Senior Life - NorthWest Edition - June 2024

Free Living Life After 50

paraiso City Hall

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Pathways, greenways connect people to their community

By STEVE EUVINO Feature Writer

Valparaiso has many attractive features. Some are natural, others are man-made and still others are a combination. These include pathways and greenways.

Pathways and greenways are corridors of protected open space managed for conservation, recreation and alternative transportation purposes. Greenways often follow natural land or water features and link nature reserves, parks, cultural features and historic sites with each other and with populated areas.

Greenways can be publicly or privately owned and some are the result of public-private partnerships. Pathways are trails used for walking, bicycling or other forms of recreation. Some greenways include pathways, while others do not. Some appeal exclusively to people, while others attract wildlife.

Chuck Gleason chairs the Valpo Pathways Committee, which advocates for pathway areas and related activities, including bicycling. The city has already held some biking events around pathways, with more planned throughout the year.

Gleason noted Valparaiso boasts 10-foot-wide sidewalks linked to bike paths. However, those paths don’t require wheels.

“You don’t even need a bike,” Gleason said. “This is a chance to get some exercise.”

Valparaiso, Gleason reported, has 24 miles of pathways around the city, three miles of bike paths and three miles of future pathways.

The Valpo Parks website lists 22 areas, half of them city parks, with pathways for public use.

Coming off the pandemic, the pathway project, Gleason said, is “ever-evolving. We’re working

on more and better pathways.”

Regarding seniors, Gleason said pathways offer a “free nature ‘get outside and get around the city.’ People are able to walk from downtown to different amenities. There are some really nice features for recreation.”

In 2019 the city started Adopt-A-Pathway, enabling individuals, groups or businesses to “adopt” a pathway to regularly maintain the area and keep it free of debris. The idea is to not only maintain the pathway but also to encourage others to get involved and do the same.

For Gleason, the beauty of local pathways is “being able to get out get around the city by bike. I like the safety and security of the pathways. I like the way it connects the community.”

Down the road, Gleason would like to see pathways connecting to more parks, some of which are neighborhood parks. He can also foresee pathways connecting Valparaiso to other communities.

Some popular park sites are the Campbell Street area including Foundation Meadows, Old Fairgrounds and Rogers Lakewood. Other areas include Central Park Plaza, ValPLAYso and ValPAWraiso Dog Park.

Pathway listings also include several area golf courses.

Among the planned bike activities are Ice Cream Ride, June 10; Red, White & Blue, July 16; Pathways & Pizza, Sept. 16; Autumn Colors, Oct. 4; and Valpo Bike Fest & Night Ride, Aug. 16-17. There is no charge for these bike rides, with a limited number of riding helmets available.

With temperatures rising, Gleason expects more bodies on Valpo’s pathways.

“Within the city we have some really robust sections,” Gleason said.

For more information on Valparaiso Pathways, visit valpoparks.org.

Carol

S.O.S. - Speaking of Seniors —

Fighting to protect widow from Medicare mistakes

Editor’s note: Woodrow Wilcox is the senior medical bill case worker at Senior Care Insurance Services in Merrillville,. He has saved clients of that firm over three million dollars by fighting mistakes and fraud in the Medicare system.

On May 8, a pile of bills was delivered to our office in Merrillville. They were given to me.

One of the bills was for service to a widow. The other bills were for services to her deceased husband. Bills to her husband were coming from two different medi-

cal offices. The total of unpaid bills to her late husband in the bunch was $660.38.

I phoned the deceased client’s insurance company to learn what it knew about the unpaid claims. It reported that Medicare never sent it the claims information so that the insurance company could pay its share.

That happens a lot all over the country. The Medicare system uses internet and satellite communication systems. When those systems are disrupted by sun spots, lightning or other prob-

By WOODROW WILCOX Senior Problem Resolution Officer Senior Care Insurance Services

lems, data is lost and insurance companies don’t get the claim information. When this happens, medical firms and their collectors hammer senior citizens to pay bills that would have been paid if the Medicare system worked flawlessly. But it does not.

I work to put the pieces of information back together and get them to the proper parties so that senior citizen clients of this insurance agency are not wrongfully billed and hurt financially.

I want to teach others how to do this so that more senior citizens are protected from errors in the Medicare system. Also, I have tried to get elected political people to pay attention to this problem with Medicare and work to reduce or eliminate it. So far, I have not found any Democrat or Republican who wants to work with me to protect senior citizens from Medicare system errors.

COMMUNITY GARDEN Ed and

Proxel of Valparaiso work on their section of the community garden at Foundation Meadows Park in Valparaiso. The park is part of the city’s Pathways program, using greenspace to connect people to their community. Photo by Steve Euvino.

Freer turns hobby into full-time effort

By STEVE EUVINO Feature Writer

Give Rod Freer some hardwood and then watch what he makes — from pens to cutting boards to bowls.

This Chesterton resident, retired from sales, has taken what started as a hobby into a full-time production. His handiwork can now be seen online and local farmer’s markets.

Guiding Freer’s efforts is something his father, Robert Freer, once told him: “No one will care how long it took to make it, but they will care if it’s well made.”

Freer, 70, uses that wisdom in his shop, making bowls, cutting boards, pens and bottle openers. Using hardwoods such as maple, walnut and cherry. Freer gets his wood courtesy of nature’s fury, donations, or from the side of the road including trees knocked down by storms. All of his wood is local.

Freer has been working with wood for about three years. It all started when his wife bought him a wood lathe. Then she bought him a pen-making kit. That got her husband active in making pens, and from there

he developed this hobby.

“It’s very therapeutic,” Freer said. “You’re your own boss and I work on my time. I’ve met a lot of people, got to know them, and I’ve made a lot of friends.”

Since it’s only three miles from his home, the European Market in downtown Chesterton is among the markets he does regularly. He does about 10 different markets annually, including in Crown Point.

Sponsored by the Duneland Chamber of Commerce, the European Market, Freer said, “is run really well. They have some really good people — very helpful, almost like a family.”

The Duneland market runs through December, which ties Freer into the holiday-shopping market.

“Generally,” Freer explained, “people coming to me are looking for gift ideas. Some holidays, like Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are very popular. Graduations and birthdays are also popular times.

Working with various woods, Freer said his handiwork is “transformed into a piece of art that would fit perfectly in any home.”

Freer added the Duneland Saturday market is a “great place for people to come out. If they have out-of-town guests, this is a great way to spend the afternoon. Maybe they want to eat, buy a treat or get something to take home.”

A popular piece is a live-edge walnut bowl. It’s not easy trying to keep the bark on, Freer said, especially considering the lathe blade is going at 1,000 revolutions per minute.

Freer still carries pens, an assortment of bowls, lidded boxes and charcuterie, a cutting board made from wood and used for meats and cheeses. Using epoxy resin, Freer can give this board the look of ocean waves.

His pens, still popular, are made from Bethlehem olive wood. He also makes bottle openers and stoppers. Wooden vases are popular around Mother’s Day.

Bottle stoppers and pens, Freer said, fall under the “impulse buy” category.

“Each piece of wood is unique,” Freer states on his website.” Every piece of art has a story to tell.”

More information is available from freerwoodcrafts.com.

I am getting negatively charged

Yesterday, I walked in the house and casually asked Mary Ellen, “You haven’t had a chance to call the plumber yet, have you?”

“Why do you have to be so negative?” she asked.

By DICK WOLFSIE

“I’m not being negative, Mary Ellen. I don’t know what you mean. Didn’t I just ask a question?”

“See, there you go. In that one response you used three

negative words. You could have said, ‘I am a positive person. I’d like to know what you mean. I always try to be agreeable.’”

This was not a discussion I was looking forward to. Not then, not ever. Oh dear, three nots.

Time for lunch.

“Mary Ellen, we don’t have any peanut butter, do we?” I did it again. Maybe Mary Ellen was right. I asked for advice on how to change.

“Next time, Dick, simply ask: ‘Do we have any peanut butter?’” I was guilty as charged, of course, and she was not about to drop the topic. Not while she was on a roll.

“Mary Ellen, this is not fair. We’ve been married a long

time, haven’t we? You haven’t ever mentioned this issue before.” Okay, that was three negatives right there. “This is not an easy thing to stop doing. Don’t you agree?”

I decided to show my wife that this was not really an uncommon way for people to communicate. Before she returned from shopping this afternoon, I purposely didn’t shut the garage door and I didn’t turn the lights off in the kitchen. I also didn’t check the dishwasher contents before starting it. And I didn’t feed the cat. When she returned, I’d hear about all the things I didn’t do. And I’d be told, “don’t do them again.”

