Wichita Community Matters February 2021

Wichita Presbyterian Manor

FEBRUARY 2021

Clinton & Nancy Hinman documented their world travels Clinton and Nancy Hinman were a young married couple when they set off for their first grand adventure: a three-month tour of Europe in 1961.

“I think it was very unusual for two kids out of college with no money to spend three months in Europe,” said Clinton, a Westerly independent living resident. “We knew if we didn’t do something like that before we had a family, we’d never do it.”

Annual Art is Ageless® call for entries underway Wichita Presbyterian Manor is accepting entries for the Art is Ageless® exhibit and competition March 15-31, 2021.

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 2022 Art is Ageless calendar.

The Hinmans drove a white Fiat 500 all over Europe, including the French countryside. The couple returned to France in 2011, 50 years after their first visit.

The Hinmans were able to afford the trip through assiduous saving and a small windfall.

Clinton worked for almost a year and a half before the trip, and the Hinmans lived in a cheap basement apartment in Manhattan, Kan., with no phone or TV. Nancy also had about $1,000 in prize money left from winning the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Nancy and Clinton traveled on a budget, but they did splurge on two things: Kodachrome slide film and pre-paid envelopes to mail the negatives home. Clinton documented their travels with his camera, and at the end of each day Nancy wrote detailed accounts of the places they visited, what they ate, and whom they met through England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and Denmark—just to name a few of the stamps on the Hinmans’ passports. She mailed the pages to her mother, and the travelogues were often published in the Nemaha County JournalLeader, the newspaper in Centralia, Kan. In Paris, they purchased a Fiat 500 for Clinton’s father, using the small car for transportation before they shipped it stateside. “Very chic!” Nancy wrote the day they purchased it.

Artists may choose to enter works for exhibit only. For the competition, the artist must have been 65 at the time of creation and have completed the work in the past five years (since January 2016). There are nine categories, as well as designations of amateur or professional. Works to be entered for judging need to be at Presbyterian Manor by March 11.

To arrange drop-off of artwork, contact Amy Watson at 316-9427456 or awatson@pmma.org.

Due to uncertainty created by COVID-19, Wichita Presbyterian Manor plans to hold a virtual event on the community’s Facebook page and to announce winners during a Facebook Live event at 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 31. Entry forms and information can be obtained by contacting Amy Watson at 316942-7456, awatson@pmma.org or ArtIsAgeless.org. ◆

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COVID-19 updates continue

Get the latest updates on visitation status, ongoing safety measures and PMMA’s response to COVID-19 on your community website or send an Art is Ageless® greeting to a resident or staff member by visiting WichitaPresbyterianManor.org/covid-19.

Visitation status is updated weekly on Mondays and as needed as our COVID status changes.

Vaccine distribution has begun in our community. Every person who receives the vaccine will strengthen the protection for all residents, staff and the community at-large. PMMA strongly encourages our families, employees and residents to carefully consider obtaining a vaccine for themselves as well as their loved ones. ◆ Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.

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

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | February 2021

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.

Celebrating Kansas by car

By Stephanie Bergmann, independent living marketing and sales director

You don’t have to be a geologist to love rocks, and Kansas has some impressive formations that seem even more unusual on the prairie.

These natural wonders are easy to view from a car window if you’re itching to get out of the house but not into the cold winter air!

A 90-minute drive north from Wichita to Minneapolis, Kan., takes you to Rock City and more than 200 sandstone concretions.

Some of the spheres are huge, up to 15 feet high, inviting kids—or big kids, like me!—to climb and crawl on them. A favorite spot for photos is Donut Hole Rock, named for obvious reasons.

Mushroom Rock State Park near Salina also lives up to its name.

Large caps of rock balance on stalks of sandstone eaten away by erosion.

With just a few stone mushrooms on display, the park is the smallest in the state, but also one of the most unusual.

