MAY 2016
plus! The magazine for active, mature lifestyles
9 page
Sherwood yodeling champ still making music
50 plus!
INSIDE
2 The Savvy Senior:
Booster shots 3 Rahr-West program aims to help dementia patients 4 ‘Blaze a Trail’ during Older Americans Month 5 Lighthouse keeper’s daughter 7 Variety of factors prevent some people from working longer 8 Puzzles 9 ON THE COVER: Sherwood yodeling champ still making music 10 Puzzle Answers 11 Ex-Packer McCoy, wife knew his time was short
Jim Miller
Syndicated columnist, NBC Today contributor & creator of SavvySenior.org
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.
Dear Conscious, Most people think vaccinations are just for kids, but adults, especially seniors who tend to have weaker immune systems, need their shots, too. Here’s a rundown of what vaccines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend for seniors 65 and older, and how they’re by Medicare. Booster shots recommended for seniors covered Flu (Influenza): While you probably Dear Savvy Senior, already know flu shots are recomI just turned 65 and would like to find out what types of mended every fall to all seniors, you vaccinations are recommended to Medicare beneficiaries, and may not know that those older than 65 how they are covered. — Health Conscious also have the option of getting a high-
Cover photo: Musician Bonnie Lou Bishop played and sang across the state before moving to Nashville for years. After performing around the country, she’s moved back to Sherwood and performed at a benefit for St. John-Sacred Heart Parish at High Cliff Supper Club, Saturday, March 19, 2016, in Sherwood, Wisconsin. (Ron Page/ USA Today Network-Wisconsin)
Staff
Brandon Reid, editor Herald Times Reporter 920-686-2984 breid@manitowoc.gannett.com 50 Plus! is published monthly by the Herald Times Reporter Media. It also is distributed to select businesses in Manitowoc County.
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dose flu vaccine instead of a regular flu shot. This vaccine – known as the Fluzone High-Dose – has four times the amount of antigen as a regular flu shot does, which creates a stronger immune response for better protection. All annual flu shots are covered under Medicare Part B. Td/Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis): A one-time dose of the Tdap vaccine, which covers tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough) is recommended to all adults. If you’ve already had a Tdap shot, you should return to getting a tetanus-diphtheria (Td) booster shot every 10 years. All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover these vaccinations. Pneumococcal: This vaccine protects against pneumonia, which kills about 50,000 Americans each year. It’s now recommended that all seniors, 65 or older, get two separate vaccines – Prevnar 13 and Pneumovax 23 – at different times. Medicare Part B covers both shots if they are taken at least 11 months apart. SAVVY SENIOR continued on page 3
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Shingles (zoster): Caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox, shingles is a painful, blistering skin rash that affects more than 1 million Americans each year. All people older than 60 should get the Zostavax vaccine, even if they’ve had shingles before. All Medicare Part D prescription drug plans cover this one-time vaccination, but coverage amounts and reimbursement rules vary depending on where the shot is given. Check your plan. Hepatitis A: This is a two-dose series of shots recommended to adults who have chronic liver disease, a clotting-factor disorder, have same-sex male partners, illicit injectable drug use, or who have close contact with a hepatitis A-infected individual or who travel to areas with a high incidence of hepatitis A. These shots are covered by Medicare Part D drug plans. Hepatitis B: This three-dose series is recommended to adults who are on dialysis, have renal disease or liver disease, are sexually active with more than one partner, have a sexually transmitted disease or HIV. These vaccinations are covered under Medicare Part B. Meningococcal: Adults 56 and older,
who have had their spleen removed, have certain blood deficiencies or plan to travel to parts of the world where meningitis is common, should receive the meningococcal polysaccharide vaccine. This is covered by Medicare Part D. To help you get a handle on which vaccines are appropriate for you, take the CDC’s What Vaccines Do You Need? quiz. Also, talk to your doctor during your next visit about what vaccinations you should get. If you can’t remember which vaccines you’ve already had, check with your past doctors to see if they have any records, or contact your state’s health department. Some agencies have vaccination registries (see vaccineinformation.org/state-immunization-programs) that may help you. If you can’t locate your records, your doctor can give you blood tests to see if you’re immune to certain vaccine-preventable diseases. Or, they may just give you the shot. It’s safe to repeat vaccines, according to the CDC Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.