When Mary Ellen walked in

the door, she approached me. I was ready for her to explode with negativity. “In the future, Dick, please remember to close the garage door when you come home. And you left all the lights on in the house. Let’s try to save on electricity. By the way, the cat is meowing. Make sure to feed her when I am gone. It also appears you ran the dishwasher half loaded. We should always try to conserve water.”

“No, no, no, Mary Ellen; a typical wife would not respond that way when her husband messed up so many things.”

“That’s four negatives, Dick. You’re getting worse at this.”

I told Mary Ellen what I thought most wives would say in a similar situation.

“Don’t leave the lights on in

the middle of the day, Dick.”

“Don’t leave the garage door open when you get home.”

“Don’t forget to feed the cat.”

“Don’t run the dishwasher half-loaded.”

“Sorry, Dick,” she responded, “I’m a positive person. I would ne...ne...

“Yes, say it, say it, Mary Ellen! Say the word ‘never.’ It will help you get out of this positive rut you are in.”

“Ne...nearly every day I strive to be optimistic. And I do that by using positive words. Do you see the difference?”

I wanted to say “I don’t,” but that would have really gotten me in trouble.

Instead, I decided to play it safe and repeat something smart I said almost 44 years ago: “I do.”

Technology helps keep you at home

By CECIL SCAGLIONE Mature Life Features

As the aging population grows, so grows the need for facilities and workers to provide senior care.

Complicating matters is the fact that many folks intend to grow old at home.

Technology may have come to the rescue for folks who are still alert and physically unchallenged.

Cameras and sensor systems can be installed that link with the children, siblings

or caregivers who monitor the household. There are devices available to dole out the proper medication at the proper time.

When seniors leave the house, they can use cellphones, wristwatches and global positioning systems to help monitors keep track of their moves.

Medical alert bracelets help seniors get help when they fall, sensors can be installed to automatically turn off stoves, and devices can be installed to prevent bathtub overflowing.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

SELLING HIS WARES — Rod Freer, owner of Freer Woodcrafts, answers questions about his woodworking at the European Market in downtown Chesterton. Freer got into woodworking after retiring from sales. Photo by Steve Euvino.

NUTSHELL

Valparaiso Creative Council connects CREATORS and COMMUNITY

By CARRIE STEINWEG Feature Writer

The Valparaiso Creative Council came to be a part of the ValpoNEXT Citywide Vision Plan, which was established following Valparaiso’s quarterfinalist round finish in the America’s Best Community Competition nearly a decade ago. A creative district was envisioned for the community to come together to create, explore and celebrate arts, culture and innovation.

Serving as an advocate for the arts within the community, the VCC works to provide opportunities for artists, promote arts of all kinds and provide educational enrichment opportunities.

“The purpose of VCC is to find meaningful art opportunities that exist for creatives, businesses, residents and the city then bridge the gaps through funding, meaningful experiences, art projects or immersive events. This can look a myriad of ways, but the core of our intention comes down to our very slogan: ‘Valpo Creates,’ so helping our community do that any way we can is why we exist,” said Jessica Corral, who was involved in the initial project committee and became executive director of Valparaiso Creative Council in November 2022.

An artist herself since childhood, Corral brings to VCC experience as an exhibited visual artist, a graphic artist, a web designer, an event coordinator and an educator. She taught elementary art education at Flint Lake Elementary and spearheaded the Spring into the Arts Festival showcasing over 10,000 K-12 artists across its seven years.

“Overall, art is who I am,” she said. “I love envisioning new ideas and helping others work through steps to accomplish a creative goal. Between running businesses, becoming an educator and leading a nonprofit, there is an art form to these callings and I enjoy each one in very specific ways.”

Just a few of the projects that VCC has organized, funded or been involved in include a city hall “The HeART of Valpo” mural, painted by Valparaiso Community Schools students; “We HeART Valpo” pop-up mural; Valpo Creates Camp at the Valpo YMCA; Art + Innovation receptions featuring local artists and providing networking opportunities for those in the arts; the Sk8 Park FUNdaiser to fund a sculpture at the new Flounder & Friends Skate Park; and the recent Sip + Social Speakeasy event, which served as a fundraising tool for upcoming projects and

created paid opportunities for local performers and artists who entertained and interacted with attendees.

“The goal of the VCC is to advocate for art initiatives in our community by participating in local art efforts, supporting local artists and arts organizations in their projects, and providing our community with public art accessible to all,” added Stephanie Swearington, president of the board of the VCC.

Swearington is in her sixth year with the board, having served as treasurer before moving into her three-year term as president.

“I really loved the idea of the Creative District, but I also have always loved the arts. My favorite art forms are live music and seeing theater productions. My daughter is an aspiring artist. She is 8

years old, and loves to create. My sister-in-law, Jenna York, is an established artist in Charleston, SC, so our family is very artistically talented,” said Swearington. “I wanted to be able to support art in all forms in my community, and be a small part of paving the way for young artists like my daughter, but also support more established artists like my sister-in-law.”

Serving alongside Swearington is Vice President Megan Marolf, a local musician who plays with Southshore Orchestra. Stephany Leonard, who has a financial background in the banking field, is the current treasurer and Matthew Jenetopulos, a marketing professional and musician with Southshore Orchestra serves as secretary. Another 13 individuals of varying backgrounds, professions and interests in the

Take a walk

By CECIL SCAGLIONE Mature Life Features

Walking beats taking pills when it comes to maintaining your health as you age.

A daily 10-minute walk around the block, down in the

park or around your apartment building may not add years to your life, but it will keep you much healthier while you are alive. Add five or 10 minutes to that walk every other day or so to make you even healthier.

arts fill in the board.

The next VCC event will be the unveiling of the Valpo Parks skatepark sculpture that has been four years in the making. It will take place at 4:30 p.m. June 13 at the Flounder & Friends Skate Park. The VCC launched a $90K in 90 Days fundraising effort to pay for the #ARTinthePARK project (part of a matching Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority grant) and commissioned the sculptor, Chad Copeland, to complete the project. They’ll also be celebrating Murals Week August 24 in downtown Valparaiso.

The VCC is always looking for volunteers to help at various events and share more about what they do. Learn more at valpocreates.com or on Facebook (Valparaiso Creative Council) or Instagram (@valpocreates).

Now speed it up.

While strolls can be satisfying, a brisk pace while swinging your arms will not only make you healthier, it should make you feel younger.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

What you can do if

Social Security or SSI overpayment

By DANIEL SUMMER, MA

Public Affairs Specialist

Social Security Administration

An overpayment occurs when Social Security pays a person more money in Social Security benefits or SSI payments than should have been paid. The amount of the overpayment is the difference between the payment received and the amount that was due.

Social Security is required by law to adjust benefits or recover debts when an overpayment occurs. If you receive an overpayment notice, it will explain why you’ve been overpaid, the overpayment amount, your repayment options, and your appeal and waiver rights.

After receiving an overpayment notice, you can:

• Repay the overpayment in full or through a repayment plan by check, money order, credit card or by monthly reductions from your Social Security benefit. You may be able to make a full or partial repayment using Pay.gov or your bank’s online bill pay option. We offer flexible repayment plans, including payments as low as $10 per month.

• Appeal the overpayment if you don’t agree that you’ve been overpaid, or you believe the amount is incorrect. You can request a non-medical reconsideration online or you can submit a completed SSA-561, Request for Reconsideration, to your local Social Security office.

• Request that we waive the overpayment if you believe you are not at fault for causing the overpayment AND you cannot afford to pay the money back or it is unfair for some other reason. You can ask for a waiver by submitting a completed SSA-632, Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery, to your local office. If your overpayment

WHAT TO DO ABOUT AN OVERPAYMENT Social Security provides various options should you receive an overpayment notice.

is $1,000 or less, we may be able to process your waiver request quickly by telephone. You can contact your local office or call us at (800)772-1213, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Request a different repayment amount if you are unable to meet your necessary living expenses due to the current repayment amount. If you are unable to repay the debt within 60 months* due to the negotiated repayment amount, you will be asked to complete form SSA-634, Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate. You can find the form at ssa.gov/forms/ ssa-634.pdf.

*This is a recent policy change. Previous policy required the completion of the SSA-634 if the overpayment could not be repaid within 36 months.

To learn more about overpayments and our process, visit our Understanding SSI Overpayments webpage at ssa.gov/ssi/ text-overpay-ussi.htm, read our Overpayments fact sheet at ssa. gov/marketing/assets/materials/ EN-05-10106.pdf, or watch our Overpayment video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYYcjqkFvM.

