Oct 2014 nh

A publication of the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging

October 2014 VOL. 39 • NO. 10

ENOA 4223 Center Street Omaha, NE 68105-2431 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA NE PERMIT NO. 389

New Horizons

Community partners

Vic Gutman is the founder of Vic Gutman & Associates, an Omaha firm that manages several local public events including the Holiday Lights Festival, the Omaha Summer Arts Festival, and the Omaha Farmers Market.

His wife, Roberta Wilhelm, has been the executive director of Girls Inc. of Omaha since 2003.

Leo Adam Biga profiles this dynamic couple who are working hard to make Omaha a better place to live, work, and visit. Page 10.

Managing Despite battling glaucoma and a series of detached eye retinas, Dan Kraemer, age 63, has become the office manager at Outlook Nebraska, Inc. Page 5.

Kicking

Men and women like Pamela Bell (pictured) who are raising their grandchildren are encouraged attend Omaha is one of to only the Grandparents as three cities in Conference the Unitedon Parents StatesThursday, that willSept. host18.the See page 5.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes during November 2014.

Page 20.

Dora Bingel Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Dora Bingel Senior Center, 923 N. 38th St., this month for the following: • Oct: 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, & 31: Ceramics class @ 9 a.m.

• Oct. 1: Holy Communion @ 11 a.m.

• Oct. 6, 13, 20, & 27: Al-Anon meeting @ 7 p.m.

• Oct. 7, 14, 21, & 28: Grief Support Group @ 10 a.m.

• Oct. 15: Merrymaker’s Kim Eames sings @ 11:30 a.m.

Lunch for this monthly Regeneration event is $3 • Oct. 15: Foot care clinic from 9 a.m. to noon. The cost is $10.

• Oct. 24: Hard of Hearing Support Group @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 29: Birthday party luncheon @ noon. Eat free if you have an October birthday.

A nutritious lunch is served on Tuesdays and Fridays.

A fancier meal is offered on Wednesday. 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 meals.

Other activities offered at the facility include: Tuesdays: Free matinee @ 12:30 p.m. & quilting group @ 1 p.m.

Wednesday: Devotions @ 10:30 a.m., and Bible study @ 12:30 p.m., and Bingo @ 12:30 p.m. Friday: Joy Club Devotions @ 9:30 a.m. Bible study @ 12:45 p.m. Bingo @ 12:45 p.m.

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

Millard Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Millard Senior Center at Montclair, 2304 S. 135th Ave., for the following: • Wednesday, Oct. 8: We’ll be making dresses for little girls in Africa from 9 to 11:30 a.m.

• Friday, Oct. 10: Performance by the Hot Flash Dancers at noon. No Bingo that day.

• Wednesday, Oct. 22: Crafts day at 9 a.m. We’ll be decorating Christmas bags and tags. The cost for the supplies is $1 for each bag and $1 to make four tags.

On quilting day (Thursdays @ 9 a.m.) we’ll be making Quilts of Valor for our veterans.

The Millard Senior Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lunch is served at 11:30. A $3.50 donation (free on your birthday) is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to enjoy.

Center activities include a walking club @ 8 a.m. (join and get a free t-shirt), Tai Chi class (Mondays and Fridays from 10 to 10:45 a.m. for a $1 suggested donation), chair volleyball (Tuesdays and Thursdays @ 10 a.m.), quilting (Thursdays @ 9 a.m.), card games, and Bingo (Tuesdays and Fridays @ noon).

For meal reservations and more information, please call Susan at 402-546-1270.

October 2014 events calendar 1 Strategic Air & Scare Strategic Air & Space Museum Through Oct. 31 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

402-944-3100 2 American Buffalo

By David Mamet Blue Barn Theatre Through Oct. 25 Thursday - Saturday @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday @ 6 p.m. $25 & $30 402-345-1576 3 Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat The Rose Theater Through Oct. 19 Friday @ 7 p.m.

Saturday @ 2 & 5 p.m.

Sunday @ 2 p.m. $18 402-345-4849 4 Omaha Symphony The Music Man Meet Me in St. Louis Also Oct. 5 Holland Performing Arts Center Saturday @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday @ 2 p.m.

Tickets start @ $22 402-345-0606 Rockbrook Village Crafts Show 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FREE 402-390-0890 5 Restoration Exchange Omaha Neighborhood Tour Miller Park Pavilion 12 to 5 p.m. $10 for one, $15 for two 402-679-5854 Ringo Starr CenturyLink Center Omaha 7:30 p.m. $49.50 to $125 402-341-1500 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure CenturyLink Center Omaha 7 to 10 a.m.

402-502-2979 11 In Living Color: Andy Warhol and Contemporary Printmaking Through Jan. 11, 2015 Joslyn Art Museum $10 for adults 402-342-3300

Page 2

•

New Horizons

•

October 2014

12 The Great Omaha Chocolate Festival LaVista Community Center 12 to 4 p.m. $3 & $5 402-330-4212 17 Bram Stoker Library Festival Joslyn Castle Through Nov. 2 402-595-2199 18 Monster Mash of Scary Movie Music Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m.

Tickets start @ $22 402-345-0606 24 Blue Man Group Orpheum Theater Through Oct. 26 Friday & Saturday @ 8 p.m.

Sunday @ 1:30 p.m. $35 and up 402-345-0606 25 Omaha Symphony Motown’s Greatest Hits Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m.

Tickets start @ $22 402-345-0606 26 Symphony Spooktacular Holland Performing Arts Center 2 p.m. $15 402-345-0606 29 Lunch for Girls Barbara Bush & Jenna Bush Hager CenturyLink Center Omaha 11:30 a.m. $100 402-457-4676 30 Alton Brown The Edible Inevitable Tour Orpheum Theater 7:30 p.m. $49.25 to $129.25 402-345-0606 An Evening with David Sedaris Holland Performing Arts Center 7:30 p.m. $49 and up 402-345-0606 31 Vampire Ball Joslyn Castle 402-595-2199

Halloween doesn’t have to be scary

W

hile Halloween can be a fun time for many, with kids dressing up as their favorite characters, running around their neighborhoods and collecting candy, it can also be a scary time for many older adults who live alone.

Smaller children out and about with their parents on Halloween may not be scary for older men and women, but mischievous groups of teenagers dressed in costumes can be worrisome. Older adults may fear they’ll be seen as an easy target by these groups or possibly be taken advantage of.

Here are a few tips for older men and women to help them enjoy the fun of Halloween while still staying safe:

• Have a younger friend or relative come over to help you greet the trick or treaters and pass out candy. By having a younger adult with you, it will appear there’s more than one person in the home, deterring troublemakers and would be criminals.

know there are multiple adults.

• Keep your inside and outside lights on. It may be tempting to shut your lights off to dissuade trickor-treaters, but a dark house is an invitation for burglars and vandals.

Make a donation to help support the

“Voice for Older Nebraskans!”

b u l C s n o z i r New Ho

Join the

today!

Membership includes a subscription to the New Horizons newspaper.

• Go to a nearby relative’s home or neighbor’s home to pass out candy. Leave a note on your door indicating candy can be gathered at such and such an address. You could also give the candy to your neighbor to pass out on your behalf.

• If you have a chain lock on your door, use it. The opening is large enough that candy can be passed through the opening, but won’t give people direct access to your home.

• Never let anyone you don’t know into your home, no matter how adorable their little one. Give them directions to a public restroom or refer them to a neighbor’s home where you

• Don’t overlook fire safety and tripping hazards.

Many people like to decrate their front yards or porches with jack-o-lanterns. Clear your porch and sidewalks of decorations. They are easy to trip over. Also remove the candles from jack-olanterns, as not all costumes are flame-retardant • Halloween is a fun holiday for both kids and older adults alike. Make the most of the evening by being safe, having fun, and enjoying quality time with friends and family.

(Payne, who supervises the Omaha Police Department’s Crime Prevention Unit, has been an OPD officer for 20 years.)

New Horizons Club Send

Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging 4223 Center Street to: Omaha, NE 68105-2431 I get the New Horizons regularly and don’t need to be put on the mailing list.

I would like to start receiving the New Horizons at home. My address is below.

NAME ADDRESS CITY/STATE/ZIP

$5

$25

$10

$50

$15

Other _______

New Horizons 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 402-444-3076.

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 20,000 through direct mail and freehand distribution.

Editor....................................................Jeff Reinhardt Ad Mgr................Mitch Laudenback, 402-444-4148 Contributing Writers......Nick Schinker, Leo Biga, & Lois Friedman ENOA Board of Governors: Mary Ann Borgeson, Douglas County, chairperson; Jim Warren, Sarpy County, vice-chairperson; Jerry Kruse, Washington County, secretary; Gary Osborn, Dodge County, & Jim Peterson, Cass 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.

October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 3

Read it & eat

By Lois Friedman readitandeat@yahoo.com

Hot recipes for those cool days Someday this button might save your life. For now, it sets you free.

With Lifeline by Immanuel, you can enjoy an independent lifestyle in your own home—knowing that you can get help if you ever need it. In a fall or emergency, every second counts. Lifeline by Immanuel with AutoAlert is a medical alert pendent that can automatically call for help, even if you can’t push your button. Getting you connected to someone with access to your medical history, someone who can evaluate your situation and immediately send help. To learn more about the security and peace of mind provided

by Lifeline, call (402) 829-3277 or toll-free at (800) 676-9449.

www.immanuellifeline.com

Cookbooks full of recipes with down home flavors for one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. Comfort foods, memories, turning leaves, and a chill in the air.

Sunday Casseroles

By Betty Rosenbottom (Chronicle, $24.95) Sixty recipes for easy to assemble, one-dish casserole recipes you can share with family and friends. Show stopper entrees, old-fashioned favorites, and more.

Betty Crocker The Big Book of Breakfast & Brunch Edited By Betty Crocker (Houghton Mifflin, $19.99) Two hundreds sweet and savory recipes. Healthy living to start your day, Grab & Go Smoothies, hearty brunch dishes with start happy tips, nutritional data, and clear instructions.

Soup’s On!

By Mark Reinfeld (DaCapo, $17.99) The fourth in a series of these 30 minutes or less, quick, and easy recipes. A soup for every season. One hundred vegan fusion recipes with variations, helpful information, chef’s tips and tricks, appendix, and on-line resources.

Please support New Horizons advertisers

Come Home to Supper

By Christy Jordan (Workman, $16.95) Features budget concious, slow cooker, make ahead, family stories, and down home advice. Nine chapters with more than 200 casseroles, skillets, and sides.

Small Bites Big Flavor

By Eric LeVine (Lyons, $26.95) The award-winning chef creates delicious small, mid, big and sweet bites for fun entertaining for two people or a crowd. Easy, medium, and advanced recipes for people of all cooking skills with chef’s notes, and variations. Try this easy recipe for a nosh.

Kalamata Olive Hummus Yield 6 to 8 servings

1 clove garlic, peeled 1 cup garbanzo beans, liquid reserved 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted 4 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoons tahini 1 teaspoon salt Black pepper to taste 3 tablespoons olive oil

Lot #115 – 1998 Redman 14x76, 3 bedroom 2 bath, $13,599

Chop the garlic in a blender. Pour the garbanzo beans and olives into blender, reserving about a tablespoon of olives for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, and salt in the blender.

Blend until creamy and well mixed, adding small amounts of reserved bean liquid until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with the reserved olives.

Lot # 312 – 1984 Bella Vista, 14x66.

3 bed 2 bath $17,500

The New Horizons is brought to you each month by the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging.

