New Horizons Newpaper

New Horizons A publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging

October 2011 VOL. 36 • NO. 10

ENOA 4223 Center Street Omaha, NE 68105-2431

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Correspondent Leo Adam Biga profiles Howard Silber. The native New Yorker – who was wounded during WWII – had an exciting 34-year career as a journalist with the The Omaha World-Herald covering stories like the Charles Starkweather murders and the Vietnam War. Page 12

Net results Every Tuesday morning Millard Senior Center at Montclair participants play an exciting game of chair volleyball.

Peggy Clark is seen here serving the ball during a recent contest.

Page 7

One good turn…

Russell Hanten creates beautiful bowls and a variety of other wooden items in the basement workshop at his Bennington home. The soon to be 80-year-old has been woodturning since 2005.

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free CarFit inspection to help older adults drive safer and longer will be held in the parking lot south of the Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center on the Methodist Hospital campus at 84th and Dodge streets on Saturday, Oct. 8 from 9 a.m. to noon.

CarFit is the first program that improves an older adult’s proper fit inside their vehicle. Developed by the American Society on Aging in collaboration with AAA, AARP, and the American Occupational Therapy Association, CarFit is an educational program designed to help older drivers find out how well they “fit” with their vehicles and what actions might be taken to improve this fit. A proper fit inside a car can greatly increase the driver’s safety and the safety of others who share the road.

CarFit includes a 12-point check to ensure older drivers are sitting properly in their vehicle and that the driver’s seat, seat

belt, mirrors, steering wheel, head restraint, gas and brake pedals, and other controls are positioned properly.

Specially trained volunteers and health professionals such as occupational therapists and driver rehabilitation specialists administer each CarFit evaluation.

Trained technicians representing AARP, Methodist Hospital Occupational Therapy, and the Creighton University School of Occupational Therapy will perform the 12-point checks that take approximately 20 minutes.

Participants should call AARP at 402398-9568 weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to register for the event. Early registration is encouraged.

Each CarFit participant will receive a complimentary large print road atlas and other useful safety items from AAA. To learn more about the CarFit program, visit www.car-fit.org.

Make a donation to help support the

“Voice for Older Nebraskans!”

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Membership includes a subscription to the New Horizons newspaper.

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The Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging would like to thank Jake Panowicz – chief executive officer of PhysMed, Inc. Home Health Care – PhysMed, Inc. Home Health Care, the sponsors, participants, prize donors, and volunteers for making the first annual PhysMed, Inc. Home Health Care Where You’re Family charity golf tournament a huge success.

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New Horizons

Held Sept. 1 at the Indian Creek Golf Course in Elkhorn, the event raised $4,500 for the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging’s chore services program.

ENOA’s chore services program provides snow and ice removal, lawn work, pest control, SPONSORS post-storm clean up, and some minor home PhysMed Inc. Home Health Care repairs that don’t require a permit or a licensed professional.

Quality Government Solutions These services are designed to keep older AC Awards adults in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Cass, and Washington counties living in their own homes AIM Enterprises for as long as possible.

United Health Care & Retirement The Spring Clean foursome of Mike Coleman, Ben Cruise, Loren Koenig, and Jim Fisk Dial Senior Management took home the $3,000 first prize in the best ball Heritage Assisted Living Communities tournament.

OK Printing The Skeeter & PK Show’s Patrick Carels, Chris Gall, Eric Skidmore, and Jeff Hofferber St. Joseph Tower Assisted Living finished second among the event’s 17 foursomes.

AOI Corporation “I can’t thank Jake and PhysMed, Inc. Home Aureus Medical Group Health Care enough for selecting ENOA to be the beneficiary of the money raised at the golf Leading Edge Printing tournament,” said Dennis Loose, ENOA’s interim executive director.

PRIZE DONORS “Chore services are greatly needed by the Cheesecake Factory older men and women in our service area, and the $4,500 raised will be go a long way in helpBrewski’s ing our agency promote independence and dignity within the area’s older population,” Jason’s Deli Loose added.

PhysMed, Inc. Home Health Care “For an inaugural golf tournament, I was fairly pleased with the turnout. ENOA was a Johnny Rodgers great partner for us and we hope to work with them in the future,” Panowicz said.

October 2011

New Horizons Club

I get the New Horizons regularly and don’t need to be put on the mailing list.

PhysMed’s golf outing raises

ENOA’s Interim Executive Director Dennis Loose (far left) and PhysMed’s CEO Jake Panowicz (far right) with the winning foursome of (left to right): Mike Coleman, Ben Cruise, Loren Koenig, and Jim Fisk.

today!

New Horizons is the official publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging. The paper is distributed free to people over age 60 in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Washington, and Cass counties. Those living outside the 5-county region may subscribe for $5 annually. Address all correspondence to: Jeff Reinhardt, Editor, 4223 Center Street, Omaha, NE 68105-2431. Phone 402-444-6654. FAX 402444-3076. E-mail: jeff.reinhardt@nebraska.gov Advertisements appearing in New Horizons do not imply endorsement of the advertiser by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging. However, complaints about advertisers will be reviewed and, if warranted, their advertising discontinued.

Display and insert advertising rates available on request.

Open rates are commissionable, with discounts for extended runs. Circulation is 25,000 through direct mail and freehand distribution.

Editor..............................................Jeff Reinhardt Ad Mgr................Mitch Laudenback, 402-444-4148 Contributing Writers......Nick Schinker, Leo Biga, Barc Wade, & Lois Friedman Fremont Delivery.........................Dick Longstein ENOA Board of Governors: Mary Ann Borgeson, Douglas County, chairperson; Ron Nolte, Cass County, vice-chairperson; Bob Missel, Dodge County, secretary; Jim Warren, Sarpy County & Jerry Kruse, Washington County.

The New Horizons and the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging provide services without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, disability, or age.

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New Horizons

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Page 3

Join the hunt for haunts of the area’s unworldly beings

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By Barc Wade

The park’s main entrance near the cliff presents a row of tall trees f someone says: “You look whose limbs bend over the road like you’ve seen a ghost,” it’s forming a living tunnel, supposedly probably because you look shaped that way because the tree as white as a ghost. You’ll branches were frequently used by probably blame it on an upset racists and lynch mobs to hang stomach. men and women. Some claim the The question then becomes, “Do screams of victims can still be ghosts come in colors?” Of course heard. they do and they also come as Then there are the Morphing babies, men, women, and even pets. Stairs, a long staircase of native They haunt houses, castles, hotels, stones that leads down to a valley. cemeteries, and more. And then The term refers to being of a free there are ghosts that are transparent; form. In this case it revolves around you can see right through them. how many staircase steps there Ghosts show up in all sorts of are. The claim is people who climb places. Shakespeare frequently these stairs often count a different found them. The one I remember number of steps on the way down most is Banquo’s ghost who hides and when they climb back up. in the pages of Hamlet waiting to Add to this the experience of some get even with the play’s hero. people who claim no matter how “The Bard” also had pity for many times they climb and count the shadowy figures, declaring in the steps, the numbers change.

Hamlet, “Alas, poor ghost!”

The valley, once reached, is the Classical playwright Henrik Ibsen site of a stone shelter house known declared in his play Ghosts, “There as the Devil’s Den. In the past it was must be ghosts all over the world.” often spraypainted with swastikas One thing of which you can be and inverted pentagrams, marking sure is thousands of ghosts suddenly this place as the site of occult appear around Halloween. Pay an rituals, said to be verified by the admission and you can find them in remains of sacrificial animals. empty houses and buildings where Hummel Park has also been fundraisers and moneymakers involved in two highly reported delight in scaring the bejabbers out murders. In 1983, Laura LaPointe, of visitors along darkened hallways, a prostitute, was sexually assaulted closets, and basements. Strange there and then robbed of $25 by figures spring out emitting ghostly four other prostitutes. wails. These are make-believe More recently, the sad case of ghosts.

Amber Marie Harris, who was For the real thing, however, you abducted on Nov. 29, 2005, came don’t have to look far. to an end when her remains were Hummel Park in far north Omaha found at a Hummel Park shallow is said to be a place where you can grave location on May 11, 2006. have a haunting good time. Clinging Local ghost hunters report unexto Missouri River bluffs and plained magnetic readings and smothered with century-old trees, ghostly apparitions within numerous it’s a true beauty spot but also has a Hummel Park areas. dark past.

Other locations of haunted Some historians believe the locations in the Omaha area are park’s 200 acres of steep hills and reported at the end of this article. valleys was a Native American burial ground. History does know Ghosts behind bars it was the site of Jean Pierre in squirrel cage jail Cahanne’s Trading Post in 1823.

On Hummel Park’s east side f you want to test your own alongside John J. Pershing Drive, is belief in ghosts, consider a steep cliff known as the Devil’s visiting the famed Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs on Oct. 8. That’s when Amber and Steven Tracy host an all-night vigil in the unique 1885 jail at 226 Pearl St. They say the dark-of-the-night adventure will start at 8 p.m. and last ‘til sunrise or “until the last guest goes screaming from the jail.”

The jail, the only of its kind left in the United States, is unique in its construction. Built as a three-tier jail with 10 cells on each floor, it was designed to continuously rotate, powered by a water wheel in the basement.

The theory behind the squirrel The Morphing Stairs at cage was all the prisoners could Omaha’s Hummel Park. be accounted for from a single Slide. Erosion shaped the cliff location. Theory didn’t make it which got its name from stories, so, as the 45-ton cellblock was so true or not, of multiple suicides by heavy it had failure after failure. people who flung themselves off the The ultimate failure came when a cliff. prisoner died in his cell and it took

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several days to get him out, as they had to cut through the heavy steel to reach him. The experiment ended when the jail was closed in 1969 but since then has been a major Bluffs tourism site.

In all, there were four deaths in the jail, including one inmate who hanged himself. Ghosts of all four are said to roam the jail.

A fourth floor in the jail was developed as a residence for the jailkeeper, one of whom refused to live there because of strange goings-on, such as lights going off and on, ghostly footsteps, and other unnatural happenings.

For more information about the sleepover, please call 888-446-7859 or log on to www.bumpinthenight. net/cage.html.

interest to those who remember the late 1957 beginning of the killing spree.

Sites of multiple murders were at the Belmont area home of Fugate’s family where Starkweather killed Caril’s stepfather, mother, and 2-1/2-year old sister, and the southeastern Lincoln French provincial home of prominent businessman Lauer Ward. Ward, his wife Clara, and housekeeper Lillian Fend were the murder victims.

Other spooky places in the Capitol City include the ghost of a maintenance man who died in the State Capitol Building, another ghost at Wesleyan University, weird things in Antelope Park, and an unexplained “cold spot” at 20th and Washington streets.

One ghostly place of special Site of Iowa’s worst interest to me is the World Theatre mass murder in my hometown of Kearney. It was where I took the girl who illisca, Iowa, 70 miles later became my wife on our southeast of Omaha first date. Built in 1922 and now was the site of the worst closed, a team of 20 investigators incident of mass murder of paranormal events visited the in the state’s history. theatre a year-and-a-half ago. What It occurred at the home of J. B. they encountered was a strange blue Moore where eight people were light, described as round and the bludgeoned to death with an axe on size of a softball appearing out of June 10, 1912. nowhere, floating in mid-air up and The bloody axe that doomed its down a stairway. victims was found in a first floor A second blue ball of light bedroom near the bodies of Lena appeared and prompted questions Stillinger (age 11) and her sister Ina from the visitors, asking the eerie (8) who were visiting the Moore’s. figures to respond to questions by The other six victims were found in blinking once for no and twice for upstairs bedrooms: Josiah B. Moore yes.

