Area, about 5.8 percent of the workforce (1,163) is made up of older workers, according to the latest Census numbers. Most of the jobs occupied by those workers in South Dakota are in retail (17.4 percent), health care and social assistance (15 percent) and educational services (11.2 percent).

From the state’s perspective, recruiting more people to the workforce will be paramount to South Dakota’s economic future, as was evident by the emphasis put on the subject at the recent series of Governor’s Workforce Summit conferences around the state and the recent implementation of the Dakota Roots program, which is geared toward luring native South Dakotans back home to live and work.

“We’re actively trying to engage all demographics,” Dovre said. “One of those groups is older workers, and we think it’s a great opportunity for employers as well as those who may want to re-enter the workforce.

We think there’s an opportunity here in South Dakota to engage with all kinds of different groups, including people with disabilities, Native Americans, stay-at-home parents and others. For employers, older workers have a lot to offer, and we encourage them to explore things like flexible scheduling that can accommodate those folks.”

Mike Salem, who owns both of the Aberdeen McDonald’s locations, said the two restaurants combined employ more than a dozen seniors who are a big part of his business.

“We’re talking about people who don’t miss work, are polite and get along great with others,” Salem said.

“I’ve been with McDonald’s since I was 16, and we’ve always had older workers. Truthfully, I think we’d be in trouble without them.”

gevity after her childbearing years are over confers some evolutionary benefit to her offspring and their children, since she is available longer to supplement her grandchildren’s care.

The children and grandchildren of a women who reproduces late and lives long reap the benefits of her hardiness, according to this theory. Twin studies suggest

that genes explain about 20 percent of an individual’s likelihood of living into his or her 80s, and environmental factors — including nutrition, predators, toxins and protective elders — explain the rest. A long-lived grandma supplies larger broods, good genes and better care.

She practically creates the village that ensures her longevity genes will be passed on.

16 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Associated Press

This May 10, 2014 photo provided by AARP Life@50+ shows exhibitors promoting discount offers to conference attendees on the floor at the AARP Life@50+ National Member Event held May 8-10, 2014, in Boston. The last of the Baby Boomers turns 50 this year, and if they want to cry into their beer about getting older, at least they can now buy it at a discount.

Seniors enjoying AARP discounts FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The last of the baby boomers turn 50 this year, and if they want to cry into their beer about getting older, at least they can now buy it at a discount.

That’s because the first of the so-called senior discounts kick in at age 50, generally along with an AARP card.

Sure, there are savings at some chain restaurants and movie theaters, but like everything else with this generation, the boomers have put their own mark on senior savings.

“Some of our discounts would not have existed 10 years ago,” said Lynn Mento, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based AARP. Today’s cardholders qualify for 33 percent off membership at Zipcar, an auto-sharing site; can buy three concert tickets at Live Nation and get a fourth for free; get 45 percent off a

new membership at Angie’s List, a website that lets people review local businesses; and qualify for 15 percent off on HP computers.

Plenty of discounts are available for those who aren’t among the AARP’s 37 million members, though those often don’t kick in until closer to retirement age.

For instance, Fred Meyer Senior Discount Days are for those 55 and older, the National Park Service charges just $10 for a lifetime pass for Americans age 62 or older, and Southwest Airlines is one of the few carriers still offering a reduced fare for those 65 and older.

To find discounts, the simplest thing to do is ask, said Jim Miller, of Norman, Oklahoma, who has spent the past 13 years writing the syndicated Savvy Senior column.

He also recommends the website SeniorDiscounts.com, which lists thousands of memberships and is

searchable by location.

Don’t stop there, however, as senior discounts aren’t always the cheapest option. Sometimes, other discounts or promotions will offer greater savings. It pays to search the Internet and shop around.

“The best advice is for consumers to compare the different available rates based on what they qualify for, and book the one that works best for them,” said Jennifer de la Cruz of Miami, a spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Lines, which offers senior discounts on some trips.

While many of the senior perks are marketing moves by businesses, it’s a win-win as more than half of seniors really need to stretch their dollars.

There are about 76 million baby boomers in the United States — those born between 1946 and 1964.

Of them, about 11 million, roughly 14 percent, are over 65.

See “AARP” on Page 18

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 17

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18 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Vet

Continued from Page 8

Lewis grew up in southern Kansas, where he met his wife of 56 years, Donna, with whom he has two children and three grandkids. After serving as a medic in the military, he attended veterinary school at Kansas State.

Why did he choose Lawrence?

“It’s far enough away from southern Kansas to be another country, to be honest,” he said. Plus, Leasure and local realtor John McGrew were willing to help finance him to

get his start.