Law Offices of Charles E. Dorwart 33 years of legal experience • Wills • Living Trusts • Probate • Healthcare and Financial Powers of Attorney • In Home Consultations • Free Initial Consultation

Lot # 260 –1995 Spirit 16x80; 3 bedrooms 2 baths, $25,000

6790 Grover Street • Suite 100 Omaha, NE 68106 Office: (402) 558-1404 • Fax: (402) 779-7498 cdorwartjd@dorwartlaw.com

Page 4

•

New Horizons

•

October 2014

Dance Wednesdays at Legion Post #1 You’re invited to attend a dance each Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 4 at American Legion Post #1, 7811 Davenport St. Admission is $2.

For more information, please call 402-392-0444.

Clothing donations The Omaha Sertoma Club encourages area residents to collect used and unwanted clothing, shoes, hats, caps, belts, purses, bedding, and towels by cleaning out their closets and other places these things are stored.

The items should then be placed in bags and taken to and placed inside the donation bin at the Westside Community Center near 108th and Grover streets.

The tax-deductible donations will be recycled and sent overseas to people who need them.

By helping to collect an estimated 21 billion pounds of unwanted clothing and keeping it out of landfills, the Sertoma Club will receive funds for its programs that help people with hearing impairments.

For more information, please call Nebraska Business Solutions at 402-2181299 or log on to www.sertoma.org.

Widows, widowers group meets monthly THEOS, a group for older widows and widowers, meets the second Monday of each month at the Presbyterian Church of the Cross, 1517 S. 114th St. The organization offers weekend activities, Wednesday night dinners, and pinochle twice a month.

For more information, please call Dorothy at 402-399-0759, Mary at 402-393-3052, or Joan at 402-393-8931.

Theatre organ group will gather Oct. 26 The River City Theatre Organ Society will meet on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St. During the 3 p.m. meeting, RCTOS members will present an entertaining musical afternoon on the Rose’s mighty Wurlitzer organ.

For more information, please contact Jerry Pawlak at 402-421-1356.

Dan, Outlook Nebraska working to ensure persons with visual impairments have what they need to succeed

I

n 2004, Avaya eliminated Dan Kraemer’s job after he had spent 20 years working at the west Omaha plant once known as Western Electric. Finding a new job at age 53 can be difficult for anyone, but Kraemer’s employment search was complicated by the fact he was battling a series of detached eye retinas.

During the ensuing 12 months, Kraemer made two trips to the Mayo Clinic, had six eye surgeries, and was unable to work. By the end of 2005, Dan had limited vision in both eyes.

He contacted the Nebraska Commission for the Blind who eventually helped Kraemer land a job taking telephone reservations for Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. After more than three years with Hyatt, however, Dan became bored and frustrated.

“The job was unfulfilling,” he said during a recent interview. “I wasn’t using my education or my job experience.”

Kraemer left Hyatt in June 2009, and a day later became the first visually impaired machine operator at Outlook Nebraska, Inc. Located at 4125 S. 72nd St. in Omaha, Outlook Nebraska’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for the blind and visually impaired.

ONI provides the employment, training, and adaptive equipment that allow these men and women to realize their personal and career goals.

“It was very comforting and reassuring to know I could start a new career,” Kramer recalled.

Today, Dan is ONI’s office manager. His duties include managing the firm’s petty cash and credit card transactions and handling plant tours and special events for the company and its 68 employees.

B

orn in Minneapolis, Kraemer and his family moved to Nebraska in 1960 so Dan’s father could take a job with Central States Health and Life Insurance.

Kraemer attended St. Margaret Mary Elementary School before graduating from Omaha’s Rummel High School in 1969.

Dan worked for HinkyDinky before joining the United States Army in 1971.

As office manager for Outlook Nebraska, Kraemer’s duties include handling the firm’s petty cash and credit card transactions.

He processed new recruits while stationed in Anchorage, Alaska for two years.

Following his military career, Kraemer used the GI Bill to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Dan graduated from UNO in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in business.

While a college student, he met Maureen Trouba.

Dan and Maureen Kraemer have been married for 33 years. The couple’s daughter, Elizabeth, works for the UNO Alumni Association.

Their son, Charlie, is an Omaha Police Department officer. Charlie and his wife, Amber, have a son, Jason, who will celebrate his first birthday this month.

After college and before joining Western Electric, Dan worked for a variety of grocery stores in Minneapolis and Omaha.

to live and work around his lack of sight in large part due to Maureen’s support. “My wife gave me 20 minutes to feel sorry for myself,” he said.

Maureen or Elizabeth Kraemer take Dan – who has been unable to drive for the last 11 years – back and forth to work each day.

“I’m a worker. I’m not the kind of person who’s going to let someone else take care of them,” he said. “I push myself as hard as someone who’s fully sighted.”

Like Dan – whose left eye was replaced by a prosthetic device in 2013 – the majority of the men and women who work at ONI have some level of vision impairment.

“We make sure they have the right equipment that allows them to do their jobs,” Kraemer said.

He takes great pride in working at Outlook Nebrasraemer is ka and doing such important appreciative work in his community. of Outlook “It’s rewarding to see how Nebraska and people can overcome their everything the obstacles. I love what I’m organization has done for doing.” him. Initially he was nerDespite battling glaucoma vous about operating a large in his right eye, Kraemer machine in the shop that remains upbeat. “There’s a produces products like paper 50-50 chance I’ll go blind in towels and toilet paper. that eye, but I don’t worry He said good training about that,” he said confiand “knowing where the dently. off switch was” helped For more information on him work with traditional ONI, please call 402-614equipment for the first nine 3331. months. “Today we have (This is the first in a series machines that are more viof New Horizons articles sion impaired friendly.” about Outlook Nebraska, Kraemer has been able Inc.)

Fremont Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Fremont Friendship Center, 1730 W. 16th St. (Christensen Field) this month for the following: • Oct. 1: News with Nye @ 10 a.m. followed by music with pianist Wally.

• Oct. 6: AARP Driver Safety Class from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Presentation on senior fraud @ 11 a.m.

• Oct. 8: Talk on joint pain with Dr. Dalton @ 10 a.m. followed by music with Roger Webb at 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 9: Presentation by Margaret from Legal Aid of Nebraska @ 10 a.m. followed by Bingo at 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 15: Flu shots from 10 to 11 a.m. Bring your Medicare card. Music by Terri Orr @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 16: Annual spaghetti feed benefiting the Fremont Friendship Center from 5 to 7 p.m. in Christensen Field’s main arena. The cost is $7. Children under age 5 eat free.

• Oct. 21: Rich Hirshman will share his Alaska trip pictures @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 22: Music by the JRS Band at 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 28: Movies and popcorn with Larry @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 29: Dance to the music of Wayne Miller at 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 31: Costume Contest at 10:15 a.m. followed by Halloween Bingo.

The Fremont Friendship Center is open Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. A $3.50 donation is suggested for lunch. Reservations must be made by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy.

For meal reservations and more information, please call Laurie at 402-727-2815.

‘Identity: An Exhibition of You’ at Durham Museum Oct. 11 to Jan. 11 The Durham Museum – 801 S. 10th St. – will be the site of a highly interactive and entertaining exhibition titled Identity: An Exhibition of You Oct. 11 through Jan. 11.

Identity uses hands-on stations that shed new light on how our genetics, brains, and social relationships help make us who we are. At the same time, the exhibit reveals how science is providing new insight into the way we think about our personal

identity.

Each area is presented in a fun and creative way that’s easy for children and adults alike to grasp, and highly personalized so each visitor will experience the exhibit differently.

Admission to the Durham Museum is $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, $6 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for members and children ages 2 and younger.

For more information, please call 402-444-5071.

K

October 2014

(402)-291-5005

•

New Horizons

•

Page 5

Take ‘The Great Canadian Train Ride’ with filmmaker Doug Jones on Thursday, Oct. 16

T

he Omaha World Adventurers film series continues as one of America’s foremost travel adventure documentary filmmakers, Doug Jones presents The Great Canadian Train Ride on Thursday, Oct. 16. Show times are 2 and 7:30 p.m.

This is the second in a series of six OWA shows in 2014-15 at the Village Pointe Theater, 304 North 174th St. Jones has appeared on virtually every lecture series in the United States and Canada. He has also worked as a radio announcer, art dealer, theatrical producer, and European tour guide.

His personal travels have

taken him around the world into nearly 70 nations on six continents. His DVDs including The Great Canadian Train Ride have sold more than one million copies worldwide.

With cameras in hand Jones boards the Canadian Pacific in Toronto and begins a spectacular ride west.

He crosses Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta with stops in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Edmonton. From there the tour rolls further into Alberta and the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

In 1955 the Canadian Pacific Railroad inaugurated a new trans-continental streamliner, the “Canadian.”

Nearly six decades later,

this train still rolls across the prairies and through the most breathtaking part of the Rockies.

an intermission.

Tickets are $14 at the door, cash or check.

For more information, please call RJ Enterprises, Inc. at 1-866-385-3824.

V

iewers will not only view the scenery of Canada, but also learn about the operation of one of the last great trans-continental trains as they climb into the locomotive cab for a ride and then enjoy dinner in the diner.

“What I tried to do in producing this film was take the audience back to a more leisurely age when travelers viewed the scenery from the ground,” Jones said.

The show is approximately 90 minutes long including

Armchair travelers can take a trip through the Canadian Rockies as the Omaha World Adventurers film series continues on Oct. 16.

Oktoberfest dance set for Oct. 12 at Starlite Ballroom You’re invited to attend an Oktoberfest Dance on Sunday, Oct. 12 from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at the Starlite Ballroom, 2045 County Road K in Wahoo.

This year’s dance will feature the Nebraska Czech Brass Band.

Admission is $8 per person and food will be available.

Omaha Computers Users Group meeting

Y

ou’re invited to join the Omaha Computer Users Group (OCUG), an organization dedicated to helping men and women age 50 and older learn more about their computers.

Anyone can join OCUG regardless of his or her computer skills.

The organization’s 50 members meet the third Saturday of each month from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Abrahams Library, 5111 N. 90th St. Annual dues to OCUG, which has existed for 15 years, are $25.

Members will have access to updated laptop computers with Microsoft Office 2010, the Microsoft 8 operating system, a Power Point projector, and a printer.

Each month, OCUG meetings address members’ questions and teach new techniques.

For more information, please call OCUG’s president Phill Sherbon at 402-333-6529.

Page 6

•

New Horizons

•

October 2014

Vols collect, donate products for Nebraska military programs

Please see the ad on page 3

New Horizons Club membership roll rises $25 Elizabeth Nichols Rogene Thompson Dorothy Engle Roger Flannery $10 Elsie Chapin Norma Buschelman Kay Kronholm

Last month in honor of 9/11 Day, the Nebraska Senior Service Corps Association collected hundreds of hygiene products for veterans and military programs across Nebraska. Volunteers from ENOA’s National Senior Service Corps Association programs (the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, the Senior Companion Program, and the Foster Grandparent Program) gathered at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church and presented the 539 products they had collected to Ali Clouse from the Salvation Army’s VA Per Diem Program.

Clouse distributed the items to homeless veterans in the area.

Among those in attendance at the Omaha 9/11 Day gathering were (from left): Julie Nash, Nebraska state director of the National Senior Service Corps Association, Tom Kallman from U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns’ office, Ali Clouse from the Salvation Army, Mary Parker, coordinator of ENOA’s Senior Companion Program and ENOA’s Foster Grandparent Program, and Pat Tanner, coordinator of ENOA’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

$5 Anna Grimit Barbara Seerley Connie Czyz Reflects donations received through September 23, 2014.

Senior Moving Services

“Moving services personally tailored for seniors.”

We offer a full range of moving services that we believe can reduce the stress and anxiety related to your move. We specialize in both the physical and the emotional aspects of this type of move.

Examples of Services: • Provide a complimentary in-home assessment to determine your transitional needs.

• Plan, schedule, and coordinate all aspects of the move.

• Prepare a floor plan.

• Organize, sort, pack, and unpack household contents.

• Prepare change of address for mail delivery.