(43), wife, Sara (39) and children “How old are you?” was asked of Herman (11), Katherine (10), Boyd the first light. Six blinks. “Are you (7), and Paul (5). boys?” Both blinked once.

No one was ever charged with the The answer to the gender crime. questions led to speculation it has The house has been refurbished something to do with two little girls to appear as it would have in the that played in the theater where early 1900s. It’s part of a site known their parents performed as actors. as the Olson/Linn Museum and Axe The investigation was made at the Murder House. urging of former employees of the Reports of unworldly experiences theater who claimed witnessing have led investigators to report “weird things” going on. a feeling of heaviness around Can this phenomenon repeat the main stairwell and changing itself? appearances in upstairs bedrooms at The answer is unknown because night. Video, still photography, and the theater has been gutted to make electronic audio equipment have way for a $600,000 renovation recorded unusual phenomena. which will turn it into an art house The nightly 2 a.m. transit of a featuring classic movies and train is said to trigger phenomena live performances. The drive to with the sounding of its whistle, raise money for the old theater’s including light fog filling the resurrection campaigned with master bedroom. The fog is then the slogan “Save the World.” Its said to move from room to room, first effort set a goal of $75,000 duplicating the route of the killer but raised nearly $200,000. The moving through the house. Finally, county’s tourism bureau and the the fog dissipates and the sound state department of economic of what some visitors claim to be development pledged substantial dripping blood can be heard. amounts to get the project underway.

Lincoln, Kearney The new “World” is expected spooky goings-on to open in mid-2012 with its $3 admission fees kept low to make n Lincoln, Nebr., the sites it more attractive to visitors. Its involved in the killing spree original seating capacity of 625 is of Charles Starkweather and being reduced to around 300 and it accomplice Caril Fugate are is hoped that the theater will have included in some tours of the 3D capabilities; too. It will be open Capitol City. It was Nebraska’s on weekends and for special events worst series of homicides ever, with only.

11 left dead. The tour is of special --Please turn to page 5.

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October 2011

Some spooky places to visit...

--Continued from page 4.

T

Nearby Grand Island is a spooky place

he September/ October 2010 issue of Nebraska Life, highlighted author Alan Bartel’s “search for ghosts and ghastly stories” in Nebraska’s 4th largest city.

Among the spooky happenings: • A ghostly figure of a mourning mother pacing at Witches Bridge locaterd at 9 Bridges Road, where legend states her infant fell into the Platte River never to be seen again. Some say the faroff crying of a baby can be heard at night.

• At the Yancey (Hotel) Building where there’s a prankster presence that knocks on the walls, walks through apartments with heavy steps late at night, and leaves fingerprints several stories up on the outside windows.

• The Blue Moon Coffee Company where employees speak openly of strange happenings that take place before the daily lunch rush.

Some believing the spirit of a young girl lingers near the old candy counter.

• The former Grand Army of the Republic Hall where Gerald, the kindly spirit of an old man lives and makes his presence known with the faint smell of cigar smoke.

• Perhaps one of the spookiest places in Grand Island is The Chicken Coop, a popular restaurant where a ghost whistles.

Strange things also go on in its basement which was said to have once been a

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brothel and later a morgue where bodies were hung from shackles during the embalming process. Dine there and employees can fill you in on the ghostly affairs that take place there.

• Other Grand Island spook-sites include the Grand Theatre where the Midwest Paranormal organization has held several ghost hunting workshops, and at Grand Island Senior High School.

If you’re not a subscriber to Nebraska Life, back copies are on file at Omaha libraries.

As always, I urge those interested in the many untold stories of Nebraska history and about current attractions to subscribe to this excellent magazine.

For more information or to subscribe, please call 800-777-6159 or log on the Internet to NebraskaLife. com.

For an excellent review of ghostly Nebraska, go to Google and search for “Haunted houses &

Ralston Senior Center October 2011 events calendar

places in Nebraska.”

Choose “Haunted Places in Nebraska by Shadowlands.”

Among the listings: • Bellevue: East High School, the College Heights Housing Area, Fairview Street, Gilbert Pool, Jewel Park, and John Rice Library.

• Blair: Several sites at the closed Dana College.

• Fremont: Barnard Park, Midland University, and the waste treatment plant.

• Lake Waconda: Hannah’s Grave.

• Louisville: Ball Cemetery.

• Nebraska City: 7 Sisters Road • Omaha: Alpha School, Brother Sebastian’s Restaurant, Central High School, Lynch Park, the O’Hanlon House, Omaha South High School, and the White House Apartments.

• Plattsmouth: Main Street brick tunnels.

• Platteview: Fairview Elementary School.

• Valley High School.

• Waterloo Middle School.

You’re invited to visit the Ralston Senior Center, 7300 Q St., Suite 100 (attached to the Ralston House Apartments).

An annual membership is available to anyone age 55 or older for $10.

Activities include games, cards, exercise classes, monthly birthday parties, speakers, line dancing on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 10 a.m., entertainment, and bingo on the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 1 p.m.

Visitors also have an opportunity to check out books from the center library.

Trips to the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa for $5 are tentatively scheduled to resume after Interstate 29 reopens following the recent floods.

Each Wednesday a catered lunch from the Justin Thyme Café is available at the center for $4. Reservations – which are required by noon on Tuesday – can be made by calling Joan at 402-592-3362.

A variety of volunteer opportunities are also available at the Ralston Senior Center.

For more information, please call 402-339-4926.

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When paranormal events investigators visited Kearney’s World Theater they encountered a strange blue light floating up and down a staircase.

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AARP Nebraska needs executive council members ARP Nebraska is seeking leadership volunteers who are concerned about issues facing people age 50 plus to serve on its statewide executive council.

The executive council carries out AARP’s strategic priorities within the state under the guidance of the state president and state director. Council members understand and support the mission of AARP “to enhance quality of life for all as we age, to lead positive social change, and to deliver value to members through information, ad-

vocacy and service.”

They provide leadership in the state planning process and assist in defining major Independent living means having areas for action in the areas of legislation, options. And advocacy, education, and volunteer involveThe Wellington offers so many — stimulating activities, ment. help when want it and Executive council volunteers are you appointunlike mostwith places,an privacy ed for a one or two-year term, op- when you need it. tion to renew, for a maximum of six years.

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New Horizons

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Page 5

Older adults can enjoy a variety of activities at the Millard Senior Center

T

he 24-inch beach ball is inflated. A net, rising five feet about the polished basketball court, is put into place. Two rows of four folding chairs each are positioned on one side of the net. On the other side of the net, four folding chairs fill up the back row.

The front row features three folding chairs and an empty place for Betty Hopkins and her rollator.

It’s Tuesday morning at the Millard Senior Center at Montclair, 2304 S. 135th Ave., and its chair volleyball time!

Center participants have been playing chair volleyball each Tuesday for the last three months, according to center manager Rita Mathews. Sharon Scott and Peggy Clark – who spend their winters in Clearwater, Fla. – brought chair volleyball back with them when they returned to Omaha this spring.

For 75 minutes, the gym

was filled with laughter as the yellow, green, and pink beach ball was volleyed back and forth. At times, the ball seemed to dance on top of the net.

“What’s the score,” asked several of the players as they rotated from one chair to another.

“It’s 8 to 8,” Mathews announced.

The final score was 2117. Within minutes, it’s unlikely the 14 women and two men who competed that day cared about who won the game.

“This is good exercise,” Donna Nelson said.

“Playing chair volleyball makes you forget your ailments,” Scott added.

“I enjoy the exercise and the laughter,” Hopkins said. “I haven’t laughed this much in years.”

Chair volleyball is just one of the activities offered at the Millard Senior Center, which is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Older

adults can also participate in a walking club, Wii sports, card games, bingo, a health maintenance clinic, and an 11:30 a.m. lunch.

A $3 donation is

suggested for the meal.

Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch the participant plans to enjoy.

Round-trip transportation

to and from the center is also available.

For meal reservations or more information, please call Mathews at 402-5461270.

Millard Senior Center at Montclair participants play chair volleyball Tuesdays.

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Page 7

Read it & eat

By Lois Friedman readitandeat@yahoo.com

Have a fabulous fall with these recipes These dazzling cookbooks are sure to please and are wonderful additions to your fall cooking adventures.

Winter Harvest Cookbook

By Lane Morgan (New Society, $24.95) Go local with this 20th anniversary edition. Over 200 recipes for gathering goodies from fall gardens and farmers’ markets organized in Ingredients, Recipes, and Ideas/ Resources sections. Vegan, Vegetarian and Gluten-Free icons.

Cooking from the Garden From Kitchen Garden magazine ($29.95, Taunton Publishing) Showcases fresh, seasonal, unfussy and uncomplicated recipes from foodie readers. From Arugula BLT to Zucchini Pickles.

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New Horizons

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October 2011

Harvest to Heat

By D. Estrine & K. Kochendorfer ($40, Taunton Publishing) Celebrates over 100 chefs and artisans (sources list names, addresses, and websites) their stories, and ingredient driven recipes gathered from New York City and coast to coast. The way food is grown and how chefs turn it into amazing dishes. Six chapters. Inspiring photographs.

The New Comfort Food From Saveur magazine (Chronicle, $35) Over 100 reginal and international recipes curated by the editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine. Fabulous photographs, fascinating sidebars stories. Comfort food from all over the globe.

The Simple Art of Eating Well Cookbook

By Jessie Price (Countryman Press, $35) A wake-up call to make over 200 tested and dietitian approved recipes with nutritional information from the pages of Eating Well magazine. Tips, tools, techniques, and icons sprinkled throughout to help you cook more healthfully.

This appetizer recipe can be made with a few ingredients from your pantry. Serve with whole wheat pita bread or cut up vegetables.

Classic Hummus Makes 1 1/2 cups 1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 3 tablespoons extra-virgin oil 1 tablespoon tahini 1/2 teaspoon salt With the motor running, drop garlic through the feed tube of a food processor fitted with a steel blade attachment; process until finely minced. Scrape down the sides of the workbowl and add chickpeas, lemon juice, oil, tahini and salt. Process until completely smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary, 1 to 2 minutes.)

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Fremont Friendship Center

Enroll Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 Medicare Part D enrollment, plan reviews available during October, November, December Older adults who want to enroll in a Medicare Part D insurance plan, have their current Medicare Part D plan reviewed, or change Medicare Part D providers are invited to visit one of the sites listed below on the dates and times shown.

Free assistance from trained counselors will be available. To make an appointment, please call Volunteers Assisting Seniors at 402-444-6617.

This year, the Medicare Part D enrollment dates are Saturday, Oct. 15 through Wednesday, Dec. 7.

In 2012, there will be changes in the Medicare Part D insurance plans including some of the medications covered and in the deductible and co-payment amounts.

When enrolling in Medicare Part D, to have your Medicare Part D plan reviewed, or to change Medicare Part D

providers, beneficiaries should: • Gather a list of their medications (including doses and when the medications are taken), provide the names of their health care providers (physicians, pharmacies, etc.), and bring any notices they have regarding changes in their Medicare Part D policy from their provider, Social Security, or Medicare.

• Be prepared to compare their Medicare Part D policy to other Medicare Part D policies based on costs, coverage (are your providers part of any plans you’re considering?), and customer service.

• Bring their Medicare card and their Medicare Part D card (if they have one).

Here are the dates and times trained counselors will be available to help older adults enroll in a Medicare Part D insurance plan, have their current Medicare Part D plan reviewed, or change Medicare Part D providers.

