November/December 2015 60 Plus in Omaha

November/December 2015

DENI S E CERNY Bad Knees? No Prob!

Silver City Santa

Yes, Kids, the Beard is Real

Generational Mixer

North Omaha Non-Profit Combines Youth and Geriatrics

Alzheimer’s Disease

What Prospective Caregivers Need to Know

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november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

60PLUS FROM THE EDITOR

THE STORIES WE TELL B

EING ABLE TO TELL the stories of Omaha is an honor, and it reminds me of the many stories that will be told when my family gathers for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, that most joyful and“story-est” time of the year.

My son, Todd, and his wife, Sandy, will beam with pride as we’re joined by their newlywed daughter, Casey, and husband, Shea Shiley. We’ll get to know Shea better by the stories he tells over pumpkin pie. And Todd and Sandy’s son, Chad, will tear himself away from digital devices long enough to update the family on his sophomore year at Papillion South High School.

Son Tyler will boast of his kids, Sarah and Danielle. We’ll learn if Sarah has gone all Valley Girl on us as she—a talented contributor of photography to our family of publications— settles into her first year of college in California. And Danielle, a junior at Westside High School, will dish about her friends as we dish up the turkey.

Another son, RL, and his wife, Amy, will be with us, too.

Their son, William, will regale us with tales of life in the hip, happening city that is Austin, Texas, while his brother, Alex, competes to do the same when it comes to the glistening metropolis of Dallas.

Yet another boy of mine, Brad, will be accompanied by wife Karen and their adult children Mitchell, Miles, and Morgan.

Mitchell is retired from the Navy and going to school at UNO. Miles is working in Omaha, and Morgan is working on a perpetual tan in Florida.

The food is sure to be memorable, but it will be by the stories told around the table—just like the ones in this magazine— that define who we are as a family.

Until next issue!

Gwen

Gwen Lemke Contributing Editor, 60PLUS In Omaha

CONTENTS volume 3 • issue 5 CONSUMER PROTECTION Bullseye!

How to Know When You’re the Target of a Scam............................... S4

FEATURE Generational Mixer North Omaha Non-Profit Combines Youth and Geriatrics..................................S8

FACES Silver City Santa Yes, Kids, the Beard is Real.....................S12

COVER FEATURE Denise Cerny Bad Knees? No prob!...............................S14

HEALTH Alzheimer’s Disease What Prospective Caregivers Need to Know..........................................S18

NOSTALGIA Old in Omaha Do You Remember…...............................S20

THE GRANDPA CHRONICLES Taking Off The Training Wheels........................S22

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS

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60PLUS CONSUMER PROTECTION by ryan borchers

S4  60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

BULLSEYE!

how to know when you’re the target of a scam

I

F YOU TYPE “SCAMS af” into Google’s search bar, the first suggested result is “scams affecting seniors.”

Elderly people are popular targets because they tend to act more polite and trusting, and many criminals assume senior citizens are more likely to have money in the form of retirement funds or life savings. In the case of Internet fraud, scam artists assume elderly people are more susceptible to things like fake pop-up ads and “scareware.” Specific types of scams are also deliberately targeted at senior citizens, such as fraudulent funeral services or offers for fake anti-aging products.

Here are eight signs/phrases that you’re being targeted:

REQUEST FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION

THEY CREATE A SENSE OF FEAR

“GET RICH NOW!”

Scam artists often ask for sensitive information like your bank account or credit card number. Oftentimes, he or she will claim to be someone official, someone like a Medicare representative or IRS official. Never give your social security or credit card number to someone who has initiated contact with you.

Scam artists often attempt to convince you that there’s a big problem afoot or you’re in danger, something they offer to fix for a fee. This can also happen in a case of repair fraud, in which a person shows up at your door and says your home or car is in need of urgent maintenance.

Always demand to see written material if someone asks you to invest in his/her company or project, or call the company the person claims to represent.

“PLEASE WIRE MONEY”

“FOREIGN LOTTERY”

Once you wire money you can’t get it back.

Scammers often ask you to use Western Union.

A lottery in a foreign country or a contest you didn’t enter is a red flag. This will often be accompanied by a mandate to pay to enter the contest or claim your prize. Always request written information about the contest and don’t call a 1-900 number to claim contest winnings (you’ll be billed for the call). Even if they send you a check, the check may bounce after a few days in your bank account, during which criminals can collect fees related to the “prize.”