• Coordinate transfer of utilities, phone, and cable service.

• Disconnect and reconnect electronics.

• Unpack and settle your new home including hang the shower curtain, make the beds, and hang the pictures; making your new home feel familiar.

• Coordinate shipment of special heirlooms to family members.

To learn more, contact

Senior Moving Services

• Coordinate a profitable dispersal of remaining household items through estate sale, auction, consignment, and/or donation.

today at

We understand the anxiety and the challenges, and we will personally see you through the entire move process; from the first phone call until the last picture is hung. There is hard work to be done and well will be with you every step of the way.

October 2014

402-445-0996

www.seniormovingservices.com

•

New Horizons

•

Page 7

Try learning a second language

The importance of exercising your brain

By Mark Kresl As our bodies age, so do our minds. Memories may fade and we may become forgetful. Simple tasks may become much more difficult. Those symptoms could signal the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Starting at age 65, a person’s chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years. By age 85, there is about a 50 percent chance a person will have symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

Is there anything we can do to prevent it? There’s no cure, but there are ways to fight back. Just like exercising your body can pay dividends as you age, exercising your mind can also provide considerable benefits. Research has shown by engaging regularly in activities that involve critical thinking, you can delay symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s by up to five years. The younger you

start, the bigger the benefit.

So, what are these activities? Below is a partial list to get you started.

• Learn a second language. There has been research recently that strongly suggests bilingual people who develop Alzheimer’s disease, see their symptoms progress much more slowly.

Researchers haven’t been able to determine why, but it’s believed the brains of bilinguals somehow compensate for the deficits caused

by Alzheimer’s disease.

The longer you speak two languages, the better, but it’s never too late to learn a second language. There are online classes, programs at your local library, or classes at your local community college. Give it a try.

• Travel. Seeing and experiencing new things can give your brain a healthy workout. As your senses feast on the sights, sounds, and smells of your new adventure, your brain is more

Zumba Gold is for anyone who:

• Prefers a slower Pace • Is just starting out • Is rebuilding after illness or injury • Needs to sit while exercising • Can’t jump or hop

SIGN UP TODAY!

at maxxfitt.net

or call 402-507-8306

MAXX FiTT “Fitness for Life”

Page 8

•

New Horizons

•

active and alert while taking it all in.

• Memorize. If you have a favorite poet or writer, get in the habit of memorizing a line or phrase from their works every day. You’ll get the joy of better knowing their work and your brain will get the exercise it needs to stay healthy. You can also pick inspiring quotes and use them to give your spirits a lift during the day.

• Solve puzzles. Solving puzzles gives your brain a great workout and are very fun to do. Whether it’s a jigsaw puzzle, Sudoku, or the word jumble in the newspaper, spending time solving puzzles is great exercise for your brain.

• Take a class. Learn something new. Have you always wanted to paint, write, or fix things? There are classes in your community that can help you learn.

Learning new things is great exercise for the brain and will pay dividends in your daily life as well.

• Play a musical instrument. Research has shown music uses a completely different part of your brain than speaking or writing.

There have been documented cases of stroke victims who have lost their ability to speak or write and yet are able to sing complete songs.

Not only is music enjoyable today, it could help your brain tomorrow.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to keep your mind active and help to delay symptoms of dementia as you age. You’ll be glad you did. Not only will these activities improve your life today, but will help your brain stay alert tomorrow.

Remember, exercising your brain is just as important as exercising your body.

Don’t wait. Start today.

(Kresl is with Midwest Geriatrics, Inc. of Omaha,)

October 2014

AARP offering driving course AARP is offering a new four-hour, research-based Smart Driver Course for older adults.

By completing the course, participants will learn research-based driving safety strategies that can reduce the likelihood of having an accident; understand the links between the driver, the vehicle, and the road environment, and how this awareness encourages safer driving; learn how aging, medications, alcohol, and health-related issues affect driving ability and ways to allow for these changes; increase confidence; know how to share the road safely with other drivers, and learn the newest safety and advance features in vehicles.

The fee is $15 for AARP members and $20 for nonAARP members.

No tests or examinations are involved, course completion certificates are provided, and auto insurance discounts may apply. Here’s this month’s schedule: Friday, Oct. 3 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Metro Community College 829 N. 204th St. Class ID# AUAV-004N-72 Call 402-457-5231 to register Monday, Oct. 6 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Fremont Parks & Recreation 16th Street & Ridge Road Drive Call 402-727-2815 to register

Saturday, Oct. 11 1 to 4 p.m.

AARP Information Center 1941 S. 42nd St. Call 402-398-9568 to register Wednesday, Oct. 15 Noon to 4 p.m.

Bloomfield Forum 9804 Nicholas St. Call 402-390-9991 to register

Friday, Oct. 24 Noon to 4 p.m.

AgeWell by Immanuel • 6801 N. 67th Plz. Call 402-829-3200 to register

Corrigan Senior Center October 2014 events calendar You’re invited to visit the Corrigan Senior Center, 3819 X St. this month for: • Oct. 6: Lunch featuring chili and a baked potato or a garden cranberry salad. Flu shot clinic from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

• Oct. 16: Oktoberfest dinner dance. Enjoy great food, raffles, and dancing. The Red Raven Polka Band will perform from 11 a.m. to noon. Lunch includes pork roast with gravy, seasoned red potatoes, peas and carrots, sauerkraut, rye bread, and apple pie. Bingo follows lunch.

The reservation deadline is Friday, Oct. 10.

• Oct. 23: Talk by Carole Lainoff on Parkinson’s disease @ 11 a.m. Stay for lunch featuring roast beef with mushroom gravy or a deli choice of honey mustard chicken salad. Bingo follows lunch.

• Oct. 27: Birthday party with music from 11 a.m. to noon by The Links sponsored by the Merrymakers. The noon lunch includes beef Italiano or a deli choice turkey and Swiss wrap. Bingo follows lunch.

• Oct. 30: Haunted House of Corrigan Halloween party begins @ 10 a.m. Music by Dave Salmons @ 11 a.m. Enjoy games and a costume contest.

Lunch features a honey mustard chicken breast or a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich. Bingo follows the meal.

The center will be closed on Monday, Oct. 13 for Columbus Day. New players are welcome to play chair volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday @ 11 a.m. A noon lunch will follow.

Join us for Tai Chi, a relaxing and fun activity that’s proven to improve your balance Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. in our spacious gym.

Bingo, ceramics, exercise, woodcarving, and loads of fun are also available.

The Corrigan Senior Center is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Lunch is served at noon. A $3.50 contribution is normally suggested for the meal.

Reservations are normally due by noon the business day prior to the meal you wish to enjoy.

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

Alzheimer’s support groups available in Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy counties The Alzheimer’s Association Midlands Chapter offers several caregiver support groups and specialty support groups each month in Dodge, Douglas, and Sarpy counties. These support groups offer valuable space and educational opportunities for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of dementia to engage and learn. Please call Elizabeth at 402-502-4301, ext. 205 for more information.

DODGE COUNTY

• OMAHA

• FREMONT Last Wednesday of month @ 2 p.m.

Nye Square 655 W. 23rd St.

Third Tuesday @ 5 p.m.

Immanuel Pathways 5755 Sorensen Pkwy.

Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Shalimar Gardens 749 E. 29th St. DOUGLAS COUNTY • BENNINGTON Last Thursday @ 6 p.m.

Ridgewood Active Retirement Community 12301 N. 149th Cr. • ELKHORN Third Monday @ 6 p.m.

Elk Ridge Village Assisted Living 19400 Elk Ridge Dr. • OMAHA

First Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Heritage Pointe 16811 Burdette St. Third Saturday 10:30 a.m. to noon Younger Onset Support Group For persons age 65 or younger and a loved one Methodist Hospital 8303 Dodge St. REGISTRATION REQUIRED First Thursday @ 6:30 p.m.

Early Stage Support Group For persons age 65+ caregiver Security National Bank 1120 S. 101st St. REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Second Thursday @ 10 a.m.

Country House 5030 S 155th St. Adult day services are provided on-site.

Second or third Thursday 11 a.m.

Caring for Your Parents Support Group

Every other Monday @ 7 p.m.

Brighton Gardens 9220 Western Ave.

SARPY COUNTY

Men’s Group Third Wednesday @ 11:30 a.m.

Alzheimer’s Association office 1941 S. 42nd St.

Third Monday @ 7 p.m.

Bellevue Senior Center 109 W. 22nd Ave.

Third Tuesday @ 6:30 p.m.

Fountain View Senior Living 5710 S 108th St.

First Wednesday @ 1 p.m.

Eastern Nebraska Vets Home 12505 S. 40th St.

Third Wednesday @ 5 p.m.

Immanuel Fontenelle Home 6809 N. 68th Plz. First and third Monday @ 1:30 p.m.

New Cassel/Franciscan Centre 900 N. 90th St. Adult day services are provided on-site.

ENOA’s RSVP is looking for volunteers 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 402-444-6536, ext. 224.

In Dodge and Washington counties, please call 402721-7780.The following have volunteer opportunities in Douglas, Sarpy, and Cass counties: • The Disabled American Veterans need volunteer drivers.

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

• Bergan Mercy Medical Center is looking for volunteers to help in several areas.

• The Omaha Children’s Museum needs volunteers for its train ride program.

• Rebuilding Together wants volunteers to work on

home projects.

• The Omaha Convention & Visitors Bureau is looking for volunteers for a variety of duties.

• Together Inc. needs an intake assistant.

• Mount View Elementary School is looking for a TeamMates mentor.

• Skyline Retirement Community wants volunteers to help its residents with exercise classes.

The following have a volunteer opportunity in Dodge and/or Washington County: • The Blair and Fremont Car-Go Program needs volunteer drivers.

• The Fremont Friendship Center wants volunteers to facilitate classes.

• The Danish American Archive Library needs volunteers to help with its archives.

• The American Red Cross is looking for volunteers.

• Low Income Ministries wants volunteers for its food pantry and clothing center.

Sweet Adelines show scheduled for Nov. 15

T

he Acappella Omaha Chorus of Sweet Adelines International will host its annual fall production on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Papillion/LaVista High School, 84th Street and Cen-

tennial Rd. The 7 p.m. show is titled Reflections.

More information on tickets, which are $15, is available by calling 402932-0155 or logging on to www.acappellaomaha.com.

• BELLEVUE

Fourth Thursday @ 6 p.m.

Hillcrest Health Services 1804 Hillcrest Dr. Second Tuesday @ 5:30 p.m.

Heritage Ridge 1502 Fort Crook Rd. South

Please support New Horizons advertisers

WHITMORE LAW OFFICE Wills • Trusts • Probate

Ask A Lawyer: Q — What is a Transfer on Death Deed (TOD Deed)?

A — A TOD Deed allows a property owner to execute a deed that names a beneficiary who will obtain title to the property at the owner’s death, without the need for probate.

Used mostly when a property has a single owner, the transfer doesn’t take effect until death. You must record the deed before death, but you are free to change your mind and revoke the deed at any time before death. The beneficiary has no rights to the property during the owner’s lifetime and cannot transfer or mortgage the property and his creditors cannot reach the property as long as the owner is alive.

Have a question about estate planning? Give us a call!

AARP Legal Service Network • No Charge For Initial Consultation

7602 Pacific Street, Ste 200 • (402) 391-2400 http://whitmorelaw.com

October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 9

Vic, Roberta share a passion for youth, community, diversity

A Michigan native, Vic came to Omaha in 1974 to work for VISTA. Forty years later, he’s still here.

By Leo Adam Biga Contributing Writer

V

ic Gutman and Roberta Wilhelm each own such strong public identities for their individual professional pursuits that not everyone may know they comprise one of Omaha’s most dynamic married couples.