The ‘Y’ and the Wherefore

By RANDAL C. HILL

In 1978, after producing two poorly selling Village People albums that featured only a lead singer (Victor Willis) and some session musicians, French record producer Jacques Morali experienced an epiphany for his third effort: a Casablanca Records album called “Cruisin.’ ” And included in that breakthrough disc would be a megahit single that would knock down popculture barriers as it rocketed onto hit charts worldwide.

Jacques had recently strolled through Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood when he noticed the YMCA building on 23rd Street. As the YMCA was unknown to Europeans, he inquired inside and learned that the place offered inexpensive rooms and a safe haven for young men visitors.

When he learned later that it was also a place for gay men to connect, Morali sought to create a song to fit his littleknown group. Jacques created most of “YMCA” in about 20 minutes, then handed everything to Willis and told him to add some lyrics. Victor did just that —with a later quitesurprising admission.

Morali had wanted to exploit the burgeoning New York disco scene, which was primarily confined to gay dance clubs in Greenwich Village (hence the act name Village People). Following a clever plan of action he had devised, Morali assembled a five-man group after advertising in a local music publication. “Macho types wanted,” it stated. “Must dance and have a mustache.”

To sell “YMCA” as a campy song-and-dance number, Morali created a video portraying the Village People as a bunch of fun-loving guys who poked fun at macho-gayfantasy personas.

The new version of the Village People included African American Willis (seen in videos as either a cop or a naval officer), Felipe Rose as the Indian chief, David Hodo as the construction worker, Randy Jones as the cowboy, Glenn Hughes as the leather-clad biker, and Alex Briley as the Black soldier.

Straight? Gay? Who cared?

Fun was the focus here:

“Young man, there’s a place you can go

“I said, young man, when you’re short on your dough

“You can stay there and I’m sure you can find

“Many ways to have a good time

“It’s fun to stay at the YMCA.”

“YMCA” became one of fewer than 40 singles to sell more than 10 million copies.

It’s still a mainstay in ads, movies and television, and at weddings, parties and sporting events, fun-lovers sometimes do the YMCA dance by waving their arms to spell out the letters.

In a 2017 interview, Victor Willis, a preacher’s son who co-wrote the hits and delivered the goods in a gospel-like shout, explained, “ ‘YMCA’ wasn’t written to be a gay song because of the simple fact that I’m not gay. I wrote it about hanging out in urban neighborhoods in my youth.

‘You can hang out with all the boys’ was a term about me and my friends playing basketball at the ‘Y.’ But I wanted to write a song that could fit anyone’s lifestyle.

I’m happy the gay community adopted it as their anthem. I have no qualms with that.”

FUN WAS THE FOCUS The Village People was a clever plan of action by Jacques Morali after learning about a YMCA in Manhattan. Fun was the focus of the song and about hanging out in urban neighborhoods. Photo from Wikipedia.

Coaching opportunity brought Gring back to VU

By CARRIE STEINWEG Feature Writer

David Gring first swung a golf club at the age of seven, and the game has been part of his life ever since. He played throughout high school at Michigan City Elston High School, earning an athletic scholarship to Valparaiso University where he played for four years. He later returned as head men’s golf coach, where he just finished his 13th season.

After graduating with a marketing degree, Gring went into corporate sales for Minolta, spending 11 years with the company before going into business with his sister in a wholesale distribution company. From there he became a real estate agent and retains his licensure working with Century 21 Alliance Group in Valparaiso.

Throughout that time he continued to golf and participate in amateur tournaments. “It was mostly recreational, but I enjoyed club tournaments and playing the sport that I loved so much,” he said. “At the collegiate level, I considered going professional.

I didn’t go that route, but I’ve stayed very connected with golf.”

One way he kept connected to the sport was through his cousin, Ron Gring, an accomplished professional golfer and instructor who has been named to Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers each year for over two decades and who joined him six years ago as assistant men’s golf coach at VU.

Although Gring’s previous coaching experience was limited to his kids’ various sports teams, he was able to pull from his business management skills paired with his experience and knowledge of the game to easily transition into the role. A friend of his, who was the athletic director at the time, invited him to apply, and he was eager to interview for the full-circle opportunity to coach the team he once played for.

The team has had consistent success over the past several years, advancing to the NCAA Regional three consecutive years (plus one earlier year) and the National Golf Invitational two consecutive years. There have been 10 tournament champion-

ships and 10 individual medalist championships under his leadership.

Many of his players have excelled individually with seven of them pursing a professional career after graduation. VU golfers have won Newcomer of the Year three times and Golfer of the Year three times.

He’s extremely proud of the collective grade point average maintained by his team. Eleven of his years coaching, the team has been recognized by Golf Coaches Association of America with the President’s Recognition for Academic Achievement (for a GPA over 3.5). In 2015-16, the team were the GCAA National Academic Champions out of about 300 Division 1 Golf programs for having the highest team GPA in the country.

He just completed a historic season with his team, one in which senior Anthony Delsanti won an individual national championship at the competition in Phoenix. According to Gring, he’s the first VU athlete in any sport to do so.

“My favorite part of the sport is being on the golf

course in competition and talking through the shots with my players — choosing the clubs, talking about distance and wind — and just collaborating with my players and then watching them execute the shot,” said Gring. “I feel very blessed to do what I do. I love my players.”

Even away from work,

you’ll likely find him spending time course engaging in his favorite hobby. He also enjoys spending quality time with his family, traveling with them and doing yard work. He and wife, Pam, have been married 26 years. Their four children — two boys, two girls — range in age from 17 to 24.

Q. What is a Special Needs Trust?

A. A special needs trust is a legal document designed to help individuals with disabilities maintain their eligibility for government assistance programs while still receiving financial support from their loved ones. There are two primary types of special needs trusts – first-party trusts and third-party trusts.

A first-party special needs trust is used when an individual with a disability has funds or assets of their own and wishes to preserve their eligibility for government assistance programs. In this case, the trust is funded using the beneficiary’s own assets, such as an inheritance, a legal settlement, or proceeds from a personal injury case. This type of trust is also known as a “self-settled” or “d(4)(A)” trust, referring to the specific provision of the federal law that allows for it.

A third-party special needs trust is funded by someone other than the individual with special needs, typically a family member or friend. This type of trust is ideal when the beneficiary with a disability has a friend or family member that wants to leave funds for their benefit. The third-party trust holds the funds and uses them to provide for the beneficiary with a disability without impacting their eligibility for government benefits. These trusts can be used to provide for the ongoing financial care and support of the individual with special needs and can be established during the lifetime of the family member or friend. Third-party special needs trusts can also go into effect after the passing of the donor family member or friend, if stated in the trust document.

PAR FOR THE COURSE — Valparaiso University golf coach David Gring returned to his alma mater to teach the sport he has played since he was a child. Photo provided by David Gring.

Abercrombie uses skills for organizing programming for senior church group

By CARRIE STEINWEG Feature Writer

Some of Donna Abercrombie’s earliest memories are of Sunday school at South Side Christian Church in Munster. Her father was a barber who cut the hair of Calvin Phillips, the church’s pastor. After the pastor invited her family to come to church when she was 5 years old, it became her home every Sunday. It still feels like home and she’s still active there after seven decades.

Phillips baptized her and officiated the wedding of Abercrombie and her husband, Michael. “I felt like he was the closest thing to Jesus on earth,” she said. “I loved listening to his sermons. He was a significant influence in my life. I feel so blessed that my parents took me there and I got to have a Christian education. The church has been such a big part of my life.”

Aside from the pastor, she said there were many people in the church who guided her. “All the Sunday school teachers made such a big impact on my life. In addition to teaching us the Bible, they gave good life advice for growing up, which was wonderful.”

Over the years, Abercrombie has been a primary

church teacher for grades one, two and three, served as a deacon for three years and helped with vacation Bible school. Her background as a librarian and teacher made her a natural to teach young children at church.

These days, she is involved in a group at church called Senior Saints. It meets the second Tuesday of most months for a luncheon along with a speaker. Abercrombie sets a theme for each meeting and decorates the fellowship hall to match the theme, another skill carried over from her teaching career.

She’s been involved with Senior Saints for about 10 years and became chairperson in 2015. For the most recent luncheon she had an actress portraying Lucille Ball and dressed the tables with the TV show logo and other touches from memorable “I Love Lucy” episodes.

An interesting array of topics and speakers have been selected over the years. She aims to make the experience interesting and memorable. “I always decorate the walls. We’ll have a dessert table.