You’ll need more gas in the tank to reach the next, and possibly best, rock sites in Kansas. Monument Rocks in Gove County and Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park in Logan County lie just 15 miles apart, but are a 4-hour drive west from Wichita.

Monument Rocks are often called the Chalk Pyramids. Surrounded by flat land in every direction, the towering columns look as though aliens must have dropped them from the sky!

From a distance, the chalk formations at Little Jerusalem, the state’s newest park, look like the ancient walled city of Jerusalem.

The landscape looks nothing like the Kansas we think we know!

The outcroppings are actually prehistoric, left from millions of years ago, when our state was covered by a great sea.

All of these massive rocks are a reminder that Kansas’ history and landscape are anything but boring.

They promise more surprises for us to discover in the future! ◆

Monument Rock’s towering chalk formations are a startling sight against the flat surrounding prairie.

Little Jerusalem was named for its resemblance to the ancient Biblical city, but these rocks formed millions of years before the advent of human history.

See more than 200 sandstone formations at Rock City near Minneapolis, Kan. Wichita Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY

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Introducing Jessica Klatt, assisted living supervisor As the assisted living supervisor at Wichita Presbyterian Manor, Jessica Klatt provides both guidance to her staff and embraces learning all she can about her new position.

Jessica joined Wichita Presbyterian Manor in November of last year.

The licensed practical nurse studied nursing at Hutchinson Community College, and she brings more than 12 years of experience working with seniors.

Most recently, Jessica served as a clinic nurse at Partners in Family Health in Hesston, Kan. She’s glad to be back in a long-term setting because of the emotional rewards it brings. “Listening to their stories, getting a smile, and making them my family is priceless,” she said.

In her free time, Jessica enjoys swimming laps and participating in the fellowship at First United Methodist Church in her

hometown of McPherson, Kan. She and her husband Austin are newlyweds, having married last October in Turks and Caicos.

The couple met in Houston during Hurricane Ike. Austin was a paramedic who helped evacuate the nursing home where Jessica worked. They became friends, but didn’t start dating until Jessica moved back to Kansas after her dad’s MS came out of remission.

She decided seven years living a 12-hour drive away from her family was long enough.

Jessica is close to her family, which includes her nephew and godson, who is two. She’s looking forward to the birth of a second nephew this spring. The Klatt family also includes two dogs: Winston, an English bulldog and Arizona, a Great Dane.

Although Jessica is enjoying her

Jessica Klatt new job at Presbyterian Manor, adjusting to a new workplace during a pandemic has been a challenge.

“I just have to remember one day at a time and one foot in front of the other,” she said. ◆

Here they come again

By Susan Coleman Goldstein for Next Avenue

Here they come again.

In my memories, here come the Guzzettas, a retired couple, walking around the corner, sideby-side, on their daily walks in the neighborhood. They slow down when they pass our house, pausing long enough to wave, sometimes stooping down to pat Sydney, our black cat, clapping at my daughter’s ability to hula hoop for five seconds or asking us about our jobs.

The Guzzettas, both tall and lean, their sneakers hitting the pavement

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in unison, waved to everyone on the street. They knew the names of the kids playing in every yard and the dogs and cats who lived there.

They remembered to ask if your kid was feeling better, if you figured out how to save that bush and if the cat had her kittens yet. They were a subtle, integral piece that connected our neighborhood together.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Guzzettas, who, 10 years ago, moved several hundred miles away to live near their children. Perhaps it’s the result of living with this pandemic: we are working from home and living outside in the

COMMUNITY MATTERS | February 2021

neighborhood more. My husband and I have started walking the neighborhood again, sometimes a few times each day, and, as a result, we are re-acquainting ourselves with our neighbors.

Did you know that Charles is training his black lab to pass the AGAIN - continued on page 6

Resident finds balance, strength in the boxing ring

A couple of years ago, Westwinds resident Margot Harling took up boxing to help manage her Parkinson’s symptoms.

