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Vol 43 • No. 8
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Largest Newspaper
‘Little DQ’ owner ready to dip toe into retirement
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By Joe Stumpe By the time you read this, Richard Barrett will likely have handed his last soft-serve ice cream cone through the window of his tiny Dairy Queen in south Wichita. He’ll tell you it’s been a long, sweet ride. “Few people have a job where they make a lot of people happy,” Barrett said. Barrett, who bought what’s known as the “Little Dairy Queen” in 1987, said last month that he was in the process of selling it to a Hutchinson man. The sale was contingent on approval from Dairy Queen corporate headquarters. The 600-square-foot store is located at 849 S. Poplar, near the intersection of Lincoln and Grove. A Navy veteran from northeast
Kansas, Barrett bought his first Dairy Queen, located at Maple and Sycamore, 45 years ago. He sold that one a few years after buying the Poplar store. The store was built in 1951, the city’s seventh featuring that floor plan. Small DQs are called “soft serves” by the company, while the larger DQs that serve burgers and other savory items are known as “big stores.” A Garden City soft serve is the only other remaining one Barrett knows of in the region. Barrett seems to have been equally devoted to his employees and customers. Through the years, he’s hired hundreds of teens to work in the store, giving many their first jobs.
July 2022
Lake living
How one man’s idea for Florida-style living changed Wichita’s landscape
See Dairy Queen, page 15
WSU welcomes age-friendly designation
The Active Age Wichita State University has joined the Age-Friendly University Network, a group more than 90 schools interested in creating more age-inclusive environments on their campuses. “Wichita State has just a huge number of age-friendly things that are going,” said Rosemary Wright, a senior research scientist who works in the office of WSU President Richard Muma. “Age inclusion and diversity are really important.” WSU is the first university in the state to join the network, which got its start at Ireland’s Dublin City See WSU, page 8
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Janet Bachman and her sons Kurt, left, and Brad enjoy a sunny afternoon at The Moorings, built by Janet's husband, Bill. By Joe Stumpe Janet Bachman wasn’t thrilled when her husband suggested they move to a new housing development he was developing in northwest Wichita, even if it was to be the first of its kind. “We were the only family for a while,” she said. “We had moved from a really nice area with lots of neighbors.” But, she added, “Eventually, our nice neighbors all moved out here.” The development was The Moorings — the first lakeside development for single family homes in the area — and it did more than attract neighbors. It started a housing trend here that hasn’t stopped yet. Janet’s husband, Bill, had the idea of building homes around a sand pit lake that had been dredged
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging/Sedgwick County Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
to help supply concrete and fill for construction projects. Today, similar developments dot the west side of Wichita, particularly the northwest quadrant. The attraction? Boating, fishing, swimming, wildlife and clear sandfiltered water. Last month, Bachman stood on the back deck of her home and looked across the water to a tree where a bald eagle had built its nest. Some neighbors love seeing the eagle swoop over the water in search of prey, she said. Her younger son, Kurt, who runs The Moorings today, said his father sometimes jokingly complained that he’d taken all the money he’d made building homes in other parts of Wichita and sunk it into the development on North Meridian. See Lake, page 6
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800-279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655