Active aging
November 2014 • Vol. 35-No. 12
Happy Thanksgiving January 2004 • Vol. 25-No.2
Informing 112,000 55+ readers Southcentral Kansas Serving 80,000 Readers in in South Central Kansas
Active campaigners get out the vote
Questions About Services? Central Plains Area Agency on Aging (Butler, Harvey and Sedgwick Counties) 1-855-200-2372 or call your county Department on Aging Harvey County 284-6880 1-800-750-7993 Butler County 775-0500 1-800-279-3655 Active Aging: 316-942-5385
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By Joan Warren This 2006 quote from Kinky Friedman could pretty well sum up the mid-term election in Kansas. “Remember, I’m not running against Rick Perry; I’m running against apathy.” Of course, Perry is the governor of Texas, and Kinky, who ran as an independent, garnered only 12.6 percent of the vote which could have swung the election had the Democratic candidate gotten more support. For those who don’t know who Kinky Friedman is, he is the self-proclaimed Will Rogers of Texas, a country singer, writer and humorist. What does it take to get out the vote in Kansas? Ask election volunteers Suzy Roper and Roy Hughes, Democrats from Derby, and Ron and Diana Long, Rose Hill Republicans. Suzy has been campaigning the longest, starting with Nancy Kassebaum, a Republican. This election she’s working for the Democratic Davis/Docking campaign. The Longs started volunteering in 2007 in Seattle. According to Photo by Joan Warren Diana, “…we decided to get off Suzy Roper and Roy Hughes are ready to canvass a the couch and stop yelling at the Derby neighborhood. TV and do something.” Originally
it was a little hard for them to find a group to volunteer with because Seattle is known for its liberal politics, and Diana and Ron are staunch conservatives. When they moved to Kansas they helped with the 2010 4th Congressional District serving as Jim Anderson’s campaign managers. Diana related, “I cut my teeth and jumped in and got started and learned a lot… we knocked on doors, we stuffed and collated literature. We do whatever we need to do. It’s boots on the ground with get-it-done kind of people.” The Longs say adhering to the constitution is fundamental to their beliefs. When asked whether he would run for office sometime, Ron said, “I think I serve people better when I can go out and talk about a piece of literature and get feedback from them and try to satisfy anything that they might have doubts about.” Roy has the least experience; this is his first year as a campaign volunteer. “I got involved because our teachers clearly aren’t being supported. Also, since I’m retired, I can spend some time on things like this. This is my first experi-
See Volunteers page 2
When it comes time to serve and protect, gender doesn’t matter
By David Dinell This Nov. 11, as they have for decades, veterans nationwide will be honored. While most veterans are men, as the military has been a male-dominated profession, the number of women veterans is the fastest growing, according to the U.S Veterans Department. There are 21.2 million veterans in the U.S., 1.6 million of those women, according to 2012 Census Bureau. Today, women are almost 15 percent of active duty military and 18 percent of guard and reserve forces. They serve in every branch of the military. During World War II, women
become part of the war effort, but they still had their own separate organizations and were restricted to medical, office and other service duties. Today, the services are gender integrated and women serve on the front lines in combat. Active aging salutes three women, one from each of the largest service branches, the Air Force, Army and Navy. Each has her own story, but each say their gender isn’t the important factor in their service, but their pride and commitment to country is. They want to be known as citizens who put their lives at risk for their nation’s defense.
As one put it: “A veteran is a veteran.”
Barbara Bulger: Air Force Barbara Bulger was exposed to the military life at an early age. Growing up in a family of 10 children, her parents needed to keep order — and what better way than to have some military drills? Her father, Joseph Anthony, was a military man, so saluting and “left, right,” came naturally to Bulger when she, too, enlisted. She joined the U.S. Air Force in 1977 and served for 20 years in active duty and four years in the reserves. Her job was in the medical field and called a “physician extender,” a highly trained health professional who
See Veterans on page 26