THEY SEEM RELUCTANT TO DIVULGE INFORMATION Perhaps they claim to represent a charity, one that sounds legitimate or similar to the name of another charity (the Better Business Bureau and give.org have lists of legitimate companies and charities), but won’t tell you details. They may ask you to send them money, after which they’ll fill you in on all the details.

IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE If the offer for travel with all expenses paid sounds a little too nice, well, it probably is.

“WE NEED A DECISION NOW” Many scams create a sense of urgency to get you to act quickly. Again, always demand more information about the offer and read the information carefully.

If you do find yourself having been taken in by a criminal, several agencies can help, including the National Adult Protective Services Association (napsa-now.org/get-help/help-in-your-area/) and the Eldercare Locator (eldercare.gov/Eldercare.NET/Public/Index.aspx).

Remember: If you think it’s illegitimate, hang up, shut the door, or don’t respond. The longer you engage a scam artist, the more likely you are to buy.

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S5

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S6  60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

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60PLUS FEATURE by mike watkins | photography by bill sitzmann

Pauline Smith works with a teen client at NOIHSC. S8  60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

GENERATIONAL MIXER

north Omaha non-profit combines youth and geriatrics

A

S THE MOTHER OF six and grandmother of four, Pauline Smith knows a little something about relating to kids.

She uses these skills as a participant in the North Omaha Intergenerational Human Service Campus (NOIHSC)—where senior citizens spend time speaking with, and giving sage advice to, a younger generation of at-risk youth, many the age of their grandchildren.

“With this, children get out a lot of love, and I don’t believe they want to be what they’ve become,” Smith says. “I like being able to pass on what I know—my life experiences, good and bad—onto younger people. It’s my way of helping out the next generation.”

It’s pretty obvious she knows of what she speaks—and it’s working.

Ask Derek and Peter, two young men who struggle with anger issues and gang affiliation as part of Heartland Family Service’s Youth Links program. Youth Links is an innovative program for kids ages 10-18 who have been found to be delinquent or who are status offenders. It’s considered a “triage” center in that it provides assessments and short-term services which help youth re-enter or remain in the community safely.

Seniors who have moved into the 44 new, energy-efficient housing units at the developing NOIHSC as well as from the neighboring community work each day with the young people involved with Youth Links, along with children and families in the neighborhood.

The intergenerational component offers powerful benefits including culture exchange, enhanced social skills, improved academic performance, decreased social isolation among the elderly, increased feelings of stability, stimulated learning, increased emotional support, and improved health.

Overall, NOIHSC has increased the wellbeing of many north Omaha seniors and children who need its services.

It’s definitely reciprocal.

“I’ve gained a lot of maturity through my time with the older people; they like to talk to you and give you advice about how to be successful by staying away from gangs and other bad things,” says 17-year-old Peter.

“It’s been great keeping on the positive track (through Youth Links) and learning how to be and keep safe.”

This project, led by Holy Name Housing Corp. and Heartland Family Service, was created to stimulate and complement commercial growth in north Omaha while focusing on services tailored to the lives and needs of neighborhood residents.

Combining—or mixing—the generations gives the older generation the opportunity to impart their life experiences and lessons learned to the youth through conversation and advice, which in turn gives the younger generation outlets for some of the anger and other issues that landed them at Youth Links.

According to senior center director Karen Sides, this project has been a long time coming, and once the funds were raised to make it happen earlier this year, it quickly became a reality that’s changing lives for the better.

“Our seniors don’t judge the children in our program; to them, it’s an even playing field,” Sides says. “Intergenerational is kind of a buzzword with society, but it’s really making a difference. They spend time together, building trust and revealing things about each other that lead to making connections.”

Visit heartlandfamilyservice.org to learn more.

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S9

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60PLUS FACES by judy horan | photography contributed by Durham Museum

S12  60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

SILVER CITY SANTA

yes, kids, the beard is real

F

ORGET WHAT THEY TOLD you in first grade. Santa Claus does not live at the North Pole. He lives with Mrs. Claus in Silver City, Iowa—a town of 236 people, one jolly elf, and his wife.

Each November Santa, aka Gary, turns into the world-renowned being to whom children want to tell their secrets, but they still know who he really is even in the heat of summer.

“Mothers drag their children away from him,” jokes Mrs. Claus, aka Lynda. “He’s a big man with long white hair and a beard.”

Without his signature red suit, he looks rather formidable to a small child.

Silver City’s Papa Noel starts his holiday appearances at The Durham’s tree-lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving. He and Mrs. Claus also appear there the following Friday at the museum’s Ethnic Festival.