I try to make it a real fun activity each month so people look forward to it,” she said. “Every month we have a speaker or some kind of entertainment and have a meal

together, so it’s like fellowship for the seniors.”

Other entertainment has included portrayals of Betty Crocker, Theodore Roosevelt, Father Christmas, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, P.T Barnum, Mr. O’Leary (whose cow was blamed for starting the Great Chicago Fire), Nancy Drew, the Unsinkable Molly Brown (a passenger on the Titanic), Beatrix Potter, a magician, ukulele group, local journalists Phil Potema and others. This fall there will be a portrayal of Irena Sendler, a woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Holocaust in Poland.

Abercrombie worked as a children’s librarian after college and later at a reading clinic at Hammond Clinic where she helped kids who had reading and learning disabilities. After her children were in school she started working as a substitute teacher at Kenwood School and then as a full-time teacher. She retired in 2010. She loves decorating her house and switching out decor every month or so. Abercrombie also enjoys gardening, reading, painting, cooking and entertaining. She and Michael have been married for 38 years. They have two children and five grandchildren.

Nest egg can still grow after retirement

By CECIL SCAGLIONE Mature Life Features

Retirement doesn’t necessarily signal the end of all efforts to add to your assets.

Whether you feel your nest egg is not big enough or subscribe to the you-cannever-have-enough school, there are still opportunities to enhance your estate during retirement.

One of the first things most retirees can investigate is the possibility of moving into a smaller house.

If your home is paid for, there are a variety of ways to exploit this position to improve your standard of living.

You can check out the pluses and minuses of a reverse mortgage, which allows you to borrow against your mortgage in regular payments, a lump sum, or a line

of credit. The amount you take out does not have to be paid until you move out or the property is sold. Or you can get your home appraised and shop around for a smaller, less expensive residence, pouring the difference in real estate prices into your retirement portfolio.

You might even consider moving to a less expensive part of the country. Compare real estate prices, and the income and property tax rates where you live now with other sections of the nation.

Besides pulling in a lump sum from the sale of your home and acquisition of a lower priced house, you can also cut other costs — taxes, insurance, and, in some cases, residential upkeep.

These savings will help boost your standard of living by low-

ering day-to-day expenses. Another way to pay your bills in retirement is to work part time.

If you earn $10,000 a year, that’s $10,000 a year less you have to pull out of your nest egg and gives that amount an additional year to grow.

You can get answers to a lot of the questions these matters raise by checking with your financial advisor or online at aarp.org.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

Good night’s sleep tough for some women

By JAMES GAFFNEY Mature Life Features

For many women, it’s tough to get a good night’s sleep. Studies show that women may be 20 to 50% more likely to have insomnia than men.

One culprit behind women’s sleep difficulties is fluctuating hormone levels, which can occur for several reasons.

If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, simple changes in your daily and nightly habits may result in better sleep. Here are a few simple steps.

Caffeine

Limit it. In addition to the usual sources — coffee, tea and soda — be aware of caffeine in chocolate and medications used to treat headaches, colds and sinus congestion.

Nicotine

Nicotine impairs the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Alcohol

Even though drinking alcohol

may make it easier to fall asleep, as few as one or two drinks within two hours of bedtime tend to disrupt your sleep and lead to more frequent awakening in the latter half of the night.

Inactivity

Lack of physical activity during the day is associated with increased sleep problems. However, exercise close to bedtime can make it more difficult to fall asleep.

Large meals

Eating too much close to bedtime may make falling asleep and staying asleep more difficult.

Naps

Naps during the day can make it harder to fall asleep at night. If you can’t get by without one, limit it to less than 30 minutes.

If self-treatment strategies don’t help, ask your doctor for help. Sleep difficulties can be related to a number of medical conditions.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

IN CHARACTER Donna Abercrombie, right, is pictured with Paddy Lynn, who portrayed Beatrix Potter at a recent Senior Saints event. Photo provided by Donna Abercrombie.

Dining/Leisure/Entertainment

50 Years Ago, Blast To The Past —

Was ‘Band on the Run’ jinxed?

Paul McCartney and Wings

Did Paul McCartney ever consider “Band on the Run” to be jinxed? If he did, there had been a couple of good reasons to think so.

A Boomer Blast To The Past

By RANDAL C. HILL

He and his Wings group were scheduled to fly to Nigeria to record “Band on the Run.” But some of the musicians never showed, so only Paul and Linda McCartney and Wings guitarist Denny Laine made the journey.

In the studio, McCartney sang lead and filled in on guitar, electric piano, bass and drums. (“I played a lot of stuff myself. It was almost a solo album. Almost.”) Not quite. Wife and partner Linda McCartney added synthesizers and electric piano to the tracks, and Denny Laine offered lead guitar. And both sang backup vocals.

“Band on the Run” became

a five-minute-plus work that played out like a three-act mini-drama. There was the slow, meandering opening. A hard-rocking section kicked in next. Finally, a dynamic Eagles-like harmony drove the work to a powerful finale.

But as the trio was walking back to their hotel that night, they were robbed at knifepoint, with thieves snatching their tapes and vanishing into the darkness. Paul, Linda and Denny thus had to create a new recording from memory.

Flashback. At one time, the Beatles were a struggling band covering Top 40 hits in German bars. They eventually broke big in the UK in 1962, became teen idols throughout Europe the following year, and conquered America in 1964.

But when the Fab Four began their own music label — Apple Records — in 1968, they “officially” entered the world of Big Business. Consequently, the Beatles often had to endure boring meetings in stuffy boardrooms.

At one such gathering, George Harrison unknowingly handed McCartney a part of “Band on the Run.” McCartney remembered, “It

started off with, ‘If I ever get out of here.’ That came from a remark George made at one of the Apple meetings. He was saying that we’re all prisoners in some way.”

Lyrically, “Band on the Run” opened with the narrator

already being incarcerated: “Stuck inside these four walls, Sent inside forever.”

When the song shifted to the next tier, we heard a prisoner’s lament:

“If I ever get out of here.”

In the final section, we learned of a “jailer man” and how a county judge held a grudge because he’ll have to

“search forevermore” but will never capture the elusive “band on the run.”

McCartney later explained that his lyrics involved police hassles and drug problems: “We were being outlawed for pot.” (He preferred marijuana over booze.) “Our argument on ‘Band on the Run’ was that we’re not criminals … So I just made up a song about people breaking out of prison.”

McCartney later said of his musical creation, “It’s a million things, all put together … a band on the run — escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it, it’s there.”

To McCartney’s delight, his fans embraced the Apple single, which topped Billboard’s chart. Even ex-partner John Lennon, often one of McCartney’s harshest critics, enthusiastically pronounced it “a great song.”

WINGS Denny Laine, Linda McCartney and Paul McCartney of Wings pose for a photo in 1977.

Photo by Gems/Redferns.

IDIOMS

68. Little dear

69. Like a disreputable neighborhood

70. College assessment test, acr.

71. Fairy-tale oil lamp dweller

when

15. Printer cartridge contents

16. *Title of this puzzle, sing.

17. Congressional title, abbr.

18. Title holder

19. *Run around in these and not make progress

21. *Cut these to skip steps

23. He had 24. Nicholas II, e.g.

25. Jack-in-the-Box restraint

28. Subway in U.K.

30. What washing machine does

35. Egyptian goddess of love

37. Crescent point

39. Hot rod sticker, e.g.

40. Org. in Brussels

41. Impede

43. Parks or Luxemburg

44. ____’s, once Canada’s famous department store

46. *One of these in beans lacks importance

47. Barrel-counting org.

48. Nova ____, Canada

50. Mess up

52. Bugling ungulate

53. Modeling material

55. Robinson in “The Graduate”

57. *Resting on these stops one from trying

61. *No use crying over this milk

65. Money in the bank, e.g.

66. Certain frat house letters

72. Hawaiian tuber 73. “Oui” in English

74. The Three Musketeers’ swords

DOWN

1. Ear-related 2. Skirt length 3. Gulf V.I.P. 4. Moonshine 5. Cloth armband

6. Kaa’s warning

7. *Break it to start a conversation

8. Synchronizes, for short 9. Pillow filler 10. “Green Gables” character

11. Suggestive look 12. Blunders 15. Full of tribulations

20. Derive 22. Dinghy propeller

24. Bear witness 25. *Read between these for real meaning

26. Writer Asimov 27. Likewise 29. *Don’t beat around it

31. Claudius’ successor

32. Breadth

33. Oil holder

34. *Cut one some of this and don’t be critical

36. Dirt on Santa’s suit?

38. Gallup’s inquiry

42. Like Raphael’s cherubs

45. Polite social

Brain Boosters

behavior

49. How many of the President’s men?

51. *Cross it when you get to it

54. Investigative report

56. Count sheep 57. Bringing up the rear, adj. 58. Between ports 59. Consumer 60. Overhaul 61. Tennis scoring term, pl.

Pool path

Great Lake

Henna and such

*One up your sleeve gives advantage

Spinach & Herb Turkey Burgers with PORTOBELLO “BUNS”

This low-carb burger replaces the typical bun with roasted portobello mushroom caps. Creamy tzatziki and crisp sliced red onion add texture and flavor to this easy Greekinspired burger recipe.