Rahr-West program aims to help dementia patients USA TODAY NETWORKWisconsin
Rahr-West Art Museum is hoping to help dementia patients through a returning program. With help from a Bader Philanthropies grant, the museum is bringing back SPARK, which is designed for adults struggling with memory loss and their caregivers. SPARK takes place at 11 a.m. on the third Thursday of every month at the museum, 610 N. Eighth St., Manitowoc, and lasts about an hour and a half. The program offers participants an opportunity to enhance their quality of life through discussions, social engagement, mental stimulation, multi-sensory activities, art projects and communication. Activities are always different and include gardening, exploring the “DOCUMERICA” exhibit on loan from the Smithsonian and pottery painting. Led by instructor Heather Nelson, each
month has a different theme and art pieces at the museum often will be discussed during the sessions. The Rahr-West is a new member of the SPARK Alliance, a group of cultural organizations across Wisconsin and Minnesota committed to offering quality programming for people with memory loss. For more details and a complete schedule, visit www.rahrwestartmuseum.org or call 920-686-3090. Registration is appreciated, but not required. Free transportation is available for those who qualify, but arrangements must be made in advance.
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‘Blaze a Trail’ during Older Americans Month By Cathy Ley Older adults are a growing and increasingly vital part of our country. The contributions they make to our communities are varied, deeply rooted and include influential roles in the nation’s economy, politics and the arts. From 69-year-old NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. to 84-year-old actress Rita Moreno to 83-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice at age 60, older adults are blazing trails in all aspects of American life. In 1963, we began to acknowledge the contributions of older people by using the month of May to celebrate Older Americans Month. Led by the Administration for Community Living, the annual observance offers the opportunity to learn about, support and celebrate our nation’s older citizens. This year’s theme, “Blaze a Trail,” emphasizes the ways older adults are reinventing themselves through new work and new passions, engaging their communities, and blazing a trail of positive impact on the lives of people of all ages. While the ADRC of the Lakeshore provides services to older adults yearround, Older Americans Month is a
great time to think about how older adults in our community are leading and inspiring others. So, how can you “Blaze Your Trail”? How about Blazing a Trail to Wellness? Although Americans are living longer these days, more are developing chronic illnesses. Do illness and aging go hand-in-hand? The answer is a surprising, but resounding, NO. It is never too late to get more active or revamp your diet. Small things can lead to huge differences in the way you feel and the way your body works. The ADRC of the Lakeshore has some great Wellness/Prevention Programs that can help you. Living Well, Living Well with Diabetes, Stepping On, and Powerful Tools for Caregiving are some of the classes we offer in conjunction with community partners. How about Blazing a Trail to Civic Engagement? Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the lives of community members. Community service and volunteering are common ways to refer to this engagement. No matter what you call it, older Americans are doing it, and in higher numbers than ever before. How about getting involved? The ADRC of the
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tion happens when someone improperly uses your money or property for his or her benefit. Keep all important financial paperwork in a safe place. Examine bills and bank statements and report any unauthorized activity. Use direct deposit for paychecks, Social Security and pension payouts, and tax refunds. Direct deposits are the best way to protect your money in transit. Do not provide personal information, like your Social Security number or bank account numbers, without verifying who needs it and why. To avoid scams and financial exploitation, do not provide information by phone. Never send anyone personal information to collect a prize or reward. If you are concerned about financial exploitation, you can contact the ADRC of the Lakeshore at 920-683-4180. How about Blazing a Trail to our Healthy Aging Expo? This event will be from 9 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, June 14, at City Limits Bar & Banquet Hall, 3627 County Road CR in Manitowoc. This event was formerly the Senior Health Fair. Our new focus is to promote preventive health services and individual wellness with an interactive approach through daily lifestyle activities. Light refreshments will be served and door prizes available throughout the event. Please mark your calendars to join us and start blazing your trail! For questions or details about any of these Trailblazing Ideas and Topics, contact the ADRC of the Lakeshore at 920-683-4180. Have a great Older Americans Month!