Along with The Durham, the couple appear at schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.

They recall rewarding moments. “One woman every year, from age 90 until she died at age 105, had her picture taken with Santa,” Lynda says.

And there are funny memories. Visiting a second-grade class, he was asked by a little boy, “How do we know you’re really Santa?”

Gary invited him to feel his beard. The youngster entwined his fingers into the iconic white fuzz and was literally lifted two feet off the ground when Gary stood, proving the facial hair was real.

Some responses break Gary’s heart. At Offutt Air Force Base, he received a humbling reply from his routine question, “What do you want for Christmas?” “(The child) replied: ‘My dad could use tools. He hasn’t had a job for awhile. My mom could use a new dress.’ It was tearing us up. I asked ‘Isn’t there anything you want?’

He said, ‘I guess I could use a new toothbrush.’ We just wanted to shut down and take him shopping.”

While some children melt Gary’s heart, others warm it.

“A little girl crawled into my lap and snuggled. She said she was tired. I said I was, too, and told her: ‘But see all the stuff on the floor? (Meaning the white confetti, or “snow”) I have to stay and clean that up.’ She

said ‘Maybe we could all stay and help you.’”

“I don’t do it for the money,” adds Gary.

“Ninety percent of what we do, we do for free.”

He never wants to turn down people who call with requests to appear, but Father Christmas maintains a busy schedule.

“It breaks my heart when I have to tell someone no,” he says. “We’re both getting old.”

(And here we thought Kriss Kringle was ageless).

Gary and Lynda each have two grown children. Two grandchildren have performed as elves.

“You don’t tell anyone that grandpa is Santa Claus,” Lynda tells the clan. “That’s the family secret.”

Even if he is slower and appears less frequently than before, Gary believes portraying St. Nicholas is the cat’s pajamas…make that the Christmas pajamas.

“I’ve been doing this for over 38 years and never had a child be anything but wonderful.

I get a lot more out of being Santa than the kids get out of meeting me.”

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S13

60PLUS ACTIVE LIVING by daisy hutzell-rodman | photography by bill sitzmann

DENISE CERNY bad knees? no prob!

S14  60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

I

DON’T EVER REMEMBER BEING bored,” says Denise Cerny.

She sits at her kitchen table for just a couple of moments before jumping up to pour a glass of iced tea. She sits again, then jumps up to grab her iPad so she can investigate something on the Internet.

The constant movement fits her well.

Her parents are Ardith Smeal, 92, and the late Donald Smeal. Donald owned Smeal Fire Apparatus Co. for more than 50 years.

The company is one of two in Nebraska manufacturing those bright red vehicles people see rushing to eliminate fires. >

“

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S15

60PLUS ACTIVE LIVING

< Along with their west Omaha home, she and her husband, Rod, keep a home in Phoenix. Denise gardens, often finding unusual plants to keep in pots on the back deck. She and her husband also golf avidly.

“Activity is important in our life and in our relationship with each other,” says a sister, Mary Lou Tomka of Lincoln. “My dad and mom had seven daughters, and five of us played softball at the same time. We’ve always been involved in activities.”

Cerny long kept in shape as a marathon runner. She ran marathons in New York, Los Angeles, Alaska, and Hawaii.

“When the kids were little I used it as my down time,” Cerny says. “There’s something about being in the open air, focused on running—it keeps me going.”

Make that it “kept” her going. Five years ago, at age 58, her knees began to hurt after running. She did not admit it at first—she liked having strong knees.

“That was one thing I would always say.

I would run, and I would look up and say ‘Thank you, God, for good knees!’”

She finally saw an orthopedist, also a friend of hers, who said, “You have osteoarthritis in both knees.”

Cerny’s heart fell. She had to quit running.

“It took a long time before I could drive past a runner and not be envious.”

She underwent surgery and spent several weeks on the couch recuperating.

“Before I had the surgery I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’” Cerny says. “I had to be in the house.”

The surgery could not keep her down totally.

“I started playing Rock Band,” Cerny says with a girlish giggle. “I had never played a video game before...but you know what, it’s a lot of fun!”

After several weeks, she started moving again, even if the athletic activity switched gears.

These days Cerny’s great athletic passion is bicycling. She rides her bicycle frequently around Omaha and has ridden RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) every year for the past 12 years.

“I was still marathoning and my sisters (Renee Smeal of Omaha and Tomka) said ‘you ought to do this.’” Cerny says. “At that time I didn’t have a very good bike. After a couple of years I got a better bike. You would not believe how much easier that made things.”