Married since 1998, they were colleagues before tying the knot. After both went through a divorce they became friends, began dating, and now they’re entrenched as a metropolitan Omaha area power duo for their high profile work with organizations and events that command respect. Between them they have five children and one grandchild.

He’s the founder and

Page 10

•

manager of the Omaha Summer Arts Festival, which celebrates 40 years in 2015, and of the popular Old Market and Ak-Sar-Ben Village farmers markets.

He has deep event planning roots here. He also heads his own nonprofit management and consulting firm, Vic Gutman and Associates.

She’s the past executive director of The Rose Theater and the longtime executive director of Girls Inc. of Omaha.

Their work usually happens separately but when they collaborate they have a greater collective impact.

Even though Gutman and Wilhelm are from different backgrounds, he’s Jewish and she’s Christian, he trained as an attorney and she as an actress, the couple

New Horizons

•

On a recent day at Girls Inc. of Omaha, Roberta Wilhelm (back row) spent some time with (from left): Jerrica Coleman, Miracle Deavers, Justice Bass, Olivia Martinez, Lela Gordon, and Mariah Thurman. share a passion for serving youth, fostering community, and welcoming diversity.

Vic is involved in the TriFaith Initiative that seeks to build an interfaith campus in west Omaha. She’s always worked for nonprofits.

“Neither of us has been particularly motivated by money,” Gutman says.

Their paths originally crossed through consulting work he did for the theater.

For transplants, they’ve heavily invested themselves in Omaha. Vic moved here in 1974 from Oak Park, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.

Roberta came in the early 1980s after graduating from the University of Kansas.

Kansas was the end of a long line of places she grew up as the daughter of a ca-

Octoberz 2014

reer Army father.

Like many young men in the early 1960s Gutman heeded the call to serve issued by President John F. Kennedy. JFK signed into existence the Peace Corps as a program for Americans to perform international service. Kennedy’s envisioned domestic equivalent formed after his death as VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America).

Gutman was an idealistic University of Michigan undergrad when he signed up to be a VISTA volunteer.

A year passed before he got assigned to Boys Town where he managed three group homes, the first of its kind off-campus program.

“I really only planned on staying (in Omaha) one year

and 40 years later I’m still here,” he says.

Gutman gained valuable experience as student organizations director on the massive Ann Arbor campus and as an arts festival organizer. He flourished in college, where he found free expression for his entrepreneurial and social progressive interests.

“I was at the university from ‘69 to ‘74. Ann Arbor was a hotbed for anti-war protests. SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) started there. Its founder, activist Tom Hayden, went to school there. I would go to these demonstrations,” recalls Gutman, At 19, he’d impressed university officials enough that they asked him to organize a campus arts festival.

Little did he know it was the beginning of a four decades and counting run of him being “Mr. Festival.”

“We called it the Free Fair. We charged next to nothing to get in. It was very idealistic. We ended up having 400 artists from all over.

Then we expanded from the campus to the main street downtown six blocks away.

We had 700 artists my last year and 1,500 people belonging to the guild we started. The fair and guild are still going strong today.”

Vic started other arts festivals, including one in Detroit, as well as a crafts fair in Ann Arbor. The success of that first arts festival so impressed him that it changed his life.

“Before my eyes a community of 400 artists in a period of several hours just --Please turn to page 11.

Gutman’s festivals not initially embraced by Omaha’s leaders Mayor Al Veys and City Attorney Herb Fitle initially threatened closing the event after it had already started.

That’s when Gutman suggested he’d go to the media with a story putting Omaha’s elected leadership in a bad light.

“I said, ‘how would it look that we have artists from all over the country and tens of thousands of festival-goers having to go home because the mayor shut us down?’ Ultimately they let us stay open.”

I

f Gutman were less sure or headstrong there might not be the tradi-

tion of Omaha festivals and markets there is today. He also originated the Winter Art Fair and was asked to do the Holiday Lights Festival, Omaha 150, the Greek Festival, and many more.

He’s retained close ties to his native Detroit, where in 2001 he organized that city’s tricentennial celebration, Detroit 300. Two-years in the making, with a $4 million production budget, the grand event took place on the riverfront’s Hart Plaza with a cast of thousands.

“We brought in for one free, outdoor concert all these Detroit performers –

Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Take Six, (and) The Spinners. Stevie Wonder did two hours. Unbelievable. People did The Hustle (dance) in the streets. A 900-member gospel choir performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on a stage 30 feet off the ground.

We had historic sailboats on the river. Fireworks. Food.

It was incredible. “ Planning Detroit 300, he wondered if he’d taken on more than he could handle.

“It was so hard to put that together I told Roberta, ‘I’m going to regret this, it’s not going to work, it’s not --Please turn to page 12.

Gutman and Wilhelm first met when Vic was doing some consulting work for the Rose Theater.

--Continued from page 10. blossomed in front of me, and then all these people came over a four-day period to enjoy the art. It was like, wow, this is really cool, I have to do this the rest of my life. It just touched something in me that I could create a community that would bring people together. That’s what really interested me.”

Only a year after moving to Omaha, Gutman launched the Summer Arts Festival because he saw a void for events like it going unfilled.

However, he found local powerbrokers skeptical about his plans even though the city was starving for new entertainment options.

“All there really was was the Old Market, at least from a young person’s perspective. There wasn’t much here. At that time this community did not embrace creativity and young people doing things. There was no

young professionals association.”

The then 22-year-old was treated like a brash upstart.

Nearly everywhere Vic went he got a cold shoulder.

“It was like, ‘who are you?

What right do you have to do this?’ That was the mindset.”

Complicating matters, he says, “The city didn’t really have an ordinance to allow these events to go on downtown.” Vic had to get permits.

He moved the event to where the Gene Leahy Mall was being developed and the public came out in “huge numbers.” Gutman saw the potential for Omaha adding similar events and branding itself the “City of Festivals.”

The Chamber of Commerce rejected the notion.

In 1978 the fest moved to what’s been its home ever since – alongside the Civic Center and Douglas County Courthouse. He says then

Active Living

Embark on an active lifestyle at Hickory Villa!

• Spacious Floor Plans • Enriching Activities and Outings • Pets Welcome • Transportation Available Call to schedule a tour today!

For more information, visit our website at:

www.BethesdaSeniorLiving.com

Hickory Villa • Assisted Living 7315 Hickory St. Omaha, NE 68124

(402) 392-0767

October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 11

Vic attended law school, worked in public defender’s office --Continued from page 11. coming together.’ It ended up coming together and it was so great.”

Roberta jokes that Vic neurotically worries his events will fall flat, even though they always turn out great.

In the 1990s Omaha stakeholders listened after surveys and media reports revealed young folks couldn’t wait to leave a city they viewed as boring, hidebound, and unsupportive of fresh, new ideas.

“What started the change in the city is when the Omaha Community Foundation’s Del Weber hired this consultant,” Gutman says. “She (the consultant) did a report that talked about Omaha needing sparkle and the creative spark, and that it should accentuate fun. That’s what Omaha by Design came out of. That’s when the city started embracing young professionals.”

Gutman, whose youthful enthusiasm belies his age, 62, likes the vibrant creative class and entertainment scene that’s emerged. This new Omaha’s made the timing right for a long-held dream of his: a year-round indoor public market.

He’s secured the site, an abandoned postal annex building on South 10th Street that will take $10 million to create. He’s raised part of the money.

The market will feature local food businesses and the building will house other activities to help make it “a destination and anchor.” He’s banking it will catch-on the way his farmers markets have.

“The farmers markets have been hugely successful and they’ve been a huge boon for local growers. We hope this becomes the same thing – a place people want to come to in order to socialize, support local businesses, and add to the vitality of the community.”

“The thing about Vic is he always has multiple dreams on the horizon and he gets them done and they’re all things that make the community better and stronger,” says Roberta.

C

reating and managing events is not the only way Gutman engages the community. There’s the work he does with nonprofits and youths. Following his Boys Town stint Vic earned a law degree at Creighton University. After passing the bar exam he was a public defender in the juvenile court system where he represented troubled teens.

“It’s not supposed to be but it’s a bit of social work and a bit of law. I think it has to be almost.”

Gutman despaired at what he found in that arena.

“Everything wrong with the juvenile justice system now was wrong then. It’s been broken forever. We were putting kids in 30-day psychiatric evaluations because it was better than having them sit in the youth center, which was even a worse place than it is now. Kids who committed no crime – status offenders – would be in the youth center longer because there were even fewer places to put them. I had one kid who committed no crime in the youth center for almost a year.

“They were placing kids in boys ranches out west where they were being abused.”

Gutman encountered countless youth from broken families where alcohol and drugs, physical-sexual abuse, and parental neglect were present.

“Some of their stories broke my heart,” he says.

Omaha’s gang problem was just emerging when Vic left the public defender’s office 1986.

“My biggest regret is I was so aware of how dysfunctional the juvenile court system was and no one was advocating for change. If I thought law was going to be my career – and I never thought it would – that’s what I would have

Page 12

•

done. I would have put my energy into advocacy.

I made a lot of noise but I was never working to change the system.”

Gutman has also done mentoring, as Roberta has, and now they’re doing it together.

“I have mentored Arturo, age 14, for four years, first through Teammates and then through Big Brothers/BigSisters,” he says. “I have mentored Elijah, age 12, for two years through Teammates. Roberta and I have become legal guardians of Arturo and his two brothers and they have lived with us since June 2.”

All the while Gutman’s served youth he’s continued doing festivals and consulting nonprofits.

As his business and roster of clients have grown, so has his company which employs 12 people.

Vic says early on he concluded, “I never want to work for a corporation,” adding, “I wanted what I do in the community with projects and with my own company to be a reflection of what

and Bill Kirk and that really changed everything. I loved it. I changed my tune. I really liked Omaha, I wanted to stay.”

She enjoyed a classic rise through the ranks at the theater.

“I was hired as the assistant to the receptionist and the assistant to the bookkeeper. They fired the receptionist, so then I was the receptionist and the assistant to the bookkeeper. I was a very bad receptionist.”

Roberta wasn’t much better at bookkeeping.

Wilhelm proved a quick read though. “I learned a lot. I loved being in the theater, even when I was the receptionist. I had a degree in theater but it was all very academic, so to be in a place actually producing theater was great.

When I started, I didn’t know what a nonprofit was. I remember asking Nancy (Duncan), ‘Can I sit in on a board meeting?’ I wanted to know who were these people and what was it they do, I learned a lot about marketing, computers, (and) mailing lists.”

From the start, she acted in plays there, too.

Roberta soon joined the artistic staff as a teacher and actor. “Being on the artistic staff was really great,” she says. “That was a lot of fun.”

Larson wound up being the artistic director.

When Nancy Duncan left Mark Hoeger came in as executive director. In that transition, Wilhelm says, “Mark asked me to be the managing director and I said, ‘No, I really don’t want to do that.’

He said, ‘Well, just give me two years because I need you to help me through this transition.’ I accepted. It ended up a lot longer than two years.

That took us into the renovation of the old AstroParamount into The Rose and our moving there.”

The former Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater had long outgrown its space at 35th and Center streets. When the Astro, a former movie house, was floated as an option, the theater’s leadership expressed interest. But Wilhelm and company needed the OK of Nebraska Furniture Mart founder Rose Blumkin, who owned the theater.

Gutman is working to create a year-round Decades earlier Blumkin’s daughter, Frances Batt, won a talent show there singing Am I Blue?, indoor public market on Omaha’s Wilhelm says, “The building held a special place South 10th Street. in her (Blumkin’s) heart.”

I feel the world should be.”

Mark Hoeger and Susie Buffett, a good friend His vision of a just world is similar to Roof Wilhelm’s, sought Mrs. B’s approval. She berta’s, whose work at The Rose Theater and granted it and her family donated a million dolGirls Inc. has been community-based. Her many lars to the relocation effort. dislocations as an Army brat made settling down “Mrs. B put her blessing on the project,” Wilin one place an attractive notion. helm says.

