July/August 2013 60 PLUS In Omaha

Dancing Partners Bob and Linda Todd

Let’s Dance!

Three Couples Lead the Way

Computer Classes

Keep You Up-to-date with Technology

Sharon Ongert

World Traveler

Always Local, Always Beautiful May/ June 2012

Dr. Gamini S. Soori and the nationally recognized al, Always Loc

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Active Living: Sharon Ongert, 66_____ S4 Joe Wherry___________________ S6 COVER: Let’s Dance!____________ S8

Gwen’s Tips__________________S11 Mobility & Rehab Equipment

Shingles____________________ S12

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Feeling the Heat______________ S13 Be

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W

e’re adding something new to 60 Plus: Gwen’s Tips

will discuss services available to seniors in Omaha for your convenience. Little things that just might make life easier.

Do you ever wish for the good ol’ days when gas stations had full-service? Pumping your gas, washing windshields, checking your oil and tires? We’ve been making calls and found a few who still have full-service and give you just that. Check out these six locations around town when you need just a bit of extra care.

Gwen Lemke Contributing Editor, 60 Plus In Omaha

Nebraska skilled NursiNg & rehab 7410 Mercy road oMaha, Nebraska 68124 402-397-1220 Nebraskaskilled.coM

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60PLUS active living Story by Linda Persigehl • Photos by Bill Sitzmann and provided by Sharon Ongert

Touring the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, 2012.

On the chariot tracks in Pompeii, Italy, 2012.

Sharon Ongert, 66 World Traveler

W

orld traveler. free spirit. Social butterfly. All

these terms aptly describe Sharon Ongert.

The native Omahan has always been an affable go-getter and shows no signs of slowing down as she hits her mid-60s. “I like to follow the advice, ‘Don’t buy things, buy memories,” Ongert confides one morning over drinks at Paradise Bakery.

Ongert loves to travel. “When I was first married, my husband and I spent a year living in Europe,” she shares. “We visited 16 countries and 168 cities throughout western S4 60PLUS

july/august • 2013

Europe and northern Africa. I guess that’s how it started.”

Once her two kids were born, the family continued to take trips to the Caribbean, Mexico, skiing… “Later, I began traveling with my mom to England, Australia, and New Zealand. My dad didn’t care much for travel, so he paid for the trips, and I’d go with her…it was the perfect situation.”

Now single, Ongert continues to travel the globe, often with new friends made on past journeys (of which she has many). Egypt and Peru were recent vacation destinations. “Last year, I took two back-to-back Mediterranean

cruises, which took us to Turkey, Croatia, Malta, Sicily, Italy…I keep a travel journal every trip I make and log in every day I’m gone so I can keep track of everything I do.”

This year, she’ll put more stamps in her passport with trips to Russia and Scandinavia on the agenda.

In addition to travel, Ongert loves to work…yes, work. She has three jobs. She spends one or two days a week at both Ann Taylor Loft (Village Pointe) and Pottery Barn Kids (Regency Court), which she says has allowed her to make some wonderful friendships with co-workers of all different ages.

She loves working with customers as well, adding, “I love meeting all the new moms and grandmas.” The social aspect of working retail is a major plus for Ongert, who once worked as the social director for a Miamibased cruise ship.

Ongert also officiates tennis matches for a dozen different tennis organizations. “My kids both played competitive tennis, and so www.OmahaMagazine.com

At the Egyptian pyramids, 2010.

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Hiking with friend Linda at Machu Picchu in Peru, South America, 2011.

I followed it for a long time,” Ongert recalls.

“When my youngest graduated, I decided I’d train as an umpire so I could continue in the sport. I’m an independent contractor, essentially, and have chaired matches for the Big 10, Big 12, Omaha Tennis Association, high schools…I’ve watched so much good tennis this way. I’ve always got the best seat in the house!”

To keep up with this busy schedule, Ongert makes it a point to stay fit, working out daily at Lakeside Wellness Center, lifting weights and walking on the treadmill. She’s also a snowbird, traveling to Phoenix every March to spend a month hiking, playing tennis, and practicing her new favorite sport, pickleball.

“It’s basically tennis on a much smaller court using a wiffle ball. It’s best for those who can’t cover the ground of a tennis court.

It’s a lot of fun!”

That’s Ongert, always up for a new adventure. www.BestOfOmaha.com

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60PLUS feature Story by Patrick Kinney • Photos by Bill Sitzmann

Joe Wherry

makes sure no one else slips through the cracks.