Cerny’s definition of better includes lighter.

The lower weight of the bike allowed her to ride faster and longer. This was especially helpful five years ago.

“I had done RAGBRAI right before my surgery because I wanted to be in shape,” Cerny says. “And that worked!”

Cerny discovered that bicycling does not hurt her knees.

“I had to find other ways to take up that slack,” Cerny says of not being able to run.

“I did RAGBRAI the next year after surgery and was still fine. I started working with a trainer because I thought I needed someone who knows what they are doing so I don’t hurt myself again.”

S16 60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

Bicycling gives her the outlet once taken up by running.

“Once you do it, you have to keep doing it,” Cerny quips. “The people of Iowa are so great with their pies and the parties they throw.

The last day when you get to the Mississippi, you’re (geographically) as high as you’re going to be all week, and you want people to know how great this is.”

Tomka no longer rides on RAGBRAI, but Smeal and Cerny ride with a group from Omaha known as Team Angry during the weeklong party/bicycling event.

“My sisters talked me into joining a team for safety reasons,” says Cerny, who still rides solo during the week, catching up with the group at her own pace.

“It isn’t a race, and it isn’t a ride where you have to stick together,” says Smeal. “The only time we ride together is the last day.

On the last day we like to enter the final town together. You ride in as a team and people cheer and you get your picture taken with your team dipping their front tires into the Mississippi.”

No matter whether Cerny bikes, golfs, or plays Rock Band, she keeps a “can do” attitude in mind.

“I really like my life,” Cerny says. “I’m really lucky I can do that.”

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Predictable costs and low copays $3 primary care office copay Low specialist copay $1,000 hearing aid allowance (per ear) Includes vision, fitness, preventive dental and much more 3 EASY WAYS TO LEARN MORE: 1. Call 1-855-791-9909 (TTY 711) 8:00 am - 8:00 pm, 7 days a week 2. Visit us on the web at www.HeartlandPlainsHealth.com 3. Contact your local agent Y0113_2016_49MA0715_ALL CMS ACCEPTED november/december 2015 | 60PLUS

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60PLUS HEALTH by susan meyers

ALZHEIMER’S C DISEASE

what prospective caregivers need to know

ARING FOR A LOVED one with Alzheimer’s disease can be both physically and emotionally demanding. “As the disease progresses, the amount of care the Alzheimer’s patient requires rises dramatically, as does the toll it takes on the caregiver,” notes Daniel Murman, M.D., neurologist at The Nebraska Medical Center.

While there are things you can do to better prepare yourself for the caregiver role, the thing to remember is that Alzheimer’s progresses differently in each person, as do the caregiver circumstances and ability to cope with the disease.

S18 60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

“I remember noticing changes in my wife for about a year but I couldn’t put my finger on it,” says Allan Schur, husband of Sharon Schur, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2005 when she was just 54 years old. “It took my daughter, who hadn’t seen her for almost a year, to step in and tell me that she needed to be seen by a doctor.”

The most difficult part about being a caregiver is dealing with and managing guilt, notes Schur. “No matter how much you try, no matter how much you do, you cannot change the course of what is always a terminal disease,” he says. “There are no ‘survivor’s walks’ for Alzheimer’s.”

“Alzheimer’s is a long and emotional process, and caregivers should not feel guilty about seeking outside resources to assist them whenever possible.”

-Daniel Murman M.D., urologist, Nebraska Medicine

Schur also recommends starting each day as a new day and not dwelling on the past or thinking about what might have been. “The most important day in the life of a caregiver is today,” he says.

While it may sound contradictory, Schur says it is also important to be proactive. “Early in the disease you have to teach your loved one new tricks before they need to use them and while they have the capability to learn.”

For example, there are phones where you can insert pictures of a child, friend or caregiver on large buttons so the user can press the picture of the person he or she wants to dial.

“By the time I realized my wife needed this type of phone, it was too late to teach her how to use it,” says Schur.

Schur adds other tips. “Early in the disease, note the places you like to go and which ones have family restrooms. This will help you later when your loved one may need assistance.”

Participation in a support group is vital.

“You can learn from the successes and failures of other caregivers,” says Schur. “You will be reminded that others are walking down a similar path and learn new coping mechanisms. You will see that you are not alone and that’s a pretty big deal some days.”