Monday, Oct. 17 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd Street • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 3 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 18 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 7 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd St. • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 19 Fremont Friendship Porgram 1730 W. 16th St. (Christensen Field) 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 8 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 20 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 9 Lakeside Hospital 16901 Lakeside Hills Circle 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 24 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd Street • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 19 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd St. • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 25 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 21 Papillion Public Library 222 N. Jefferson Street 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 26 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd Street • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, November 29 Lakeside Hospital 16901 Lakeside Hills Circle 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 27 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m.. to 4:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 1 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd St. • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 28 Bellevue University Library 1000 Galvin Road 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 2 Immanuel AgeWell 6801 N. 67th Plz. • Suite 100 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 31 Volunteers Assisting Seniors 1941 S. 42nd Street • Suite 502 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 6 Papillion Public Library 222 N. Jefferson Street 12 to 4 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 1 Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 2 Fremont Friendship Center 1730 W. 16th Street (Christensen Field) 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

You’re invited to visit the Fremont Friendship Center, 1730 W. 16th St. (Christensen Field) to socialize, enjoy a nutritious, delicious meal, exercise, play pool, visit the computer lab, have a cup of coffee and a donut, play cards, etc. The facility is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. A $3 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to enjoy. A supper club is held Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.

This month’s activities include: • Oct. 5: Music by Physha with Classic Impressions @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 6: The Neals’ Sock Hop Music Show @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 12: Music by organist Lottie.

• Oct. 13: Music by Johnny Ray Gomez @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 19: Music by accordionist Charles @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 20: Annual spaghetti feed from 5 to 7 p.m.

Tickets are $6. Proceeds will benefit the Fremont Friendship Center.

• Oct 27: Music by Roger Webb @ 10:30 a.m.

For meal reservations or for more information, please call Laurie Harms at 402-727-2815.

Nicholas Halbur

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October 2011

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Page 9

Learn how to feed your pets properly

Heartland Family Service Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Heartland Family Service Senior Center, 2101 S. 42nd St. for the following: • Oct. 5: Skutt High School students will visit to provide manicures and play games.

• Oct. 6: Methodist College nursing students will visit.

• Oct. 7: Trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo. The cost is $3 for the bus (leaves at 10:30 a.m.) and $2 for the zoo’s tram.

• Oct. 13: Birthday party featuring music by Charlie Glasgow from the Merrymakers @ 12:45 p.m..

• Oct. 16: Decorate pumpkins with the Student League and enjoy a spaghetti dinner from 3 to 5 p.m.

• Oct. 18: Red Hat Society meeting @ Gusto’s Cuban Restaurant @ 79th & Harrison streets.

• Oct. 31: Halloween party. Trick or treat in the Heartland Family Service building. Best costume awards.

The facility will be closed on Oct. 10 for Columbus Day. The Heartland Family Service Senior Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch is normally served at noon. A $3 donation is suggested for the meal.

Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to attend.

A nurse visits Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon.

Regular activities include free Tai Chi classes and bingo.

For meal reservations or more information, please call Karen Sides at 402-553-5300.

By Carol McNulty

J

ust as humans need a balanced diet and adequate exercise to maintain good health, companion animals need the same.

According to Lisa Karr-Lilienthal, extension companion animal specialist, about 50 percent of dogs and cats in the U.S. are overweight and a lot of this is due to being overfed. People should read pet food labels and follow feeding guidelines.

However, pet owners should also keep in mind the guidelines are only an estimate and their pet might need more or less than the recommended amount of pet food.

A less active pet will need less food than recommended by feeding guidelines and vice versa. To know how much to feed your pet, monitor the percent of fat it has.

If the pet is gaining weight or is already overweight, you might want to feed it less or switch to a lower calorie diet.

Pet foods vary widely in prices as well as quality. Pet food that costs less tends to be lower in quality, which means they have more filler ingredients or fiber. Pets may need to eat a larger quantity of such food to be satisfied. Lower quality feed also leads to more stool output than a higher quality diet.

More expensive pet foods are usually higher in quality. They tend to promote positive health and pets don’t need to eat as much to feel full. In the long run, this may save pet owners more money than the less expensive pet foods.

When looking for pet food, KarrLilienthal says to read the ingredient list and look through the guaranteed analysis, which shows the percentage of protein, fat, fiber, and other nutrients in the feed.

Sometimes pet foods have more fat in them than the pet needs, but this fat makes the food taste better. Avoid feeding your pet food that is high in fat or simple sugars.

Pet junk foods such as treats are also a common problem in promoting unnecessary weight gain. Like human junk food, treats are high in sugars and fat and are not suitable for regular consumption because they don’t provide a balanced diet for pets.

However, Karr-Lilienthal tells us treats are useful as motivating tools for training animals, so reserve treats for that purpose only. If possible, use the pet’s daily food as a treat. Just pull out a few kibbles from your pet’s daily meal for training, as opposed to giving them other sugary, fatty treats.

In addition to feeding pets the right amount of the right kind of food, pet owners should also strive to feed their8:00 pets AM HorizonAD-2010:HorizonAD-08 2/4/10 on a regular schedule. Instead of always

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leaving a full bowl of pet food out, feed pets a measured amount of food twice a day, usually once in the morning and once in the evening. Feeding pets twice a day prevents them from overeating and from getting too hungry between meals.

For more information on a variety of subjects visit http://douglas-sarpy.unl.edu and www.extension.unl.edu.

(McNulty is an educator with the University of Nebraska extension office in Douglas and Sarpy counties.)

Chicken dinner set for Oct. 6 at Douglas County Health Center The Douglas County Health Center Foundation is sponsoring its sixth annual Fall Feast Broasted Chicken Dinner on Thursday, Oct. 6 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Douglas County Health Center, 4102 Woolworth Ave. The dinner will include broasted chicken, potatoes with gravy, a vegetable, stuffing, a salad, dessert, and a drink.

The cost is $8 for adults and $6 for children age 10 and younger. Tickets sold on October 6 are $9 for adults and $7 for children.

Dine-in, take-out, or curbside service are available.

For more information, please call Rosemary Swartzell at 402-444-7313.

Rebuilding Together Omaha applications are due Nov. 4 Applications for the 17th annual Rebuilding Together Omaha – scheduled for Saturday, April 28, 2012 – are due Friday, Nov. 4.

Low-income older adults (age 62 and older) and persons with a disability that live east of 52nd Street in Omaha are encouraged to apply for assistance with their home repairs.

Applications are available by calling Rebuilding Together Omaha at 402965-9201, through Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging case managers and service coordinators, the Visiting Nurse Association, or by calling 211.

In addition to meeting income guidelines, applicants must be unable to make the repairs themselves, and can’t afford to hire someone to do the work.

Repairs include plumbing, electrical, doors, locks, flooring, general clean up, and home modifications like ramps, grab bars, and improved lighting.

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Page 10

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New Horizons

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October 2011

Arthritis/Fibromyalgia Support Group to meet The Arthritis/Fibromyalgia Support Group welcomes Jeannie Hannan, wellness manager for the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Engage Wellness Program to its Oct. 25 meeting.

For more information, please call Kathy England at 402-292-1312.

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October 2011

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New Horizons

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Page 11

Silber reviews career on the battlefield, in the newsroom own insignificant place in ‘Bama football annals.

“I was almost a full-time bench warmer,” he said. “The talent level was higher than mine.” He played pulling guard at 170 pounds sopping wet.

S

ilber’s mother wanted him to be a doctor and like a good son he began pre-med studies.

He wasn’t far along on that track when the medical school dean redirected Silber elsewhere owing to color blindness. Medicine’s loss was journalism’s gain.

Why did Silber fix on becoming a newspaperman?

“I always had an interest in it.

My environment had been New York and jobs were hard to get in those days and it just never occurred to me I would try for one.

I was more interested in radio as a career. Actually, my degree is partly radio arts. I interned at WAPI in Birmingham and after three weeks I quit and went to work as a summer intern for the old Birmingham Post, a Scripps Howard paper, because it paid four bucks a week more. That’s how I got into print journalism.”

Silber became well acquainted with someone who became the face of the Jim Crow South -- George After growing up in New York City, Silber attended the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Wallace. When he first met him

By Leo Adam Biga to ports of call around the globe. hallowed Columbia University. though Wallace was just another Contributing Writer More than 60 by now they believe.

“I wanted to go to Columbia as a enterprising Alabama native son They’ve even gone on safaris in student, not as an athlete,” he said. looking to make his mark. t’s hard not viewing retired Kenya and South Africa. Their “They turned me down. I had all the “George Wallace and I shared Omaha World-Herald military Fontenelle Hills home in Bellevue grades but in those days most of the an apartment over a garage one affairs editor Howard Silber’s is adorned with artifacts from their Ivy League and other prestigious summer school session,” recalled life in romantic terms. Like a travels. schools had a quota on so many Silber. “I had known him a little dashing fictional adventurer he’s In truth, Silber’s been on the Jews they would admit per year.” bit before then. We became pretty spent the better part of his 90 years move since he was a young man, Columbia head football coach good friends. There was no sign gallivanting about the world to feed when this New York City native left Lou Cannon offered Silber a partial of bigotry at that time, and in fact his wanderlust. the fast-paced, rough, and tumble football scholarship. The proud I’m convinced to this day that his “A Band of Brothers” World War North for the slower rhythms and young student-athlete “turned it bigotry was put on for political II U.S. Army veteran, Silber was time-worn traditions of the South. down.” The way Silber saw it, “If purposes.” wounded in combat preceding the His itch to get out and see new they wouldn’t take me as a student Wallace ran at one point for the Battle of the Bulge. Soon after his places may have been inherited I didn’t want to go there as an (Alabama state) judiciary and his convalescence he embarked on a from his Austro-Hungarian Jewish athlete.” opponent was Jim Folsom, who distinguished journalism career. immigrant parents.

He said when the University of later became governor. After the As a reporter, the Omaha Press Growing up on the Upper Alabama in Tuscaloosa recruited defeat, Wallace publicly made a Club Hall of Fame inductee covered West Side of Manhattan, Silber several of Silber’s high school strong derogatory racial statement almost everything. He ventured to learned many survival lessons. teammates he opted to join them. about African Americans. the South Pole. He went to Vietnam His earliest years were spent in The school’s gridiron program Years before Wallace uttered that multiple times to report on the war. a well-to-do Jewish enclave. But under then head coach Frank comment Silber witnessed another He interviewed four sitting U.S. when the Depression hit and his Thomas was already a national side of him.

Presidents, even more Secretaries of fur manufacturer father lost his power. Silber enrolled there in 1939.

“We had our laundry done by State, and countless military brass. business, the small family – it was At Alabama his path intersected black women in town. Their sons He counted as sources Pentagon just Howard, his younger sister, and that of two unknowns who became would come around the campus, wonks and Beltway politicos. parents – were forced to move to “a iconic figures -- one famously, the even the athletic dorms, to pick up Perhaps the biggest scoop of his less attractive neighborhood” and other infamously. laundry. (A man named) Tony, a career was obtaining an interview one where Jews were scarce.

“Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant was my big lineman from West Virginia, with Caril Ann Fugate shortly after As the new kid on the block freshman football coach. I thought was always hazing them and finally she and Charles Starkweather were Silber soon found himself tested. he was a great guy. He did a lot George, who was on the boxing taken into custody following the “Fighting became a way of life. for me,” Silber said of the gravely team, wouldn’t take it anymore. He couple’s 1958 killing spree across It was a case of fighting or running voiced future coaching legend. went up to Tony ready to fight him, Nebraska. and I decided to fight,” he said. “I The Bear left UA after Silber’s saying, ‘We don’t treat our people A decade later Silber caught the had to fight my way to school a freshman year for Vanderbilt down here that way.’ I wouldn’t first wave of Go Big Red fever few times and had to protect my University. It was several coaching have wanted to get into a fight with when he co-wrote a pair of Husker sister, but after three or four of those stops later before Bryant returned to him. He was a tough little baby.” football books. fracases they left me alone.” his alma mater to lead the Crimson In 1968 the one-time roommates’ As Veteran of Foreign Wars Sports became another proving Tide as head coach, overseeing paths crossed again. By then publicity chairman he went to China ground for Silber. He excelled in a dynasty that faced off with the Silber was a veteran Worldwith an American contingent of football at Stuyvesant High School, University of Nebraska in three Herald reporter and Wallace a retired servicemen. a noted public school whose team New Year’s bowl games. Bryant’s lightening rod Alabama governor Even when Silber stopped captured the city championship Alabama teams won six national and divisive American Independent chasing stories following his 1988 during his playing days. An equally titles and he earned a place in the Party presidential candidate on a retirement, he kept right on going, good student, he set his sights high College Football Hall of Fame. campaign speaking tour stop in taking cruises with his wife Sissy when he attempted to enroll at Silber makes no bones about his --Please turn to page 13.

I

Page 12

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October 2011

Story reunited Howard, college roommate George Wallace

Howard’s resume includes writing pieces for magazines like Esquire and Reader’s Digest.

--Continued from page 12.

Omaha. Wallace’s abrasive style and segregationist stands made him a polarizing figure.

“Wallace’s advance man Bill Jones was a mutual friend and because of Bill I was invited into Wallace’s plane as it was sitting on the ground. George answered some local questions. He seemed familiar with local politics and the local situation and he was interested in agriculture. We talked for a good 15 or 20 minutes.”

That evening at the Omaha Civic Auditorium Wallace’s inflammatory speech excited supporters and agitated opponents. A melee inside the arena spilled out onto the streets and in the ensuing confrontations between police and citizens a young woman, Vivian Strong, was shot and killed by an officer, setting off a civil disturbance that caused serious property damage and looting in Northeast Omaha.

In some ways Northeast Omaha has never fully recovered from those and other disturbances that burned out or drove away business.

It’s the kind of story Silber liked to sink his teeth into.

Before ever working as a professional journalist Silber found himself, likes millions of others,

Silber at the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska.

caught up in momentous events that forever altered the course of things.

He was an undergraduate when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The call to arms meant a call to duty for Silber and so many of the Greatest Generation.

Boys and men interrupted their lives, leaving behind home, family, and career for uncertain fates in a worldwide conflict with no guarantee of an Allied victory.

“The day after Pearl Harbor hundreds of students went to the recruiting offices in Tuscaloosa.

The lines were terrible and finally several days later I got in. I wanted to become a Navy pilot but I was rejected because I was partly colorblind. So I entered the Army.”

At age 21 Silber went off to war in 1942.

“The university had a program where if you finished the spring semester and had so many hours you could enter the armed services and finish your degree by correspondence,” said Silber, who did just that.

His military odyssey began at Fortress Monroe, Va. with the Sea Coast Artillery. “We had big guns to intercept (enemy) ships,” he explained. “Because I had some college I was put in the master gunner section where with slide rules we calculated the azimuth and range of the cannon to zero in on the enemy ships that might approach. The Sea Coast Artillery was deemed obsolete by the emergence of the U.S. Air Force as a reliable deterrent force.

“I was transferred to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, an anti-aircraft training center (and a part of the country’s coastal defense network).

“I loved it down in El Paso. It was a good post.”

From there, he said, “I went into a glider unit and once in action we were supposed to glide in behind enemy lines to set up for antiaircraft. Well, the glider unit was broken up. So I had some choices and I just transferred to the infantry.

I went to Camp Howze (Texas), a temporary Army post, and became

Silber’s Bellevue home includes a collection of beautiful dolls from around the world.

a member of company A, 411th Infantry Regiment, 103rd division.

We did some pretty heavy training there,” Silber said.

“We went by train to Camp Shanks, New York -- a port of embarkation. One morning with very little notice we were put aboard trains and transferred to a ferry stop in New Jersey and ferried across New York harbor to the Brooklyn Army Base,” he recounted. “There we boarded a ship that, believe it or not, was called the Santa Maria. We sailed to Southern France. It took about two weeks in a convoy strung out for quite a distance.”

Silber, whose descriptions of his wartime experiences retain the precision and color of his journalistic training, continued: “We landed in Southern France (post-D-Day, 1944). We were equipped to go into combat but we were diverted to the Port of Marseilles. The French stevedores, who were supposed to be unloading ships of ammunition and such, went on strike. So we spent about two weeks unloading ammunition from ships to go up to the front.

“We were encamped on a plateau above Marseille. It was a happy situation. We’d be able to go in the city and enjoy ourselves.”

The idyll of Marseille was welcome but, as Silber said, “It ended soon enough. Part of the division went by truck and my regiment went by freight train with straw on the floor to a town called Epinal in Eastern France. From there we went into combat. The first day of combat eight members of my platoon were killed. A baptism by fire.”

That initial action, he said, “Was in, oddly enough, a churchyard in which most of the graves were occupied by World War I German soldiers. I didn’t learn that until later.”

Many years after the war Silber and his old comrades paid for a monument to be erected to the eight GIs lost there. He and Sissy have visited the site of that deadly encounter to pay their respects.

“It’s become kind of a shrine to

October 2011

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guys from my old outfit,” he said.

The next phases of his combat duty exposed him to even more harrowing action.

Although wars historically shut down in winter or prove the undoing of armies ill-equipped to deal with the conditions, the record winter of 1944 in Europe ultimately did little to slow down either side. In the case of the advancing American and Allied forces, the treacherous mix of snow and cold only added to the miseries. When Silber and his fellow soldiers were ordered to cross a mountain range, the dangers of altitude, deadly passes, and avalanches were added to the challenge.

“We fought our way through the Vosges Mountains in Alsace,” he said, adding cryptically, “We had a couple of situations…

“We were the first sizable military unit to cross the Vosges in winter. We had snow for which we were not equipped really. It turned out to be the worst in the history of that part of Europe. We didn’t have any white camouflage gear or anything like that that the Germans had. We met some pretty heavy combat in the mountains for a time.

It was an SS outfit, but we managed to fight our way through.”

I

f any soldier is honest he admits he fears engaging in hand-tohand combat because he doesn’t know how he’ll perform in that life or death struggle. In the Vosges campaign Silber confronted the ultimate test in battle when he came face to face with a German soldier.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” is how Silber begins relating the incident. “We went out on patrol at night trying to contact the enemy and pick up a couple prisoners for intelligence purposes. By that time I had become a second lieutenant, courtesy a battlefield commission.

I didn’t really want to become too attractive a target for the Germans, so I pretended I was still an enlisted man in dress and in emblem, and I carried around an M-1 rifle instead --Please turn to page 14.

New Horizons

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Page 13

Meeting with an 88 millimeter cannon led to Silber’s hospitalization --Continued from page 13. of a carbine.

“What often happened was the Germans might send out a patrol at the same time just by coincidence and we would kind of startle each other at the same moment and ignore each other purposely. That happened a lot and we thought it was going to happen this time, but they opened fire on us.”

In the close quarters chaos of the firefight, he said, “I jumped into a roadside ditch with my M-1 and it was knocked out of my hand by the guy I killed. Had to. I had a trench knife in my boot and I attacked him with that and fortunately I beat him, or he would have beaten me.”

Only one man was coming out alive from that confrontation and Silber lived to tell the tale. He does so without boast or pleasure but with an it-was-him-or-me soberness.

At that point in the war, a desperate Germany was sending almost anyone it could find to the front, including boys. The SS troop Silber dispatched was an adult, therefore, he said, “I didn’t have that to worry about on my conscience.

“After that most of the units we encountered were made up either of young conscripts, and I mean below the age of 18, or middle aged men, as almost a last gasp. I saw German soldiers who couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13 years old. I also saw men in their 40s and 50s.”

This last gasp “was a hopeful sign” Germany was through, but he added, “We didn’t feel very comfortable fighting against 14 year olds. I mean if we had to do it, we did it because they were trying to kill us. We lived with it, that’s all.”

Finally breaking out of the mountains onto the Rhine Plain was a great relief. For the first time since the start of the campaign, he said, “We got to sleep in an intact house.

We proceeded around Strausberg.

We were in the U.S. 7th Army and integrated into our army corps was the French 1st Army and they were made up mostly of North Africans.

Most of them were Moroccans, Algerians, and Tunisians, I guess. They had come across the Mediterranean with (Charles) de Gaulle. We saw them from time to time. They had a reputation of being good fighters.

“We headed north paralleling the Rhine River and we were approaching the Maginot Line (the elaborate French fortification system Germany outflanked during its blitz into France). On Dec. 14, 1944 we had orders to break through it. The Germans had artillery, some troops, and some tanks zeroed in and ready to go.”

All hell then broke loose.

“We woke up one morning to the sound of artillery high above us, exploding in the trees,” recalled Silber. “We were on the side of a

At age 21 Howard went off to war in 1942.

Page 14

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Silber’s first Omaha World-Herald job was on the rewrite desk.

ravine through which a road had been cut and on that road was a tank destroyer outfit -- using World War I leftover anti-tank guns. They were a platoon of African-Americans.

The bravery those guys exhibited was unbelievable. When I think of it I become emotional because they were shot up to hell and kept fighting.”

Silber’s second close brush with death then occurred.

“The artillery action slowed down and we began to advance into the Maginot Line,” he said.

“The Germans had some tanks positioned between fixed fortresses.

We encountered off in the distance a tank -- 400 or 500 yards away. It was very slowly approaching us.

The tank destroyer outfit had been so decimated they were pretty much out of action, so we had bazookas.

Our bazooka team in my platoon was knocked out. By that time I was the platoon leader. I picked up the bazooka, knelt, and loaded it, fired once, and missed. It was quite a distance still.

“The last thing I can remember is that tank lowering its beastly 88 millimeter cannon in my direction.

I woke up the next day in an Army field hospital. Apparently the shell was a dud but its impact half buried me in my foxhole. Our platoon medic dug me out of the collapsed foxhole and got me out of the way.

I was unconscious. Both my arms were broken and my left rib cage was pretty well beat up. I woke up Dec. 16 and that was the day the Battle of the Bulge erupted about a hundred kilometers north of us.”

Silber spent the remainder of the war healing.

“The next day the field hospital was emptied out of patients and it moved north to take care of casualties from the Bulge,” he said.

“I was shipped along with other patients by ambulance to the U.S. 23rd General Hospital at Vittel, France, a spa town. It had been a resort. It had a racetrack and a casino. We wound up in the grand hotel.

“Even though my arms were in casts by then I enjoyed being there,

October 2011

believe me.”

E

nding up sidelined from the action banged up but without any life-threatening injury, reminded Silber of something he and his buddies often joked about to help pass the time.

“Especially when I was an enlisted man we used to sit and talk in our foxholes, usually at night when things were quiet, smoking a cigarette under a tarpaulin or something, about the ‘million dollar wound.’ We’d speculate on what it would take to get us back to the States without getting really hurt.

“Well, maybe I should be ashamed of this, but that was one of the things I thought of in the hospital -- that I had kind of one of those (wounds). Except I was hurt a little more than I would have chosen.”

Back home, he continued mending at Rhodes General Hospital in Utica, New York. A restless Silber completed his college studies by correspondence and volunteered in the public relations office. He penned the script for a weekly radio show written, produced, and acted by patients, mostly on war experiences, that the hospital sponsored. Silber shared in a George Foster Peabody Award for public service a show segment won.

“It wasn’t my brilliant writing or anything,” he said, “but I was part of the process.”

He was still hospitalized when VJ Day sparked celebrations over the war’s end.