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O

maha resident Joe Wherry was a child who slipped through the cracks. As

a toddler, he lived on the streets of his native Chicago under the loose supervision of skid row residents. He slept on a heating grate in front of a hotel for warmth.

Now 64, Wherry spends his life making sure no one else slips through the cracks. “Everybody deserves someone to help them,” he says.

Despite some health challenges, Wherry remains cheery and lives on his own in West Omaha. The memorabilia in his apartment attests to that. For example, take the portrait of www.OmahaMagazine.com

a 20-something Wherry in a flight jacket on the wall of his bedroom. Wherry served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1969. A “river rat,” in his words, he served as a boatswain’s mate in the Mekong Delta.

Wherry sustained multiple injuries in the line of duty. “I was medevaced three times before they sent me home,” he says.

Eventually, he won the Purple Heart.

In the 1980s, he began volunteering as an advocate for fellow veterans, even as he himself fought for disability benefits related to post-traumatic stress disorder. Wherry also suffered ailments related to exposure to Agent Orange.

Tucked behind his military portrait there is a palm frond—the kind that gets handed out around Easter in Catholic churches. Wherry is an active member of St. Patrick Parish in Elkhorn, serving as a greeter and an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. Wherry was exposed to Catholicism while a student at Boys Town, where he graduated high school in 1966.

“It was the first place where I could make something of myself,” he says of the home for wayward children. He was inducted into the Boys Town Hall of Fame in 2004.

Family portraits line Wherry’s walls along with his own. He met his wife, Marcia, when he was running a singles’ bar in Cicero, Ill., in 1972. She was a former Miss Tall Chicago.

Two months later, they were engaged. Wherry has four children and six grandkids; Marcia succumbed to cancer in 1991.

Boy Scout mementos pack Wherry’s home.

He thanks Boys Town for exposing him to the Boy Scouts as well, but it was not until after he returned from Vietnam that Wherry wanted to be an adult leader.

While volunteering at a church school, Wherry saw a scoutmaster tell a boy to do a task “because I said so.” Wherry volunteered in order to be a different kind of leader. Decades later, his Boy Scout uniform is covered in patches awarded for services and accomplishments. If I can change it just by being there, I want to be there,” he says.

Wherry suffers frequent health problems, but that will not stop him helping others. “I’m going to keep doing it until I get it right,” he says with a laugh. www.BestOfOmaha.com

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60PLUS cover feature Story by Traci Osuna • Photo by Bill Sitzmann

Let’s Dance!

Work Out, Have Fun, Make Friends

Dottie and Dan Dankoff

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www.OmahaMagazine.com

Bob and Linda Todd in their basement ballroom.

F

or over 50 years, Dottie

Dankof and her husband, Dan, have been partners in life as well as on the dance floor. The couple met while Dottie was an instructor with Arthur Murray Ballroom Dance. Today, Dottie says they try to go dancing four to six times a month. The Dankofs enjoy ballroom dancing, which includes the tango, the rumba, foxtrot, swing, and polka, among others. “We do all that stuff, but we favor the waltz,” she says.

One of the benefits of dancing that Dottie cites is the fact that it’s great exercise. “They say that it’s the one physical exercise you can do that works the whole body, and they’re right!” She also finds dance to be relaxing. “When you’re out dancing, you’re not thinking of all the other things [going on]. You’re just having so much fun!”

Gone are the days of seniors spending their retirement years rocking in the front-porch swing. Today, more and more folks ranging in age from their 60s to well into their 90s are doing swing moves on the dance floor.

“It’s really, really good exercise,” says Elizabeth Edwards, dance instructor and owner of Omaha Ballroom at 153rd and Q streets. “It’s [great] for memory, too.”

Edwards explains that dancers have to remember a wide variety of dance steps and that keeps their minds and their bodies active. She shares that she and one of her students have a running joke:

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“When he forgets a dance move, he says he has waltz-heimers.”

Omaha Ballroom teaches all types of dance, but Edwards says that the seniors she works with are mainly interested in ballroom and swing. The instructors have also traveled to local retirement communities to teach lessons. Edwards is working on adding line dancing and Zumba Gold (Zumba for seniors) to their repertoire. She adds that such classes are good options for seniors who are single and may not feel comfortable dancing with an instructor.

As an instructor, Edwards meets many people who come to her studio to learn a dance for various reasons. “Some people just want to dance socially,” she says. For those, Omaha Ballroom offers what they call practice parties every Friday night. “They get a lesson and then everyone dances until 10 p.m.”

