Donor Supported
Vol 47 No. 1
To subscribe for FREE call 316-942-5385
www.theactiveage.com
Kansas’ Largest Newspaper
December 2025
Printed at Valley Center, KS
ENTER TO WIN
See details inside on page 2
This ‘Christmas Vacation’ keeps growing
ACTIVE AGING PUBLISHING, INC 125 S West St., Suite 105 ELECTRONIC SERVICE REQUESTED Wichita, Ks 67213
Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Wichita, KS 67276 Permit 1711
By Joe Norris ROSE HILL — In “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” movie, nobody loves Christmas more than Clark Griswold. When he throws the switch on his gleefully over-decorated house, it fries the city’s electric grid. In Rose Hill, Kansas, nobody loves Christmas more than Michael Russell. He calls his place The Griswold House of Rose Hill. But that undersells it. Because Russell’s house transformation actually surpasses the house of Chevy Chase’s character in the 1989 movie. Russell’s display is an eyepopping, jaw-dropping, brain-melting extravaganza of lights and wonder. It covers every square foot of his front yard, every inch of his house, his entire roof and now all of his backyard, too. He hasn't blown the town's electric grid yet. But every year, he finds a way to dial up the wattage from the year
Lisa Land, right, and regular running partner Laura Burvinski raced on Mackinaw Island, Mich., in 2024.
She's raced in all 50 states
Photo by Joe Norris
Michael Russell welcomes visitors to his Rose Hill home. before. This year, he’s added Clark Griswold’s station wagon, a 20-foot elf, the leg lamp from “A Christmas
Story,” a bunch of other large inflatables, a candy cane arch over the See Christmas, page 9
By Bob Rives To keep the pounds off after losing weight in 2010, Lisa Land started running. And racing. And running and racing some more. This fall, the Andover resident reached her goal of running a race in all 50 states. “I ran my first race in the nation’s largest state and finished it in Rhode Island, the smallest,” she said. Land started running while living See Runner, page 7
“It just gets me out of my funk”
PACE delivers senior health care and more By Jacinda Hall Following a heart attack and surgery, Sandra Howard sometimes struggled to obtain all the medications she’d been prescribed. She was being seen by more than one medical provider, and it wasn’t unusual for them to use different pharmacies. Howard’s daughters were tasked with rounding up the medications. “My daughters always complained because at the time, I was taking around 10 or 11 meds,” Howard said. Today, Howard obtains all her medications in one spot thanks to enrolling in the health care program known as PACE, or Program of AllInclusive Care for the Elderly. And that’s not all: Howard spends many weekdays at the PACE center at 775
N. Edwards (near Central and McLean), taken to and from her home by a PACE van driver. At the center, she can be seen in its medical clinic, eat a hot lunch and socialize with other PACE participants and staff. The bright and airy 32,000-square-foot center, opened at a Courtesy photo cost of $6.5 million Chloe James says PACE, or Program of All-Inin 2023, also houses a clusive Care for the Elderly, saved her life. pharmacy. For Howard and most other “I come four times PACE participants who qualify a week,” Howard said. “It just gets me out of my funk.” See Pace, page 6
Questions about services?
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging/Sedgwick County Department on Aging: 316-660-7298 or 1-800-367-7298
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800-279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655