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Lakeshore has many volunteer opportunities. Schedule volunteer opportunities and times that fit your lifestyle and the time commitment you want to make. What are the benefits? Volunteering can lead to improved physical and mental health. Older volunteers report greater life satisfaction than non-volunteers. New relationships and making a difference provide a greater sense of purpose. Research suggests those who volunteer are more likely to live longer. How about Blazing a Trail to Reinvention? Many retirees are finding new inspiration in second careers, helping others, discovering new interests and pursuing dreams. Reinventing yourself can be fun and rewarding. Even better, it is also good for your mental and physical well-being. Whether you are planning for retirement or simply looking to get involved in new activities, start by thinking about your skills, dreams and passions. Careers after retirement can be rewarding, personally and financially. Keep learning and growing and consider using your years of experience to serve others. This helps to keep your mind active, maintain physical help, provides structure and routine, connects you with the community, promotes social activity and can prevent isolation. Connect with the ADRC of the Lakeshore to find programs and services in your community. How about Blazing a Trail to Securing Your Finances? You have worked and saved for years, so you want to make sure your finances are secure. The vast majority of people who will help you handle your money have good intentions, but everyone is at risk for financial abuse. Financial exploita-
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The lantern of the Rawley Point Lighthouse has six light bulbs in the middle and rotates 24/7 and the present optic system was installed in 1987. The panoramic photo of the lantern room was taken on Tuesday, March 29. (Yi-Chin Lee/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Lighthouse keeper’s daughter Wisconsin woman left behind memories of life at Rawley Point SARAH KLOEPPING USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Vivian Langer was a shining light in her family. During good times, she glowed. In bad, she protected and guided. Perhaps it’s because she never knew a life without the light — growing up as a lighthouse keeper’s daughter in Wisconsin. “Even in good weather, (my dad’s) thoughts were with those who sailed,” she wrote. “We witnessed responsibility and duty each day, and were taught good values to live by for the rest of our lives.” Though Langer died three years ago at age 86, her story lives on through memories she wrote to share with her family. Spring 1941 was the first time 15-yearold Langer saw Rawley Point Lighthouse — then known as Twin River Point Light Station. Her father, Charles Linsmeier, had a career with the U.S. Lighthouse Service for decades. He was transferred to Point Beach State Forest north of Two Rivers after one of the keepers died of a heart
attack from a climb to the top. “Vivian really treasured her childhood being raised at a lighthouse,” said her husband Norbert Langer, 89. “She just had Lake Michigan in her blood.” Linsmeier’s first assignment with the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1902 was North Manitou Island in Northern Lake Michigan, followed by Cana Island and Chicago. Langer and her brother, Chuck, were born while Linsmeier was stationed at North Point in Milwaukee. The family then spent some years at Sheboygan Harbor Light Station, where Langer’s mother died, before moving to Rawley Point. “Despite our sadness, we managed quite well,” she wrote. “Dad was able to handle his lighthouse duties and keep an eye on us. He knew how to cook, wash clothes, clean and take care of everything we needed due to his long years in the service. On the islands, the men could bake bread and exist quite well, even if they were alone.” The Rawley Point station had living quarters for three families. Linsmeier
The Rawley Point Lighthouse stands 113 feet tall at Point Beach State Forest on Tuesday, March 29 north of Two Rivers. The lighthouse keeper’s house has been divided into three living quarters and is currently used as a vacation rental for U.S. Coast Guard personnel. (Yi-Chin Lee/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
Lighthouse continued on page 6
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Lighthouse continued from page 5 became head keeper, with two other men working as assistants to cover a 24-hour watch rotation and handle maintenance of the property. “The three keepers seemed to be busy all the time. In addition to all the maintenance work, the men stood watch on a rotating basis covering 24 hours,” Langer wrote. “When my father became officer-in-charge, and even in later years as he was in his early 60s, he reserved for himself the dangerous job of painting the lantern room roof.” Jutting out into Lake Michigan’s churning waves from Point Beach’s sandy shore, the beacon — which was manually operated until 1980 — can be seen by ships 28 miles away. Built in 1894, the 113-foot tower is the tallest octagonal skeletal lighthouse on the Great Lakes. “They had a regime of cleanliness and order at the lighthouse and it was passed on to the children that lived there also,” said Norbert, who now lives in Lakewood. “There were things expected of the children, things expected of the families and the place was supposed to be
