Community matters to new resident Patricia “Pat” Martin
When looking to relocate to a new community, Pat Martin had two requirements - a swimming pool and a place she could share with her cat Harley.
Aberdeen Village offered both and seemed a perfect fit.
“I’ve done a lot of research of different communities, and Aberdeen Village had them all,” Pat said. “Before I moved in, I had a cat jungle gym put on the wall. It has a stairway, bed, a box on the wall, a little platform across the windows, and a hammock. This will tell you a little something about my priorities. I wanted my Harley to feel at homebecause he didn’t have a choice. At least I could make him comfortable.”
Now that she and Harley have settled in since their September move-in, Pat’s worked to continue her long-standing community work, as well as making sure Harley’s adjusting OK.
“He’s adjusted well,” Pat said. “He’s still getting used to the fact that the front door doesn’t go to the outside. It goes to a hallway that he’s not been brave enough to venture out to. He wasn’t used to having so many people around. I wasn’t either. But we’re adjusting. It’s good.”
Before making the move to Aberdeen Village, Pat lived in Prairie Village, after having spent much of her life in the Turner neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. She’s always had a focus on doing whatever she could to improve her community.
Resident achieves celebrity status with birthday
One of our star residents, Frankie Hoffman, turned 109 on Dec. 21 - and the world took notice.
Television station KSHB-NBC 41 came out and treated Frankie like a celebrity. Staff and residents all sang Happy Birthday to her and had cake to help her celebrate.
In her ultimate wisdom, when asked about her secret to living a long life, Frankie simply said "Just keep breathing!" Frankie was also asked which birthday stood out as her favorite and she said that they were all good, but her 18th birthday stood out as being most memorable. She said her Mom always made sure to have a birthday party even though her birth date was so close to Christmas. Frankie’s mom always made sure it was special. She said she didn't know what she did to deserve all of this attention. But, she knew she would survive all of the celebration but she “didn't know if Aberdeen would!"
Welcome
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“My interest in the community translated into some of the things I’m interested in,” Pat said. “I have a long-time interest in social justice. For years I was a member of the League of Women Voters, and I served on their board. I’m involved now in the Good Faith Network. We’re in our second year, and have about 20 different churches in the Johnson County area. Faith leaders got together and said we’re doing a good job on spiritual discipline, going to church, and praying. We’re doing a pretty good job on mercy - giving immediate aid to people in need. But we’re not doing a very good job of trying to change the system and working toward justice. They created a format and are part of a bigger group that helps provide for social action campaigns.”
The work is rewarding, and challenging. It strives to reach vulnerable communities, gather valuable information, and then leverage the collective voice to advocate for change. Last year’s goal was to address homelessness and mental health in the community. This year, they are advocating for affordable housing.
“Last year we had 1,200 people who met in an assembly with county commissioners and got a commitment to work for specific goals,” Pat said. “The county was going to get a person to work on housing issues and we got them to include as part of the job to end homelessness. They had plans for a Mental Health navigation center to funnel people to resources, but not until 2028. We got them to move the timetable up 3-4 years. We use communication and the power of the people behind us to work on these issues.”
In her career, Pat worked in Human Resources and Benefits. When she retired, she wanted to keep that work going, so she helped establish a local Senior Health Insurance Counseling center to aid seniors in making choices in Medicare programs.
“We inform them about choices in enrollment, different drug plans,” Pat said. “We had a counseling session here at Aberdeen Village this fall. I and another counselor had times to help residents with Medicare - that’s a community thing I’m involved with.”
In addition to her community work, Pat sings with the St. Mark’s United Methodist Church choir - and has joined in with the twice weekly sing-along sessions at Aberdeen Village. She’s also taking part in physical and occupational therapy to maintain her mobility, and she’s
eager to soon join the Aberdeen Village book club. Pat said the staff and residents have been fantastic, and the people are a big part of what drew her to Aberdeen Village.
“I chose Aberdeen Village because I felt more at home with the people,” she said. “I thought what really matters is the people you’re around. They have a program here where they assign people to go to a meal with you the first week. It can be really intimidating to walk into a place where you don’t know anyone. I like that program a lot. They make an effort to make newcomers feel at home.” Along with her “wonderful” cat Harley, Pat plans to continue to enjoy her experiences at Aberdeen Villageand continue her work to make her communities, old and new, better.
“No matter what situation you’re in, you can work for improvement and change,” Pat said. “If there are ways we can work together for a better community, that is a great value to have. What’s better for everybody is better for the individual, too.”
And if the time comes that she’s unable to do that work, she’ll be happy to enjoy the sunsets from her apartment.
“I can enjoy them from my window, because I face west,” Pat said. “If I become where I can’t drive anymore, it will be awesome to watch the sunset, and I won’t have to go anywhere to do it.” ◆
Love Endures - Our Couples Who Have Been Married the Longest
In honor of Valentine's Day, we sought out our couples who have had the longest number of years married, to honor them.
“Love is a journey that starts with forever and ends with never.” - UNKNOWN AUTHOR
Health Care & Assisted Living
DuWayne & Joann Kramer - Married 74 years
Paul & Betty Jo Gilkison - Married 74 years in Feb. 2023
Independent Living
Alice and Carl Erwin
- Married 70 years
Keith and Marilyn Graham
- Married 70 years
Congratulations to all of our Valentines!
Aberdeen Village issues Art is Ageless® call for entries
Senior artists in the Kansas City metro area are invited to participate in Aberdeen Village’s annual Art is Ageless® exhibit and juried art competition March 24–April 28.
Entries of artistic works will be accepted from any area artist who is 65 years of age or older to exhibit and/or compete for an opportunity to be featured in the Art is Ageless calendar in 2024. Artists compete in nine categories, including painting, drawing, photography, quilting and sculpture and may be designated as amateur or professional. The complete rules and category listing are online at www.ArtIsAgeless.org. Local competition winners will join winners from 14 other PMMA® communities to be judged at the systemwide level.
Artists may choose to enter the exhibit only. For the competition, works are to have been completed in the
past five years (since January 2018). Works to be entered for judging need to be at Aberdeen Village by March 17.
The exhibit is scheduled to be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 24 through April 28. A reception honoring the artists is scheduled for 3 p.m. May 2.
The Art is Ageless® program encourages Aberdeen Village residents and other area seniors to express their creativity through its annual competition, as well as art classes, musical and dramatic events, educational opportunities and current events discussions throughout the year.
Aberdeen Village is a PMMA (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America®) community.
Entry forms and information can be obtained by contacting Stephanie Oehlert at 913-599-6100 or soehlert@pmma.org, or access them online at ArtIsAgeless.org. ◆