One of his PR tasks was delivering copy to the local Utica Daily Press, where he secured a job upon his discharge. “I took my swearing out ceremony as we called it at 10 o’clock in the morning and by two o’clock I was down there working for a salary, not much of a salary -- $38 a week. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Utica. I actually was stationed in a bureau in Rome, New York 15 miles away.”

From there Silber returned to his old stomping grounds in the Big Apple, where he worked --Please turn to page 15.

Story subjects included Truman, Perot, Fugate, LeMay --Continued from page 14. for the New York Sun. A plum early assignment put him in the company of Harry Truman whom Silber called “The VIP who really impressed me most. I rode his (1948) campaign train.

I was pretty raw material then, a real cub reporter, but I got the assignment and I ran with it. I even got to kibbutz his (Truman’s) poker game.”

Silber recalls Truman as “very kind, although he’d pick on guys for fun,” adding, “He was just a pretty decent man but he had shall we say a frothy tongue.”

When the Sun folded in 1950 Silber got on with “a blue ribbon” PR firm, but as he once put it, “I just had the romance of daily journalism in my blood.” Thus he began searching for a newspaper job. His choice came down to a Kansas City paper and The Omaha World-Herald, and $5 more a week brought him to Nebraska in 1955.

He started out on the rewrite desk.

The Herald had a team of reporters out covering the Charles Starkweather story but Silber was familiar with the mounting murders and resulting manhunt around the upper Midwest from rewriting field reports. Then, as things often happen in a newsroom, Silber found himself enlisted to cover a major development.

“When the Starkweather case broke, our chief photographer Larry Robinson, who was versed in aviation and friendly to some of the operators out at the air base, chartered a good airplane on standby. So when we got the word in the newsroom about Starkweather being captured in Douglas, Wyo., city editor Lou Gerdes pointed to me and said, ‘Go!’ and I went with Robby and John Savage.

“We got there ahead of anybody else outside the immediate area and because of that we were able to have a lot of informality that wouldn’t exist today. We got friendly with the sheriff, Earl Heflin, and his wife, the jail matron.

We got some good stories.”

Minus a wire to transmit photos, Robinson flew back with the negatives, while Silber and Savage stayed behind to cultivate more stories.

That night, a keyed up Silber, unable to sleep, walked from the hotel to the courthouse where the captured fugitives were held.

“The sheriff was answering telephone calls from all over the world with his wife’s help, and he was dead tired, so I said, ‘Why don’t you get some sleep while I sit in for you?’ He took advantage of that, and I took advantage of it, too.”

The story was a sensation everywhere it headlined.

“There weren’t that many serial murders in those days for one thing,” said Silber, “and it seemed to have all the elements -- a teen

with his girlfriend going around shooting people, not at random but for one reason or another, and it just caught on. Besides that, we were feeding a lot of stuff to the Associated Press and United Press.

I was a stringer for Reuters and they were getting plenty of it. I was also stringing for the New York Daily News and at that time it was the largest circulation newspaper in the country.

“It just captured the imagination of readers.”

So Silber wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to further play the story when one presented itself.

Having relieved the sheriff, Silber then convinced Heflin’s wife to let him interview Caril Ann Fugate when Mrs. Heflin went to check on her. He ended up doing interviews with Fugate and Starkweather, separately, while Savage snapped photos -- getting exclusive stories and pictures in the process.

Regarding Fugate, Silber said, “I had mixed feelings about her at the time, and then over a period of several weeks when more and more reports were coming in about her I became convinced she was not innocent. She was goading him to shoot people.”

He said Starkweather struck him as “the upper end of juvenile delinquency, because he was 17 when he was captured. He was inarticulate. He couldn’t give a straight answer.”

S

ilber’s most far-flung assignment took him to the South Pole in 1962 as part of the press pool on a military junket with dignitaries Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, radio-newsreel commentator Lowell Thomas, and Notre Dame University president Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. “We staged out of Christchurch, New Zealand,” he said. “It’s a long ride down there in a prop plane.” En route, everyone geared up with layers of thermal clothing.

“We landed at (Amundsen-Scott) Pole Station -- the actual landing strip they carved out of the ice about a mile or so from the pole. When we got there the temperature was 60 something below zero. They made heated track vehicles available, but Gen. Doolittle, Lowell Thomas, and Fr. Hesburgh said no. They walked.

So as a result we in the press pool had to walk, too (much to their curse-laden dismay).

“The actual stay on the ice as we called it was 2 1/2 weeks. We took day trips to scientific-research stations and historical places where early explorers had froze or starved to death.”

Flying to the pole station in a C-130 a tired Silber clambered atop crates lashed in the aisle and when he awoke a fellow member of the Fifth Estate said, “You know where you’ve been sleeping?” A clueless Silber shrugged, no. “On cases of dynamite,” his colleague gleefully informed him.

A

mong the most unforgettable characters Silber knew was bombastic Gen. Curtis LeMay, the first commander of the Strategic Air Command. “He was tough but he was a patriot through and through,” he said. “I admired him but it was tough to get along with him.” An enduring LeMay anecdote Silber attests is true found the general lighting a cigar near a refueling plane. When an aide mentioned the danger of the plane blowing up, LeMay blustered, “It wouldn’t dare.”

Silber and Sissy attended many a lavish black-tie officers’ party at Offutt.

There wasn’t much posh about reporting in Vietnam, where Silber covered the war as early as 1964.

On a later visit there he ran into Omaha television reporter John Hlavacek, a former print foreign correspondent for whom Silber has high regard.

In 1970 Silber and other press accompanied Ross Perot on a chartered trip the billionaire organized ostensibly to deliver supplies to U.S airmen held as prisoners of war in North Vietnam.

The hopscotch trip, which Henry Kissinger was behind, failed to deliver any supplies but did raise awareness of the POWs’ plight.

Upon reflection, Silber said his military reporting, which earned him numerous awards, “was satisfying -- very much so. It was a high point.”

Back home, Silber claims credit for thinking of the Husker football books he and colleagues

Jim Denney and Hollis Limprecht collaborated on, the second of which was a biography of Bob Devaney. Silber thought highly of Devaney.

“I loved the man. He was just a hell-raiser. A down-to-earth guy. A man’s-man.”

Over the years Silber wrote pieces for Reader’s Digest, Esquire, and other national publications. He was also a Reuters stringer for 20 years.

“I could never be satisfied with just working eight hours a day. I had to be doing other things, too. I had a little office set up at home and I would do what I could.”

He means to resume his memoirs – for his grandkids – now that he’s cancer free for the first time in years. Long ago divorced from his first wife and the mother of his two daughters, Silber and Sissy have been partners for 36 years now. Her warm, bigger-than-life personality complements Silber’s hail-fellowwell-met charm.

Each retired comfortably from divergent careers. While he never became rich as a reporter Silber did well as a World-Herald stockholder.

When Sissy’s father left behind his Katelman’s hardware supply store she and her mother took it over and ran it till 1981, when the Kanesville Highway went in.

Howard and Sissy met as a result of a story Silber was working on.

They’ve been inseparable since marrying in 1975.

Summing up his eventful life and career, Silber said, “There’s not too many things I’d change.”

Cancer free for the first time in years, Silber plans to resume working on his memoirs for his grandchildren.

October 2011

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New Horizons

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A

Stop by the St. Mary Magdalene Senior Center

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t one table a woman knits, while next to her, two men play chess.

In a few minutes, lunch will be served for participants at the St. Mary Magdalene Senior Center, 1817 Dodge Street.

Open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging nutrition site offers activities including breakfast (items like eggs, sausage, French toast, juice and milk) from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., an 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. lunch, card games, and a health maintenance clinic Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon.

A $3 donation is suggested for the meals, according to center manager Bill Norton.

Meal reservations, which must be made 24 hours in advance, are available by calling 402-346-3234.

“I come here every day,” said Romanita Fields. “I enjoy the food and I meet a lot of nice people.”

Participants using the health maintenance clinic are asked to pay $1 or $2 per service with a $5 maximum per visit. Clinic services include vital signs and weight monitoring, foot and nail care, preparation and administration of medications, injections, blood glucose monitoring, breast exams, nutrition and health counseling, and

2011-12 Tours Plan to attend our “OPEN HOUSE” on Tuesday, October 18th @ 3 p.m. at St. Roberts Church (11802 Pacific St.) for information on all our trips and presentations on the following trips: • Treasures of Panama • Heritage of America Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park Islands of New England Call (712) 366-9596 for details.

Treasures of Panama. April 11 – 19, 2012. See the Miraflores Locks on your tour of Panama City, enjoy a cruise through the rainforest to Monkey Island where you’ll see iguanas, toucans, and crocodiles, spend four nights at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, cruise through the Panama Canal, enjoy the stunning scenery aboard the Panama Canal Railway, visit an Embera indigenous village to learn their heritage and traditions, and overnight at a luxurious beachfront resort in Playa Bonita.

Heritage of America. May 25 – June 3, 2012. Begin your trip with a tour of New York City, visit Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, learn about and experience the Amish community lifestyle in Lancaster, enjoy a guided tour of Gettysburg, visit Shenandoah National Park, Monticello, Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, the Smithsonian Institution invWashington, D.C., enjoy a guided tour of our nation’s capitol including the White House, Capitol, the monuments, memorials, and museums, visit the White House Visitor Center, Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Kennedy gravesites.

Islands of New England. June 8 – 15, 2012. Enjoy a tour of Providence, Rhode Island, Newport’s historic mansions, tour the Marble House, tour the exciting city of Boston, visit a cranberry bog, see Plymouth Rock, enjoy a New England lobster feast, tour Martha’s Vineyard, cruise to Cape Cod, ride the ferry to Nantucket, tour Hyannisport—home of the Kennedy compound, and enjoy dinner aboard an elegant dinner train.

Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park. July 17 – 24, 2012. Beginning in the Canadian province of Alberta, in the foothills of the Rockies, travel to Waterton Lakes National Park, then Glacier National Park where you’ll travel the “Going to the Sun Road” with its spectacular views, spend time touring Banff, overnight at the “Castle in the Mountains,” travel to Jasper by way of the unforgettable Icefields Parkway, see the Maligne Canyon, and visit the vibrant city of Calgary.

San Francisco with Lake Tahoe. Aug 23 - 29, 2012. Enjoy a sigh-tseeing tour of San Francisco including the Twin Peaks, Seal Rocks, and Golden Gate Bridge, visit Fisherman’s Wharf, Union Square, ride a famed cable car, travel to Sonoma Valley to visit the wineries, visit Monterey to see one of the most breathtaking coastlines in the world, Pebble Beach, the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento, the old west town of Virginia City, and spend two nights at the Montbleu Resort & Spa in Lake Tahoe including a cruise on beautiful Lake Tahoe.

Greece and its Islands. Sept 23 – Oct 6, 2012. Begin in the cap-ital city of Athens with a tour showcasing the ancient monuments, the Acropolis, Royal Palace, and Olympic Stadium, visit Thermopylae, Kalambaka, remote monastaries in Meteora, the ski resort town of Arachova, the ancient city of Delphi, enjoy a guided tour of Olympia where the first Olympic games were held in 776 B.C., visit the excavations at Mycenae, ferry across the Aegean Sea from Athens to the island paradise of Mykonos, sail to the fabled island of Santorini, see a fascinating landscape of vineyards, whitewashed chapels, volcanic cliffs, and breathtaking views of mountains and valleys in this beautiful country.