4 burgers; Prep 20 minutes; Total Time 35 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound lean ground turkey

1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/3 cup Kalamata olives, chopped

1-1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper, divided

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

8 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed 4 tablespoons tzatziki

1 cup arugula

8 (1/4 inch thick) rings red onion

DIRECTIONS:

Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 425 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine turkey, spinach, olives, lemon zest, garlic powder, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl; mix well. Form into four 4-inch patties. Place on the prepared baking sheet.

Brush oil all over the portobellos, then sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place the mushrooms on a wire rack placed over another large rimmed baking sheet. Place both baking sheets in the oven and bake, switching positions halfway through, until the mushrooms are soft and the burgers are cooked through, 14 to 16 minutes.

Place each turkey patty on a mushroom cap. Top each with 1 tablespoon tzatziki, 1/4 cup arugula and 2 onion rings. Top with the remaining mushrooms.

Workout for workaholics of all ages

By JAMES GAFFNEY Mature Life Features

Past-retirement-age Judy

to enjoy during her so-called golden years. Not the least of

Do You Suffer With NEUROPATHY? ...Suffer No More!

Do You Suffer With NEUROPATHY?

Imagine no more medication... but a proven long-term solution you can do at home for your:

• Numbness

• Diabetic ner ve pain

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Imagine no more medication... but a proven long-term solution you can do at home for your:

• Difficulty sleeping from leg or foot discomfor t

which is exercise.

For many people like Judy, finding time to get in the recommended 30 minutes a day of exercise can be almost as difficult as discovering the lost city of Atlantis. But, according to experts at the Loyola University Center for Health & Fitness in Maywood, Ill., just because you’re glued to your desk doesn’t mean you can’t exercise.

Taking a break from work for even a few minutes can help you feel better and increase your energy level.

Here are some exercises in the three main fitness categories — cardiovascular, strength and flexibility — that allow you to work out at or near your desk.

Cardiovascular

2. To strengthen your arms, shoulders and chest, sit in a chair without wheels and place your hand on the arms. Use your arms to lift your bottom off the chair seat and lower yourself back down. Aim for 15 repetitions.

3. Work your knees by sitting tall in a chair and straighten one leg, hold it for two seconds and lower. Repeat with your other leg.

4. Stretch your back and shoulders by squeezing your shoulder blades together and then away from your ears. Hold each position for three seconds and release. Repeat this 15 times.

Flexibility

• Numbness

• Sharp, elec tric-like pain

• Burning or tingling

• Sensitivity to touch

Imagine no more medication... but a proven long-term solution you can do at home for your:

• Diabetic ner ve pain

• Muscle weak ness

• Sharp, elec tric-like pain

• Numbness

• Burning or tingling

• Diabetic ner ve pain

• Muscle weak ness

• Sharp, elec tric-like pain

• Pain when walk ing

• Difficulty sleeping from leg or foot discomfor t

• Sensitivity to touch

• Difficulty sleeping from leg or foot discomfor t

• Pain when walk ing

• Sensitivity to touch

We offer a scientific, 4-step, proven approach that heals your ner ves and reverses your symptoms by:

• Burning or tingling

• Muscle weak ness

1. I ncreasing blood supply to your ner ves.

1. Stand whenever possible. Standing opens the front of the hips.

2. Take the stairs. Five to seven times a day is a good goal.

3. March in place or take a brief walk around your office to increase your energy and blood flow.

4. To increase your heart-rate:

• Pain when walk ing

We offer a scientific, 4-step, proven approach that heals your ner ves and reverses your symptoms by:

1. Increasing blood supply to your ner ves.

3. I ncreasing the blood flow in your feet or hands.

We offer a scientific, 4-step, proven approach that heals your ner ves and reverses your symptoms by:

3. Increasing the blood flow in your feet or hands.

— Pretend you have a jump rope and jump on both legs or try alternating legs;

2. Repairing and re - educating your ner ves.

2. Repairing and re - educating your ner ves

1. Increasing blood supply to your ner ves.

2. Repairing and re - educating your ner ves

4. I ncreasing your balance and mobility.

4. Increasing your balance and mobility

3. Increasing the blood flow in your feet or hands.

4. Increasing your balance and mobility

— Do jumping jacks. For a lower-impact version, raise your right arm out to the side while tapping your left toe out to the side, then switch sides;

— Do the football shuffle. With feet shoulder-width apart, slightly bend your knees and take quick steps with your feet.

Strength

1. Strengthen legs by standing with feet hip-width apart. Sink your hips back as if sitting in a chair. Lower slightly and return to standing.

1. Sit in a chair and stretch both arms overhead, reaching back. Hold this for 10 seconds. Grab your right wrist with left hand and stretch deeper through your right side, hold for 10 seconds, and repeat with your other side.

2. Hold your arms in front of you and gently circle your wrists in both a clockwise and counterclockwise motion. Stretch your hands by making fists then opening them as wide as you can.

3. Sit tall in a chair, keeping your weight even in both hips, and gently turn your body to the right. Deepen the stretch by using your left hand to hold the right chair arm. Hold this for 15 seconds, then switch sides.

4. To release neck tension, sit tall in your chair, drop your right shoulder down. You can even sit on your right hand to pull it down a bit. Tilt your head so your left ear is going towards your left shoulder. Hold for 15 seconds, then switch sides.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

When lawn mowers attack

By JAMES GAFFNEY Mature Life Features

Using a lawn mower can be as routine as barbecuing or bike-riding, but people often find themselves in terrifying situations with these seemingly safe household machines.

In fact, more than 250,000 people are injured and 75 are killed in lawn mower-related accidents each year, reports the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

tips to help prevent lawn mowerrelated injuries:

• Children should be at least 12 years old before they operate any lawn mower, and at least 16 years old for a sit-down mower.

• Children should never be passengers on sit-down mowers.

• Always wear sturdy shoes, not sandals, while mowing.

•Young children should be at a safe distance from the area you are mowing.

Lawn mowers don’t attack on their own. Most injuries, such as severed fingers and toes, limb amputations, broken bones, burns and eye injuries, are caused by careless use and can be prevented by following a few simple safety tips.

“Power lawn mowers are dangerous adult tools, but many children, and sometimes adults unfortunately, see them as toys,” said Dr. John Canady, past president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. “Lawn-mowing can be dangerous to the operator as well as those nearby if proper safety precautions aren’t taken. Physicians in this coalition often repair these heart-wrenching injuries, and we feel it’s our duty to help people avoid these accidents in the first place.”

The ASPS offers the following

• Pick up stones, toys, and debris from the lawn to prevent injuries from flying objects.

• Always wear eye and hearing protectors.

•Use a mower that stops moving forward when the handle is released.

• Never pull backward or mow in reverse unless absolutely necessary. Look behind you carefully when you do.

• Start and refuel mowers outdoors, not in a garage. Refuel with the motor turned off and cool.

• Blade settings should be set by an adult only.

• Wait for blades to stop completely before removing the grass catcher, unclogging the discharge chute, or crossing gravel roads. Some newer models have a blade/ brake clutch that stops the blade when the operator releases the handle.

Elderly face age discrimination

By CECIL SCAGLIONE

Mature Life Features

Discrimination

Ask left-handers what they had to put up with from teachers and students as they sweated and stuttered their way through school.

Talk to short people about the jokes and jibes tossed their way by siblings and strangers.

Sit and listen to the insensibilities suffered by anyone with a disability or disfigurement — a hare lip, a large prominent birthmark, a shrunken finger, anything.

And think about being discriminated against because

Caregiver shortage calls for family to fill in

By CECIL SCAGLIONE

Mature Life Features

As the aging population expands, its care and caregivers are diminishing.

In other words, it’s getting more difficult to provide the staff and services to care for the growing number of elderly.

Some 10,000 baby boomers celebrate their 65th birthday every day. By the end of this decade, the population will be made up of more than 75 million people 65 years and older.

