Commun ty Matters Wichita Presbyterian Manor
June 2015
Pitching pioneer
WSU honors resident for groundbreaking role On a chilly Kansas spring day, Bea Nutting bundled up in a WuShock blanket to watch the Wichita State University softball team play the second of a two-game home stand against Missouri State University — and win. But during the first and second innings of the game, it was Nutting who took the spotlight. The game announcer told the crowd a special guest was in their midst that afternoon: “a pioneer in women’s softball.” Nutting, a resident of Wichita Presbyterian Manor, played in amateur and professional softball leagues in the 1940s and ‘50s.
Only the best for Dad
Nutting was joined at the game by her daughters, Carol and Kay, and other members of her extended family, as well as Presbyterian Manor staff members including Executive Director Dawn Veh. She received a game ball signed by the entire team.
Today, when the brothers visit their dad at Wichita Presbyterian Manor, they start right in on each other.
According to articles in her scrapbook from The Wichita Eagle and WestSide Story newspaper, young Beatrice Beam learned the game as a girl in Coffeyville. She mastered the underhand “pop-up” fast pitch, and by the age of 19 PITCHING, continued on page 4
Family pleased with father’s experience at Presbyterian Manor When Paul and David Bolton were growing up, they knew to expect the unexpected from their dad. Kenneth Bolton, who recently passed away, was a practical joker — and pranks brought the family close together.
“My dad’s always had this killer sense of humor,” Paul Bolton said. “We go up there and we joke with him, and we harass each other, just like old times, and I think that that’s a familiar territory for him. He doesn’t feel like he’s excluded and isolated.” Those special times have been hard to come by in the past five years, since Alzheimer’s disease began robbing Kenneth Bolton of the things that are familiar. Paul’s brother, David, had been caring for their father at Kenneth’s Wichita home for several years as his health declined. Last year, Paul took extended leave from his chiropractic practice in Colorado to relieve his brother. But like many adult DAD, continued on page 2