Kansas Senior Press Service Weekly Newsletters Kansas Senior Press Service Weekly Newsletters By Kansas Senior Press Service
Everyone agrees that hand-washing is the most effective way to prevent the transmission of disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sites five common household scenarios in which disease-causing germs can be transmitted by contaminated hands.
Hand-washing can prevent the transfer of germs. The CDC recommends vigorous scrubbing with warm, soapy water for at least 15 seconds. For more information, contact your local public department or other health care professionals.
By Kansas Senior Press Service
If you plan to buy toys for grandchildren or others this holiday season, here are some tips from the National Safe Kids Campaign:
For more information, check with child health educators at your local public health department.
By Wanda Bates
Kansas Senior Press Service
A recent cartoon shows Grandma sitting in a rocking chair and a little child saying to another child, “Don’t ask Grandma anything about ‘old times’ if you have anything to do the rest of the day.”
Having lived a long time, I have a large store of memories from which to cull bits as the spirit directs. My own memories go back to 1918, when I was 3 years old and a little boy kissed me at a birthday party, causing tears and humiliation for me as the grownups laughed and applauded.
I have a faint memory of World War I, when my brother took me to Main Street following the Armistice to watch as people were given rides in a large Army tank. I can still picture an open-topped Maxwell auto that my father had.
I well remember Lindbergh’s flight across the ocean. My father came home in some excitement from being uptown and hearing the news. He exclaimed, “Lindbergh got across!” Many people around the world were thrilled by this accomplishment.
I don’t remember that our small town was greatly affected by the 1929 stock market crash, except that everyone lived through the Depression years afterward. We had large gardens and meat was available from area farms, so we didn’t have food shortages. Years later, I did learn that a local man almost lost his clothing store in those days.
Things that were important to me in my early days were learning to do the Charleston (that took practice!), going to movies, and finally being emancipated from wearing long winter underwear. The legs of that garment came down to the ankles, and black stockings were pulled up over them. I hated having to wear the outfit, and before entering the schoolroom I would pull the legs of the underwear up to my knees and under my dress. Before going home and facing my mother, I would try to put them back down under the black stockings. Eventually I was allowed to quit wearing them. That was a good day!
Movies that I found thrilling in the ’20s were “The Mark of Zorro,” with Douglas Fairbanks; “Seventh Heaven,” with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor; and any picture with Clara Bow, (“The ‘it’ girl”). Gloria Swanson was a popular actress at that time as well. Songs popular at that time were “Let the Rest of the World Go By,” “Whispering Hope,” and “My Wonderful One.” Those were the days of “flappers” — women who wore short skirts and cloche hats. In 1931, women wore Empress Eugenie hats — a style, copied from the wife of Napoleon, which tilted over the right eye and was often trimmed with feathers.
One event of the ’20s that is worth remembering is the visit to our town of an evangelist named Owen Mickel. He was a real cowboy and he dressed as one, wearing leather chaps. He told many stories of his ministry to hard-bitten cowboys and their religious conversions. With him was his teen-aged son, Owen Mickel Jr., who wanted to be called Montie Mickel. This slender, handsome, guitar-playing young man caused many a heartthrob among us preteen girls. He later became famous as Montie Montana in a number of cowboy movies, and some of us feel we “knew him when.”
During the Depression days, nobody had much money and prices were low. I bought a pair of saddle shoes for $2.50. The price of a dress was in that range, too. Hamburger cost 10 cents per pound and liver was given away for free. Salaries were at rock bottom. While in college, I lived with my two married sisters and their husbands. Both of the men were graduate students with stipends of $66 per month. My sisters had taught school but were not permitted to continue after they married, because during the Depression years, jobs went to the men.
There was no air conditioning and there were many days with temperatures of over 100 in the summers of the 1930s. I remember the five of us stretched out on the floor of a second-story apartment, trying to sleep with the help of a large oscillating fan borrowed from the Physics Department at the local college. I also remember my brothers-in-law going out at night and helping themselves to grapes grown by the college and bringing them home to be canned and made into grape juice.
Because I was able to show financial need when in college, I was given a secretarial job at the local radio station and my fees were reduced. This was a part of the fee-exemption program that helped students make it through.
It was a difficult time, but a simpler time. There was good in it, and the best of it was that we were young!
Wanda M. Bates lives and writes in Manhattan, Kan.
By Kansas Senior Press Service
Are you asking where you can go to learn about your pension plan, what your pension rights are under federal law, or how you can get the benefits you’ve earned? If so, consider using the resources of The Midwest Pension Rights Project (MPRP).
The MPRP helps people interpret their pension plans, recover their pension benefits and locate lost pensions — all at no cost. This wonderful resource provides a range of free and confidential pension counseling services to workers and retirees. MPRP will:
The Midwest Pension Rights Project also provides:
The project serves Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Arkansas and Mississippi and other states
without their own Administration on Aging pension projects. All work is handled over the telephone and services are provided at no fee. The Midwest Pension Rights Project can be reached toll-free at 877-725-1516.
These articles are also available electronically at the Center on Aging Website: http://www2.kumc.edu/coa/Senior_Press_Article/Topic_Index.htm