Finding space to care for seniors and finding people to care for them is already a problem.

This increases the demand for in-home care at a time when the breakdown of family has exacerbated the problem by shrinking the supply of family caregivers.

“Families have fewer children, older adults are more likely to have never married or to be divorced and adult children often live far from their parents or may be caring for more than one adult or their own children,” noted a 2016 study by the National Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, the stress takes its toll — some 30% of caregivers die before their patient.

Long gone are the days when everyone was born, raised and died on the family farm.

The nation needs somewhere near two and a half million additional healthcare workers, from physicians to lab technicians, in the next

five years to take care of its aging population.

No one expects that to happen.

If you haven’t already, it’s time to talk about what’s going to happen to you, whether you’re the senior or a sibling, son or daughter of a senior. Hiring someone to help can cost hundreds of dollars a day.

Old folks face several health issues: faulty hearing, fading eyesight, arthritic joints, memory loss and confusion, crippling disease and a host of unexpected disabilities.

Discuss ailments, concerns, availability, schedules, medications and all other facets of each other’s day-to-day living so you can make a reasonable decision on just how much you can offer as a caregiver or expect as the person being cared for.

The caregiver should start attending doctor’s appointments with the patient and take an active role in any prescribed treatments.

You can make your job easier as caregiver by assuring the patient you’re just a phone call away and that you’re monitoring their medications, program, and progress. Ask them to help you by keeping a log or journal you can go over with them. This also helps keep them more alert and able as they age.

Develop an online connection with all the doctors, clinics and medical centers through their patient portals, which you can sign on to after getting the patient’s proxy permission.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

of your age. It can start long before you become a senior citizen.

The world long has been aware of the career challenge facing Hollywood actresses when they no longer look like they’re in their sexy 20’s and 30’s.

As the nation’s population ages, the focus on ageism has become sharper.

There are rumbles about who will take care of the elderly, and what will be considered sufficient care.

A few of the oldest folks among us recall living on the farm and having the family responsibility of caring for both the property and parents handed down from father to son to grandson. With the move to cities, the trend turned to “warehousing” the elderly — finding a good institutional home to meet the needs of the aging.

The workplace also became less fertile ground to nourish the experience of long-time employees. To dodge the bullets of age discrimination charges and court actions, companies simply eliminated the jobs held by the younger, and lower paid, staffers who complained the oldsters were uncreative barriers to promotions. Take a look at who’s laid off or given furloughs or buyouts when corporations announce they’re downsizing for economic reason — the older workers.

Middle managers have always resisted having personnel on their teams who are older — more experienced — than themselves.

Another issue is the dwindling work force expected to fund government programs in place to care for the elderly, e.g, Social Security.

Forecasters expect senior citizens will outnumber children for the first time in the early 2030’s.

This adds weight to ageism — the diminishing younger population gets to resent the ageing phalanx.

To meet the demand, multi-faceted senior-living facilities are being built — country-club type complexes, independent living communities, assisted living centers and combinations of these.

More than 1 million of today’s 50 million seniors live in some such facility. That number is expected to double in the next decade.

Still, some 15 million individuals 65 and older live by themselves.

The medical support and health services for all these is not keeping up with the needs and demands.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

Colorado wine warms you up after saddle sessions

Text and Photos

By CECIL SCAGLIONE

Mature Life Features

If you want to have fun riding a horse, grab the grandkids and head for the carousel nearest you.

If you want to enjoy riding a horse, head for a dude ranch — a real working ranch like this one, not a flossy facility with spa, bowling alleys, golf course and movie theater.

Latigo Ranch is nestled some 9,000 feet above sea level, a couple of hours north of Denver. It’s been turning tenderfeet into horse-sensible riders since 1929 by walking, loping and trotting through the aspen- and fir-coated hills with such distracting views that the half-ton horse under you learns to relax with its rider.

“We get a lot of seniors,” said co-owner Randy George, who also wrangles up the meals that satisfy both stomach and spirit. “A lot of grandparents with grandchildren.”

In many cases, the youngsters go riding while the seniors rock and read on the porch of one of the cozy cottages — they’re called bunkhouses here — under the mountain-propped skies.

It’s never too late to learn the rudiments of riding, however. To satisfy your interest, visit their website at latigotrails.com.

Working a horse is not like training a dog, George said. “A horse doesn’t understand punishment.

“A horse wants to be comfortable. It doesn’t like to be uncomfortable.”

You’re here to learn how to ride, and you’re also training your horse. A horse will only do two things: what you let it do or what you tell it to do.

Horses don’t like to be ridden. They don’t go out and look for riders, we were told.

There are a couple of “nev-

ers” to wrap in your wrangler’s word-book. Never walk behind a horse. Give its rear a wide berth. And never walk up too quietly to a tethered horse. It could be asleep and you’ll startle it. Since horses are prey animals, they’re built to bolt, and they spook easily.

Mounting from the right is more tradition than technique. Back in the days when men wore swords, most people were right-handed and their swords were worn on the left. They got in the way if you tried to mount or dismount on the right side of the horse.

Learning all this is worth it after you’ve poked all the precautions into your psyche and introduced yourself to the horse by approaching it from the front and sliding onto the smooth leather saddle that gives you a view from about twice your height.

After, of course, you’ve snugged up your stampede string. This is a hat or cap retainer that slips under your chin so your headgear won’t blow off and startle your horse or any of those around you.

Keeping a “smile” in your reins, which you hold like an ice cream cone, you squeeze your legs to signal the horse to move forward. Prod it with your heels if it doesn’t respond, and kick it a bit harder if it still doesn’t move.

A lesson you learn aboard the beast is that its eyes are built so it can look back at you. It monitors you constantly. Look where you want to go before pulling your reins to turn that way, because the horse is looking at you to see if that’s the way you want to go.

The sense of satisfaction that comes with smoothly straddling a creature you can whisper to as you soak in the scenery is akin to that of learning how to ski or snorkel. It’s a gut glow.

Before getting to the next

steps in my skill- and relationship-building with horses — overnight camping treks, cutting cattle, and rounding up strays in the surrounding hills — it was time to sample another side of northern Colorado.

As planned, we drove to the western edge of the state to tour the wineries peppered around Grand Junction, where the Gunnison River joins the Colorado. These oenological outposts are less pretentious and more fun than their more formal cousins in Northern California.

While sipping a sirah at Grande River Vineyards, we visited the rows of vines outside the main office that were labelled with the description and derivatives of the dozens of varieties of grapes grown here. Honey-based wine designed to drench ice cream was the main attraction at Meadery of the Rockies and Carlson Vineyard offered a cherry wine that becomes deliciously decadent by dipping the rim of the glass in melted chocolate before pouring.

www.stagnesvalpo.org

barbkubiszak@gmail.com

“Help

CHROME ON THE RANGE “Chrome on the Range” bison greets visitors in downtown Grand Junction, Col.

LATIGO RANCH The view from Latigo Ranch peers over mountains toward Denver a couple of hours south.

Between stops for sips, you can drive up to Colorado National Monument, the massive bluff overlooking the

Grand Valley, for vast vistas of this land of clouds, canyons, mountains and mesas. Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

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Ignite Medical Resort of Dyer

1532 Calumet Avenue, Dyer, IN 46311 (219) 515-4700

www.ignitemedicalresorts.com

Post Hospital Rehabilitation & Care, Physical, Occupational, Speech, Stroke Recovery, Cardiac Care, Pulmonary Rehab, Wound Care, Infection Management, Renal Management, Resort-Style Senior Living, New & Impeccably Designed Facility

Lake Park Residential Care

2075 Ripley Street, Lake Station, IN 46405 (219) 962-9437 • www.assistedlivingfacilities.org

Assisted Living, Long Term Care, Temporary Care, Private/Semi-Private Rooms, Residential Care, Mental Health Services, Activities, Pet Visitation Allowed, Medicare and/or Medicaid

Life Care Center of The Willows

1000 Elizabeth Drive, Valparaiso, IN 46385 (219) 464-4858 • www.lcca.com

Rehabilitation Unit, Skilled Licensed Nursing 24/7, Ready Set Go Program for Rehab to Home; Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapies; Exceptional Wound Care; Respite Care; Pallitative and Hospice Care; Long-term Care; Private/Semi-Private Rooms; Pet Visitation Allowed; Medicare, Medicaid, Most Insurances, Private Pay Accepted

