Wichita Presbyterian Manor
Living out ‘response ability’ NOVEMBER 2021
New assisted living resident spent a lifetime building machines, restoring cars Wayne Orr’s father inspired his interest in restoring old cars. His father gave him a Ford Model A to get him started, and Wayne went on to work on the restoration of about seven more. The new resident of the assisted living neighborhood at Wichita Presbyterian Manor grew up on a farm in Fall River, Kan. When he was 14, his family moved to Wichita. Wayne finished his education at East High School and graduated with a machinist’s certificate.
Wayne worked on cars he didn’t own, too. Here he’s pictured standing by one of the oldest cars he’s ever helped restore, a 1919 Ford Model A.
He began a long career with Blanchat Machine Company at the age of 15, after the owner called the high school to ask if there were any experienced students who might be interested in machine work.
By Mary Bridges, chaplain NOTE: Our featured chaplain for November is Mary Bridges, chaplain at Salina Presbyterian Manor. Each month, we share a devotion from one of the chaplains around the PMMA® system in a nod to our faith-based roots in the Presbyterian Church.
My father, Henry, was an eighth-grade graduate and smarter than anyone I have known. He was a lifelong Lutheran. He did not verbalize his faith or quote scripture; he simply lived it, every day. He cared for my grandmother when she lived alone. She was eventually diagnosed with dementia and moved into a nursing home. My father continued to visit her, even though she didn’t recognize him and no longer spoke. My father loved the land. After he retired from active farming, he leased a small amount of land north of Russell on Salt Creek. There he had a huge garden, and he shared his garden produce with everyone. One year, he raised turkeys. That November, he and my mom cleaned and dressed more than 20 turkeys, which my father distributed to family, friends, and people he knew were struggling. He reserved one of those turkeys for a man who stopped to help my father change a tire earlier that year. That Thanksgiving season, and every day, my father exercised what the Rev. Richard J. Fairchild calls our “response ability” that is the result of His goodness.
Wayne says everyone enjoys riding in this 1930
Restorations – Model A roadster, which he sold to his daughter for continued on page 2 the grand total of $2.
Response ability – continued on page 4
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Restorations – continued from page 1 Wayne drove the motorbike he built to the interview. “Mr. Blanchat came out to see my motorbike, and he thought it was manufactured,” he said. “When I told him I built it, he said, ‘You’re hired.’” “The labor board even fined him because he hired me too young,” Wayne chuckled. Blanchat was a small shop on West Maple Street that specialized in making gear boxes for aircraft. Wayne worked there until the owner died, then he bought the place. For a time, Wayne had a side business that complemented his hobby: he manufactured overdrives for Model As. He served as the president of the Sunflower Model A club in Wichita. The group had up to 50 Model A owners, although many members owned more than one.
This 1931 Model A is one of Wayne’s favorites. He recently sold it to a buyer in West Virginia.
His interest in Model As led to a fascination with the life and work of Henry Ford. Wayne has visited The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., a suburb of Detroit and Ford’s hometown. He’s read a lot about the man and even met his sons.
he knew it was time to let it go.
“I’ve studied him,” Wayne said. “He wasn’t the nicest guy, but he did a lot of work.”
“I told them I wouldn’t give them a car, so I sold them each for $2,” Wayne said.
Wayne recently sold his last Model A, a four-door with a slant windshield, to a buyer in West Virginia. Though it was his favorite,
Since his children have carried on the Orr family passion for cars, he still has trips to look forward to. u
“I still have all the pictures,” he says. And he still has vintage cars in the family. Wayne sold his daughter his Model A roadster (“the classiest one”) and his son purchased a Ford coupe.
“You can’t have just one, you have to have two or three,” Wayne chuckled. The car club members frequently got together to drive. Every year, Wayne took a longer tour with friends. One year, he drove one of his restored vehicles to Vancouver, Canada, and back.
Although Wayne specialized in Model As, he restored other kinds of Fords, too. Pictured here are a 1936 Ford coupe and a 1949 Ford Skyliner convertible with a hard top. 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
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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 | November 2021
Celebrating Kansas by Car By Stephanie Bergmann, independent living sales and marketing director I have a confession to make. As much as I love beer, I am just as apt to drink a Bud Light as a craft brew. My palate is simply not that sophisticated. Yet I love visiting breweries all over Kansas because of their friendly and often funky vibe. Like the crazy names of their lagers and ales, each taproom has its own personality. And many times, the owners have quite a backstory. They come from very different careers to turn a home-brewing hobby into their livelihood. It’s a leap of faith I can appreciate and support with every glass of beer I raise! Two good examples are breweries that sit on the outskirts of Wichita. Walnut River Brewing Company opened in 2013 in El Dorado. The owners chose the location specifically because of the goodtasting water there. Each of its three owners left jobs in corporate IT, pharmaceuticals, and a daycare business to pursue their dream of making and selling their own line of
beers. Eight years later, Walnut River now produces several, including the most popular, Warbeard Irish Red, along with seasonal brews, like Maniacal Monk and Re-O-Ranged. The owners opened a second taproom, the PourHouse, in Wichita’s Old Town district, but I still prefer the original site. The building used to house a brothel during Prohibition, when police worried more about shutting down bars than prostitution. I can’t resist the irony! Another favorite brewery of mine was almost a casualty of the pandemic. Hank Is Wiser Brewery in Cheney closed for 15 months, but recently reopened — much to the relief of locals. Its owner, Hank Sanford, had defied the odds before, when he started the nanobrewery in 2005. He suddenly quit his longtime career at age 62, without consulting with his wife first. “I had to convince her that Hank was wiser!” laughed Sanford, and the bar name was born. The brewery is now a family affair,
Hank Is Wiser Brewery in Cheney, Kan., is named for the brewery’s founder, who quit his job to start a brewery without checking with his wife first. He had to “convince her (I) was wiser,” Hank Sanford says.
with Hank’s wife, Jane, waiting on customers, and their son, Steve, cooking ribs so tasty they have their own loyal following. Customers drive from all over Kansas to sample the barbecue, the beer, or both. Hank Is Wiser is only open Friday and Saturday nights from 5:30 – 11 pm. Plan ahead, take a road trip and enjoy a beer and business that were a long time in the making. u
Walnut River Brewery (above and right) opened in El Dorado because the owners liked the taste of the water there. Its original location is full of eclectic décor. The brewery recently opened a second taphouse in Wichita’s Old Town district called the PourHouse.
Wichita Presbyterian Manor | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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Response ability – continued from page 1 “Our ancestors in faith — from Sarah to Mary and from Abraham to Jesus, all were convinced that God is the source of everything, and that by graciously giving all things to us, God provides us with a response ability,” Fairchild writes. That’s the ability to respond to God and to others, Fairchild says. God hopes we will use this ability “for the good that he intends for us and for the good that he intends for our neighbors and our world.” My father grasped this innately, and we all felt it: his family and his neighbors, certainly, and I firmly believe he showed the world God’s great goodness. I wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings. I will close with more wisdom from Rev. Fairchild: “In the hard times you see, we still have so much, we have life, no matter how slenderly we may hold to it, we have family and friends, no matter how scattered, we have community, no matter how it is organized and we have the presence of God and the promise of Jesus Christ that when we seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, that all that we need will be added unto it.” u
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COMMUNITY MATTERS | November 2021