Commun ty Matters Salina Presbyterian Manor
November 2015
Sending ‘Angels’ to the Good Samaritan Program
Dixie Lee Haddock
Special angels will soon be adorning Christmas trees and holiday displays at every Presbyterian Manors of MidAmerica (PMMA) senior living community.
When Dixie Lee Haddock was a little girl, her family joked that she would paint anything that stood still.
The “angels” are paper ornaments that will arrive throughout the holiday season along with gifts to the annual Christmas Angel Appeal, which raises funds for the Good Samaritan Program for Benevolent Care. Donors who make gifts are asked to return paper Angel ornaments along with their gifts. The ornaments pay tribute to donors’ family members or friends and are displayed at PMMA communities designated by the donors. During the past two years, donors to the angel appeals have given more than $90,000 to the Good Samaritan Program. The program assists PMMA residents who have out-lived their financial resources through no fault of their own. Since PMMA began 66 years ago, no residents have been asked to leave because they exhausted their financial resources. If you would like to participate in the Angel Appeal, please email development@pmma.org or call 800-336-8511.
Artist’s prolific career began at a young age
As a child in Niles, Kan., she painted snowmen and poinsettias on the windows of her parents’ farm equipment store every Christmas. And the Easter lily she painted on the church window “Pretty Poppies” by Dixie Lee Haddock. stayed until the church was torn down. After her three children were grown, Dixie Lee returned to painting —this time on canvas. This year, two of her paintings were chosen to be reproduced as greeting cards in Presbyterian Manors’ systemwide Art is Ageless® competition. “I just think it’s a good thing for older people to do. People need to keep busy,” Dixie Lee said. “Some people will say, ‘I don’t know how to do that.’ Well, I say, just try.” Dixie Lee won for her paintings “Pretty Poppies” and “Santa is Watching You.” Flowers are her favorite subject, she said, because they’re not too difficult. She also painted portraits of all her children and grandchildren, and she recently completed one of her 1-year-old great-granddaughter. “It’s a challenge to get it to look just right,” she said. “I want the iris to look like an iris, and want this portrait to look like this person.” Dixie Lee enjoys helping out with the Art is Ageless exhibit every year, and this year she even recruited her friend and fellow painter Julia Stanley into entering for the first time. Julia’s painting, “Morning Flight,” also went on to win at the systemwide level and will be featured on a 2016 greeting card. Dixie Lee and Julia both participate in an oil painting group that meets every Thursday to work on their latest projects. Dixie Lee also takes a weekly watercolor class in Abilene. “We call it our group therapy,” she said.