Alpine Christmas. Dec 4 - 11, 2012. Explore the traditional Christmas markets of Austria and southern Bavaria. You will stay in the same hotel in Innsbruck for the entire trip. Begin with a guided tour of Innsbruck, Germany, in the beautiful Austrian Alps. Visit the Neuschwanstein Castle and Wies Church, travel to Munich where you’ll see the Marienplatz, the Glockenspiel, and Olympic Park, visit Oberammergau where the internationally-known Passion Play is performed every ten years, enjoy a visit to Salzburg with it’s beautiful Mirabell Gardens and the site of Mozart’s birthplace, and don’t forget to shop all the Christmas markets!

Check out our Web site at www.fontenelletours.com

Page 16

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October 2011

referrals to health care providers.

During the last several months, Norton has worked with volunteers from ConAgra to sign up St. Mary Magdalene participants for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the food stamp program). The SNAP program – available to persons meeting income guidelines – can provide nutritional assistance up to $200 a month by issuing an electronic benefits card that’s used like an ATM or credit card to buy food at area grocery stores and farmer’s markets.

Norton says this outreach effort has recently helped a dozen St. Mary Magdalene participants to sign up for SNAP benefits.

As winter approaches, Norton plans to offer popcorn with a weekly movie, Tai Chi, exercise classes, and bingo.

On Monday, Nov. 28, the Mobile Diabetes Center from Methodist College will visit the St. Mary Magdalene Senior Center to provide diabetes screenings and blood pressure readings from 9 to 11 a.m.

“St. Mary Magdalene is the friendliest senior center in downtown Omaha,” Norton says.

For more information, please call 402346-3234.

T

Retired fed employees meet at Omaha eatery

ENOA health maintenance clinics

T

he Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging offers health maintenance clinics at 17 sites in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, and Cass counties. The clinic’s goals are to ensure that older adults have ongoing access to regular health screenings at a low cost.

Services include vital signs and weight monitoring, foot and nail care, preparation and administration of medications (includes syringes and Medisets), injec-

tions, blood glucose monitoring, breast exams, nutrition and health counseling, diet monitoring, and referrals to health care providers.

The maximum contribution request is $5 per visit.

For more information, please call 402444-6444.

Here’s a listing of the sites, addresses, days and times, and how to make an appointment.

DOUGLAS COUNTY To schedule an appointment, call Interim Healthcare @ 402-392-1818

DOUGLAS COUNTY (Cont’d) To schedule an appointment, call Interim Healthcare @ 402-392-1818

Camelot Senior Center 9270 Cady Ave. Wednesday 10 a.m. to noon

Underwood Tower 4850 Underwood Ave. Tuesday – Thursday 1 to 3 p.m.

Christie Heights Senior Center 5105 S. 37th St. Monday – Thursday 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

SARPY COUNTY To schedule an appointment, call Interim Healthcare @ 402-392-1818

Bellevue Senior Center 109 W. 22nd St. Monday – Thursday 9 a.m. to noon

Corrigan Senior Center 3819 X St. Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 9 to 11:30 a.m.

Crown Tower 5904 Henninger Dr. Tuesdays – Thursdays 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Durham Booth Manor 923 N. 38 St. Wednesday 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Heartland Family Service Senior Center 2102 S. 42 St. Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. to noon

Florence Community Center 2920 Bondesson St. Tuesday 9:30 a.m. to noon

Jewish Community Center 333 S. 132nd St. Monday 9 to 11:30 a.m.

he National Association of Retired Federal Employees’ Chapter 144 meets the first Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at the Amazing Pizza Machine, 13955 S. Plz. For more information, please call 402-333-6460.

The National Association of Retired Federal Employees’ Aksarben Chapter 1370 meets the second Wednesday of each month at 11:30 a.m. at the Amazing Pizza Machine, 13955 S. Plz. For more information, please call 402-392-0624.

Immanuel Affordable Communities Immanuel Communities offers beautiful affordable independent apartment homes for seniors who are on a fixed income.

Call today to schedule a personal visit.

Income guidelines apply

Immanuel Courtyard 6757 Newport Avenue Omaha, NE 68152 402-829-2912

Papillion Senior Center 1001 Limerick Rd. First and third Wednesday of the month 10 a.m. to noon

Assisted Living at Immanuel Courtyard 6759 Newport Avenue Omaha, NE 68152 402-829-2990

Trinity Courtyard 620 West Lincoln Street Papillion, NE 68046 402-614-1900

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DODGE COUNTY To schedule an appointment, call Interim Healthcare @ 402-392-1818

Fremont Senior Center 1730 W. 16th St. First and third Tuesday of the month 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Snyder Senior Center 2nd & Elm Streets Third Wednesday of the month 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

CASS COUNTY To schedule an appointment. sign up at the centers listed below.

Louisville Senior Center 5th & Elm Streets Third Tuesday of the month 9 a.m. to noon 402-234-2120

Millard Montclair Senior Center 2304 S. 135th Ave. First Friday of the month 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

St. Mary Magdalene Senior Center 1817 Dodge St. Tuesday – Thursday 10 a.m. to noon

Plattsmouth Senior Center 625 Ave. A Fourth Monday of the month 9 a.m. to noon 402-296-5800, ext. 1

October 2011

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New Horizons

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Page

17

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Page 18

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New Horizons

A released recently reland-use policies, coordina- http://www.n4a.org/proport finds that, due to the tion of housing and transgrams include: financial consequences from portation planning, and • Local governments are the Great Recession, many enhancement of programs economically strapped. In U.S. communities have been and services that keep older 2010, only 42 percent of unable to make significant adults actively engaged in jurisdictions indicated they progress in preparing to the community. were experiencing some meet the needs of the coun “This report underscores growth—a drop of 25 pertry’s rapidly aging populathe importance of addresscentage points from the 67 tion. ing the needs of an aging percent of communities reThe Maturing of America population at the local porting growth in 2005.

– Communities Moving level,” said Dennis White, • Transportation is a top Forward for an Aging Popu- president of MetLife Founchallenge. Programs that lation, a follow-up to an dation. “The good news provide transportation are extensive survey conducted is there are many actions reported by over 80 percent in 2005, reveals that at best, community leaders can take of respondents, but only communities have managed right away – that don’t re63 percent of communities to maintain the status quo quire additional resources – report having sidewalk sysfor the past six years due to prepare for bolder, more tems linking residences and to the decline in the overall comprehensive services for essential services. economy and local governolder citizens.”

• Public safety services ment budgets.

“It is going to take a col- have improved. Local govThe report, which was lective effort from commuernments with specialized released by the National nity leaders, agencies on ag- training for public safety/ Association of Area Agening, universities, businesses, emergency staff in dealing cies on Aging (n4a), also non-profit organizations, with older adults more than reveals important advances and other public sector enti- doubled to 59 percent from have been made despite ties to act swiftly and break 24 percent in 2005. But, these challenges, including a through the current stalecommunities with plans in dramatic increase in special- mate,” Markwood said. place for evacuation of older ized training for emergency “This report highlights adults, decreased from 81 and public safety staff in some of the best practices percent in 2005 to 71 perdealing with older adults; around the country and we cent today. growth of in-home support- hope local governments will • Aging/human services ive services; greater support take notice and take swift improve. There has been for advanced education and action to ensure their comsignificant growth in the retooling for the workforce; munities address the needs availability of in-home supand expanded volunteer op- of all citizens across the port services for older adults portunities. lifespan in their communisince 2005 (71 percent to 77 Even so, with millions ties.” percent). of Baby Boomers reach Key findings from The (The MetLife Foundation ing retirement age every Maturing of America – and the National Associamonth, these advancements Communities Moving Fortion of Area Agencies on Agare nowhere near the level ward for an Aging Populaing provided this informaof progress that has to be tion, which is available at tion.) made to ensure communities

are livable for people of all River City Theater Organ Society ages.

“These findings show offering free concert Sunday, Oct. 9 the country still has a tremendous amount of The River City Theater Organ Society is holding a work to do in a very short monthly meeting and organ program (which is open amount of time to address to the public) on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. at the Rose America’s rapidly rising agTheater, 2001 Farnam St. ing population,” said Sandy After a short business meeting, a free organ program Markwood, CEO of n4a. featuring the Rose’s Mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ “Although communities will be presented. College World Series organist Jerry have done an admirable job Pawlak will perform along with other talented Organ to maintain the status quo Society members. considering the economic For more information, please call Pawlak at 402-421conditions we’ve faced, 1356. given the dramatic aging demographics, the status quo Alzheimer’s disease support group meetings is not good enough.

K. Chin at 402-502-4301 or “These findings should The Alzheimer’s Disease logging on to www.alz.org/ be a major wake-up call Association Midlands for local governments and Chapter offers more than 30 midlands. should motivate them to caregivers support groups Computer classes take immediate actions that for persons caring for a will address the challenge loved one with Alzheimer’s and opportunities at hand,” disease and other forms of AARP is offering comMarkwood added. dementia. puter classes for beginners According to the report, A new location has been through Dec. 9 at the Kids local communities – even added to the list of sites Can Community Center, under economic duress – where these sessions are 48th and Q streets. have the means to develop available: The nine-hour, three-day policies, programs, and serBeginning Oct. 3, a course, which focuses on vices that will increasingly meeting will be held the first computer basics including make them “good places to Monday of each month at surfing the Internet, costs grow up and grow old.” the Ralston Senior Center, $15.

Specific recommenda7301 Q St., at 9:30 a.m.

To register or for more tions include the thoughtful More information is information, please call 402adaptation of zoning and available by calling Betty 398-9568.

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October 2011

RSVP Retired and Senior Volunteer Program The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is recruiting persons age 55 and older for a variety of opportunities. For more information in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties, please call 402-444-6558, ext. 224.

In Dodge and Washington counties, please call 402721-7780.

The following have volunteer opportunities in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties: • The Omaha Visitors Center is looking for a volunteer Ambassador.

• Mount View Elementary School needs a TeamMates mentor.

• The Stephen Center Homeless Shelter wants volunteers for its thrift store.

• Alegent Health Bergan Mercy Hospital needs volunteers for its information desks and as patient and family escorts.

• The Omaha Police Department wants volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• Boys Town wants volunteer mentors and a volunteer office assistant.

• Lakeside Hospital needs volunteers for its Welcome Center and gift shop, as well as in its registration area, to visit patients, and to offer clerical support.

• Project NEMO wants volunteers for a variety of duties.

• The Douglas County Health Center wants volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• The Omaha Children’s Museum wants volunteers for a variety of duties.

• The Franciscan Centre is looking for volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• The Fund Fighting Fibromyalgia is looking for volunteers for a variety of duties.

• The Waterford at Miracle Hills needs volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• The Omaha Home for Boys wants volunteer mentors.

• The Ronald McDonald House Charities needs a receptionist and an operations volunteer.

Corrigan Senior Center October 2011 events calendar You’re invited to visit the Corrigan Senior Center, 3819 X St. this month for: • Tuesday, Oct. 11: Fall chili lunch: The noon lunch menu features beef chili, rice, tossed salad, wheat roll, and lemon (or diet vanilla) pudding. The reservations deadline is noon on Friday, Oct. 7.

• Monday, Oct. 17: Birthday Party featuring “The Links.” Join us for some lively music, lunch, and bingo as we celebrate the October birthdays. Thanks to Merrymakers and Medibadge for sponsoring this group.

• Thursday, Oct. 20: Oktoberfest dinner dance.

Great food, raffles, and dancing! The Red Raven polka band returns to entertain us! The noon menu is pork roast with gravy, seasoned red potatoes, peas & carrots, tossed salad, rye bread, and apple pie. Music and follow lunch. Reservations are due by noon on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

• Monday, Oct. 24: Autumn Adventures @ 11 a.m. with a program from the Fontenelle Nature Center.

Lunch and bingo will follow the presentation.

• Wednesday, Oct. 26: Trip to Ameristar Casino. The shuttle will pick up and drop off guests at Corrigan.

