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Vol 44 No. 10
www.theactiveage.com Kansas’ Largest Newspaper
October 2023
Retired prof captures crowd, spelling bee title
See Fitness, page 7
By Joe Stumpe Think all spelling bee champions are overachieving middle schoolers with minds racing as fast as their metabolisms? Meet Charlie Hunter, who won KMUW’s first spelling bee last month at age 77. Granted, the event was an adult spelling bee, but Hunter still bested a field made up largely of twenty-, thirty- and forty-somethings. He became a crowd favorite in the process, with the audience at Wichita Brewing Company’s event center chanting “Charlie! Charlie! Charlie!” each time he approached the microphone. “There were some good competitors there,” Hunter, a retired biology teacher at Southwestern College in Winfield, said. “It’s a matter of — I wouldn’t say luck — it’s a matter of fortune.” Hunter admits he was nervous going into the competition, even emailing an employee of the public
By Joe Stumpe Standing near where he and other young Wichitans made history 65 years ago, Galyn Vesey recalled the steadying influence of lawyer Chester I. Lewis during the Dockum Drug store sit-in. There had been threats from some white residents opposed to the lunch counter’s desegregation, and if violence broke out, the police response wasn’t hard to imagine. “Chet reassured us more than once, ‘If you have to go to jail, I will get you out,’” Vesey said, using Lewis’ nickname. No one went to jail, and the young black protestors eventually succeeded in desegregating the lunch counter, the first successful sit-in of its kind in the United States.
Lewis’ role in the Dockum sit-in is one of several civil rights battles highlighted in the newly remodeled Chester I. Lewis Reflection Square Park at 205 E. Douglas Ave. A ribbon cutting was held last month at the park, which sits half a block from the former site of the Dockum Drug store, now home to the Ambassador Hotel. The green space now features a house-like structure and six tall vertical structures emanating out from it, meant to symbolize the opening of its roof and walls. The vertical structures contain artwork, photographs and text detailing Lewis’ life and work, which included helping desegregate the city’s facilities, schools, work force and housing. Speakers likened the park
Photo by Amy Geiszler-Jones
From left to right, Amy Schafter (partially obscured), Jan Fleming, Lynnie Wills, Steve Montague, Lois Graham and Nancy Montague circle the track at the Steve Clark YMCA.
Fitness and friendship
15 years of early-morning workouts bind group
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By Amy Geiszler-Jones More than just physical fitness motivates a group of Wichitans to hit the gym at 5:45 a.m. three days a week. They've found friendships and — whether they know it or not — maybe a boost of mental health wellness.
The group’s members first came together in September 2008 when Steve Rainbolt, Wichita State University’s director of track and field, started a community exercise program called Shocker Fitness. At its peak, 398 people were showing up for workouts at Cessna Stadium. The
Courtesy photo
Charlie Hunter battled Alicia Chennell in the finals of KMUW's adult spelling bee last month. radio station that he was “a little concerned. I don’t know if I’m going to be out of my league." See Spelling, page 8
Park newly honors civil rights pioneer
Questions about services?
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging/Sedgwick County Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
Chester Lewis to an open-air museum and said they hope it teaches and inspires future generation. District 1 City Councilman Brandon Johnson See Lewis, page 4
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800-279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655