Lewis rarely advertises, not for financial but ethical reasons. Veterinarians just didn’t advertise when he started; he thinks it might have even been ground for them to lose their licenses. His recent ad in Best of Lawrence magazine said, ‘Thank you, Lawrence for your vote! From the Douglas County Ve t e r i n a r y Medical Association.” ‘’That’s all of us,” he noted. Lewis Veterinary Clinic is only mentioned across the bottom.

If Lewis reminds you of the old-time country doctor, that’s because, in a sense, he is. “My wife and I have said for years

Office Continued from Page 10

More than 47 million people receive Social Security retirement benefits, nearly a 20 percent increase from a decade ago. About 11 million people receive Social Security disability benefits, a 38 percent increase from a decade ago.

The Social Security Administration has been encouraging people to access services online. The agency has upgraded its website in recent years, including secure connections to access confidential information. People can apply for benefits without ever visiting Social Security offices.

AARP Continued from Page 16

Financially, a lot of them are in rough shape. More than 23 million Americans over age 60 are financially “insecure,” according to the National Council on Aging, based in Washington. That’s the term the private nonprofit uses to describe a single

he’s the James Herriot of Douglas County,” said rural Lawrence resident Tom Sloan, referring to the late veterinarian/ author who told tales of caring for animals in the British countryside. For instance, Lewis visits the Sloan residence to care for the couple’s sheep.

Nadine Dolan, a retired proofreader for the Journal-World, said she started going to Lewis Veterinary Clinic “at least four or five dogs ago.” She said she has stuck with Lewis ever since because he treats clients like longtime friends (oftentimes because they are) and has a great sense of humor.

“I hope the world that

In 2013, nearly half of all retirement applications were filed online, the report said.

But the committee report notes that many older Americans lack access to the Internet or might not be comfortable using it to apply for benefits.

Last year, more than 43 million people visited Social Security field offices.

About 43 percent of those seeking an appointment had to wait more than three weeks, up from just 10 percent the year before, the report said.

About 10 percent of visitors to Social Security offices are applying for benefits, Berryhill said. The largest group, about 30 percent, are seeking new or replacement Social Security cards.

Berryhill said Social Security officials do annual reviews to determine whether offices should be expanded,

senior who make $28,725 or less per year, said Jean Van Ryzin, NCOA spokeswoman.

The agency offers a free tool on its website, Benefitscheckup.org, that helps those 55 and older find programs for which they might qualify. So far, the group has helped nearly 4 million people find more than $14 billion in benefits, including assistance with food, health care and medi-

he outlives me,” said Dolan, 81. “I wouldn’t want to change vets, that’s for sure. He’s just a swell guy.”

Lewis says people sometimes come into the clinic and say, “Dr. Lewis, I heard you were retiring.”

But the almost-octogenarian doesn’t have plans to hang up his green doctor ’s coat anytime soon.

“What am I going to do? Sit home. Even my television doesn’t work.

It does, but the sound doesn’t work,” he said.

“Why have I kept doing this? Basically the long and short of it is, I’ve always liked it. It’s been good to me, all the way around.”.

reduced or closed.

“Once we make the decision to consolidate an office, we discuss the changes with stakeholders,” Berryhill said. “We hold town hall meetings or other forums that allow the public to voice their concerns. We contact key community leaders.”

Like many federal agencies, Social Security has faced budget cuts in recent years. After two years of shrinking budgets, the agency got a 6 percent increase this year, to $11.8 billion.

Social Security has cut its workforce by 11,000 employees over the past three years, Berryhill said.

She said the agency saves an average of $4 million over the course of a decade for every field office it closes.

“I can hire a lot of employees with $4 million,” Berryhill said.

cations, said Van Ryzin.

“This is beyond discounts of just getting 10 percent off your meal,” she said.

Mento offers another piece of advice: The cheapest deal isn’t always the best deal.

“The AARP is very interested in offering the best value — sometimes that can mean the lowest prices, sometimes it means that there are safeguards,” she said. For example, “Our

auto insurance may not be the lowest rate, but you will never be canceled.”

Mento, 53, said she uses senior discounts all the time.

She recently used them for her hotel and rental car in Boston, where she was attending AARP’s semi-annual Life@50+ National Event & Expo.

Miller, the columnist, turned 50 this year. He hasn’t taken advantage of any senior discounts yet.

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 19

Boomers are looking to the future

By KIM PALMER

Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT) MINNEAPOLIS — Jean Johnson and Niel Ritchie love their Linden Hills neighborhood too much to ever leave it.

“It’s a small town in the big city,” said Johnson. “The relationships you build when you stay in one place — those relationships are invaluable.”

Still, after watching elderly neighbors lose the struggle to stay in their homes, Johnson and Ritchie were determined to avoid that fate.