• Monday, Oct. 31: Halloween party. Come to Corrigan’s haunted for trick or treats, a costume contest, a tasty lunch, entertainment, and Bingo (after lunch) Music by Dave Salmons @ 11:15 a.m. The noon lunch menu is Sloppy Joe, country corn, broccoli, a brownie or plain cake. A deli choice is also available.

The facility will be closed on Monday, Oct. 10 for Columbus Day. The Corrigan Senior Center is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch is served at noon. A $3 donation is normally suggested for the meal. Reservations are normally due by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy.

We offer card games, bingo, ceramics, exercise, woodcarving, and loads of fun! A T’ai Chi Movement Improvement For Seniors class is held at 10 a.m.

Tuesdays and Thursdays.

For meal reservations or more information, please call Lynnette at 402-731-7210.

• The Domestic Violence Coordinating Council/ Family Justice Center is looking for volunteers for a variety of assignments.

The following have volunteer opportunities in Dodge and Washington counties: • The Fremont Chamber of Commerce wants a volunteer for its visitors center.

• The Blair and Fremont Car-Go Programs needs volunteer drivers.

• CareCorps Inc. is looking for volunteers for a variety of duties.

• The Building Blocks Boutique needs volunteers to help with young mothers and babies.

• The Blair Auxiliary Closet needs help in its warehouse and gift shop.

• Odyssey Health Care is looking for a volunteer sitter/companion and an office assistant.

• The American Red Cross needs a receptionist.

• The Hooper Care Center wants volunteers for a variety of assignments.

• The May Museum is looking for volunteers to serve as tour guides and for its gift shop and garden.

• The Washington County Recycling Center needs volunteers to handle quality control.

• Nye Point Health & Rehab wants volunteers to help with a variety of duties.

• The Fremont Friendship Center needs help with its Tuesday Supper Club.

Dora Bingel Senior Center October 2011 events calendar You’re invited to visit the Dora Bingel Senior Center, 923 N. 38th St., this month for the following: • Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, & 31: Al-Anon meeting @ 7 p.m.

• Oct. 4, 11, 18, & 25: Grief Support Group meeting @ 10 a.m.

• Oct. 5 & 12: Cooking Matters nutrition class @ 9:30 a.m.

• Oct. 19: Regeneration Lunch. The Links sing @ noon, The cost is $3.

• Oct. 20: Red Hat Club meeting @ noon.

• Oct. 26: Birthday Party Luncheon @ noon. Eat free if you have an October birthday!

• Oct. 28: Hard of Hearing Support Group @ 10:30 a.m.

A nutritious lunch is served on Tuesdays and Fridays.

A fancier lunch is offered on Wednesdays. A $1 donation is suggested for the meals, other than $3 for Regeneration.

Round-trip transportation is available for $3.

Reservations are required 24 hours in advance for all special events.

Other activities offered at the facility include: • Tuesdays: Quilting group.

• Wednesdays: Crochet class and a 1 p.m. Bible study.

• Fridays: Bible study @ 1 p.m.

For more information, please call 402-898-5854.

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• Adult Day Care/Short Term Stays • Quality staff specializing in Alzheimer’s & dementia care • Secure, home-like environment • One-level floor plan • Quiet, calming atmosphere • Private/semi-private rooms

17620 Poppleton Ave. Omaha, NE 68130

402.333.5749

edgewoodvista.com

October 2011

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New Horizons

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Page 19

Day of the Dead celebration scheduled for Friday, Oct. 28

Radon Action Week declared for Oct. 17 to 24 in the U.S.

You’re invited to attend the 2011 Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration on Friday, Oct. 28 at the Intercultural Senior Center, 2021 L St. (lower level of Sokol South Omaha).

The 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. event will feature an altar illustrating the Mexican and Latin American tradition that celebrates and remembers people who have died.

Come share and enjoy live music, children’s activities, food, crafts, and raffles.

For more information, please call 402444-6529.

The U.S. Surgeon General has declared Oct. 17 to 24 as Radon Action Week.

Americans are encouraged to test their homes for radon, the nation’s leading cause of lung cancer for non-smokers.

Radon is an invisible, odorless, radioactive gas found in high levels in one of 15 homes in the U.S. Each year, radon causes more American fatalities than carbon monoxide, fires, and handguns combined.

It’s suggested homeowners check their homes for radon if they haven’t done so in the past two years. Contact 1-800-3349491 for more information on locating qualified test kits or qualified radon testers in Nebraska.

AARP offering driving classes

Alzheimer’s benefit scheduled for Nov. 4

The AARP Driving Safety Program offers a four-hour refresher driving class that reviews the rules of the road and emphasizes driving strategies for persons age 50 and older.

Fees are $12 for AARP members and $14 for nonmembers. There are no exams or tests involved.

Here’s the class schedule:

The fourth annual Oktoberfest benefit for the Alzheimer’s Disease Association’s Midlands Chapter is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at the German American Society, 3717 S. 120th St. The $75 per person event features beer, wine, German food, music, a raffle, and a silent auction.

Marcotte Insurance, Parson’s House on Eagle Run, and the Spaghetti Works are sponsoring the festivities.

For reservations, log on to www.alz.org/midlands or send an e-mail to foleyclan@cox.net.

Saturday, Oct. 8 • 1 to 5 p.m.

AARP Information Center 1941 S. 42nd St. To register, please call 402-398-9568 Wednesday, Oct. 12 • Noon to 4 p.m.

Metropolitan Community College South Omaha campus 2909 Edward Babe Gomez Ave. Class #: AUAV-004N-71 To register, please call 402-457-5231 Thursday, Oct. 20 • 1 to 5 p.m.

Maple Ridge Village 3525 N. 167th Circle To register, please call 402-614-3160

Elmwood Tower Gracious, affordable apartment living designed for people over fifty.

• Owned & operated by the residents • All utilities paid including cable • Monthly maintenance fee

An address of distinction 801 South 52nd Street • Omaha, Nebraska

402-558-3161

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New Horizons

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October 2011

Plan today to be prepared for tomorrow’s health care costs

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enerally speaking, what is your biggest expense after age 65? What did you plan for least for your life after age 65? What seems to be the most confusing issue in Washington?

The answer to all three questions is health care.

That’s too bad; especially when you consider the following: • Many older Americans rely on Social Security as their only source of income. Experts suggest only 20 percent of retirement income should come from Social Security.

• An estimated 8,000 individuals turn age 65 every day.

Born between 1946 and1964, there are 78 million Baby Boomers in the United States.

• It’s estimated that more than 90 percent of individuals who failed financially said they lacked a plan. The total

The Art of Aging

By Cathy Wyatt, CSA liquid assets of the average American over age 65 is approximately $8,000.

• Alzheimer’s disease strikes at least 50 percent of individuals over 85. More and more men and women are being diagnosed with dementia in their 50s and 60s.

The good news is if you’re reading this column, you can officially declare today as the first day of the rest of your life!

Contrary to what you might think, the key isn’t in the amount of assets you have. It’s about taking a look at your big picture perspective and formulating a feasible plan mindful of seven key areas: culture, environment, physical, social, psychological, spiritual, and financial.

At the end of the day, financial planning is the driving force in maintaining your independence whether you’re healthy or not. Medicaid was created for individuals who were unable to afford health care.

Financial planning is not as difficult as you may think.

To help get you started, please consider these steps: • Outline your annual expenses and track down all necessary documents including copies of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, other legal documents, insurance policies (life and health), investment statements, last year’s tax returns, and a balance sheet of your financial situation.

• Consider your family information such as insurance, assets, the documents you’ve just pulled together (see above), income, gifts, goals, and concerns.

• While we are living longer, we aren’t necessarily living healthier. Adopting the mindset that it’s never too late, schedule those doctor’s appointments you’ve been putting off for whatever reason. Regular visits now will cut down on stress and cost later.

• If you’re healthy, consider buying long-term care insurance. Annual premiums can cost about the same as one month of care in a skilled nursing facility. Many of these places may have private pay requirements and a limited number of beds.

• Look for that needle in a haystack! By pulling together the necessary information, getting organized, and taking a step back to review your status, you can position yourself for a likelihood of uncovering something you didn’t know was there.

• I suggest reviewing and updating your financial plan on a regular basis.

In closing, consider the fact many people spend more time planning a two or three-day vacation than they do for life after age 65. So whether you’re living solely on Social Security or on a wealth of investments, develop a plan accordingly.

I know it’s easy to blame the government for your problems. After all, it spends far more than it brings in right?

According to stats, so do the majority of Americans.

Someone has to be the act that others are encouraged to follow. Why not have it be you?

Brown Park plaques honor WWII heroes

ENOA senior center October 2011 menu

By Randy Lukasiewicz Poet Walt Whitman knew baseball was more than peanuts, popcorn, Cracker Jack, new ballparks, and hefty contracts. Baseball is also about life, heroes, history, poets, families, and social studies.

Whitman proclaimed: “Baseball will take our people out of doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a greater stoicism, tend to relieve us from being a nervous dyspeptic set, repair our losses, and be a blessing to us.”

Recently, hundreds of men, women, children, baseball players, military veterans, and local dignitaries gathered in South Omaha’s Brown Park to rejoice, remember, and honor 40 deceased veterans and a grieving mother.

During World War II many young men left this sandlot and went to another field from which they never returned.

In 1948, Omaha’s city fathers honored 40 local amateur players for their baseball days and their supreme sacrifice by hanging a plaque at (then called) Municipal Stadium.

When renovations occurred in the 1990s at (what became) Rosenblatt Stadium, the plaque was never returned to its place of honor. Family members came to the ballpark but never found the plaque.

During Rosenblatt’s

Monday, Oct. 3 Swiss Steak

Tuesday, Oct. 18 Cheeseburger

Tuesday, Oct. 4 Oven-fried Chicken

Wednesday, Oct. 19 Garlic Rosemary Chicken

Wednesday, Oct. 5 Turkey Fritter

Thursday, Oct. 20 Polish Sausage

Thursday, Oct. 6 Savory Beef Casserole

Friday, Oct. 21 Breaded Chicken Patty

Friday, Oct. 7 Tune Noodle Au gratin Monday. Oct. 10 CLOSED COLUMBUS DAY

The WWII veterans honored at Brown Park played sandlot baseball on the South Omaha field.

recent “retirement,” South Omaha WWII veterans Steve Cavlovic and John Stella were approached about finding a home for this special plaque. Since all the boys whose names are inscribed played baseball at Brown Park, organizers embraced the idea of placing the plaque there.

Joe Smejkal, Dave and Carol Van Metre were among the people who worked on the project that turned out to be a wonderful outreach to WWII orphans and widows.

The honored veterans’ family members were contacted about the planned dedication ceremony, and overnight memories and hearts stirred about this special day of honor.

Several family members of the men whose names are engraved on the plaque shared their stories at the

ceremony. One woman who attended the dedication was 9 months old when she last saw her dad. Jim Wachtler was 2 when he last recalled being with his dad (Elmer) at Brown Park. The widow and 18 family members of James Kriss reunited at the event from across the U.S. Two plaques were dedicated that day. One honors the ballplayers while the other features a story that recognizes those grieving a loss. Al Grove’s mother, Lucia May Martin Grove, wrote Never the Same in 1945, one year after her son was killed in the war. The story is as fresh today as it was when written.

A bat leans against the baseball plaque. Upon viewing it, I think about my dad, a WWII veteran and ballplayer and his good friend, classmate, teammate, and my Little League coach Roy Olsen, who spent his 21st birthday at Iwo Jima. I think of POW Paul Kezeor. I think of our American Legion-sponsored baseball program and its volunteer coaches. I also think about 40 young men who countless times, left their bat against the dugout saying, “I’ll be back.”

