Vol 39 • No. 6
Older and better
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Kansas’Award-winning Award-winningTop Top55+ 55+News NewsSource Source
May 2018
Making ‘aging’ look great at 80+
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By Elvira Crocker “Getting old is not for sissies.” How many times have you heard that? Well don’t ask these folks we’re featuring in this issue. They are in their 80s and leading very active lives. Population trends indicate that we are living longer, thanks to advancements in medicine and the care that individuals are taking with their own lives. What these three people we're featuring have in common is that they do not appear to be self-absorbed; they are doing something for others. They also are physically active, clearly believers in the “move it, or lose it” philosophy and using their talents honed over the years. For the most part, they have lived beyond the ages of their parents. And they represent a growing trend in life expectancy.
In Kansas, according to 2017-18 figures, there are 31,300 people 80-84 years old and 31,766 people 85 and older. As Monica Cissell of the Central Plains Area Agency on Aging puts it, “We used to call this population the old-old.” Nowadays, you also will hear them referred to as “the oldest of the old.” In 1900, only 100,000 Americans lived to be 85+. By 2050, this age group is slated to reach 19 million or 24 percent of older adults and 5 percent of our total U.S. population. Some researchers say the 85+ group will grow because death rates at older ages will decline more rapidly. Look at it this way, you are in
great company growing older. Julia Child wrote a cookbook at 87. Angela Lansbury, Willie Nelson, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer — they’re all in their 80s. Here’s something else to think about. If you are a 65-year-old female you can expect to live another 20.6 years on average. Add that up and it comes to 85.6 years. If you are a 65-year-old male, add 18 more years and you are still headed for the oldest of the old, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. So, buck up old timers: It’s not over ‘til it’s over.
Photo by Rob Howes
Gwen Bell
If you were born between 1955 and 1997 at Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Gwen Bell may have played a role in your arrival into this world. See 80+, page 8
Pride of lions, congregation of alligators, sloth of bears…oh my!
By Amy Geiszler-Jones For 117 years, Riverside Park has been home to animals on display – from native species to lions, bears, alligators, ostriches and more. The tales and pictures of animal events and the enclosures of those early days would likely make modern-day animal welfare folks, as well as parents concerned about safety, cringe. But for many Wichitans, the old Riverside Zoo, which closed in 1972, holds special memories, from smells to lions’ roars to airborne alligators. The Kansas Wildlife Exhibit opened in the former zoo’s location 30 years ago in 1988. It recently underwent refurbishment, allowing visitors to continue the tradition of seeing animals at the park. It was the alligators that probably got the most attention at Wichita’s Riverside Zoo during its 62-year
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tenure, in large part because of the twice-annual spectacle of moving the alligators between their summer and winter locations. According to history accounts, the first ‘gators were exhibited in 1909 with others coming and going. Grandpa, One-Eye and Courtesy photo Lady were there from start The Kansas Wildlife Center was recently to finish. updated. Newspapers back then naturalist and Wichita history author reported regularly on the alligators and enthusiast Jim Mason. and other animals that became part of There were periodic media updates what some folks disparagingly called about how the alligators were faring, “the municipal menagerie.” including this May 16, 1921, mention Some acquisitions came from peoin The Wichita Eagle, as noted in the ple who realized their exotic pets were Tihen Notes collection of local newspatoo exotic. Then there were donations per synopses: from civic-minded groups – like the “The alligators at Riverside park 1910 predecessor to Westar Energy that donated ostriches, according to See Zoo, page 6
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