For others, who wish to pursue dance on a competitive level, Edwards and her staff can help their students achieve their goals. “We just kind of see what they’re interested in and then get them started in the right direction.”

What would ballroom dancing be without a big band to provide the music? Thanks to the Greg Spevak Orchestra and Lonny Lynn Orchestra, local dancers won’t have to find out.

The Greg Spevak Orchestra has been playing for 43 years. “We used to play at the Music Box downtown…it’s not there anymore,” Spevak adds wistfully. The Peony Park Ballroom is another lost favorite. But today’s dancers are making memories at some other

local ballroom hotspots. Of course, the Wahoo Starlight Ballroom is a favorite, as are Omaha Post 1 American Legion Hall and the Bluffs Center across the river, just to name a few. Both Spevak and Lynn play at the regular Wednesday dances hosted by the Center.

While the Greg Spevak Orchestra plays a wide variety of music—from ballroom, Latin, country, swing, and popular music from the 1950s through the mid-80s the Lynnvts Orchestra tends to stay with the Big Band Era. “But we mix a lot of Latin in throughout the evening,” Lynn adds.

Both band leaders say that the majority of their audiences are in their 60s and 70s, though it’s not uncommon to see dancers in their 80s and 90s grace the dance floor as well.

“These people move great…they dance every dance,” says Spevak. “It’s an aerobic exercise. I don’t know if I can keep up with them, to tell you the truth,” he laughs.

“If there’s a dance, the seniors don’t miss it,” says Lynn. “It’s their recreation and their social get-together.”

Lynn likes the fact that he has come to know a lot of the people who come to hear them regularly. “The people we attract to the dances…they have become like family.” He says that while he can’t remember everyone’s name, “I look at their face, I can remember their favorite song.”

Bob and Linda Todd of Gretna are regulars on the ballroom dance circuit and are close friends with the Dankofs. “We’ve been married for 20 years, so we’ve probably been dancing for 25 years,” Linda says. The couple enjoys dancing so much that they’ve built a ballroom in their basement. “We have five or six parties a year where we hire a band and invite a bunch of our closest friends.”

She adds that while they have participated in local dance classes, she and Bob often use DVDs to learn new dance steps for the convenience. “We want to learn the Argentine Tango,” she says.

Both the Todds and the Dankofs travel around the metro area to meet their friends and fellow dancers several times a month.

“We enjoy socializing with our friends,” Linda says, adding that their group of friends range in age from 50 to 90. “It’s just a lot of fun, and we love it!”

july/august • 2013

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60PLUS feature Story by Mandy Mowers • Photo by Bill Sitzmann

Cynthia Vanna with Omaha Public Library instructs a student.

The Break-Point Generation Seniors and Computers

I

t’s not an uncommon tradition.

The Roemmich family gathers every year for a reunion. It’s also not uncommon at such reunions to have boxes of black-andwhite photos of family members no one can identify any more.

So Ron Roemmich decided to create a video cataloging all the family he and his siblings still could name—a historical record for the younger generations.

Just one problem. Ron didn’t know how to create this video.

Ron and his wife, Berdeen, signed up for a movie-making class at Metro Community College. Their class was taught by Laurie Brodeur, a semi-retired Millard teacher who now leads six technology courses in Metro’s continuing education curriculum.

Although Brodeur was “very gracious with S10 60PLUS

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senior citizens,” Ron admits to feeling behind the other eight or nine students—and like he was taking up a lot of Brodeur’s attention during the class period.

“I suppose the real confession is: We had her come back and help us after the class was over,” he says.

Having a project with a firm deadline made learning the program an imperative goal. “It was fun, but it would be desperately frustrating if you didn’t have a goal,” Ron says. And though they had 500 photos, “It was not gonna whip us.”

The Roemmiches were pleased with their final product. In fact, they made two more videos for a reunion of Ron’s doctoral classmates, making good use of their new moviemaking skills.

Even so, Ron says, “We’ve explored I’d say

1 percent of what a computer can do for us.”

The Roemmiches do have a Facebook account but only check it when their kids tell them to. After checking their 100-200 e-mails per day, Berdeen says, “you don’t want to go on Facebook. You’re just tired.”

“We’re kind of the break-point generation,” Ron says. “People 10 years younger than us are probably okay. But anybody over 60, I bet 50 percent know what they’re doing—or would that be 20 percent? Not a lot.”