Life Care Center of Valparaiso

3405 N. Campbell, Valparaiso, IN 46385 (219) 462-1023 • www.lcca.com/Valparaiso

Rehabilitation Unit, Skilled Licensed Nursing, Ready Set Go Rehab Program, Inpatient/Outpatient Physical, Occupational, Speech, Respiratory, Therapy, Wound Care, Respite And Hospice Care, Private/Semi-Private Rooms, Pet Visitation Allowed, Facility Van, JCAHO Accredited, Medicare, Insurance, Medicaid Accepted

Oak Grove Christian Retirement Village/Demotte 221 W. Division Road, Demotte, IN 46310 (219) 987-7005 • www.oakgrovecrv.org

Assisted Living, Independent Living, Rehabilitation Unit, Skilled Licensed Nursing, Therapies: Speech-Occupational-Physical, Long Term Care, Temporary/Respite Care, Dementia Care, Private/Semi-Private Rooms, Pet-Friendly, Pastoral Care, Medicare and/or Medicaid

Residences at Coffee Creek

Experience Our Unique Approach

To Senior Living & Memory Support

2300 Village Point, Chesterton, IN 46304 (219) 921-5200 • www.ResidencesAtCoffeeCreek.com

Retirement Living, Assisted Living, Dedicated Memory Support, Respite Care, Therapy Available, Pet Friendly and VA Benefits Accepted

Residences at Deer Creek

Anthony

Experience Our Unique Approach

To Senior Living & Memory Support

401 E. U.S. 30, Schererville, IN 46375 (219) 864-0700 • www.ResidencesAtDeerCreek.com

Retirement Living, Assisted Living, Dedicated Memory Support, Respite Care, Therapy Available, Pet Friendly and VA Benefits Accepted

203 Franciscan Drive. Crown Point, IN 46307 (219) 661-5100

MajesticCare.com

Assisted Living, Private Rooms, Memory Care, Skilled Nursing, Long Term Care, Respite Care, Rehabilitation Services (including Physical, Occupational, Speech and Respiratory Therapy), Pet Visitation, Accepts Most Payer Sources. *Saint Anthony is no longer affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, the Diocese of Gary or the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago.

Valparaiso Care & Rehabilitation Center

606 Wall Street, Valparaiso, IN 46383 (219) 464-4976 • ASCCare.com/VCRC

Caring people make the difference! Short-Term Rehabilitation, Memory Care, Long-Term Care, Skilled Nursing Care, Advanced Pulmonary & Ventilator Care, Respite Care, Hospice Care. Therapies include Speech, Occupational, Physical, Respiratory. Private and Semi-Private Rooms. We proudly accept Medicaid, Medicaid pending and nursing home transfers.

Saint

The Willows ®

Ready to help seniors with home repair needs

By JOHN CASEY Owner Greentree Environmental Services, Inc.

Greentree Environmental Services was founded in 1996 in Portage by myself, John Casey. I had no formal education, but I had honesty and a commitment to not just do a good job, but to keep my word.

I worked for years doing remodeling work on beach houses for senior citizens. I’m now 69 years old. I was 40 when I opened Greentree. As a senior myself, I am angered by companies that think senior citizens are unintelligent or that we won’t understand when they are taking advantage.

At Greentree, we are your

neighbors’ best kept secret. As contractors, we replace windows, doors, siding and more. Anything to do with a home, we have either built it, fixed it or replaced it!

No matter your construction needs, including manufacturing gutters and gutter covers with our lifetime, no clog guarantee so you never climb a ladder again or replacing windows one at a time to fit your budget or all at once to lower your utility bill, we’re ready to help.

We will build you a ramp so you can stay in your own home or repair the concrete so you won’t risk tripping and breaking a hip. Some cities, as well as the state, have grants available for seniors, and we work hand-inhand with them all.

‘Death in the White House’ —

We are a construction company focusing on seniors and offering the most affordable and best quality work you can find. We’re here, from your handyman fixes to major construction ser-

vices. Whether it’s environmental services or “regular” work, we will actually take your calls, call you back and show up! Call for a free estimate today. No job is too big or too

small. Again, my name is John and remember, I’m a senior too! For the best work at the best price, call Greentree Services at (219)764-2828, or toll free (888) 584-5323.

Reverse mortgage movers still hustling

By CECIL SCAGLIONE Mature Life Features

Among the newest reverse mortgage wrinkles promoted by lenders in the business is the fact that any unused balance grows at the same interest rate as the rate being charged on the line of credit. That means, if you borrow $100,000 at 5% interest rate and plan to use it only as a line of credit, that loan grows to

$105,000 in a year. If you pull $25,000 out of that loan, the remainder will grow by 5% a year. And it keeps on growing by % a year.

While reverse mortgages sound enticing when considering its main selling point — borrow on the equity of your house and never have to pay anything back as long as you live in it — the devilish details include, among other things, exorbitant fees and

an annual review to make sure you’ve paid the taxes, maintained the property, and kept it insured. Keep in mind that you’ll have to pay off the loan if you and your spouse are forced to move into a nursing home after a mishap or because of age-related infirmities. As a lawyer acquaintance strongly advised years go, “If you don’t need the money, don’t even think about a reverse mortgage.”

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

A sneak peek at the new Harrison presidential site exhibit

By CASEY SMITH Indiana Capital Chronicle

Among the history lessons absorbed by thousands of Hoosier kids each year is that of a longago frontiersman who, for many, is largely remembered as the United States’ shortest-serving president — William Henry Harrison.

He was technically from Ohio — born in 1773 before Indiana was even a state. Nicknamed “Old Tippecanoe” for his dogged military leadership against Tecumseh’s confederacy at the Battle of Tippecanoe, Harrison also became well known for his role as the first governor of the Indiana Territory.

Formed in 1800, that new territory included all of what would become the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as the northeastern part of Minnesota.

His political career would eventually land him in the White House in 1841. But his stint as the ninth U.S. president was incredibly short-lived — just 31 days.

The cause of his misfortune? Possibly, an illness spurred by a lengthy inaugural speech on a cold, wet day outside the Capitol building. He was the first president to die in office, setting precedent for presidential funerals, as well as how the change of office would take place.

The family’s political success continued, though. Harrison’s grandson, Benjamin, went on to become the only U.S. president elected from Indiana.

The younger Harrison spent far more time in Washington, D.C., serving a four-year term as the nation’s 23rd president from 1889-1893. Still, his presidency was marred by death, too, when First Lady Caroline Harrison succumbed to tuberculosis. She was the second first lady to die while serving in that role. In all, two presidents and three first ladies have died inside the White House. Presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin Delano Roosevelt also

died in office — but not inside the executive residence. Four presidents died by assassination — Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy.

Experiences of the Harrison family and the losses they endured while in the White House are the spotlight of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site’s latest exhibit, “Death in the White House,” which dives into the centuries-long history of death in the executive mansion.

A visit to the nearly 150-yearold Harrison home features funeral mementos, diary passages and newspaper clippings from various family deaths. On display, too, are locks of hair original to the presiden-

tial grandfather and grandson — reminiscent of a bygone practice, in which mourners preserved small bits of hair in brooches or rings.

Harrison’s Long, Cold Speech Despite spending so little time as commander in chief, William Henry Harrison may very well have been among the longest-winded presidents.

His entrance to the White House was marked by several firsts. Harrison was the first president-elect to arrive in Washington, D.C. by train, and for the first time, an official inaugural committee of citizens had formed to plan the day’s parade and inaugural ball.

At 68 years, 23 days of age at the time of his inauguration, he

was also the oldest presidentelect to take office until Ronald Reagan in 1981.

But the weather was not in the aging president-to-be’s favor.

The day of the inauguration was overcast with cold wind and a noon temperature estimated by historians to be about 48 degrees.

Even so, the president-elect rode on horseback to the ceremony and chose to not wear an overcoat, hat or gloves during the festivities, according to records kept at the Library of Congress.

On that March day, Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address to date, totaling 8,445 words. He wrote the entire speech himself, with edits by

soon-to-be Secretary of State Daniel Webster.

Harrison attended three inaugural balls later that evening, but in the following days and weeks, the president developed what appeared to be a cold. It was believed at the time that his illness was directly caused by the bad weather at his inauguration, but more contemporary evidence suggests that Harrison’s illness may have been from enteric or typhoid fever related to Washington’s water supply.

Regardless, doctors’ attempts to treat him were unsuccessful, and Harrison died on April 4, 1841. He was ultimately buried near his home in North Bend, Ohio.

Pyle World War II Museum —

A close look at writer and GIs he loved

NOR-

MANDY BEACHHEAD,

JUNE 16, 1944 — “I took a walk along the historic coast of Normandy in the country of France. It was a lovely day for a stroll along the seashore. Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, they didn’t know they were in the water, for they were dead.

