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July 2024

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Vol 45 No. 8

Kansas’ Largest Newspaper

www.theactiveage.com

July 2024

Printed at Valley Center, KS

Camaraderie is par for golfing gal pals

ACTIVE AGING PUBLISHING, INC 125 S West St., Suite 105 Wichita, Ks 67213

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Wichita, KS 67276 Permit 1711

The Active Age Dorothy Kaiser made a decision with lasting benefits when she married for the second time in 1970, and it wasn’t her choice of husbands (although he worked out, too). “I decided I did not want to be a golf widow,” said Kaiser, who married an avid golfer. “I just made up my mind I would learn how to play golf also.” Kaiser said it wasn’t hard to learn. “I didn’t say that I was an excellent golfer. I just enjoyed doing it.” She then went to work in the accounting department at Learjet and joined the Business Women’s Golf League. Kaiser no longer has the job, but she’s still in the league. “The golf course girls call me Dottie,” she said. They seem to adore her. “Playing golf with my hero!” friend and fellow golfer Tina Leep wrote on Facebook in early June. “Dottie Kaiser turns 92 years young this week! I want to be her

Photo by Bonnie Bing

Gary Steed works out during a Club Parkinson's session at Wichita State last month.

‘Not today Parkinson’s’ is Dorothy Kaiser, right, and Tina Leep play regularly in a women's club motto league at MacDonald Golf Course.

when I grow up!” The league has women in their 20s through, thanks to Kaiser, their 90s.

All women, working or not, are welcome to join to play golf weekly

See Golf Pals, page 6

Ditching the floods

The ‘Big Ditch’ prevents major flooding. Could it serve another purpose?

By Joe Stumpe Eighty years ago this spring, the Little Arkansas River spilled out of its banks in a way that spelled big trouble. Swollen by heavy rain, the river and nearby Chisholm Creek drove an estimated 5,000 Wichitans from their homes, washed out bridges and covered much of downtown. In Riverside Park, the historic Park Villa building was surrounded by acres of water four feet deep. In the stockyards along 21st, workers loaded 4,000 hogs onto railroad cars to keep them from drowning. To the north, Valley Center and a swath of Sedgwick County were under

Photo courtesty of the Wichita -Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Wichita's old City Hall flooded periodically in the 1900s.

By Bonnie Bing Visit the Heskett Center on the Wichita State University campus, and you may come across a group of radicals. They’re the ones wearing colorful T-shirts with a slogan on the back — “Not Today Parkinson’s” — along with smiles and determined looks that prove they believe it. They’re also walking, taking aquatic classes, doing yoga and otherwise defying stereotypes about people with Parkinson’s. Started four years ago by Connie Urbanek and Shana Gatschet, Club Parkinson’s has made a positive — and in some cases dramatic — difference in the lives of 151 people to date. “I’ve been here since the very beginning, and it is wonderful,” Gary Steed said after a stationary bike workout last month. “I get to be around great people, and it’s very helpful physically and mentally.” Knowing that someone is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease every six minutes, Urbanek and See Parkinson's, page 10

See Big Ditch, page 7

Questions about services?

Central Plains Area Agency on Aging/Sedgwick 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


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July 2024 by the active age - Issuu