Even though they’re both strong and healthy now, they recently remodeled their century-old house to make it more accessible, adding a first-floor bathroom with a walk-in shower with blocking for grab bars and a wheelchair-accessible sink.

“We learned from the lessons of our neighbors,” Johnson said.

Less than a mile away in southwest Minneapolis, Margaret Lulic and Bob Timpane took a similar strategy.

They remodeled the 1921 foursquare they’ve owned since 1978, expanding the sunroom so it could be converted into a first-floor bedroom, adding a first-floor bath and remodeling the kitchen to update it and add more accessible storage.

They’re committed to their neighborhood and the connections they’ve made there. And they love their house. “We’ve invested a lot of ourselves in this house,” said Lulic.

“We’re staying as long as we’re physically capable.”

The two couples are not unique in their desire to stay in their longtime homes.

Most older homeowners nationwide prefer to age in place, according to a 2011 survey by AARP. But many of today’s homes, even so-called “senior apartments,” weren’t designed and built to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers and physical limitations, according to Alissa Boroff, director of Access Solutions, Minneapolis, and a certified aging-in-place consultant.

“The overwhelming majority of people want to stay in their homes,” said Boroff, who works with individuals, families and contractors, “but the way we’re building homes, we’re not supporting their needs. There’s not enough universal design so people can age gracefully.”

That’s why some homeowners are taking matters into their own hands and transforming their houses now, so they can live comfortably in them later.

“It’s definitely part of the conversation,” said architect Jean Rehkamp Larson, principal of Rehkamp Larson Architects, Minneapolis, who worked with Johnson and Ritchie on their remodeling.

That conversation can take many forms, “from how to get a bedroom on the main floor, to how to do laundry, to a closet that can be turned into an elevator. It’s becoming more of a topic. People see the benefit of staying in their community.”

See “FUTURE” on Page 20

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Associated Press

In this photo taken on Thursday, June 26, 2014, Larry Wiegert Sr. takes a break from touching up a large American flag painted on the eastside of his shed along Highway 20 a couple miles east of Osmond, Neb.

Patriotism is shown off in paint

OSMOND, Neb. (AP) — With the nation’s birthday just around the corner, Americans are getting in a patriotic mood.

Some people like to buy fireworks and celebrate with noise and bright flashes.

Others like to hang an American flag in front of their house.

Then there’s people like Larry Wiegert Sr., who lives east of Osmond. Wiegert has a large American flag painted on the side of one of his sheds on his farm — clearly visible to traffic on Highway 20.

The Norfolk Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/UMEyQP ) that on Wednesday afternoon underneath the hot sun, he was climbing a ladder to touch up with paint the places where it had chipped or faded.

Wiegert said he grew up a few miles

east of the place he now lives.

“Dad and Mom were always patriotic,” he said, “and it just rubbed off on us.”

That rubbing off included Wiegert serving in the military in 1961, about the time the Vietnam War was getting started Wiegert served in California, but was not allowed to go into combat. He was born with a lazy eye and lost sight in it.

“I was stateside,” he said, “but I would have gone over if they needed me.”

Many of his family members did.

“The flag means a lot to me,” he said.

“I’ve had a lot of family who has participated in combat and some of them wounded.”

His son, Larry Jr., served and was seriously wounded in Iraq in 2005. He’s

now retired.

“That was a bad day (when Larry Jr. got hurt),” Wiegert said. “We thanked the Lord he is still with us. He’s 90 percent disabled.”

To this day, Larry Jr., has trouble with his wounds.

Wiegert’s wife, Alice, designed the flag on the shed. She had an uncle, Charlie, who was killed in World War II and other relation who served.

“Alice is an artist and a sign painter,” Wiegert said. “The reason why I’m doing this is because Alice has cancer now.”

On Wednesday, Alice was undergoing chemotherapy treatment in Norfolk. She is able to return home after treatments.

“I’m proud of this (flag) and what Alice did,” he said.

Future

ects that he recently remodeled one of his showroom displays to demonstrate how a basic bathroom could be made wheelchair-accessible.

“Universal design is for everybody,” said Boroff. “But it’s getting more attention now because of the baby boomers.

They’ve gone through some experiences, maybe a crisis with their parents, and think, ‘I don’t want that to happen

to me.’ They’re doing things proactively, before there’s an illness or injury. It’s better to make changes when you’re not in crisis.”

For Johnson and Ritchie, knowing that their house is ready for whatever life throws at them gives them peace of mind.

“We can look at the years with confidence,” said Johnson.

Continued from Page 19

Lynn Monson, owner of DreamMaker Bath & Kitchen and Monson Interior Design, St. Louis Park, has seen so much interest in aging-in-place proj-

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 21

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22 - Mature Lifestyles - July, 2014 - TheIntelligencer.com

Karaoke hasn’t gone out of style CLARKSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Charlie Wyzard, 69, has a bad back. Bill Davis, 67, has legs that give him problems.

