Wichita Presbyterian Manor
DECEMBER 2021
Westerly resident is a ‘friendly face’ for health care, PATH residents Every Monday and Wednesday evening, LaNelle Hancock visits the health care and PATH neighborhoods. “I’ll start down the hallway, and if a door is open, I’ll go in and introduce myself,” said LaNelle, who has lived in independent living at the Westerly with her husband, Ervin, since October 2019. If the resident feels like talking, LaNelle LaNelle Hancock, pictured at left, stays and chats for a few minutes. She visits with health care resident Mary makes sure to bring news about her Johnson during one of LaNelle’s neighbors to former residents of the Westerly. Often, residents want to talk volunteer shifts at Presbyterian Manor. LaNelle and Mary often take about recent family visits or how the time to catch up on Mondays and they’re feeling. LaNelle always asks if Wednesday evenings when LaNelle there’s anything she can do to make visits with residents who live in the them feel more comfortable. health care and PATH areas. “It means a lot just to see a friendly face,” she said. The pandemic interrupted her volunteer schedule, but LaNelle is glad to have returned to the PATH and health care areas this fall. “I may be in their position someday, and if I am, I would like people to visit me,” she said. “I feel it’s the least I can do.” LaNelle arrives at 6 p.m. and stays for an hour or more, depending on how many doors are open and how talkative residents are feeling. “It’s rewarding to walk in the door and hear, ‘Oh there she is!’” LaNelle said. “It makes me feel good to know they’re happy to see me. I feel like I get as much out of it as they do.” Amy Watson coordinates the volunteers at Wichita Presbyterian Manor. If you are interested in volunteering in our community, let her know! She can be reached at awatson@pmma.org or 316-942-7456 extension 1511. u
New assisted living resident had an ‘oldfashioned’ childhood Jo Ann James experienced the kind of childhood that is largely a thing of the past. Raised on a farm near Goodland, Kan., just 9 miles from the Colorado border, Jo Ann studied in a one-room schoolhouse through the eighth grade. Jo Ann’s family lived on land homesteaded by her maternal grandfather, who traveled from Illinois to Sherman County, Kan., in 1886 to stake his claim in the West. Their farm was about two miles from two different schoolhouses, and she and her siblings attended both throughout their childhoods. Sunflower School was more modern, with a windmill, indoor restrooms and basement furnace that kept the students warm in the winter. The children attending Smokey Hill school had to use outdoor toilets. “I was happy there, no matter which way I went,” Jo Ann said. “I didn’t wish for anything better, because we kids didn’t know any different.” Jo Ann enjoyed walking to school when the weather was nice, but winters could be “dreadful.” “I remember arriving at school in tears because my fingers and toes were cold,” she later wrote in an account of her school days. “Mom and Pop always made sure we were dressed in warm clothes … but it was not always enough. The teacher would have me run cold water over my hands, which burned like it was scalding hot. It felt so good to stand over the large floor furnace to warm up.”
Memories – continued on page 3
Get the latest on visitation and COVID-19 at our campus at WichitaPresbyterianManor.org/covid-19.
1
Celebrating Kansas by Car By Stephanie Bergmann, independent living sales and marketing director You’ve probably heard of the infamous Dalton Gang that robbed trains and banks in the late 1800s, but you might not know about their hideout in southwest Kansas. A small house in Meade, owned by their sister, Eva Whipple, concealed a big secret for years. A tunnel leading to the barn 95 feet away allowed the outlaws to come and go from the home undetected by the law. Bob, Emmet and Grat Dalton had a $5,000 bounty on their heads — big money in those days! The original tunnel was just dirt and boards, but the city later reconstructed it with stone, turning the entire property into a museum and tourist attraction. For just $5, you can now go underground and follow the Dalton Gang’s trail. It’s fun to imagine what it would be like sneaking through the dark to emerge through a hole in the dining room floor! Eva and her husband abandoned the house suddenly, not long before her brothers were shot during a bank robbery in Coffeyville. Emmet Dalton survived and spent 14 years in prison before he was pardoned. He capitalized on his notoriety by
The Dalton Gang was aided and abetted by Meade, Kan., resident Eva Whipple, sister to the notorious robbers. Eva’s old home features a tunnel the gang used to access the house. Now a tourist destination, visitors are invited to retrace the steps of the Old West outlaws.
moving to Hollywood and starring in a few silent movies in the 1920s. It’s a strange-but-true tale from the Old West that you can experience firsthand. The Dalton Gang Hideout in Meade is open every day year-
round and sits about three hours from Wichita off Highway 54/400. You can also visit the Dalton Defenders Museum in Coffeyville and learn about the brave citizens who stopped the bank robbers in 1892 and protected their town. Admission is $7 for seniors. u
Like us on Facebook to stay updated on news and events.