And lastly, be proactive about their care, stresses Shur. “I reached a point where I realized that if I continued with this 24/7 job, my loved one would outlive me. Tour facilities while you can and well before you need to place your loved one in a long-term facility.”

“Alzheimer’s is a long and emotional process, and caregivers should not feel guilty about seeking outside resources to assist them whenever possible,” says Dr. Murman.

He suggests using resources such as the Alzheimer’s Association and the local Agency on Aging.

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war & Chuck Hagel battles for a future free of the quagmires of the past.

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Prescription Drug Abuse Among Teens Nebraska’s Premier Wealth Advisors The Making of Nebraska John Jackson

$2a$10$BV2a7V/BdNEaP8TLqH43gOY8Gy/Beii 959fEMuGFh6fTZktxU5toeU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIR VJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$VQy5s jVaOIi93aOzrmX/NOWOEU/lVTxtUp4KLHYoUvJH GImzEGnKqU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVXTElORS BHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$.BSUej3mkaYgBL6SH dzkruV.CLTOdrTeuMC7tENIJRio4k7r1S522U1BBQ 0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\ n$2a$10$8lJaZ1bjql9MsIVt9chbEODEK1V4DM h2sWCqgO3EOkcmLDpuOcv2OU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIR VJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$bok og0hs0YeIDLS08Mtz1OiPJn75Gm7kUVRGxWiMvmNK. 96K15omCU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIE hFUkU=\n$2a$10$6PwNCHEGBFnlVxWv/tvWyOIUae5YKMb G9AKx4P0QQdYkJFnuQBedGU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVX TElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$0zda1EWkCNLfq3f8/IgljO 0gl8u/8SQWc9tfTcstxEmJlYbx85kAKU1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIR VJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$8HQy CRFmAbw.q2RC1u3RBOGPwfqXvS4nK4obI8uQeYN WIAST0cM/2U1BBQ0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVX TElORSBHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$UvJ6oFqd 71pgp.O03WVqRuAqoS2JG9CR1BvNEH. KqLySgt2C7hVUWU1BBQ0UgR09FUy BIRVJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIEh FUkU=\n$2a$10$FmIjrLTW. ACeLTrwoJXJ.u8b8hgthtLuGD By0sV8EJZjyFkEni0NyU1BBQ 0UgR09FUyBIRVJFTkVXTElORS BHT0VTIEhFUkU=\n$2a$10$C jZNVV1n0igQ5i4xti7eh. yyyTwczBJ4Or3CNfvQsAtx1f HkrPX/mU1BBQ0UgR09FUy BIRVJFTkVXTElORSBHT0VTIE hFUkU=\n$2a$10$uPCa JPhRy7F01s3YTceEkeAtZvK 9r2seNkqA5w3PCqdy Br.0eW.m COVER TEXT DECODED INSIDE

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Visit the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org to learn more. november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S19

60PLUS NOSTALGIA by david williams

OLD IN OMAHA

do you remember...

S20â&#x20AC;&#x192; 60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

T

HE LONG-GONE OMAHA OF an earlier millennia is loaded with memories.

And sideburns. And Easy Bake Ovens. It was a time when no presidential campaign would be complete without Paul Lynde making a valiant run for the Oval Office while you watched a war in a far-off land unfold on TV and prayed for an insanely high draft number. How many of these tidbits do you remember?

ROSE LODGE

MORE EATS

Plating this dish over waffles may be a thing today, but who can forget the crispy goodness of the chicken served at this legendary spot on the southeast corner of 78th and Dodge that is now the site of O’Daniel Honda?

And how about the Sunday ritual of a postservice visit to Bishop’s Buffet in your best “dicky” turtleneck or Nancy Sinatra, madefor-walkin’ go-go boots, even if that Cheese Frenchee, malt, and side of rings served by a King’s Food Host carhop the night before was still sitting pretty heavy?

POGO’S DISCO C’mon, admit it. You teetered atop towering platform shoes while dancing The Hustle under that seizure-inducing strobe in this musk-scented nightspot located on the southeast corner of 72nd and Dodge. You know, the one just across from Kenny’s Steakhouse.

HINKY DINKY Occupying the third corner of the the city’s busiest intersection was the place you went to buy cheese when it was…well, just regular old cheese, dammit! Award yourself bonus points if you also remember that the grocer’s name came from “Mademoiselle from Armentieres,” the bawdy WWI song with the nonsensical lyrics hinky dinky parlez-vous.

