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Inside:
www.theactiveage.com January 2021 Kansas’ Award-winning Top 55+ News Source
Vol 42 • No. 2
Recipes for you — or two
Grandparents turn homes into schools
Strike Force
Senior league bowlers knock'em down
Maggi Watson rolls a game during the senior league session at The Alley in east Wichita.
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By Amy Geiszler-Jones Wichita bowler Maggi Watson may not be able to see her score due to her failing eyesight, but she can still knock down some pins. In her fifth frame and after hitting her second spare, she asks a senior league teammate for her score. “You’re at 45,” responds Johnny
Kirk, who makes sure Watson gets to The Alley bowling center in east Wichita every Tuesday. “Oh, I’m behind,” she says. “Yeah, Maggi, you’re a little behind.” Until this year, Watson, who’s 101, bowled all three games of each match with her team, the Rollabouts. When
league play rolled around this past August, she cut back to just one. “I started feeling my age,” she explains. But on this Tuesday — after scoring 30 points higher than her 87-point average — Watson goes for a second game. See Bowling, page 28
By Matthew Kelly Gary O’Neal of Bel Aire stood on his deck, the smell of frying bacon wafting up from the grill. He wasn’t just enjoying a leisurely Wednesday evening, though. He was mealprepping for yet another school day. O’Neal has been retired for almost 10 years. At 73, he certainly wasn’t expecting to go back to school any time soon. But now he and his wife Jackie spend their days helping grandson Jaxon and granddaughter Austyn with their online classes through Isely Elementary. The Wichita Board of Education’s decision in late November to switch to fully remote learning meant a major transition for families of the 13,000 elementary school students who were sent home. See Grandparents, page 14
Snowbirds still flocking south for winter
By Amy Geiszler-Jones Retired mail carrier Linda Barnes doesn’t care for dealing with the wind, cold, ice and snow that can mark a Kansas winter. For the fifth year in a row, Barnes, 71, and her 72-year-old husband, George, a retired Wichita police officer, will migrate south to spend the early winter months of the year. The Barneses are snowbirds, the term used to describe retirees who travel from colder climates to warmer southern parts of the U.S. According to AARP, more than 30 million people typically head to Florida, while Arizona — where the Barneses are headed — generally gets about 10 million snowbirds. Several major news outlets along See Snowbirds, page 9
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Cathy and Ricky Beverage are headed to Texas in January.
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655