Community Matters 316-942-7456 ◆ Fax: 316-941-3806 4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 WichitaPresbyterianManor.org
2
is published monthly for residents and friends of Wichita Presbyterian Manor by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
To submit or suggest articles: awatson@PMMA.org Amy Watson, life enrichment dir. Courtney Wolfe, executive director Stephanie Bergmann, marketing dir. Cherree Hudspeth, health care sales and marketing
OUR MISSION: To provide quality senior services guided by Christian values. COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2021
Memories – continued from page 1 Sometimes Jo Ann’s classmates were siblings or cousins, and a couple of her teachers were relatives. In first grade, her cousin was her teacher. Jo Ann had two much older sisters and one of them taught during her fifthgrade year. She remembers there were five pupils at the school that year. When she was in eighth grade, the enrollment had expanded to more than 10 students. After eighth grade, Jo Ann moved to Wichita to live with her older sister, her brother-and-law and their two daughters. “I was so happy because I was with my favorite sister, and her husband was like a second dad to me,” Jo Ann said.
Jo Ann James is pictured in the back row, second from the right, in a photo taken outside her one-room schoolhouse in Western Kansas. Jo Ann has fond memories and fascinating stories about her happy childhood.
neighborhood at Wichita Presbyerian Manor in August. She says she feels comfortable here and enjoys the food. Her daughter, Lisa, says Jo Ann has
kept journals most of her adult life, and she has many fascinating stories about her family and her own personal history. u
She enrolled at Roosevelt Junior High School, which was an overwhelming experience after the one-room schoolhouse. When her parents were told they would be charged tuition to send their child to a school outside their district, Jo Ann went home. She was happy to attend Goodland High School, about 18 miles away from her family’s farm, where many cousins were classmates. After graduation, she took a job in Wichita, which is where she met and married Oscar, her husband of 49 years. When he asked her out, Jo Ann told him he could take her to church — and he said yes! They had three children together. After her first husband’s death, she married Bill James, a longtime friend who became a widower the same year Jo Ann lost her husband. She and Bill had known each other since 1956. Jo Ann moved from her West Wichita home to the assisted living Wichita Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
3
4700 W. 13th St. Wichita, KS 67212-5575 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
Assignment form makes wishes clear • Do I want to designate a successor beneficiary to receive the amount originally allocated to a beneficiary who predeceases me? Absent a valid Assignment form, the payment of your refund may be delayed until an estate is opened or other legal proceedings are completed designating who is legally entitled to request the refund and receive payment. Your beneficiaries may include Unfortunately, that happens all too individuals, charities, or others frequently and we want to help our (including a will or trust so that your residents and their families avoid that refund passes pursuant to your estate unpleasant (and sometimes expensive Completing the Assignment form is plan). You may designate the and time consuming) experience. simple, and if you pass away while a portion of your refund payable to resident of the Community, it can save each of them. This is just a summary of how this your family significant time, money and important document works. We’ll be Some things to think about: frustration when receiving a refund of glad to provide you with the Assignment any amounts due to you from your • Who should receive my refund — form to review and complete, and of PMMA Community. In other words, it course we encourage you to get any certain named individuals, can simplify the refund process and input you may desire from your family charities, or my will or trust? avoid the time and cost of estate or other advisors. • If I have more than one administration. beneficiary, should they receive To obtain an Assignment form or talk equal shares of my refund or This form works like a “beneficiary with someone about an Assignment should I designate different designation” in that it is effective upon form, please contact the Marketing amounts/percentages among your passing and permits you to Director or Accounting Assistant at your them? community. u With the end of the year rapidly approaching, it’s a great time to check one more thing off your list — make sure your wishes are respected and your family is protected by completing our Assignment of Amounts Due Resident Form (or reviewing your current Assignment form to make sure it is still correct). If you pass away while a resident of a PMMA® Community, this form will permit you to assign all refunds due to you to the persons specified in your form.
4
designate who will receive all amounts due to you from your PMMA Community (for example, any refunds of your entrance fee deposit or monthly fees). Your Assignment form is revocable and can be changed at any time, so you are not locked if your circumstances change.
COMMUNITY MATTERS | December 2021