It doesn’t take much to fall behind in technology. “When it could have burst open for me,” Ron says, “would have been in the ’80s maybe. But my boss was afraid of computers, so he told the rest of us we should leave them alone. So we really got behind. And now we don’t even know the language.”

Along with computers are phones, televisions, and other electronic systems. Like the DVR the Roemmiches got for Christmas and don’t really understand how to use.

Asking people for help is the best way Berdeen knows to learn something new. That and practicing. “You just have to keep using it and trying different things,” she says.

Brodeur is one of those people the Roemmiches will ask for help. And she would agree with Berdeen: Practice and patience are key. www.OmahaMagazine.com

60PLUS gwen’s tips Among her Metro classes is a series of technology update courses for seniors (although non-seniors are of course also welcome). The first class is broad, covering things like the difference between a browser and a search engine; the many uses of Google; and introductions to some sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Hulu. It helps students become comfortable using the computer.

Exploring those sites is important, Brodeur says, because “you can use Google and YouTube to learn how to do almost anything on your computer.”

The second and third levels help set students up with Facebook accounts and learn more and more about using the program.

Brodeur loves to see her students have an “aha” moment and tries to always stress that no question is a stupid one. This is important, because adults rarely like to admit when they don’t know something. Overall, she says, it is a very positive experience because her students come eager to learn with optimistic attitudes.

Omaha Public Library also offers computer classes for beginners and older adults.

OPL partners with AARP for a series that gives an introduction to computers, including training on Microsoft Word, e-mail, and the internet. Seniors who are not new to computers can take classes for specialized software to manipulate photos, create greeting cards, and learn how to use social media tools, like Facebook and Pinterest. Classes can even aid seniors who are unexpectedly re-entering the job market.

Emily Getzschman, marketing and media relations manager for OPL, says that the introductory classes offered in a series are very well-attended. “Students can see their progression from one class to the next and enjoy being able to go home and try their skills and return to the next class in the series with questions and to build on their new computer experiences,” Getzschman says.

Classes are free, with no limit on the number of times you can take them. And they’re offered every month.

Like at Metro, the library class instructors strive to make students feel supported, never stupid. Getzschman has heard students say the instructors “were patient and let the student work at a comfortable pace.”

A resource guide for seniors can be found at http://guides.omahalibrary.org/Seniors. www.BestOfOmaha.com

Full-Service Gas Stations “We pump the gas. We also check the tires if they need it, clean the windows, and check the fluids,” says owner Keith Kettelhut. He’s been at Ralston Auto Repair since he was 16, when the gas station had four full-service lanes.

They’re down to one lane now, but that’s okay. “There’s a only a few of us left here in Omaha,” he says. “We just try to be a small town gas station, not a convenience store.”

Ralston’s Fuel and Services, 7701 Main St., Ralston 402-597-5064 “We’ve been in business since 1964, when full-service was the norm.” Steve Bertagni, owner of Ted’s Sinclair, is proud of the longevity of his business. “We decided to keep the service going, at least at one of our pumps, to take care of older people, people who are disabled—those who want a little service instead of do-ityourself all the time.”

Ted’s Sinclair 4525 Center St. 402-558-5420 Aside from having their gas pumped and their windows cleaned, customers at Fred’s Friendly Service should know that if they want anything else done, all they need to do is ask. “I’m proud that the business has been family-owned for 50 years now,” says owner Robert Wackerhagen. His father was Fred, the business’ namesake. “That’s what my dad always said: Friendly service is the most important part.”

Fred’s Friendly Service 2901 Leavenworth St. 342-9519

The few full-service gas stations remaining in Omaha are proud of what they can offer their customers.

These six stations tell you in their own words what you can look forward to from their businesses.

“We provide the full-service because it’s needed,” says Bob Fenster, service manager at Buchanan’s BP. “We vacuum the carpets, wash and check tires, check oil and fluids underneath the hood.

We also pump the gas.” The station also has an in-service shop for more complete maintenance.

Buchanan’s BP Service Center 7911 W Dodge Rd. 402-393-2722 “Our ASE-certified technicians still pump your gas, clean your windows, check your tires, and check your vehicle’s fluids.” Jim and Jerry are secondgeneration owners of M and N Service, a family-owned gas station. “You are going back to a time where people smiled and were genuinely glad to see you. Our old-fashioned values haven’t changed.”

Those values go back to the station’s beginning in 1972, when their parents opened the station.

M and N Service, Inc. 12005 Pacific St. 402-333-6823

60PLUS TIPS

“We offer full-service to help people out,” says Kyle Spicer, manager of Buchanan’s BP Service Center. “Not a lot of people pump their own gas, specifically older folk. The fullservice island is what we are most proud of. We normally wash the car and vacuum it out.

