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Vol 44 No. 8
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Largest Newspaper
July 2023
How old is too old?
Seniors weigh in on age of presidential canidates
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By Mary Clarkin good and have a lot of time ahead of How does a senior voter view a me,” said Tobey, an artist. “I would senior candidate running for president think he could do a good job,” she of the United States? said of a candidate in his 80s. She is It depends. hesitant, though, because of the toll In 1984, President Ronald Reagan the presidency could take on health. sought a second term at age 73. He “It’s not like someone like me who can captured the older voters. In 1996, work hard and rest awhile.” presidential candidate Sen. Robert “When people get to that age, Dole, 73, lost the 60-and-over voter some folks are really sharp and some, group. not so much,” said Harvey County President Joe Biden, Commissioner Don 80, and former President Schroeder, 72. Donald Trump, 77, “If someone’s really are leading contenders sharp and think they in the 2024 race for a have the energy to do presidential term that it, I really don’t have an would end in January issue with it. The thing is 2029. sometimes the energy goes “Bugs me sometimes down, and four years can when people talk like make a big difference in anybody over 65 is how they are physically,” elderly,” said Ruby Tobey, Schroeder said. “My only Sherry Phillips: 80 is caveat to that would be I 86, Wichita. “I feel like I’m doing an "arbitrary number." would hope they would understand that if they decline physically and mentally, then they would give up that office.” Odean Moore, 88, of Wichita, worked for the federal government and then gave care to others. She didn’t fully retire until her late 70s. Her advice to a candidate at or near See Age, page 7
Photo by Travis Heying/Wichita Eagle
Before firing this as yet unnamed piece, sculptor Conrad Snider plans to install a bigger doorway to his kiln.
THINKING BIG
Sculptor specializes in art people can touch The Active Age NORTH NEWTON—Sculptor Conrad Snider doesn’t mean to sound rude, but if people want to hire him to make pieces to their exact specifications, he has a customary response. “I usually tell them they need to take a ceramics class and make it for themselves,” he said. “I don’t have enough time left in my life to make things that I don’t have a personal connection to.”
Part of the North Newton resident’s interest in sculpting is the ideas behind his work and where they come from. It’s not following someone else’s plan. However, he’s done a lot of public art projects, such as a recent installation for a sculpture tour in Salina, and he’ll work with communities to determine what’s unique about them or a particular building and have a back-and-forth See Sculptor, page 6
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Sweet honored by med school By Joe Stumpe Dr. Donna Sweet is known for a number of things: training hundreds of physicians as a faculty member at KU School of Medicine-Wichita, pioneering care of AIDS/HIV patients in Kansas and serving at the highest level of national medical organizations. Then there's the leg wrestling party she hosts for medical residents each winter. “It’s a traditional Christmas party
to help preserve wildlife and leg wrestling,” she explained. “We give trophies. People are very proud of their leg wrestling trophies. There are a lot of physicians around town who have them.” With contributions from many of those physicians, KU Wichita this year established an honorary award for medical students and residents named See Sweet, page 20
Questions about services?
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging/Sedgwick County Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Drs. Donna Sweet, left, and Jennifer Jackson during graduation ceremony last month.
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800-279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655