Pet photo winner, page 14
Vol 41 • No. 9
Keys to life
www.theactiveage.com August 2020 Kansas’ Award-winning Top 55+ News Source
Friendship Force flying high
Accordion led Phil Uhlik into music and marriage
ACTIVE AGING PUBLISHING, INC 125 S West St., Suite 105 Wichita, Ks 67213
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Wichita, KS 67276 Permit 1711
By Nancy Carver Singleton The Active Age As a child, Phil Uhlik was fascinated with the musicians at wedding dances. “The folks could find me up by the band stand, hoping I could someday be up there doing the same.” And the instrument that intrigued him most was the accordion. Although it’s the target of kidding by other musicians today (“What’s the range of an accordion? Twenty yards if you’ve got a good arm.”) Uhlik notes that it was one of the most popular instruments around during the 1950s and early '60s. “It was the most versatile instrument that was fairly easy to play and easy to entertain,” Uhlik said. It’s no joke to say it changed his life. He’s been playing it for more than 70 years and still occasionally performs for lucky customers at his store, Phil Uhlik Music, in Wichita.
To see Phil Uhlik play "Beer Barrel Polka," go to facebook.com/ activeagewichita. Uhlik began taking accordion lessons in sixth grade and three years later was teaching it to neighborhood kids to make a few bucks. As a sophomore, he was asked to teach at an See Phil, page 6
Photo courtesy of Lottie Miller
Shirley Wilson, right, visits with Brigitte Stjenhirst during a 2016 trip to Sweden by Wichita's chapter of Friendship Force. the favor when they come to visit. By Joe Stumpe That’s the idea behind Friendship The Active Age Force, an international organization Imagine traveling to a foreign country to stay in the home of strang- whose 100-member Kansas chapter is going strong after nearly 40 years. ers, eat their food and be escorted around by them. And then returning See Friendship, page 10
The gift of art: Painting through a pandemic By Amee Bohrer The Active Age Denise Ziegler is an optimist by nature, a trait that illuminates her conversation and artwork. “During this, the Covid, the gift of art is that I’ve had plenty to do,” Ziegler said in her studio in Artists at Old Town. She is one of 10 artists who are part of the collective, which leases space behind Gallery XII at 412 E. Douglas. It happens that they are all women over 55. Ziegler shares her studio with Carol Stibal. On a recent afternoon, Ziegler and her daughter, Brooke, sat together at adjacent plastic tables, each painting white masks to be given to friends. Denise was dressed in glitter tulle socks, which she made, and a gray Frida Kahlo T-shirt with the iconic Mexican artist’s quote, “I paint flowers
Questions about services?
so they will not die.” Her brown hair was gathered up, and her eyes twinkled behind a mask. Brooke, her hair in braided pigtails, wore a yellow-and-black tank top from her alma mater, Wichita State University. The two began making art together once a week in 2013 and have focused on masks during the pandemic. Completed ones go into a box lined with teal tissue paper. See Art, page 2
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Photo by Amy Bohrer
Jill Stromberg painted a series of small Kansas landscapes for her Artists at Old Town show. Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655