“I moved almost every year of my life. I lived Susie Buffett’s investor legend father, Warren in Kentucky, Virginia, New Jersey (when her Buffett, who by then owned the Nebraska Furnifather was in Vietnam), (and) New York – until ture Mart, matched the gift. high school, when I was in Iran three years. I Wilhelm will never forget moving to the new went to the American School in Tehran.” digs at 2001 Farnam St. in 1995. The night This was before the Shah’s fall and the Ayatol- before a rally was held at the new space to enlist lah Khomeini’s rise to power. volunteers for the pre-dawn move.

“When I was there it was relatively tame “One of our resident actors, Kevin Erhrhart, and calm. There were occasional incidents and leapt up on a mantel at The Rose and recited American kids were told to keep a low profile, the “St. Crispin’s Day” speech from Henry V,” but for the most part we went everywhere we Wilhelm recalls. “He whipped everybody into a wanted in the city, (and) in the country with frenzy with, ‘You’re going to be there and you’re no problems. It was a really great experience. I going to be glad you were there to do it.’” loved being there,” Wilhelm recalls.

The requisite 100 or so volunteers were there At the American School she did plays at the for the move the next morning. urging of her mother, a drama teacher who took Wilhelm says Frances Batt had promised if Roberta to Broadway shows back home. the theater “got this done” then she’d sing Am After her father was posted to Fort LeavenI Blue? at the opening gala. Hearing this, Warworth (Kansas), Wilhelm finished high school ren Buffett promised to accompany her on the and majored in theater at KU in Lawrence. It’s ukulele. where she met her first husband, playwright“So at the gala he strummed and she sang and director James Larson. When Larson came to it was like a Fellini movie,” Wilhelm says. “It Omaha to research his Ph.D. dissertation on the was so other-worldly. Just an odd little moment.

Omaha Magic Theatre’s Megan Terry, Wilhelm But very cool. That was one of those peak nights. followed, working there a few months. She was It was a stunning transformation (the restoranot a happy camper. tion). We worked so hard for this.”

“I told James, “We’re going to get out of here.’

“It was great,” says Vic, who was there that That was the plan. But then I ended up working night because he’d already been advising the at the children’s theater under Nancy Duncan --Please turn to page 13.

New Horizons

•

October 2014

While she misses the theater, Roberta’s found a home at Girls Inc. --Continued from page 12. theater’s staff.

Roberta admits she was less than thrilled when Gutman began working with the Rose Theater.

She says she actually tried talking Mark Hoeger out of hiring Vic even though she’d never met Gutman at that point.

“I said, ‘I’ve seen his name on things around town. I have a bad feeling about him; I think he’s a slimy, not-to-be trusted guy. You can hire him but I’m just telling you I’m going to tell you I told you so.’”

Roberta and Vic smile about it now. He says he was oblivious to her suspicions then. Her perception changed when she saw how good his ideas were and how much he cared. There was an event he tried talking the theater out of doing but they went ahead with the production which was a bust.

“He was so pained by it. He takes things so personally. He was a consultant but he didn’t have that distance. It was his event, his failure.”

Another time, Gutman, who’s known to be intense on the job, was doing a work performance review with a female staff member when she broke down crying. Wilhelm chastised him for upsetting her.

“I remember he felt really bad. He didn’t mean to make her cry and he sent her flowers.”

“She now works for me,” Gutman says of that former theater staffer.

Roberta says Vic was so intense she couldn’t imagine being romantically involved with him at the time. That changed as she got to know him and as he mellowed. Gutman still has high expectations and standards to which he holds people accountable. Roberta acknowledges the theater lacked a certain professionalism he instilled.

“We were ragtag,” she says.

“It had transitioned from almost all volunteer.

They didn’t have an experienced marketing and development staff and they were just resource poor,” he says. “They worked on a very small budget.”

“Mark Hoeger used to say we were like a bumble bee that scientifically shouldn’t be able to fly, but flew,” Wilhelm says.

As his changes took root, Vic became part of the theater family, though staff was not above teasing him as “our highly paid consultant.”

“They trusted me, they were extremely supportive. I never felt like I was a consultant and I don’t feel that way with most of the clients now, but especially the theater,” says Gutman, whose association has continued long after Roberta’s leaving The Rose.

When they were together at the theater, the couple made a formidable team along with James Larson.

“When Mark left I really wasn’t that hot to be the executive director but I also wasn’t really that hot to be the right-hand person to someone new.

I enjoyed working with Mark very much and really was sad to see him go. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this for someone else. I had to think about moving up or moving on. I finally put my hat in the ring for the position and I got the job,” she says.

By then, Wilhelm was divorced from Larson.

The two continued working together without problems, she says. The situation mirrored that of Carl Beck and Susan Baer Collins at the Omaha Community Playhouse, who were married, then divorced, but successfully worked as co-artistic directors at the OCP. When Roberta and Vic married and Larson stayed on, the trio made what could have been an awkward situation comfortable. Vic says, “We still got along just fine.”

The “little-theater-that-could” became a major arts organization locally and a big deal among children’s theaters nationally. Its budget and membership expanded with its reputation.

“It grew so fast. It was sort of explosive,”

Wilhelm says. “There were a lot of planets that aligned. Mark was really good for the theater.

He networked really well. James had a lot of educational vision for the organization and was very good packaging programs for schools.”

The theater attracted big name guest playwrights (James Still, Mark Medoff, Joe Sutton, and Robert Bly) and produced world-premiere shows (Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and Where the Red Fern Grows). It developed a national touring program and cultivated a diverse pool of youth participants. The theater was recognized with a national achievement award from its peer professional alliance.

Not to be forgotten, Wilhelm says, was the really great ensemble of performers there who formed a tight-knit cadre. “It was kind of a cult,” she adds. “You don’t need sleep, you don’t need money, you don’t need worldly

Roberta is overseeing construction of a $15 million expansion of the Girls Inc. facility at 2811 N. 45th St. goods; you live off the passion. It was very fun and intense. A lot of hard work. The people were dramatic, melodramatic, storming in and out of offices, spilling their guts out.”

Vic got swept up in it, too, even relaxing his buttoned-down demeanor.

“The theater’s just an amazing place and honestly it’s the people who make it. The people were so interesting and passionate. I just loved being there. To this day I love the theater.”

Gutman even found himself on stage, in costume and makeup, in a singing and dancing pirate role in Peter Pan. He was in some good company. His director, Tim Carroll, is now a Broadway director. His then-child co-stars included Andrew Rannells – who’s gone on to be a Tony Award nominee and Grammy winner – and Conor Oberst, now a national music star.

ming to children regardless of their ability to pay and partnering with community agencies to help make that happen. Through that work, I grew to know about Girls Inc. I had been directing the all-girl production, Broken Mirror at The Rose for several years. I liked working with girls. It seemed like a logical progression.”

When Roberta left the theater and her replacement didn’t work out, Vic assumed the executive director’s role himself. He stepped down after three years having built its community outreach and membership-donor base. Gutman’s continued consulting ever since. He says it’s a different organization today.

“The most important thing about The Rose is the continued emphasis to make the theater accessible to everyone, whether you can afford to pay or not. That started under James, Mark, and Roberta. Not all children’s theaters are. But that is in the DNA of this theater.”

Leaving The Rose wasn’t easy for Wilhelm. “I do miss the camaraderie of theater and the family that is created through the production process. I made great friends there and I had amazing experiences. I feel very lucky to have had the chance to do what I did at the theater.”

She’s found a new family at Girls Inc., where she’s been since 2003. Some of the girls come from situations like the ones Vic experienced as a public defender.

“We have girls who have a lot of serious challenges, who have behaviors that might get them expelled from school. Twenty-two percent are in the foster care system,” Wilhelm says. “Some are involved in the juvenile justice system. We also have girls who don’t have any of that – they’re honors students. But it’s a place where all girls can go and find support.

“There are a lot of heartbreaking stories, but there’s also a lot of success stories and good things that happen.”

When Roberta started only three Girls Inc. alumnae were in college. Today, there are dozens as well as several college graduates.

Girls Inc. Omaha won the outstanding affiliate award from its national parent body and thanks to Roberta’s connections, she’s brought in a who’s-who of guest speakers for its Lunch with the Girls gala including President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Madeleine Albright, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Warren Buffett, President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and Chelsea Clinton. This year’s event, on Oct. 29, features sisters Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager.

J

ust as her husband has a dream project in the works with his public market. Wilhelm’s overseeing construction of a $15 million addition to the Girls Inc. north Omaha center. It will feature a wellness focus with a gym, clinic, yoga-palates fitness room, elevated track, and kitchens for health cooking-culinary arts training. She says it fits the organization’s holistic approach to produce girls who are, as its motto reads: “strong, smart, and bold” – or as she puts it, “healthy, educated, and independent.”

Gutman led the fund drive for the Girls Inc. oth Vic and Roberta say it was exciting addition. “It was an easy sell because the funders being part of the theater’s transformation. in this community have such high regard for Roberta wasn’t necessarily looking to Girls Inc. and what they do and for what Roberta exit the theater when an opportunity she decided does,” he says. she couldn’t pass up suddenly came open.

Another dream project of Gutman’s, the Tri“A good friend suggested the position at Girls Faith campus, is one he’s been reticent about Inc. She said she thought I would be good at it until recently because he absolutely can feel for and that I should give it strong consideration. the first time the project will be a reality.

She then told me they were closing the applica“It’s one of the more complex things I’ve tion process tomorrow at noon, so I didn’t have ever been involved with because we have three very long to think about it. I think I was ready faiths – Jewish, Muslim, (and) Christian – and for a life change. very idealistic people. The odds of it succeed“One of the things I enjoyed most about the ing are hard. The politics are hard. You have to theater was the accessibility of the program--Please turn to page 14.

B

October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 13

Roberta Wilhelm, Vic Gutman...

PARKSIDE LIVE SMOKE FREE!

Independent apartment living for persons age 55+

• Spacious 1 & 2 bedroom apartment homes • Elevator • Washer/dryer in every apartment • Garage included in rent • Beautifully landscaped grounds • Within walking distance of Ralston Park

PARKSIDE

• Emergency alarm system • 24-hour emergency maintenance • Controlled access entry • Community areas on every floor • Microwave • Icemaker • Window blinds furnished

Call today to view your new home in the park!

7775 Park Drive • Ralston, Nebraska

402-339-9080

Fontenelle Tours

Omaha/Council Bluffs

712-366-9596

Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy. For more information about our tours, please call Ward or Kathy Kinney at Fontenelle Tours at the number listed above.

Motorcoach

Branson Christmas with Daniel O’Donnell. November 10 – 13. $749. Besides Daniel O’Donnell, enjoy “Jonah” at the Sight & Sound Theater, a backstage tour of Sight & Sound, Patsy Cline Remembered, The Brett Family Show with lunch, The Rankin Brothers, and #1 Hits of the 60s.

“Christmas Belles” at the Lofte. December 7. $99. ($89 before 10/7/14). Come along to witness a church Christmas program spin hilariously out of control in this Southern comedy ........followed by a delicious dinner at the Main Street Café in Louisville.

Kansas City Christmas. December 10 - 11. $319. ($299 before 10/10/14). Enjoy the New Theater Restaurant (“Sheer Madness” with Jamie Farr from M*A*S*H*), Webster House holiday lunch, Strawberry Hill Povitica Bakery, Pryde’s in Westport, “Christmas in the Park,” Country Club Plaza lights, Crown Center, Federal Reserve Bank tour, and Arabia Steamboat Museum.

--Continued from page 13. build relationships and trust. You really want everyone moving together along the same path. It’s never happened before where there’s been an intentional co-locating. We’re building a campus together and we have to overcome prejudices and cultural differences.”