ready for inspection at any time. And it was.” Langer described Rawley Point as beautiful and isolated. Clothes hung on a line flapped madly in the strong winds in summer. Snow-covered sand dunes were often visited by the children and their strap-on skis in winter. “The men would keep us spellbound with stories of their old sailing and lighthouse days,” she wrote. “After cookies and cocoa, we would all settle down in our own beds (except the keeper on watch) while the wind howled around the light and dwelling as only it could ... at Twin River Point.” Norbert, who met Vivian in high school, remembers visiting her at the lighthouse. On Sundays, they’d walk the trails of Point Beach, then have dinner with her father, stepmother, Chuck and half-sister, Judy. “For some reason or other, her stepmother was comfortable with me,” Norbert said. “Her father thought maybe we were seeing too much of each other. That’s the way fathers are, right?” Linsmeier retired in 1953. He was one of Rawley Point’s last keepers, as the
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The weathered railings of the Rawley Point Lighthouse gallery deck, at Point Beach State Forest north of Two Rivers, are original parts when the lighthouse was built in 1894. (Yi-Chin Lee/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
beacon was eventually automated. Today, the U.S. Coast Guard keeps the light on. And the living quarters are used as vacation rentals for retired and activeduty military and their families from around the country. But the wind still whistles and the tower’s spiraling metal stairs continue to clang with every step.
“I am so happy to see an active interest in lighthouses nowadays,” Langer wrote. “I really believe that people see something there that shows an unselfish dedication to keeping people safe — a guiding light in good weather and storm.” Reach Sarah Kloepping at 920-686-2105 or skloepping@ htrnews.com.
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Variety of factors prevent some people from working longer Ill health, layoffs send some into retirement early ADAM ALLINGTON Associated Press
YPSILANTI, Mich. - Earl Johnston was 12 when he got his first job, a paper route that he quickly expanded by “buying out” additional routes from other, less industrious boys. After high school, he enrolled in a program to become an industrial electrician. “With that journeyman’s card in my back pocket, I never had trouble finding work — ever,” he said. Like many people in the prime of their working life, Johnston, now 56, always thought he would have plenty set aside for retirement, and if he didn’t, he could always work a little longer. “At least up to 65,” he thought. What Johnston didn’t plan for was the degenerative spinal condition that made being on his feet for a 12-hour shift all but impossible. “I could be making lots and lots of money right now, but nobody in manufacturing is going to hire a 50-something guy who can’t stay on his feet,” he said. On its face, Johnston’s story might be chalked up to simple bad luck. But it serves as an example of the rapidly changing expectations that seniors have for being able to work well past traditional retirement age, and in some cases, dismissing the idea of retirement altogether. According to the 2015 Employment Benefit Research Institute Confidence Survey, the percentage of workers 25 and over who planned on working past 65 has increased steadily from 11 percent in 1991 to 36 percent in 2015. But those expectations aren’t always achievable. The University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study found that 37 percent of respondents didn’t reach the retirement age they had set when they
were 58. “The first, and maybe the most obvious explanation people give for early retirement is health,” said Boston College research economist Geoff Sanzenbacher, co-author of a working paper investigating causes for this mismatch between retirement expectations and reality. “People don’t fully grasp how big an impact health has on your ability to work,” he said. “You may be 58 and have some arthritis, but you don’t fully appreciate how much that could affect you going forward.” The second most common reason was layoffs or business closings, followed by familial factors, such as a spouse retiring, he said. The average retirement age has been inching up for years now. People are living longer, tend to be more educated and have better access to white collar jobs that don’t require a lot of manual labor. Women are also reaching older age with more skills and longer work histories than their mothers and grandmothers. Even as roughly two-thirds of workers do make it to the age they planned to retire, a report by the Hamilton Project at Brookings Institution suggests that a growing percentage of them are entering retirement on shaky financial footing. There’s also the perception that working longer is the best way to bridge the gap between retirement needs and resources. “It’s become a kind of BandAid solution to growing concerns many workers have about retirement readiness,” says Ruth Davis Konigsberg, a contributor to Money.com and a director at Arden Asset Management. “In some cases, working longer can help, and there certainly are other benefits to working longer, but we can’t just extend our working lives indefinitely. There is just too much uncertainty in that scenario.”
