Manor of the Plains Community Matters June 2021

Manor of the Plains

JUNE 2021

Springtime flowers and rocks

COVID-19 updates continue Send an Art is Ageless® e-card for Father’s Day using the link on the COVID-19 Updates page, ManorOfThePlains.org/covid-19.

Get the latest updates on visitation, ongoing safety measures and PMMA’s response to COVID-19 on your community website. Visitation status is updated weekly on Mondays and as needed as our COVID status changes. u Assisted living residents Rita Slattery and Jane Tyler enjoyed some time in the sun planting flowers and arranging rocks. u

Manor of the Plains | A PMMA COMMUNITY

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SUNDAY June 20, 2021

While looking at old, unique Avon cologne bottles and ties, health care resident Charles Wendal fondly remembered he had a horse tie at one time. u

Changes are coming Starting in July 2021, the Community Matters newsletter will transition to a fully electronic newsletter. To receive the newsletter by email, visit ManorOfThePlains.org and use the sign-up form on the lower portion of the homepage to sign up for regular monthly delivery of the newsletter in your inbox. Residents may still receive a hard copy upon request through the Administrative office. u Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.

Community Matters 620-225-1928 ◆ Fax: 620-225-3982 200 Campus Dr. Dodge City, KS 67801-2760 ManorOfThePlains.org

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | June 2021

is published monthly for residents and friends of Manor of the Plains

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

To submit or suggest articles: jvanhook@pmma.org John Van Hook, executive director

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

Memories of Mother inspired resident’s winning painting “I’m so excited!” exclaimed resident Pat Bird when talking about the outcome of her painting in this year’s Art is Ageless® competition.

Pat’s acrylic painting, “My Mother,” won in the People’s Choice amateur division and she owes her inspiration to memories of her mother.

“I was kind of doodling around and making up my mind at what I wanted to draw and all of a sudden this thing I was setting up looked like my mother. That was my idea: to paint my mother how I remembered her when I was a little girl,” said Pat. “We’re part Cherokee Indian. She had beautiful hair and was quite a lady. She was also very talented – she could play the piano, the organ and the accordion.”

Pat inherited her mother’s creative genes and has used them in various ways throughout her life.

“I’m always sewing, painting or working in my garden. I made all my children’s clothes, part of mine and decorated my home. When my three children left home, I had empty nest syndrome only I didn’t “My Mother” by resident Pat Bird is this year’s Art is Ageless People’s Choice know what was wrong with me. I amateur winner.

Mother – continued on page 4

Manor of the Plains | A PMMA COMMUNITY

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200 Campus Dr. Dodge City, KS 67801-2760 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

MOTHER – continued from page 3 knew I didn’t feel like I fit in anywhere, so I started painting and took classes and studied under two women in Dodge for several years.

Then I decided I wanted to be more prolific in my painting, so I found an outreach program, but the teacher lived 50 miles from where I lived. I thought, ‘I’m going to do it, this is what I want to do, and I don’t care what I have to give up!’ I made the drive every week and she was worth it!” said Pat.

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | June 2021

One of her first projects was painting murals in Deerfield, Kan., where she and her husband, Norman, lived. She also had plans to paint scenes on the walls of their home, but Norman got cancer and she put her artwork aside to help care for him for three years.

“We met on the first and only blind date I ever had in my life. It lasted almost 50 years,” said Pat. “When he passed way, the kids said they wanted me to go back to painting and sewing.”

And she did. She went to a local art supply store and purchased four large pieces of canvas. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do with them at the time, but she’s now down to her last piece.

“There’s something about birds – I love birds. There’s something rattling around in my brain and once it comes out through my fingers, we’ll see what it looks like.

When I get these birds done it will be my last piece of canvas,” said Pat. u