Gutman, a self-described “practical, bythe-numbers guy,” says the Tri Faith project has become a spiritual thing. “It comes from the heart or else I wouldn’t put this much effort in. For me, idealism is not passé.”

Temple Israel Synagogue, which he belongs to, has already built its new home at the proposed campus in the Sterling Ridge Development near 132nd and Pacific streets. The American Institute for Islamic Studies and Culture is next in line. Gutman heads up fund-raising for the mosque.

“We have $6 million raised and of that $5.2 million came from Christians in this community,” he says. “What other city in the country could say that? That’s special about this community.”

Roberta agrees Omaha is “very generous” and its residents give to things they believe in.

Countryside Community Church is weighing being the Christian partner in the interfaith troika, Vic says.

“I do believe it will be built but the story is yet to be told because it’s what happens afterwards. That’s going to be the interesting thing,” Gutman says.

“It will be like a blended family,” Wilhelm observes. “We’ve been there – it’s hard.”

This couple’s tackled many hard things in realizing legacy projects that have their imprint all over them. Their ratio of success to failure is high.

How are they able to get things done?

T

he Sarpy/Cass Department of Health & Wellness – in partnership with AARP – will sponsor a free CarFit event on Friday, Oct. 3 from 9 a.m. to noon at First Lutheran Church, 1025 Avenue D in Plattsmouth.

CarFit provides licensed drivers age 65 and older that have a registered vehicle with an opportunity to check to see how well their veHorizonAD-2010:HorizonAD-08 hicles “fit” them.

Nothing scheduled at this time – Watch our website for updates or call us at 712-366-9596.

In Partnership with Collette Vacations Quoted prices are per person, double occupancy, and do not include airfare. MORE DESTINATIONS AVAILABLE! Reflections of Italy ...................................................... 10 days from $2149 Shades of Ireland ........................................................ 10 days from $1799 Alaska Discovery with Cruise .................................... 13 days from $3031 Australia ....................................................................... 21 days from $4899 New York City ................................................................ 5 days from $1749 Hawaiian Adventure .................................................... 10 days from $2999 Canadian Rockies by Train.......................................... .9 days from $3099 Discover Switzerland .................................................. 10 days from $2049 African Safari ............................................................... 14 days from $3849 Rose Bowl Parade......................................................... 5 days from $1449 The Galapagos Islands ............................................... 10 days from $4359 Rhine River Cruise ........................................................ 9 days from $2599 Discover Scotland ....................................................... 10 days from $1849 Tropical Costa Rica ....................................................... 9 days from $1349 Discover Panama .......................................................... 9 days from $1699 San Antonio ................................................................... 5 days from $1149 Exploring Greece......................................................... 15 days from $2549 Complete South Pacific .............................................. 27 days from $6399 South Africa ................................................................. 13 days from $2499 British Landscapes ..................................................... 10 days from $2199 Flavors of Thailand........................................................ 4 days from $1549 Nova Scotia ................................................................. 11 days from $2949 Spain’s Classics .......................................................... 11 days from $2099 Beijing China ................................................................... 9 days from $899 Colors of New England ................................................. 8 days from $2299 Heritage of America .................................................... 10 days from $2199

safety involves adjusting the vehicle to better fit the driver.“When the car fits the driver properly, this can increase both driver safety and the safety of others,” said Erin Ponec from the Sarpy/ Cass Department of Health & Wellness.

Space is limited so preregistration is required. To sign up, please call 402339-4334, ext. 201 or send an e-mail to eponec@sarpy. com.

William E. Seidler Jr.

www.seidler-seidler-law.com 10050 Regency Circle, Suite 525 Omaha, NE 68114-5705

402-397-3801

Delivering quality legal services since 1957.

Our mailing address is: 2008 W. Broadway #329, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501

New Horizons

Conducted by trained professionals, CarFit assessments take 15 to 20 minutes and involve a comprehensive review of the participant’s vehicle as well as information on resources that could enhance driver safety and mobility.

CarFit’s goal is to enhance safety for older drivers so they can maintain independence and mobility for as long as possible.

2/4/10 AM Pagedriver 1 Part8:00 of ensuring

Attorneys at Law

Watch New Horizons and our website www.fontenelletours.com for our trip schedule.

•

“Passion, persistence and some luck,” Gutman says. “We’re very fortunate. In the years we’ve been here we’ve developed a lot of relationships. If we weren’t committed to what we were doing and we didn’t have the skills to do it, then there are certain people who would never have believed in us and it would never have been possible.

If you take some people out of our lives we couldn’t do everything we want to do, that’s just the truth.”

(Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.wordpress.com.)

CarFit scheduled for Oct. 3 in Plattsmouth

Laughlin

Page 14

Roberta and Vic on the front porch of their Omaha home.

•

October 2014

VAS is hosting open enrollment events for Medicare prescription drug plans from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7

M

edicare beneficiaries will have an opportunity to change their Medicare prescription drug plans for 2015 during the open enrollment period of Oct. 15 through Dec. 7.

By comparing prescription drug plans Medicare beneficiaries may be able to save money and receive improved coverage by switching to a different plan.

During the open enrollment period, Medicare beneficiaries can also review and change their Medicare Advantage plans. These changes may include the cost of premiums, co-pays, and out-ofpocket maximums.

Medicare beneficiaries should realize not all Medicare Advantage plans change each year. It’s also important they check with their physicians to make sure they’ll continue to accept their Medicare Advantage plan in 2015.

Many Medicare beneficiaries have already received notice that their Humana Advantage plan won’t be accepted at Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) facilities that were formerly known as Alegent/Creighton Health System in 2015.

DOUGLAS COUNTY Friday, Oct. 17 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Goodwill 4805 N. 72nd St. Tuesday, Oct. 21 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St Suite 312 Thursday, Oct. 23 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312 Friday, Oct. 24 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

MCC Elkhorn Campus 829 N. 204th St. Wednesday, Oct. 29 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312 Saturday, Nov. 1 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312 Thursday, Nov. 6 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312 Friday, Nov. 7 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Goodwill 4805 N. 72nd St.

Medicare supplement (Medigap) plans don’t need to be reviewed annually during the open enrollment period, but beneficiaries do need to know their Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare supplement plans aren’t affected by the ongoing negotiations between BCBS and CHI/ Alegent Creighton Health System. Men and women with BCBS supplements can continue to see their CHI physicians and hospital care teams.

Volunteers Assisting Seniors (VAS) serves as the Nebraska Senior Health Insurance Information Program regional office in the Omaha area. VAS can provide free, unbiased information to Medicare beneficiaries. VAS will host a series of open enrollment events throughout the area between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7 (see the schedule below). Medicare beneficiaries will have a chance to sit down with a trained VAS counselor for assistance in evaluating their Medicare prescription drug plans for 2015.

Contact VAS at 402-444-6617 to schedule an appointment. Assistance is also available outside the Omaha metropolitan area by calling SHIIP at 800-2347119.

Monday, Nov. 17 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312

Friday, Oct. 24 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Extension office 1206 W. 23rd St. Fremont

Wednesday, Nov. 19 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312

Thursday, Nov. 6 1 to 5 p.m.

North Bend Library 110 E 13th St.

Friday, Nov. 21 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

MCC Elkhorn campus 829 N. 204th St.

Friday, Nov. 14 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

MCC Fremont Campus 835 N. Broad St. SARPY COUNTY

Saturday, Nov. 22 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312

Friday, Oct. 31 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

MCC Sarpy Campus 9110 Giles Rd.

Tuesday, Nov. 25 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312

Wednesday, Nov. 12 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Sump Library 222 N. Jefferson St. Papillion

Tuesday, Dec. 2 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

VAS 1941 S. 42nd St. Suite 312

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Friday, Dec. 5 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Goodwill 4805 N. 72nd St.

Thursday, Nov. 6 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Arlington Senior Center 305 N 3rd St.

DODGE COUNTY

Monday, Nov. 17 9 a.m. to Noon Extension office 597 Grant St. Blair

Thursday, Oct. 23 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Extension office 1206 W. 23rd St. Fremont

Tuesday, Nov. 18 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Extension office 597 Grant St. Blair

October 2014

Retired federal employees The 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.

Sarpy County Museum

A

n exhibit titled, A History of Crime and Punishment in Sarpy County will be on display at the Sarpy County Museum – 2402 Clay St. in Bellevue – through Nov. 1.

Visitors will learn more about moonshiners in Bellevue, escaped convicts in Gretna, and horse thieves in Papillion as they view photographs, police-related items, and more.

“We are excited to have the Sarpy County Sheriff’s office partnering with us on this exhibit,” said Ben Justman, the museum’s executive director.

The exhibit will also include a series of special presentations including: • Saturday, Oct. 11 from 2 to 4 p.m.: A talk on the history of the Sarpy County Attorney’s office.

Some of the festivities will include refreshments, so visitors are encouraged to RSVP by calling 402-2921880.

While admission to the Sarpy County Museum is free, donations are always welcome.

Historian Hamilton working on new book, creating calendar, hosting cemetery tours

O

maha historian Howard Hamilton is publishing a special 2015 calendar, working on a new book, and offering a series of cemetery tours.

His 2015 calendar will highlight historical events from 1854 through 2000 and include photos from each month.

When completed, Hamilton’s book, Here Lies

Omaha, will feature photos of the graves and biographies of nearly 200 famous Omaha figures including J.L. Brandeis and George Joslyn.

On Oct. 30 and 31, Howard will lead groups on tours of an Omaha cemetery at 6, 8, and 10 p.m. each night.

Flashlights will be required.

For more information, please all Hamilton at 402672-9162.

Heartland Family Service Senior Center You’re invited to visit the Heartland Family Service Senior Center, 2101 S. 42nd St. for the following: • Oct. 1: Skutt High School students will be here to paint nails and play games as part of their service day.

• Oct. 8: Birthday party featuring music by The Links @ 10:45 a.m. The music is sponsored by the Merrymakers.

• Oct. 14: Halloween crafts with Patty.

• Oct. 15: Creighton Prep High School students will be here to play games with the participants.

• Oct. 21: Red Hat Society meeting at the Amazing Pizza Machine, 13955 S Plz. • Oct 23: Clarkson College nursing students will be here to do a presentation on immunizations @ 10:30 a.m.

• Oct. 27: Presentation on HELP services @ 11 a.m.

• Oct. 30: Halloween party. Wear your costumes.

The center will be closed on Oct. 13 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 $3.50 donation is suggested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the business day prior to the lunch you wish to attend.

Transportation is available within specific boundaries for 50 cents each way.

Regular activities include free Tai Chi classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday @ 10:15 a.m., and a nurse visit Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon. Call 402-553-5300 for an appointment.

For meal reservations or more information, please call Karen at 402-552-7480 or the front desk at 402-553-5300.

•

New Horizons

•

Page 15

How will the Healthcare changes affect me?

• How can I reduce my monthly premiums/copays?

• What are my options for Dental/Vision /Hearing benefits?

2015 Healthcare Let’s talk about the benefits that matter most to you.

TODAY!

What you don’t know could COST YOU!

For more Kim Shulters information Senior Insurance Specialist contact: 402-968-1500 kimshulters@gmail.com Please support New Horizons advertisers

r u o y d e e n e W

! t r o p p su

Traditional funding sources are making it more difficult for ENOA to fulfill its mission. Partnership opportunities are available to businesses and individuals wanting to help us.

These opportunities include volunteering, memorials, honorariums, gift annuities, and other contributions.

I would like to become a partner with the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, and help fulfill your mission with older adults.

ENOA

By William E. Seidler, Jr. Attorney at Law

• Do I qualify for extra assistance for medications?

h more than it w d te in o p Ap ies… nce compan ra u s in e if L 50 Health & ts sts + benefi o c re a p m o C

New Nebraska law provides options for guardianship, conservator cases

A

s the number of older Nebraskans needing court appointed guardians and conservators has increased, Nebraska courts have faced a dilemma when there’s no trusted family member or friend available to serve as guardian or conservator.