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Crossword
sudoku 29 Just scrapes by 31 Meatloaf serving 33 The -- the limit! 35 “Meet Me -- -Louis” 37 Two-piece part 38 Climb 40 Pamplona’s place 42 Ancient 43 College stat 44 Mexico’s Sierra - 47 Went to see 51 Soaked 53 Boldly attempt 54 Sault -- Marie 55 Deadlocked 56 Shah’s land 57 Mind reading 58 Frisky 59 After deductions
ACROSS 1 Four qts. 4 Tax pros 8 Foot digit 11 Pyramid builders 12 Lamb’s alias
13 Hematite 14 Doozy 15 Dame Fortune (2 wds.) 17 Mildly 19 Smidgens
20 Cote murmur 21 Dynamite letters 22 Pleasure craft 25 Trends 28 Forensic science tool
DOWN 1 France, long ago 2 Jean Auel heroine 3 NASA event 4 String quartet member 5 Stage show 6 Help 7 Uttering 8 Advertise 9 Fierce whale
HOW TO PLAY: Each row, column and set of 3-by-3 boxes must contain the numbers 1 through 9 without repetition.
10 Mouse alerts 11 Diamond org. 16 Water lily 18 Be overly fond 21 Flip a coin 22 NFL gain 23 “Puppy Love” singer 24 Low-lying islands 25 Peddle 26 Island near Corsica 27 Graceful wrap 30 Tenderhearted 32 Not allow 34 Disdain
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Musician Bonnie Lou Bishop performs in Sherwood, Wisconsin. She played and sang across the state before moving to Nashville for years. After performing around the country, she’s moved back to Sherwood and performed at a benefit for St. John-Sacred Heart Parish at High Cliff Supper Club, Saturday, March 19, 2016, in Sherwood, Wisconsin. (Ron Page/USA Today Network-Wisconsin)
Sherwood yodeling champ still making music
JIM COLLAR
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
SHERWOOD – Life has been quieter for Bonnie Lou Bishop in recent years, though every new day is just as much a blessing as the big moments under country music’s brightest lights. The 71-year-old Sherwood singer survived ovarian cancer in the 1980s, and then took a late shot at Nashville glory. She went on to compile a biography that includes the 1992 Grand National Yodeling Championship and performances at the Grand Ole Opry. On March 19, her stage was decidedly smaller, but she was all the same thrilled to perform at a benefit for her hometown St. John-Sacred Heart School.
“I had a wonderful time,” Bishop said. “It was unbelievable. There were people who hadn’t seen me in 30 years who came out.” Bishop, who’s been back in town for six years now, continues to keep her feet in the music scene — albeit in smaller ways — after a late-blossoming Nashville career. She’s performed with the likes of Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle. She played big stages during 18 years in Music City and often on the road in locales that included Branson and Las Vegas. She met childhood heroes such as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Today, she’s happy to make big dif-
ferences in small places, whether it’s a school benefit, an occasional senior citizens night or at a Fox Valley Memory Cafe for those with dementia. Marianne Wnek, an organizer of the March 19 St. John-Sacred Heart benefit, said the energy in the building was palpable. “We had an incredible turnout and there was so much excitement,” she said. Bishop spoke with warmth of a performance for a dementia patient in Appleton last year that showed the power an old country song can yield. She was able to draw an emotional response from the woman, and from a family that hadn’t seen such an engaged expression in a long time.