“The water was full of squishy little jellyfish about the size of your hand. Millions of them in the center of each of them had a green design exactly like a four-leaf clover. The good-luck emblem. Sure, hell yes.

“I walked for a mile-and-a-

WORLD WAR II CORRESPONDENT Ernie Pyle featured the ordinary GIs in his articles as he slogged with them through France, Italy, Sicily and the South Pacific.

A movie called “GI Joe” was based on Pyle’s columns starring Burgess Meredith as Pyle.

half along the water’s edge of our many-miled invasion beach. You wanted to walk slowly for the detail on that beach was infinite.

Memory Care

“The wreckage was vast and startling. The awful waste and destruction of war, even aside from the loss of human life, has always been one of its outstanding features to those who are in it. Anything and everything is expendable. And we did expend on our beachhead in Normandy during those first few hours.”

Those were the opening paragraphs of Ernie Pyle’s newspa-

per dispatch the day after the Allies stormed the Normandy beach in World War II. The story, which went to hundreds of newspapers in the U.S., was entitled “The Horrible Waste of War.”

This article and many others, along with the stories behind them, are on display at the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in his hometown of Continued on page 19

HONORARY SIGN — Members of the 77th Division erected this sign to recognize their good friend Ernie Pyle.

CHILDHOOD HOME Ernie Pyle was born in 1900 at the home of his grandparents. It was moved into Dana and is furnished as it would have been in that era.

SIMULATED LANDING Step off the end of a simulated landing craft onto the beach at Normandy and witness the carnage that Pyle wrote about after the invasion.

GREAT ESCAPES

Text and Photos By ROD KING

Travel Manners make travel more enjoyable

A close look

By CECIL SCAGLIONE Mature Life Features

Listening to travellers complain about how they were treated in some foreign land is akin to hearing kids complain about their teachers.

First off, keep in mind that the travellers were guests where they were. Just because the locals didn’t understand English is no reason to harp about their rudeness. You might discover the travellers have no concept of what language was spoken in the country they visited. They didn’t try to learn a few vital words in that language, such as “please” and “thank you.”

long ago. A member of a small group ahead of us strolling along in the shadow of St. Peter’s in Vatican City proudly proclaimed loudly how thrilled she felt “walking in the footsteps of Jesus.”

Then she complained — loudly — to her tour guide that the Pope’s noon blessing from his high-up window was too far away to tell if it was really him.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

Continued from page 18 and Saturdays and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. No admission fee.

Dana. The house in which he was born in 1900 sits next door to the museum and is also open to the public. The Friends of Ernie Pyle are dedicated both to preserving the memory of America’s most beloved World War II civilian newspaper correspondent and the GI’s whom he admired and wrote about in his daily column.

Inside the first of two Quonset huts that comprise the museum is a 10-minute video presentation of Pyle’s life as a roving reporter and then as a war correspondent starting in England, slogging through France, Italy and Sicily and finally in the Pacific Theater. Pyle never dealt with the statistics of the war, but had a way of relating what was going on to the folks back home through the eyes of the everyday soldier.

The hands-on museum features vignettes of the war from a sandbag dugout in Italy similar to one where he wrote many of his columns, and a room-long diorama of the Normandy beach head to a scene of a GI encampment with a Jeep and the final display, which is a sign that reads, “At this spot, the 77th Division lost a buddy, Ernie Pyle, 18 April, 1945.”

That’s when Pyle was killed

by an enemy machine gunner on Shima, an island near Okinawa. He was 44 years old.

Throughout are enlargements of articles like the rather humorous one he wrote about the work horse of the infantry, the Jeep, and another about how the night Capt. Waskow was brought down the mountain on the back of a mule and the reaction of his men to his death. Pick up a field phone and hear the voice of wellknown actor William Windom of “Murder She Wrote” fame relating the stories behind the scene in front of you.

For a microcosm of World War II and Pyle’s view of the action, plan to visit the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in Dana. Head over to Interstate 69 and take it south to Interstate 465 at Indianapolis and go west to US 36 (Rockville Road). Then drive west for about an hour and 20 minutes through the towns of Rockville and Montezuma to IN 71N (County Road 300W) and turn right (north). Just a couple minutes up the road is Dana. Cross the railroad tracks and you’ll see the house and museum on the left.

It is open May 3 through Veterans Day, Nov. 11. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays

Travel back through time

By CECIL SCAGLIONE

Mature Life Features

As you motor around the country, visiting the grandkids or getting to see the sites on your to-do list or heading back for a class reunion, you can also travel back through time to trace your ancestry.

When you get to your home town, you can leaf through local records to trace your forebears back as far as they lived in that location. Having pored through your lineage online or through family files, you can stop on the way there or the way back home in towns and cities men-

tioned in your chronicles.

It’s a good way to see America, or whatever country your forebears were from, as well as trace your ancestors.

On a grander scale, you can visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Foundation to track some 65 million immigrants who were documented at the island from 1820 to 1957.

Mature Life Features Copyright 2024

Ignorance of one’s surroundings is an all-too-common trait of travellers.

A small sample of such mindlessness occurred not

SANDBAG SHELTER — Vignettes, such as this one of a sandbag shelter in Italy where he wrote some of his articles, highlight the life of Pyle and GI’s during the war.

It’s just a matter of time

By TOM MORROW Mature Life Features

About the only time most of us take the time to take notice of “time” is when we must keep an appointment, find out when our favorite television program is aired, or cuss out the confounding “Daylight Savings Time,” which we changed recently for the umpteenth time since World War I about a century ago.

But there’s much more to time. The globe is divided into time zones — longitudinal north-south geographic sectors that observe a uniform area for legal, commercial and social purposes. There are 24 time zones circling the globe. Each zones covers 15 degrees (60 miles a degree) longitudinally. However, they often follow the boundaries between states and countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly sticking to longitude degrees because it is convenient for areas in frequent

communication to keep the same time … like railroads, airlines and communications networks.

The British Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, which was founded in 1675, established “Greenwich Mean Time,” which is the solar time at that geographic location. Astronomers developed GMT as an aid to mariners to determine their longitudinal location at sea. Today, U.S. military units refer to GMT as “Zulu Time.” So, no matter the location on the globe, there always is a time constant for all military personnel.

In the 19th century, as transportation and telecommunications improved, it became increasingly inconvenient for each location to observe its own solar time. In November 1840, the Great Western Railway started using GMT kept on portable chronometers. This practice was soon followed by other railway companies in Great Britain and became known as

“Railway Time.”

STANDARD TIME ZONES OF THE WORLD

In August 1852, time signals were first transmitted by telegraph from the Royal Observatory. By 1855, Great Britain’s public clocks were using GMT but it didn’t become England’s legal time until 1880.

Time-keeping on North American railroads in the 19th century was complex. Each railroad used its own standard of time, usually based on the local time of its headquarters or, more important, its terminus. The railroad’s train schedules were published using its own time. Some junctions served by several railroads had a clock for every railroad company, each showing a different time.

In 1863, Charles F. Dowd proposed a system of hourly standard time zones for North American railroads. He took this action without consulting the railroads. Rail officials weren’t consulted on the matter until 1869.

In 1870, Dowd proposed four ideal time zones for the United States, having north-south borders with the first centered on Washington, D.C. But, by 1872 the first time zone was centered on the meridian 75 degrees west of Greenwich. Dowd’s system was never accepted by North American railroads.

Instead, U.S. and Canadian railroads implemented a version proposed by the Traveller’s Official Railway Guide. The borders of its time zones ran through major cities’ railroad stations. Canadian-born Sanford Fleming proposed a worldwide system of time zones. His proposal divided the world into 24 time zones. All clocks within each zone would be set to the same time as the others but differing by one hour from those in the neighboring zones. He advocated his system at several international conferences, including the International Meridian Conference, where it received some consideration. Today, his system has not been directly adopted, but some maps divide the world into 24 time zones.

Today, all nations currently use the UTC time zone system, but not all of them apply the concept as originally conceived. Several countries and subdivisions use half-hour or quarter-hour deviations from standard time. China and India use a single time zone even though the extent of their territory far exceeds the ideal 15 degrees of longitude for one hour.

Others, such as Spain and Argentina, use standard hour-based offsets, but not necessarily those that would be determined by their geographical location. The consequences in some areas can affect the lives of local citizens and, in extreme cases, contribute to larger political issues, such as in the western reaches of China. In Russia, which has 11 time zones, two zones were removed in 2010, but were reinstated in 2014. Mature Life Features Copyright 2024