They both know it could be worse.

Wyzard and Davis know there are other seniors out there who have bigger problems. Instead of just counting their blessings, the two men donate four or five days each month to local nursing homes, bringing smiles and laughter to the seniors that live there with their karaoke shows.

“We see people a lot younger than us in here, and we know we’re fortunate,” Davis told the News and Tribune (http://bit.ly/Tiojtx ). “That’s the reason we do this.”

For about two hours every week, Wyzard and Davis become “Fun Karaoke with Bill and the Wiz,” playing songs their audiences remember from their youths.

“They’re just outstanding,” said Robin Strutz, activities director at Clark Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center, Clarksville. “They really get

involved with the residents when they’re in here. They just make it so much fun for (the residents). It’s great.”

After his mother went to live in a nursing home 12 years ago, Davis got involved with karaoke at American Legion Post 28 in New Albany. The soft-spoken man found that he had a knack and passion for performing for an audience.

“They (were) having karaoke, and a friend of mine’s wife got me up there to sing,” Davis said, recalling his first time on stage. “That was it. It only took the one time.”

Davis began performing at his mother’s nursing home, which got a great response from the residents, he said.

“Then I thought, ‘If I’m doing it here, maybe someone else might want me,’” he recalled. “I went out and started it all. I was doing all kinds of nursing homes.”

At the same time, Davis was involved in the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program, or RSVP. Davis shelved his karaoke gear for years until

Wyzard talked him into getting back on the scene.

Wyzard’s relationship with karaoke goes back a bit farther by a few decades. He didn’t know it at the time, but he first encountered it at the late Buddy Knight’s Jeffersonville bar, Buddy’s Nook. Bar patrons would bring records and sing by memory to them, and between songs Knight would entertain the crowd with garish costumes and jokes. When Wyzard is playing the Wiz, he’s really emulating Knight, he said.

“I always try to recognize Buddy each and every time we do karaoke,” Wyzard said.

“He died Jan. 24, 1990, at the very young age of 94. I know he’s up there in karaoke heaven looking down.

“He used to say, ‘Wiz, these people come in here all weekend and laugh at me. But every Monday when I go to the bank with that big bag, he said, I’ve got that big smile on my face.’”

Wyzard’s not laughing all the way to the bank like Knight once did. He and

Davis do the shows at nursing homes free of charge.

Their reward is knowing that they’re doing right by the residents.

“I call them the forgotten people, because some of them have been in here for years, and all they do is sit in their rooms,” Wyzard said. “Well, if we can bring back some memories to them, get them to think and put that smile on their faces, it puts big smile on our face.”

Wyzard will do anything to get his audience to smile. He has multiple bags full of silly hats, wigs and clothing. He’ll dance. He’ll do impersonations. He’ll tell corny jokes.

He’ll sing.

Davis is more reserved.

While Wyzard is the emcee, Davis operates the karaoke equipment.

And the residents are into it, Strutz said.

“The residents get involved.

They get up and sing, and it was something I was shocked over,” Strutz said. “They get the staff involved. They’ll sing with staff or they’ll sing by

Fun Health Fair scheduled for Aug. 13

By MELANIE CAMPBELL

For the Intelligencer

The Older Adults Health Council and Senior Services Plus are preparing to host their Second Annual Summer Fun Health Fair Aug. 13 in Granite City.

The purpose of the fair is to provide senior citizens and their loved ones with information about local organizations that offer support and services for the elderly.

The event will feature more than 55 vendors, including representatives from assisted living and supportive living centers, community service organizations, medical centers and home care

and health organizations. Attendees will also have on-site access to health related screenings.

According to Stacey Loveland, last year’s president of the Older Adults Health Council, the purpose of the health fair is “to educate the older community, to let them know what kinds of support and resources are available to them.”

While this is only the second summer that the Health Fair has been offered in Granite City, the Older Adults Health Council has sponsored similar events in spring and fall at Senior Services Plus in Alton for many years.

The organization is trying to “branch

out and hopefully reach other folks in the area that can benefit from this information,” said Loveland.

The Older Adults Health Council is made up of individuals from 35-40 senior related support and service organizations. The group meets at 10:30 on the third Tuesday of every month at Senior Services Plus in Alton to network and listen to presentations put on by guest speakers.

The Summer Fun Health Fair takes place Wednesday, Aug. 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Tri-Mor Bingo Hall, 3701 Nameoki Road, Granite City. The event is free to seniors and their families. For more information, call 618-465-3298.

TheIntelligencer.com - July, 2014 - Mature Lifestyles - 23

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