Wichita Community Matters July 2021

Wichita Presbyterian Manor

JULY 2021

Archive project kept resident busy during pandemic “You keep strange things and wonderful things,” observes Betty Curtis.

At the age of 92, the Westerly resident has accumulated an enormous amount of ephemera over her lifetime.

Betty saw the onset of the pandemic as a good opportunity to clean out and organize files full of paper, including copies of sermons written by her late husband, Charles, a United Methodist minister.

She wound up creating an archive of documents to pass on to her children’s families, each neatly arranged in binders.

“I decided I should get as much stuff together as I could. And then one thing led to another and pretty soon I had four volumes going at the same time,” she said. “I spread them all out here in my living room and across the couch.”

Betty used plastic sleeves and three-ring binders to make each book, identical but for the binders, which she recycled from conferences her husband attended. She jokes that she wore out her printer — and burned through a lot of ink — in the process.

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Betty Curtis kept busy during the pandemic by creating an archive of family photos and documents, which she duplicated and gave to family members. Next, she may tackle a box of photos she found when she moved to Presbyterian Manor.

Crystal Dawson joined Presbyterian Manor in May as the wellness director for our independent living community.

Last year, she and her husband, Dustin, welcomed their first child. Winnie Faye celebrated her first birthday in April.

New wellness director focuses on physical, social wellness Crystal Dawson joined the Wichita Presbyterian Manor community in May as director of wellness.

Crystal got her start in the field while working at the Wellington Recreation Commission. She learned to teach Silver Sneakers fitness classes, which are geared toward seniors.

Now she teaches several different kinds of exercise classes at Presbyterian Manor throughout the week.

Crystal also provides residents with weekly “brain fitness” packets, which include puzzles and fun facts.

“Everything we do is about social wellness,” Crystal said. “Even group fitness classes are a great time to chat and socialize with others. It’s good for that social well-being, especially after this last year with COVID.” One of the gatherings Crystal facilitates is a craft group. Residents can bring a project they’re working on and chat while they work

Well-being – continued on page 4 Get the latest on visitation and COVID-19 at our campus at WichitaPresbyterianManor.org/covid-19.

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Celebrating Kansas by car

By Stephanie Bergmann, Independent Living sales & marketing director

If you love airplanes, motorcycles or Kansas history, you can enjoy all of them at the Beaumont Hotel, just 50 miles east of Wichita. The bed and breakfast dates back to 1879 and now hosts monthly events for pilots and bikers. Small planes from around the country land on a grass runway by the hotel and taxi down Main Street to park nearby. Motorcyclists ride in for a hot meal at the café and other guests get to check out the shiny machinery up close.

It’s a far cry from the cattle barons and cowpokes the Beaumont Hotel attracted in the 19th century.

Ranchers shipped their livestock on steam locomotives that ran through town. A wooden water tower filled the trains. That tower is still in operation today — the only one of its kind in the U.S., according to the hotel’s general manager, Jeanne Squires. She says her grandfather added the airstrip in 1953 so businessmen could fly in and out easily to keep tabs on their valuable herds.

The Beaumont Hotel’s grass runway attracts flying enthusiasts from around the country, who often taxi in just to enjoy a meal at the hotel’s café.

Today, the town of Beaumont is dwindling, its residents outnumbered by wind turbines spinning in the distance. Yet the hotel and café continue to draw a loyal crowd. Some come for the novelty, others for the nostalgia, but all seem to like the food — especially Jeanne’s pie and prime rib! Whatever brings you here, the Beaumont Hotel is always a good place to land. u

Beaumont’s wooden water tower was built to refill the steam locomotives that carried cattle to market.

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Community Matters 316-942-7456 ◆ Fax: 316-941-3806 4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 WichitaPresbyterianManor.org

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is published monthly for residents and friends of Wichita Presbyterian Manor

by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

To submit or suggest articles: awatson@PMMA.org Amy Watson, life enrichment dir.

Courtney Wolfe, executive director Stephanie Bergmann, marketing dir.

Cherree Hudspeth, health care sales and marketing

OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.

COMMUNITY MATTERS | July 2021

New assisted living resident worked as a missionary in Africa, Mexico Charlie Ross moved to the assisted living community at Wichita Presbyterian Manor in April. He was already familiar with our community because his wife, Nancy, spent the last years of her life in the health care neighborhood.

The couple met at New York Theological Seminary, where Charlie was studying for the ministry and Nancy was taking classes to learn more about the Bible in addition to her work as a nurse.

Charlie recognized that he wanted to have a different kind of pastoral experience.

“I studied the Bible, and I didn’t want to be a minister of a church on the corner with six other churches,” he said. “I wanted to go to a place where the gospel was needed.”

This conviction took the Rosses to Africa, where they lived for the better part of 40 years in a large village in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire), just a few degrees south of the equator.

Charlie taught students preparing for the ministry and visited villages around the region to deliver the message of the gospel. Nancy taught nursing and worked at the hospital. It was not an entirely unfamiliar experience for her, as she grew up in India as the daughter of a medical missionary who specialized in tuberculosis.

Charlie and Nancy Ross on their wedding day, as missionaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then called Zaire), and with their family at Wichita Presbyterian Manor.

“And during the winter months, you miss the weather.”

During their decades working in the Congo, the Rosses returned to the U.S. every three to four years, including for the births of their three children. Each The Rosses worked with other pastors, child was homeschooled until the sixth grade, then they attended an teachers, doctors and nurses to bring services to their village neighbors and American-run boarding school in Africa. They grew up speaking French they formed close relationships with and Tshiluba, one of the country’s their fellow missionaries. more than 200 indigenous languages.

“It’s the people you miss,” Charlie said.

Charlie and Nancy retired in 1994 and bought a house in Wichita. After a few years, they moved to Méridan, Yucatan, Mexico, where they worked in a seminary for five years before returning to Wichita.

Charlie’s assessment of life in Mexico: “After Congo, that was a vacation spot.”

The Rosses spent the rest of their retirement in Wichita. Nancy passed away two years ago, after 64 years of marriage. u

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It recalled her job running linotype for a printer, which put her through college at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina.

“Conversation is good for our mental and physical health,” Crystal said. “Reminiscing and sharing memories is just another way of exercising our minds.”

Each volume is full of “all kinds of wonderful, wonderful family stuff,” including copies of sermons, poetry, love letters and photos. Betty documented her courtship and wedding with Charles, whom she met in their college choir. She also included the birth stories of each of their children.

One of the things Crystal appreciates about her job is the benefits she gets from working with residents.

Betty wound up with six copies: four for the families of each of their children, one for a niece and one to keep for herself.

Crystal spends much of her time outside of work caring for her first child, Winnie Faye, who is not yet two. Crystal and her husband, Dustin, will celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary this December. They enjoy being outdoors, being around family and friends and attending Royals and Chiefs games. They’ve been Kansas City Chiefs ticketholders for 12 years.

The project gave shape to days that were suddenly empty of visits and other activities.

“Of course, watching Winnie grow and learn daily is our newest hobby,” Crystal said.

“It saved my mental capacity during that period when everything kind of lapsed,” Betty said.

Crystal has an occupational therapy assistant degree and eventually plans to return to that field. For now, she appreciates having a consistent schedule while she focuses on raising her daughter.

The memory books have served as an excellent conversation starter among her family.

“It’s been fun getting emails from the kids about it,” she said. u

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | July 2021

“I still get to help people; it’s just a different skill set,” she said. u