“When you can do something like that, it’s worth more than any money could buy,” Bishop said. ‘The mother church of country music’ Bishop and her band, the Ramblers, were mainstays of Wisconsin’s country music scene and performed throughout the Midwest for decades. Bishop said her cancer experience was a turning point in her life. A doctor gave her two months to live. She found a new doctor willing to take on the fight and she emerged from an aggressive chemotherapy regimen he said would “either kill you or cure you.” With a new lease on life, she waded into Nashville’s waters while in her 40s. yodeling continued on page 10
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Yodeling continued from page 9 She entered contests and was happy to take home restaurant gift certificates as prizes. She built relationships and slowly built a reputation. There was nothing, she said, like stepping onto the stage of Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium. “It’s the mother church of country music and I got to play there,” Bishop said. “You can feel the aura and the spirit of all the people who’ve come before you.” It was almost overwhelming, she said. “There aren’t any drugs that could get you that high,” Bishop said. “It’s one of the most wonderful feelings you can have.” ‘I’ll keep on singing’ Bishop doesn’t overlook the importance of family. She said her grandparents set the roots for her achievements decades before she arrived in Tennessee. They were country music fans in the Nashville area and took in musicians for the night after they’d perform in the region. Enter Patsy Montana — a yodeler, and today a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Montana, who died in 1996, entered the record books as the first female country musician to sell a million singles with 1935’s “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.” She wrote with fondness of the Bishop family in her autobiography. “I could always count on a family gettogether, complete with home cooking and homemade ice cream,” Montana wrote of Bishop’s grandparents.
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Bishop recalled approaching an 82-year-old Montana in Nashville — six decades later — wondering whether she remembered her grandmother. Of course she did. Bonnie Lou Bishop “She took me (Courtesy of Bonnie Lou Bishop) under her wing,” Bishop said of Montana. “I traveled with her on the road and I learned a lot.” Janet McBride, 82, a Texas Grand Champion yodeler who spent her own time in Nashville, became acquainted with Bishop through Montana. She played guitar for Bishop during her championship yodeling performance. “She’s just one of those people who everybody loves,” McBride said Monday. It’s different now, but for yodelers two decades back “they’d come from all over the country,” McBride said. “They’d come from everywhere.” With Bishop, who returned to the Fox Valley to care for a loved one, the conversation always comes back to family. She recalled a discussion with her late father about what she should do if he were to die on a day she was scheduled to perform. Her father told her to sing. “I’ll keep on singing for him, for my mom and my whole family,” Bishop said. “I’ll keep on singing until I can’t sing anymore.” Jim Collar: 920-996-7206 or jcollar@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @JimCollar
Ex-Packer McCoy, wife knew his time was short Mike C. McCoy, a former Packers defensive back, died Feb. 20 from complications of dementia. He was 62. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
At first, she thought he was just absentminded. When they went to the grocery store, he’d always have a list, even if it was for three or four items. After they were married, she realized it was serious, but it took Janet Dinsmore McCoy a year to get husband Mike to see a doctor, where they learned that at age 52 he had dementia. Mike C. McCoy, a former Green Bay Packers defensive back, died Feb. 20 in Thornton, Colo., the result of complications of the degenerative brain disease. He was 62. “He kind of lost his common sense. His decision-making skills went away,” McCoy’s wife said. McCoy was not diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a progressive degenerative disease found in people who have had severe blows to the head, because no autopsy was performed. Janet McCoy said her husband began filling out the paperwork required to be checked, but in the end decided against it. Boston University researchers found evidence of CTE in 90 of 94 former NFL players studied, including Lew Carpenter, a Vince Lombardi-era Packers running back and later a coach, and Hall of Famers Junior Seau and Ken Stabler. CTE — which can lead to depression, lack of impulse control and dementia — can be detected reliably only in postmortem examinations. Football is not the only sport in which concussions are an issue, but as the most popular American sport, it is in the spotlight. McCoy played eight seasons in Green Bay, from 1976-83. He was drafted in the third round out of Colorado with the 72nd overall pick. He had 97 starts in 110 games and intercepted 13 passes, including four in 1977. He also recovered five fumbles and averaged 22 yards as a kickoff returner. McCoy went to the playoffs once, with the 1982 Packers team in the strike-shortened season. Janet Dinsmore knew Mike McCoy for years before they started dating. Four years later they were married. And a year after that, a doctor told Janet they would have 10 years together, which proved prescient. Three and a