Twice a week, the former ballerina and other Wichita Presbyterian Manor residents train with Rock Steady boxing classes at Valor Martial Arts.

“When I first met Margot, she used to fall a lot,” said Erin, a Rock Steady boxing coach. “She kept a lot of weight on her heels. “Now she has some of the most phenomenal balance and core strength of any of my boxers.”

Margot, who danced for nine years with professional companies including the American Ballet Theater, was the first to notice a symptom of Parkinson’s.

“Being a dancer early in my life, I am in tune with my legs,” she said.

“I noticed my walk wasn’t as even as it used to be.”

Her doctor referred her to a neurologist, who diagnosed her with Parkinson’s disease and suggested she try boxing. That seemed like a strange activity for a former ballerina, so Margot waited a while before giving it a try.

“I finally went and found it was

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The Hinmans made new friends and visited with old ones throughout their return trip. In Paris, they had dinner with a classmate from K-State who worked at the Indian Embassy. In Germany,

very helpful for my upper body and for my balance,” said Margot, who hasn’t fallen in more than a year.

Her Rock Steady training focuses on mitigating the physical symptoms of Parkinson’s with the intensity and large movements of non-contact boxing.

A boxer with Parkinson’s partnered with a retired pro to develop the nationwide program.

Erin and the other two Rock Steady coaches also bring their experience working in the physical therapy field to their coaching inside and outside the ring.

“We bring more to the table than just the boxing,” Erin said. “We focus on many other things, like hand-eye coordination, agility and balance.”

A registered physical therapist, Erin worked in a hospital setting for many years before taking a break to raise her children. She became a Rock Steady instructor four and a half years ago. The job combines her physical therapist skills with her kickboxing training, which she had been studying for about five years.

Most of the Rock Steady boxers range in age from 50 to 80, but Erin has also trained much younger

they stayed with a friend who had lived with Clinton’s family as an exchange student for a year.

The Hinmans went on to have many more travel adventures at both domestic and international destinations, in their 60 years as a married couple. Their travels

Twice a week, Margot Harling laces up her boxing gloves for a training session at Valor Martial Arts. Their Rock Steady boxing classes are designed to help alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson’s. people. At 86, Margot is the oldest boxer she’s coached.

Rock Steady classes cost $150 for a punch card good for 10 classes, or $100 per month for unlimited classes. Learn more at Wichita.

RSBAffiliate.com/. ◆

included a three-week trip to China in the early 1980s. Starting in 2009, the Hinmans began compiling the travelogues and photos into spiral-bound books. Since Nancy’s passing, the books serve as a permanent record of some of the best moments of their marriage. ◆

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4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

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therapy dog test? Did you know that little Ava, the six-year-old who used to run outside to pat our old dog, is now 16 and driving a car?

Did you know that Kay, who must be in her 80s by now, still plants vegetables in her garden, with a stable plastic chair, just in case?

Our sneakers flap against the pavement as we walk the one-mile route after dinner each night. We don’t know everyone’s name yet, but we wave and say hello to the couple working in their yard, admiring the progress of their stone wall.

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We know Chris, although we can’t remember his wife’s name, but we compliment them on their garden this year. He keeps offering us a big fat cabbage to take home.

We know Tony now, who drives his little motorized sports car on his grassy front lawn and we slow down to ask if he has a driver’s license yet. That always makes him giggle.

We are slowly reconnecting with our neighbors, although we haven’t reached Guzzetta status yet.

Still, Charles rushed out of his

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house last week to tell us that Harry did indeed pass the therapy dog test and we were so happy for him.

And Gina stopped us in the middle of the street to joyously wave a photograph of her new rescue dog, arriving by transport any day.

We’re hoping, when we head down the street after dinner each night, to connect more with these people who live beside us every day.

It’s 6 p.m. now. We lace our sneakers and grab the dog leash.

Here they come again. ◆