We also pump the gas. We’re here to provide what they’re unable to do for themselves.”

Buchanan’s BP Service Center 5001 Dodge St. 553-7374 july/august • 2013

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60PLUS health Story by Kara Schweiss

Shingles

How You Got It and What to Do About It

M

ost of us weathered

childhood chickenpox years ago with no worse than some intense itching and a few missed days of school. But for approximately one out of three people who’ve had chickenpox—99 percent of us, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that’s not the end of it. A painful viral infection called shingles can show up years later.

“It’s pretty common. About 30 percent of Americans will get shingles at some time in S12 60PLUS

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their lifetime; it turns out to be one million cases a year,” says Dr. Michael Walts, a family medicine physician with Alegent Creighton Health. “Usually shingles only occurs once.

In most cases it’s self-limiting; it goes away, and you don’t have any further problems.”

Shingles is so common because it’s caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox, he explains.

“Although the [chickenpox] rash goes away, the virus doesn’t. It crawls into your spinal column, where it goes to sleep, maybe forever,” Walts says. “But maybe, for most reasons we

don’t know, the virus wakes up and will crawl down one nerve of the spinal cord and into the skin. Wherever that nerve is going to, that’s where the shingles rash will show up.”

And unlike chickenpox, this rash is more than just annoying.

“You’ll have pain first, and then all of a sudden the rash appears...It can be excruciatingly painful,” Walts says. And for some, the pain is longlasting, even permanent.

“One of the most significant complications of shingles, a small percentage of time, is that even after the rash goes away, the pain doesn’t,” Walts explains. “The condition is called postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN.” Shingles is more common after age 60, Walts says. “The most significant risk factor for the development of shingles is age. The reason we think that’s the case is that the immune system, like everything else as we get older, just doesn’t work as well. And the older you are when you get shingles—if you do—the more likely you are to get postherpetic neuralgia.”

It’s even possible that people who’ve been immunized against chickenpox can still get www.OmahaMagazine.com

60PLUS column Story by Peter Setter

Dr. Michael Walts, Alegent Creighton Health

shingles later, he says, and it also strikes people who believe they’ve never had the chickenpox.

“People will say ‘I got shingles, but I never had chickenpox as a kid,’ and my response to that is, ‘Yeah, you did. You just didn’t know it,’” Walts says. “Maybe you had a bump or two that nobody ever even noticed, or maybe you had a rash that somebody said was contact dermatitis, because there’s no way you can get shingles unless that virus is living in your spinal cord.”

It’s not all bad news. A single-dose vaccine called Zostavax may prevent shingles altogether or prevent a recurrence. And if a person suspects shingles, especially when a rash appears on only one side of the body, he or she can still see their physician for treatment. “(Anti-viral) medication does help. It does speed up the resolution of the pain and the rash, so go to your doctor and make sure it’s shingles,” Walts says. “We’re not sure about this, but one of the theories is that maybe treatment will not only decrease the amount of time you’re symptomatic, but it might decrease your risk for that postherpetic neuralgia. That’s all the more reason to get treatment, because, boy, anything you can do to prevent that side effect—even though it’s not common—you ought to try.” www.BestOfOmaha.com

E

Feeling the Heat veryone loves a little fun

in the sun, but when people linger in the sun’s rays a little too long, it can have harmful effects on their health, especially for seniors.

Heat-related illnesses, collectively known as hyperthermia, occur when the body overheats and does not have the sufficient means to cool itself down. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the elderly are more prone to the sun’s harmful rays because they are more likely to have a chronic medical condition or take medication that inhibits normal body responses to heat.

“People who work in high heat develop a certain degree of tolerance. With the elderly, their ability to adapt to extreme temperatures is limited, and the body’s ability to maintain status quo is much more at risk,” says Kris Stapp, vice president of community and public health at Omaha’s Visiting Nurse Association.

Heat exhaustion is a mild form of heat stress. Continuous exposure to high temperatures, combined with high humidity and physical exertion, can lead to dehydration. If you develop heavy sweating, a pale

complexion, muscle cramps, and a sense of tiredness, you may be suffering from heat exhaustion. If not controlled, heat exhaustion can escalate to heat stroke, which can cause permanent brain and organ damage.

Stapp stresses the importance of taking into account the timing of outdoor activities, especially strenuous ones such as gardening or walking. Older folks may need to adapt their outdoor plans in times of extreme heat.