half years ago, McCoy moved to an assistedliving facility. “That was probably the hardest part,” Janet McCoy said. “It was a tough decision. We cried.” McCoy was fortunate in that he continued to recognize friends and loved ones. “He remembered everybody,” said friend and former teammate Willie Buchanon, now a real estate broker in San Diego. “He was always positive about his whole situation. He knew things were changing in his body and his mind. He just kept his sense of humor.” McCoy was not one to tell football stories unprompted and told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2015 that his proudest moment was saving a man from drowning in Shawano Lake in 1980. When McCoy walked away from football, he walked away, he told his wife. “After we got married and he moved his stuff into my house, that’s when I found all of the articles and the pictures and plaques,” she said. “I said ‘Dude, you were good. I didn’t know you were good.’ That’s when he’d tell me stories.” McCoy walked away from football, but not from his Wisconsin friends or his football friends, several of whom spoke at his memorial service. “I will miss him,” Buchanon said. “I could talk to him every time and he’d cheer me up.” And sometimes they’d do the same for him. Buchanon and McCoy talked during Super Bowl week and McCoy was cheery, but a couple of weeks later sounded a little down, Buchanon said. Buchanon arranged a conference call with McCoy and another of their friends to cheer him up. Janet McCoy said the women working at the assisted-living center loved his attitude and his sense of humor, which is what attracted her as well. “They would even talk to him about their dating problems,” she said. Word of McCoy’s condition spread across the network of former NFL players, and the Gridiron Greats organization contacted them. “Through word of mouth, they found out my husband had dementia and immediately called me and asked what they could do for me,” McCoy’s wife said. “At the time, I didn’t need any financial assistance. The fact that
they reached out to me made all the difference.” Gridiron Greats was founded by retired Packers guard Jerry Kramer with the proceeds from the sale of a replica Super Bowl ring. The board of directors includes Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers, Marv Levy, Kyle Turley and Matt Birk. Retired players can receive temporary assistance for medical costs as well as some of the basic necessities of life, including but not limited to food, housing, transportation, clothing and other basic needs, the organization’s website says. In addition to financial support, Gridiron Greats assists with the coordination and resourcing of other types of assistance that may be available through a variety of agencies and social services. Efforts are also made to secure pro bono medical care, medications and other needs specific to the player. The NFL has a spotty record on the issue. It was slow to accept — or admit to — the effects of concussions. A lot was made recently of the fact an NFL official explicitly acknowledged a link between football and CTE for the first time, though that seems largely a legal distinction. The league already had changed rules and enacted new medical protocols that clearly acknowledged the need to treat concussions and blows to the head with greater care. But no NFL official had gone on the record as saying football plays a role in CTE or other lasting effects caused by concussions before Jeff Miller’s statements during a congressional committee round table March 14. Miller is the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety. Miller told the committee that the issue’s
entire scope needs to be addressed. “You asked the question whether I thought there was a link,” he said. “Certainly, based on Dr. (Ann) McKee’s research, there’s a link, because she’s found CTE in a number of retired football players. I think that the broader point, and the one that your question gets to, is what that necessarily means and where do we go from here with that information?” Knowing more about concussions doesn’t necessarily mean young men will abandon football, Given a second chance, McCoy would have played the game again. “He said he would have (still played football). He said that as a kid, that’s what he dreamed of,” Janet McCoy said. Buchanon isn’t surprised. “That’s all of us athletes. I still would play football,” Buchanon said. “The big issue was they were not telling us what the issue was. They were giving us smelling salts and telling us to get back into the game. Even if they had told me ... I would have been protective about not tackling with my head.” Buchanon is critical of the NFL for taking so long to acknowledge the issue, but he’s worried that recent rule changes are taking the aggressiveness out of football. Just as McCoy had no regrets about playing football, his wife doesn’t regret marrying him. “I loved him. It didn’t matter,” she said. “The neurologist said I’d have about 10 years with him. Ten years goes by so fast.” USA TODAY and The Associated Press contributed. Contact rryman@greenbaypressgazette.com and follow him on Twitter @RichRymanPG, onInstagram at rrymanpgor on Facebook at Richard Ryman-Press-Gazette. Or call him at (920) 431-8342.
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