In order to protect court wards, Nebraska has recently increased the background investigation and reporting requirements for guardians and conser-vators. The state’s courts will now have another alternative in guardianship and conservatorship cases.

In 2014, the Nebraska Unicameral adopted the Public Guardianship Act that goes into effect Jan. 1, 2015.

The legislature found the present system of obtaining a court appointed guardian for a person – which often depends on volunteers – is inadequate when there’s no willing or qualified family member, friend, another person, bank, or corporation available or willing to serve as guardian for an individual.

The law establishes the Office of the Public Guardian as part of the judicial branch of government. The public guardian is directly responsible to the state court administrator.

The legislators’ intent was for the Office of the Public Guardian to provide services for individuals when no private guardian or conservator is available. The act creates an 11-member Advisory Council on Public Guardianship.

The Advisory Council includes a representative of the Nebraska County Court Judges Association, an attorney licensed to practice law in Nebraska, social workers, mental health professionals, professionals with expertise in the older population, developmental disability professionals, and other interested groups or individuals.

The law provides a limit of an average of 40 members per associate public guardian hired by the Office of the Public Guardian.

Each guardian is to monitor his or her wards. There’s to be a monthly personal contact between the guardian and the ward. Written records are to be maintained.

Staff is currently being recruited for the office of the Public Guardian. As the office is staffed, more details will be developed about its operation.

(The information contained in this column is general.

Don’t attempt to solve individual problems based on the advice contained in this column.)

A Caring Community Called HOME!

$30 = 7 meals or 1.75 hours of in-home homemaker services or 1 bath aide service for frail older adults. $75 = 17 meals or 4.75 hours of in-home homemaker services or 4 bath aide services for frail older adults.

Independent & Assisted Living

$150 = 35 meals or 9.5 hours of in-home homemaker services or 8 bath aide services for frail older adults. $300 = 70 meals or 19.25 hours of in-home homemaker services or 16 bath aide services for frail older adults.

• No Entrance Fee • Medicaid Waiver Approved • All Utilities & Housekeeping Included • Spacious 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments

Other amount (please designate)__________________________ Please contact me. I would like to learn more about how to include the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging in my estate planning.

Please ma il with thisyofour donation rm to: Eas

tern Office oNebraska n Aging Address:___________________________________ Attention : Jef Name:_____________________________________

City:______________State:_____ Zip: __________ Phone:____________________________________

4223 Ce f Reinhardt Omaha, nter Street NE 6810 5-2431 (402

) 444-665

4

49th & Q Street • 402-731-2118 www.southviewheightsomaha.com

Page 16

•

New Horizons

•

October 2014

Huge amount of electronic devices is leading to streams of ‘e-waste’ With electronic equipment and gadgets the fastest growing waste stream in many countries, how to deal with the so called “e-waste” may be one of the most pressing environmental problems of the 21st century.

According to BCC Research, consumers around the world purchased 238.5 million televisions, 444.4 million computers and tablets, and 1.75 billion mobile phones in 2012. Most consumers discard such items within three years of purchase, and this is driving the global growth in e-waste by 8 percent a year.

Meanwhile, a recent study conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on behalf of the United Nations found the growth in demand for and manufacturing of new electronics will result in a 33 percent increase in e-waste globally between 2012 and 2017.

Why is e-waste more of a problem than old-fashioned garbage?

“Some of the materials in personal electronics such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, are hazardous and can release dangerous toxins into our air and water when burned or deposited in landfills improperly,” reports the non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Throwing away metal components like the copper, gold, silver, and palladium in cell phones and other electronics leads to needless mining for new metals.”

Today 80 percent of unwanted electronics are disposed of improperly. “E-waste is either discarded or exported to emerging nations where open-air burning and acid baths are used to reclaim precious metals and other elements,” reports Maureen O’Donnell in EHS Journal.

The lack of proper controls in such countries, she says, has led to elevated lead levels in children and heavy metals pollution of soil and water. As a result, we now stand at the forefront of a growing environmental catastrophe.

The good news is many nations have enacted laws to hold manufacturers responsible for the future e-waste created by their products. The European Union has led the way with its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, which calls on electronics makers to take back their products for recycling when consumers upgrade to something new, and restricts European countries from exporting or importing e-waste. Japan and China are among other countries that have passed similar laws.

The U.S. government has yet to follow suit, but the Electronics Takeback Coalition reports 21 states have implemented their own “take back” laws, and several other states are considering similar legislation. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to pressure Congress to consider similar legislation at the national level.

(EarthTalk® is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine.)

Greater Omaha Genealogy Society’s fall seminar is scheduled for Oct. 24

T

he Greater Omaha Genealogical Society (GOGS) is presenting its 2014 Fall Genealogy Seminar on Friday, Oct. 24 from 4 to 6:15 p.m. and its Fall Conference on Saturday, Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both events will be held at the Nebraska Methodist College, 720 N. 87th St. The speaker for the seminar and conference will be Gail Blankereau who specializes in German genealogy, land records, and lineage research.

Friday’s seminar will feature Solving the Puzzle: Who Was My Family and include sessions on Hunting and Gathering and The Journey.

Saturday’s workshop will

be on Using Land Records in Genealogical Research and include sessions on Break Through the Brick Walls Using Land Records; Follow the Land; Tumbleweeds in the Window: Women Homesteaders and Genealogy; and Tracing Your Ancestors from the East Coast to the Midwest.

The cost of the Friday seminar is $10 for GOGS members and $15 for nonmembers. The cost of the Saturday conference is $45 for GOGS members and $55 for non-members. There is a $5 discount for individuals who attend both days.

Lunch is available on Saturday for an additional $5.

For more information, please call 402-315-9665 or 402-571-7540.

Nebraska Senior Medicare Patrol working to help prevent cases of Medicare scams, fraud

N

ebraska Senior Medicare Patrol, a Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services program that works to educate and empower older adults to help prevent health care fraud offers 10 tips to help you avoid Medicare scams.

• Don’t provide your Medicare number to anyone except your trusted health care provider.

• Ask friends and neighbors to pick up your mail while you’re away from home.

• Shred important documents before throwing them away.

• Read Medicare summary notices carefully looking for possible mistakes.

• Use a calendar or health care journal to record information from doctor visits.

• Compare your calendar or health care journal with your Medicare summary notices.

• Count your prescription pills. If the total is less than expected, go back and tell the pharmacist.

• Medicare Part D plans change annually.

Bilingual resource information available

B

ilingual information about hospice care, palliative care, helping loved ones with grief and loss, and caregiving is available through the Nebraska Hospice and Palliative Care Partnership.

The number for the for is 1-877-658-8896.

The service is offered 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

• Don’t speak to anyone claiming to be a Medicare representative about Medicare.

• Medicare loses billions of dollars each year. It’s up

to you to help fight fraud.

If you believe you may be a victim of Medicare fraud, please call the Nebraska Senior Medicare Patrol at 800-942-7830.

Free five-week educational series set for Thursdays from Oct. 23 through Nov. 20

A

Place At Home is among the sponsors of a free five-week educational series that is designed to provide information to allow consumers to establish a health plan for their loved ones.

The programs, which will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Thursdays between Oct. 23 and Nov. 20, will be held at the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging, 730 S. 38th Ave. Topics addressed will include the hospitalization process, rehabilitation and longterm care, the home health process, private duty home care and assisted living, and hospice care.

To register, please contact Jeannie Hannan at 402-5527210 or jeannie.hannan@unmc.edu.

We want to hear from

you!

• Do you have questions about the Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, its programs or services?

• Do you have a comment about the agency and how it serves older adults in Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge, Cass, and Washington counties?

• Maybe you have a story idea for the New Horizons?

Send your questions,comments, story ideas, etc. to

DHHS.ENOA@nebraska.gov We appreciate your interest in ENOA and the New Horizons.

Please support New Horizons advertisers.

October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 17

Elder Access Line

Call 402-444-6536 to learn more

L

egal Aid of Nebraska operates a free telephone access line for Nebraskans age 60 and older.

Information is offered to help the state’s older men and women with questions on topics like bankruptcy, homestead exemptions, collections, powers of attorney, Medicare, Medicaid, grandparent rights, and Section 8 housing.

The telephone number for the Elder Access Line is 402-827-5656 in Omaha and 1-800-527-7249 statewide.

This service is available to Nebraskans age 60 and older regardless of income, race, or ethnicity.

Program on Nov. 12 at Camelot Center Humanities Nebraska will present a free program, Four Blue Stars in the Window by author and educator Barbara Eymann Mohrman on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at the Camelot Friendship Center, 9270 Cady Ave. Lunch ($3.50) will be served at 11:30 a.m. and followed by the program.

Call 402-444-3091 by Monday, Nov. 3 to make your reservation.

ENOA has a variety of volunteer opportunities from which to choose

T

he Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging’s Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program, Ombudsman Advocate Program, and Senior Medicare Patrol Program are recruiting older adults to become volunteers.

Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions must be age 55 or older, meet income guidelines, have a government issued identification card or a driver’s license, able to volunteer at least 15 hours a week, and must complete several background and reference checks.

Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions receive a $2.65 an hour stipend, transportation and meal reimbursement, paid vacation, sick, and holiday leave, and supplemental accident insurance.

Foster Grandparents work with children who have special needs while Senior Companions work to keep older adults living independently.

Ombudsman advocates work to ensure residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities enjoy the best possible quality of life.

Ombudsman advocates, who must be age 18 or older, are enrolled through an application and screening process.

These volunteers, who are not compensated monetarily for their time, must serve at least two hours a week.

The Senior Medicare Patrol program helps Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect, and prevent health care fraud.

These volunteers, who are enrolled through an application and screening process, are not compensated monetarily for their time.

For more information, please call 402-444-6536.

Maplewood Estates Get 6 months of FREE lot rent for moving a single wide home into the park, or $3,500 moving expenses.

Call for more information.

}

D

Amenities include: Playground Off street parking Clubhouse • Pool RV’s welcome

402.493.6000

Call to schedule a free consultation at a clinic near you.

Boys Town Medical Campus - Pacific Street Clinic 14040 Boys Town Hospital Road (139th & Pacific Streets)

Boys Town Medical Campus — Downtown Clinic

BOYS TOWN

National Research Hospital

320 McKenzie Avenue, Suite 202 Council Bluffs

Page 18

•

®

boystownhospital.org

New Horizons

•

Smoke, carbon monoxide detectors The Omaha Fire Department’s Public Education and Affairs Department is available to install free smoke and/or carbon monoxide detectors inside the residences of area homeowners.

To have a free smoke and/or carbon monoxide detector installed in your home, send your name, address, and telephone number to: Omaha Fire Department, Smoke/ Carbon Monoxide Requests, 10245 Weisman Dr., Omaha, Neb. 68134 For more information, call 402-444-3560.

Computer classes for men and women age 50 and older are being offered this fall through the AARP Information Center and the Kids Can Community Center.

The nine-hour classes, which are taught over three days, run through Nov. 7.

The cost is $20 and participants don’t need to be an AARP member.

Students will see how to turn a computer off and on, be introduced to Microsoft Windows 8.1, learn how to organize and file documents, back up data, insert clip art and photos into e-mails and documents, cutting and pasting, purchasing items online, buying computers and tablets, and social networking, For more information, please call 402-398-9568.

• Meet with an Audiologist • Discuss hearing aids, cochlear implants and other listening devices • Leave with a recommended plan

Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic

time and a speaker who will discuss a topic of interest to the participants.

The Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America meets the second Tuesday of the month from September through December and from March through August.