SCHOOL DAYS Didn’t Omaha used to have like a zillion Catholic high schools? You know you’re old in Omaha if you earned a sheepskin from a long-defunct school patrolled by nuns clad in acres of black who thought the church had gone “too far” with Vatican II. Mass in English? Saints preserve us!

CORNFIELDS Just any old cornfield would do—and there were plenty of them in the Omaha of old— when it came time for the rite of passage that was your first sickly sweet sip of Boone’s Farm wine accompanied by a (sicklier and sweeter) Swisher Sweet. Or so says our publisher (and former delinquent) Todd Lemke.

SPEAKING OF DELINQUENTS

Paper drivers licenses. That’s right, paper!

All it took was an eraser, a steady hand and, voilà, you were ready to hit every dive bar across the river when the drinking age in Iowa was still 18. Remember the sensation caused when Coors’ 3.2 brew was first introduced on the prairie? Or the arrival of Olympia Beer?

Par-taaaay! (Just be home by curfew.)

DELIVERIES No “freaky fast” sub or pizza deliveries back in those days. Sure, you had a milk box on your front porch like every other red-blooded American, but pizza was exotic fare served at a quaint tabletop illuminated by a candle stuck in an empty chianti bottle. Darn it, there’s just no way to phonetically represent that gross noise made by Hannibal Lecter when he uttered that famous line about fava beans and chianti.

VROOM-VROOM There was nothing more “Omaha” than cruising Dodge on a balmy summer night in your dad’s snazzy Dodge Dart. Eric Burden growled on the radio that “we gotta get out of this place,” but we’re glad you stayed to help make Omaha the great city it is today.

We had fun with the recollections above, but it is important to point out that Omaha Magazine is a staunch opponent of underage drinking. Unless, of course, that drinking happened before 1975. And in a cornfield. And by our publisher.

november/december 2015 | 60PLUS S21

60PLUS THE GRANDPA CHRONICLES by david williams

TAKING OFF the training wheels

T

HE OLD ADAGE ABOUT never forgetting after learning how to ride a bike is pure hokum, and this grandpa is living proof.

On a recent camping trip with grandsons Barrett (4) and Easton (5), I climbed aboard my daughter-in-law’s girlie bike—the robin’s egg blue cruiser outfitted with a cute basket that is perfect for holding…I dunno…kewpie dolls or friendship bracelets or other sugarand-spice paraphernalia.

About three feet into my wobbly peddling it struck me that I could not remember the last time I had been on a bicycle. After giving it some thought, I pegged the year to be 1981. I won’t bore you with the comical, look-out-forthat-tree details of our ride over hill and over dale (poor Dale) through the campground that day.

The experience reminded me that Barrett and Easton are born-to-ride daredevils when it comes to two-wheeled action. Not 10 days after the training wheels came off Barrett’s bike he was already flying along the Wabash Trace Trail over in Iowa on one of the popular

Taco Rides, and his family has since taken 10-mile jaunts along other, sometimes more challenging trails while crisscrossing the metro.

The thought of which is all absolutely horrifying to me.

And doubly so for my wife, Julie. When we let our imaginations get the best of us, life as grandparents can be a pins-and-needles game of waiting for that inevitable phone call from my son or daughter-in-law where we are informed, “Well, just thought we’d tell you that we’re on our way to the emergency room.”

That’s where this story was supposed to end. Sure, I would have yammered on for a paragraph or three on the terrors of being the grandpa of two young, adventurous boys who don’t know the meaning of fear…but that was going to be pretty much it. Column done.

Over. See ya next issue.

Except that we did, in fact, get that phone call.

One week to the day after my tottering bike ride inspired this column, Barrett did a face-plant onto the pavement off his otherwise

S22 60PLUS | november/december 2015 | omahamagazine.com

trusty steed. Yes, he was wearing a helmet, as always, but he knocked out three front teeth, and his bruised and bloodied face looked like a punch-drunk Robert Ne Niro in Raging Bull.

My son, Eric, was a BMX rebel in his teen years, and I recall holding my breath (thank goodness for a gold-plated medical plan) every time that starter gate dropped with a clang and a quartet of riders hurtled toward certain doom. That was at the bicycle track down in Lincoln but now, a generation later, Omaha has a BMX death trap of its own.

And Eric’s reaction to the events of last weekend? He plans to have Barrett fitted with a new mouthguard before going airborne for the first time in a gravity-defying ride on and over the dirt moguls of the local track. All before my grandson’s fat lip is even given a chance to recede to its former prettyboy profile.

God help us all.

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november/december 2015 | 60PLUS

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