They came home to Brown Park this summer.

Monday, Oct. 24 Spanish Beef Patty Tuesday, Oct. 25 BBQ Rib Patty

Tuesday, Oct. 11 Beef Chili Rice

Wednesday, Oct. 26 Turkey Ham w/Beans

Wednesday, Oct. 12 Herbed Pork Loin Thursday, Oct. 13 Veal Italiano

Thursday, Oct. 27 Chicken Strips

Friday, Oct. 14 Beef Jardinine

Friday, Oct. 28 Roast Beef

Monday, Oct. 17 Crunchy Pollock

Monday, Oct. 31 Sloppy Joes

Sweet Adelines’ military salute on Nov. 5 The Acappella Omaha Chorus of Sweet Adelines International will presents its free musical tribute to the United States Military titled Harmony Station Canteen on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Papillion-LaVista High School, 84th Street and Centennial Road.

A 6:30 p.m. pre-show featuring live Big Band music, swing dancers, coffee, and donuts will precede the 7 p.m. performance.

The Acappella Omaha Chorus will sing songs from the 1940s.

Tickets are available through Chorus members, by calling 402-573-5203, or online at www.acappellaomaha. com.

Rehab Guru Physical Therapy

Comprehensive and experienced professionals • Personalized balance and mobility programs • Plantar fasciitis and other foot problems

• Chronic pain • Fibromyalgia • Customized home exercise programs for seniors

For your personalized evaluation call Diana Schwahn, PT, ATC, MA

402-740-8400 or visit us at www.rehabgurupt.com

New Cassel Retirement Center Holiday Boutique & Open House Saturday, November 12, 2011 9am to 3pm Auditorium Entrance

§ 3 Delicious Meals Daily § Transportation Available § Wellness, Recreation & Activities § 24-Hour Health Services § Free Wi-Fi / Computer Lab

This plaque at Brown Park features the names of 40 South Omaha men killed during WWII.

October Move In Special

October 2011

§ Daily Mass & Rosary § Weekly Inter-Faith Service § Weekly Housekeeping § Safe & Secure Environment § Gift Shop / Beauty Salon

Call (402) 393-2277/ 900 North 90th Street Omaha, NE 68114 / www.newcassel.org Sponsored by the School Sisters of Saint Francis

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New Horizons

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Page 21

Bennington man said finish is the key to his beautiful craftsmanship

H

H

Russell will sell his wares on Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Andrews United Methodist Church, 15050 W. Maple Rd.

G

A retired home builder and remodeler, Hanten spends six hours a day woodturning in his basement workshop.

rowing up on the family farm near Kearney, Neb. Teresa (Richter) Jackson, her parents, brother, and three sisters spent hundreds of hours climbing, swinging from, and playing around a large black walnut tree in their back yard.

“That tree was in the center of our yard and was very special to my family,” Jackson said.

During the spring of 2010, the old tree finally succumbed to years of heat, cold, wind, rain, snow, lightning, etc. and had to be cut down. Jackson didn’t want her family’s memories to die with the tree, so she retrieved several pieces

of the black walnut and brought them to her home in Omaha.

She had seen the woodturning mastery of Bennington resident Russell Hanten at area crafts shows, and decided to see if he could create something special from the black walnut’s remains.

After drying out the wood over several weeks, Hanten made some beautiful bowls, pencil holders, and wine bottle stoppers from the dark wood Jackson provided.

“I gave them to my parents, brother, and sisters as gifts,” she said. “They’re wonderful mementoes of our days on the farm.”

Russell makes and sells a beautiful variety of items including wooden bowls, pencil holders, and wine stoppers.

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anten, who turns 80 in November, spends four to six hours a day woodturning in the spacious workshop he built in the basement of the home he shares with Joann Miller.

Woodturning is defined as a form of woodworking used to create wooden objects on a lathe. It differs from other forms of woodworking in that the wood is moving while a stationary tool cuts and shapes the pieces.

While Hanten said he has been working with wood most of his life, he didn’t begin woodturning until 2005. He had retired from a career remodeling and building homes – including his own – and was looking for a hobby.

Miller, who described herself as Hanten’s companion and public relations person, bought a lathe for Hanten from a friend the couple had in Mesa, Ariz. “I knew he could do some wonderful things with wood,” she said.

Others soon verified Miller’s respect for Hanten’s self-taught woodturning skills.

“The neighbors were buying the bowls (Hanten made) right away,” Miller added.

“It was a little rough at first, but it didn’t take me too long to get things squared away,” Hanten said modestly.

The intricate process Hanten follows includes cutting the wood into smaller pieces, gluing the pieces together, reshaping the wood on a lathe, sanding, putting varnish on the object, and rubbing the items with fine steel wool.

“What makes my bowls stand out is the finish,” he said. “A lot of people don’t sand and finish the wood properly.”

Hanten prefers to work with hardwoods like cherry, maple, and birch, and said some other types of wood like white pine and cedar can be too soft for woodturning.

Miller said patience is what makes a good wood turner. While Hanten agreed, he said common sense and the ability to visualize the finished product are equally important.

October 2011

anten recently displayed his woodturning skills for a visitor in a workshop filled with lathes, saws, adhesives, varnishes, and dozens of pieces of wood in several sizes and shapes.

“It doesn’t hurt to get a little sawdust on me.”

He showed the visitor how he cuts the wood into strips and glues the pieces together to form a block.

Hanten then placed the block on a lathe in a corner of the room. After putting a floppy hat on his head, Hanten turned on the machine.

The room soon resembled a small snowstorm as it filled with wood shavings and sawdust.

“It doesn’t hurt to get a little sawdust on me,” a smiling Hanten told the visitor.

Hanten will be displaying his craftsmanship on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Andrews United Methodist Church, 15050 W. Maple Rd. He said his bowls range in price from $25 to $500 while pencil holders cost $35 to $50. Other items are also available in a variety of styles and prices.

While Hanten and Miller enjoy attending craft shows and selling their wares, Miller is afraid the wood turned items may become too popular.

“We don’t want to mass produce them. This is supposed to be a hobby,” she said.

Hanten’s bowls sell for $25 to $500 while his pencil holders range from $35 to $50.

October 2011 events calendar 1 Omaha Symphony Wind Serenade 7 p.m.

Strauss Performing Arts Center @ UNO $30 402-342-3560 BUG

by Tacy Letts Through October 23 Blue Barn Theater 614 S. 11th Street (Old Market) Thursday - Saturdays @ 7:30 p.m.

Sundays @ 6 p.m. $20 & $25 402-345-1576 2 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 8 a.m.

Century Link Center $25 & $35 402-502-2979

7 Omaha Symphony LeAnn Rimes Also October 8 Holland Performing Arts Center $15 to $80 402-342-3560

14 23rd Annual Fall Home & Garden Expo Through October 16 Century Link Center 402-346-8003

21 Flyin’ West Through November 20 Omaha Community Playhouse $21 & $35 402-553-0800

21 Omaha Symphony Omaha Symphony 8 The Music Prokofiev’s Fifth Autumn Ambience of John Denver Also October 22 and and Dan Fogelberg 8 p.m.

Japanese 8 p.m.

Eastern Nebraska • 4223 Center Street • Omaha, NE 68105Holland Performing Ambience Festivala Office on Aging Holland Performing Arts Center Arts Center 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. $25 to $70 $15 to $75 Lauritzen Gardens 402-342-3560 402-342-3560 $3 & $7 402-346-4002 20 29 Jumpin’ Joe Beyrle Omaha Symphony Fall A Hero Psycho with Orchestra Chrysanthemum for Two Nations 7 p.m.

Show Through January 7, 2012 Holland Performing 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Arts Center Lauritzen Gardens Strategic Air & Space Museum $15 to $65 $3 & $7 $6 & $12 402-342-3560 402-346-4002 402-944-3100

The New Horizons isJune brought to 7, 2011 you each month by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging.

CLASSIFIEDS

Please call 402-444-4148 or 402- 444-6654 to place your ad

DO YOU NEED HELP? Lamplighter II John Some of the nicest, newer 1 bedroom With meals, Here’s your ad for the classified section for the issue. Please let melaundry, errands, apartments.

Elevator, w & d,July heated and household duties. know if this is okay, or if you have anySmall changes. parking garage. complex. By bus Reasonable rates. & shopping. No pets or smoking.

93rd & Maple • 402-397-6921 Call 402-345-2596 Thanks!

Mitch Laudenback POOL TABLES Will transfer your @ New Horizons Moving, refelting, assemble, repair, cassettes, LPs, &

Hlavacek chronicles career for audience at Corrigan

tear down. Used slate tables.

We pay CASH for slate pool tables.

8-tracks to CD. Also VHS tapes to DVD.

Big Red Billiards 402-598-5225

402-345-3232

Who Gets The Family Pictures?

Housecleaning Provided

The answer can be; EVERYONE! These precious memories and favorite images can be preserved and duplicated for everyone. Old snapshots improved and fast fading color images from the 50’s and 60’s rescued.

Digitizing these images will preserve them now and for many future generations.

PAID THROUGH December 2011

Call Kathy @ 402-706-7039

Buying or selling?

John Bouska Use the New Horizons 1913 Farnam St. #708 CLASSIFIEDS 68102-1915

Call or email now for more information & a special $25 offer for up to 50 images.

ImagesJohn • 402-598-8436 jr28nel@msn.com

TOP CASH PAID

Tree Trimming Beat the falling leaves!

Best & honest prices paid for: Old jewelry, furniture, glassware, Hummels, knick-knacks, old hats & purses, dolls, old toys, quilts, linens, buttons, pottery, etc.

Also buying estates & partial estates.

Call Bev at 402-339-2856

Chipping & removal.

Your prunings chipped.

Experienced & insured.

Senior discount.

For Sale Author and former war correspondent John Hlavacek recently visited the Corrigan Senior Center, 3819 X St., to discuss his colorful career.

Hlavacek (middle in top photo) with Corrigan manager Lynnette Staroska and Keith Landon, news and current events program manager at the New Cassel Retirement Center where Hlavacek resides. Hlavacek (bottom photo) with Corrigan participant Helen Cratty.

10 round tables.

Each is 47 inches in diameter

OLD STUFF WANTED (before 1975) Postcards, photos, drapes, lamps, 1950s and before fabrics, clothes, lady’s hats, & men’s ties, pictures, pottery, glass, jewelry, toys, fountain pens, furniture, etc.

Call anytime 402-397-0254 or 402-250-9389

deFreese Manor Subsidized housing for those age 62 and over with incomes under $24,750 (1 person) or $28,250 (two persons) 2669 Dodge Omaha, NE 402-345-0622

Senior Citizens (62+)

• Remodeling & Home Improvement

Accepting applications for HUD-subsidized apartments in Papillion & Bellevue. Rent determined by income and medical expenses.

• Safety Equipment Handrails Smoke and Fire Alarms

Buy them as a set or individually

Bellewood Courts 1002 Bellewood Court Bellevue (402) 292-3300

CASH and CARRY!

Managed by Kimball Management., Inc. We do business in accordance with the Fair Housing Law.

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402-731-2094

REPUTABLE SERVICES, INC.

$10 each

October 2011

Driveways, garage floors, sidewalks, retaining walls. patio specialists.

Insured/references.

13 year BBB Member

402-894-9206

Monarch Villa West 201 Cedar Dale Road Papillion (402) 331-6882

Call Jeff @ 402-444-6654

A+ Heartland Concrete Const.

New Horizons

• Painting Interior & Exterior • Handyman Services • Senior Discounts • Free Estimates • References • Fully Insured Quality Professional Service Better Business Bureau Member

402-4 5 5-7 0 0 0

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