For more information, please contact Beth Ellsworth at ellsworth.beth@ cox.net or Verla Hamilton at 402-558-6449.

Computer classes

Call 402-498-6520 to schedule your FREE consultation to:

1550 E 23rd Street, Fremont

T

he Omaha Area Hearing Loss Association of America, a support group for hard of hearing adults, will next meet on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at Dundee Presbyterian Church, 5312 Underwood Ave. Participants are asked to enter the church on the Happy Hollow Blvd. (east) side.

The 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. meeting will feature social

avid Mamet’s American Buffalo will be on stage at the Blue Barn Theatre, 614 S. 11th St., Oct. 2 to 25.

Show times are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12 and 19.

Tickets are $25 for persons age 65 and older and $30 for adults.

Please call 402-345-1576 for tickets and more information.

Hearing aids help you hear. Do yours?

Boys Town Audiology

Hearing Loss Association to meet Oct. 14 at Dundee Presbyterian

‘American Buffalo’ on stage at Blue Barn Theatre Oct. 2 to 25

Call: 12801 Spaulding Plaza www.maplewoodestatesonline.com Omaha, NE 68164

555 North 30th Street

The Fontenelle Nature Association’s SUN (Seniors Understanding Nature) program offers activities for older adults the second Tuesday of each month at the Fontenelle Nature Center, 1111 Bellevue Blvd. North.

The programs, held from 9:45 to 11 a.m., feature an indoor program, an optional nature walk, and refreshments.

The cost is $6 per person each month.

For more information, please call Catherine Kuper at 402-731-3140, ext. 1019.

Here are the programs: • Oct. 14: Bats of the Great Plains with Dr. Jeremy White from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s biology department.

• Nov. 11: Sustainable Living Wherever You Are with Don Preister of Green Bellevue.

• Dec. 9: Glacial Creek Restoration – Allwine Prairie with Dr. Thomas Bragg and Barbi Hayes.

Call 402-345-1576 for tickets

Lifestyle • Community • Convenience • Family Values

Move-in Specials

Nature programs for older adults offered at Fontenelle Nature Center

October 2014

Pat Blankenship knows, speaks about the value of a regular exercise program

Eclectic book review series The Eclectic Book Review Club’s 65th season will continue on Oct. 21 with retired Omaha attorney Steve Wolf on In Comet’s Tale: How the Dog I Rescued Saved My Life.

The series is held at the Omaha Field Club, 3615 Woolworth Ave. A noon lunch is followed by the book review at 12:30 p.m.

The cost is $13 per luncheon.

Here’s the rest of the 2014 fall schedule: • Nov. 18: Maggie Montclair (Janet Laird) on Surviving Widowhood and 79.4 Ways to Celebrate Your Old Age. For reservations or more information, please call Rita at 402-553-3147.

During the last year, exercise has helped Pat lose 27 pounds and lower her cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.

P

at Blankenship has never been afraid of hard work. For 29 years, she and her family owned the Marylebone, an Omaha tavern at 3710 Leavenworth St. “I’d get to work at 5 each morning cooking, doing the books, and meeting the beer truck drivers,” she recalled.

During 20 of those years, Pat also had her own beauty shop.

These days, retired at age 70, Blankenship still taps into that strong work ethic as she exercises five days a week at the Home Instead Center for Successful Aging, 730 S. 38th Ave. HICSA is affiliated with the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

In 2008, John Blankenship, Pat’s husband for 46 years, died after suffering a heart attack while playing the sixth hole at the Shoreline Golf Course in Carter Lake.

Pat, who has a son, Brian, and daughters, Dawn and Shelly, had her left knee replaced a year later. In 2010, she was diagnosed with lymphoma, underwent chemotherapy and radiation, and had a lump removed from her left leg.

While Pat – who has five grandchildren – is pleased to report her cancer is in remission, she’s faced a series of other health concerns over the years including high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, high cholesterol readings, and being classified as obese.

“I saw that (on my medical chart) and decided I had to do something,” Blankenship said.

That something was joining the EngAge Wellness program at HICSA. Created for men and women age 50 and older, the program offers its participants a fitness/balance assessment and an individualized fitness plan designed by a degreed exercise science professional.

Since August 2013, Blankenship has worked out on the facility’s exercise equipment five days a week, taken a stretching class twice a week, and lifted weights on three days a week.

“I feel good. This place is so uplifting. You get to work out next to people who look like you,” she said.

Pat’s blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol level readings have been lowered and she’s lost 27 pounds during the last year.

“People should look into exercising more,” Blankenship said. “It really changes your attitude.”

On Oct. 3, Pat will be among the featured speakers at the 2014 Omaha Women’s Health and Wellness Conference at the LaVista Conference Center. Her topic will be How Whole Person Wellness Changed My Life.

Blankenship is excited to tell her story. “I want people to know how much this place (HICSA and the EngAge Wellness Program) means to me. I want to be a good example for other people.”

For more information on the EngAge Wellness Program, please call 402-552-7210.

Camelot Friendship Center You’re invited to visit the Camelot Friendship Center, 9270 Cady Ave. for the following: • Mondays: Chair activities, Bingo, and Phase 10.

• Tuesdays: Tai Chi, Pinochle, and Phase 10.

• Wednesdays: Scrabble, Pitch, and Phase 10. On Oct. 22, enjoy music from The Links presented by the Merrymakers @ 11:45 a.m.

• Thursdays: Activities include a book club (a review of the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire) on Oct. 2, a visit

by Methodist College nursing students on Oct. 9, crafts on Oct. 16, a garden club on Oct. 23, and a Halloween party on Oct. 30.

• Fridays: Tai Chi, scrapbooking on Oct. 3, crafts on Oct. 10 and 17. Watch the frightening movie, The Others on Oct. 24 @ 12:15 p.m.

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, you’re invited to attend a free special presentation titled Four Blue Stars in the Window

by Barbara Eymann Morhman following lunch.

The Camelot Friendship Center is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Lunch is served each weekday at 11:30 a.m. A $3.50 donation is requested for the meal. Reservations are due by noon the day prior to the lunch you wish to enjoy.

For meal reservations or more information, please call 402-444-3091.

CLASSIFIEDS OLD STUFF WANTED (before 1975)

Military, political, toys, jewelry, fountain pens, pottery, kitchen ware, postcards, photos, books, and other old paper, old clothes, garden stuff, tools, old household, etc.

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

HOUSE CLEANING No job too large.

No job too small.

You deserve a clean house!

REFRESH CLEANING SERVICES JUDY: 402-885-8731 Buying or selling?

Use the New Horizons CLASSIFIEDS Call 402-444-4148 or 402-444-6654 to place your ad.

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

Lamplighter II

Some of the nicest, newer 1 bedroom apartments. Elevator, w & d, heated parking garage. Small complex. By bus & shopping. No pets or smoking.

93rd & Maple • 402-397-6921

POOL TABLES Moving, refelting, assemble, repair, tear down. Used slate tables.

We pay CASH for slate pool tables.

Big Red Billiards 402-598-5225

Tree Trimming Beat the falling flakes!

TOP CASH PAID Best & honest prices paid for: Nice old vintage and costume jewelry, old watches, vintage toys, Fenton glassware, old postcards, advertising items, military items, pottery, and antique buttons.

Also buying estates & partial estates.

Call Bev at 402-339-2856

PAID THROUGH July 2014 402-894-9206 Chipping & removal.

Your prunings chipped.

Experienced & insured.

Senior discount.

REPUTABLE SERVICES, INC.

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 • Painting Interior & Exterior

Monarch Villa West 201 Cedar Dale Road Papillion (402) 331-6882 Bellewood Courts 1002 Bellewood Court Bellevue (402) 292-3300 Managed by Kimball Management., Inc.

• Handyman Services • Senior Discounts • Free Estimates • References • Fully Insured Quality Professional Service

We do business in accordance with the Fair Housing Law.

Better Business Bureau Member

402-4 5 5-7 0 0 0

Enoa Aging October 2014

•

New Horizons

•

Page 19

Norfolk native among the Rockettes to perform in Omaha

A graduate of Norfolk High School, Rachel Borgman has been a Rockette for 10 years.

T

wo ladies, each born and raised in the Midwest, will be among the high-kicking, glamorous performers on stage as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes comes to Omaha’s Orpheum Theater for 34 performances Nov. 13 to 30.

Rachel Borgman, a 1999 graduate of Norfolk (Neb.) High School has been a Rockette for 10 years. A Rockette since 2005, Karilyn Surratt was born in Oklahoma and raised in St. Louis.

Both ladies fondly recall dancing in front of their family’s television sets as children when the Rockettes performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade each November.

“We grew up watching the Rockettes on TV and wanted to be like them,” Borgman said during an Omaha stop on the Rockettes’ recent publicity tour.

During their more than 80-year history, the Rockettes have become famous for their USO Tours during World War II, Super Bowl halftime appearances, and their role in President George W. Bush’s 2001 inaugural ceremony.

“We’re especially proud to present this iconic production in Omaha for the first time and to be one of only three cities (along with Nashville and Houston) on this tour,” said Joan Squires, president of Omaha Performing Arts who is bringing the holiday favorite to

Nebraska.

“It’s an incredible opportunity for families to experience this all-new production which will put everyone in the holiday spirit,” she added.

During a 20-year history of playing to audiences outside New York City as well as its 82-year run at the Big Apple’s Radio City Music Hall, more than 75 million people have enjoyed the Christmas Spectacular.

Don Simpson, executive vice president of MSG Entertainment, said his organization is excited to bring the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes to the Orpheum.

“With state-of-the-art technology coupled with dazzling Rockettes choreography and performance elements, the 2014 production offers a truly immersive experience like nothing Omaha audiences have ever seen,” he said.

The Rockettes will dance their way through an aweinspiring journey with dynamic scenes, an array of dazzling costumes, dramatic lighting effects, a full size double decker bus, and a 50-foot LED screen that will transport the audience to New York City’s Times Square and Santa’s workshop.

During the show’s finale, the Rockettes will perform Let Christmas Shine each wearing a costume with more than 3,000 Austrian crystals.

An Oklahoma native, Karilyn Surratt – a Rockette since 2005 – was raised in St. Louis.

be a part of this legacy of women,” Karilyn added.

“They’re so classy, so graceful, and so poised.”

Being part of this legendary ensemble and show allows Borgman to do her favorite thing (dance), during her favorite time of the year (Christmas), with some of her best friends. “And we get to wear sparkly clothes,” she added breaking out in a wide smile.

She said busloads of family and friends from orgman and Surnortheastern Nebraska ratt are proud to call including some high school themselves Radio classmates and her Dad’s City Rockettes. golf buddies will be among “It’s such a team,’ Rachel those attending the Radio said. “Together we’re better City Christmas Spectacular in everything we do.” in Omaha.

“It makes me feel very Surratt said it’s no special and honored to surprise the Radio City

B

Christmas Spectacular has remained popular for so many years. “It’s a tradition woven into the fabric of America.”

Borgman said older adults will enjoy the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

“My Grandmas are 86 and 87. They come to the show every year and they see something different each time.”

For more information on show dates, times, and tickets which start at $35, please contact Ticket Omaha at 402-345-0606, online at TicketOmaha.com, or at the box office inside the Holland Performing Arts Center, 1200 Douglas St. Groups of 10 or more can call 402-661-8516 or 866434-8587.

Do you have a loved one in a nursing home?

Do you have a loved one who will soon be going into a nursing home?

Before you send another check to the nursing home, visit nebraskamedicaidplanning.com or call Chartered Advisor for Senior Living, Mark Guilliatt.

Not affiliated with any government agency.

Page 20

•

14301 First National Bank Parkway Suite 100 • Omaha, NE 68154

630 North D Street Fremont, NE 68025

1-800-886-8673

402-727-4845

New Horizons

•

October 2014