“What is dangerous about any heat-related illness is, it comes on so subtly that people don’t realize it’s happening until the symptoms really set in,” Stapp says. “When people get to the point where they are confused, it can lead to unconsciousness.”

To combat heat stress, the CDC advises drinking plenty of non-alcoholic beverages.

Make sure to get plenty of rest and try to stay in air-conditioned environments during the heat of the day. Also, make sure to wear lightweight clothing if venturing outdoors.

“Be smart,” Stapp says. “It’s about turning all this information around, and not only knowing the warning signs, but also how to prevent it from happening.” july/august • 2013

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60PLUS style Story by Mary Anne Vaccaro Photo by Jim Scholz

Making Summer Fashion Decisions

T

he summer wardrobe of any

and everyone over 60 is a definite challenge to coordinate.

I just tell it like it is: A body that’s older than 60, even slim and in the best shape, needs more camouflage than exposure. If you care about how you look to others, shorts and short skirts are of a previous life. I’ve never seen pretty knees on anyone over 60.

The length of capris is very personal. Find the length that looks best on you and have your capris hemmed there. When wearing capris, the shoes or sandals you wear with them are very important for making a style statement. Comfort matters, too, but you won’t be happy with your look if your summer footwear isn’t stylish. When wearing sandals, NO scaly skin and callouses allowed and keep toenails polished to perfection!

Tank tops, halters, and tube tops are not necessarily of your past. You can still wear them but not alone. Under a cardigan sweater, a jacket, a stole, or a loose-fitting shirt, they can be fabulous! Use them to add a splash of S14 60PLUS

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color, print, or texture to monotone separates.

Dark-colored ones can be very slimming.

Sundresses…hmmm. There are many cute ones that I love in fresh, young florals, but they are indeed for the young.

Blue denim can be dangerous at 60 or older.

It has to be worn with an attitude, and it’s usually not the attitude that 60-and-overs have.

Comfort jeans are only to be worn around the house. Denim jumpers date, age, and frump you. But black denim, white denim, and fashion-colored denim jeans and jackets are must-haves! Be sure, however, to buy a cut that flatters you. The cut is not about your age. It’s about your shape.

Summer clothes must look fresh. When you’re hot, whatever you’re wearing wrinkles.

Press the wrinkles out of every piece you wear before you return it to the closet. If washing first is necessary, do it, but if a garment shows wear after washing, retire it. NEVER wash black cotton separates. They may say washable, but washing sucks the life and color out of them. Dry clean only! Linen is of its own

world. Clients used to come to me saying, “I want you to design and make me linen clothes that don’t wrinkle.” Impossible. Linen wrinkles, regardless of how it’s designed, made, or treated. If you wear linen, you must accept wrinkles.

As for Summer 2013 colors, avoid pastels even if on-trend. They look fresh if you’re under 40 but give you a grandma look if you’re over 60. The colors best on you depend on their relationship to your hair and skin tones.

To play it safe, wear black or white, together with orange, lime, or turquoise when you want to add some pop.

Accessories are what it’s all about. Use them to style and personalize your summer looks.

Bold-colored beads on a loose linen shirt, a fringed stole over a tank top, or a studded belt hanging loose over a calf-length skirt can take your look from everyday/everybody to a unique and stylish you! Scarves are important but not by day when it’s hot. In the evening, they’re both useful and fashionable tossed over your shoulders to break the chill of the night and air conditioning.

Summer purses should have a lighter look than the ones you carry through winter.

Color, texture, and fabric should relate to the season and to what you’re wearing. If black is your color, choose a poplin, straw, or woven bag.

Summer hair and makeup should be easy care. A lipstick color change is often necessary, and if you wear foundation, a darker tone might be better. Always wear sunscreen!

Finally, swimwear, OMG, it creates a crisis for almost everyone, regardless of age. After 60, no bikinis except for home swims and tanning. There are plenty of flattering oneand two-piece swimsuits you’ll love, and many of them are shaped and color-blocked to slim you.

The season is short. Enjoy it with confidence knowing my advice will make the BEST of you!

I welcome your feedback and invite you to send questions to sixtyplus@omahapublications.com Mary Anne Vaccaro is a designer and image consultant to businesses and individuals. She designed clothes and products in Omaha and New York and ran a fashion advertising business in five states. She writes and speaks about image, fashion, art, and style. www.maryannevaccaro. com www.invisibleapron.com www.OmahaMagazine.com

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