story and photo by Mike Lee, Staff Writer

Stan Miller drove through the McDonald’s drive-thru a few months back near Bristow to order a coffee for himself and his wife.
“That will be 88 cents,” the young lady politely informed him.
“No, that’s not right,” Miller said. “It should be more.”
“Well, sir,” the young lady explained. “You do get your senior discount.”
“No, I’ll pay full price,” Miller said, handing the cashier $2 and driving on down the road.
Quite simply, Miller refuses to age. And while the years may be adding up the affable Miller still looks, sounds and feels like a much younger man.
“I can’t believe I’m 60,” says Miller, who can be seen each weekday morning co-hosting News9 This Morning with the much younger Bobbie Miller. “I still feel and I’m as fit as I was at 40. Unless someone brings it up it just doesn’t register with me.”
A quarter of century in California may have something to do with that. While on the coast, Miller ran marathons and half marathons in and around the San Diego area.
He embraced the California diet and lifestyle and spent most of his time outdoors.
It wasn’t always that way. Ask him what’s brought him to this point and there’s twists and turns and one major high.
“Well, God,” Miller answered. “I became a Christian at 21 years old.”
Miller admits a life of dysfunction before he was saved, following his mother through multiple divorces and hurt feelings.
From a motel room by a church in Del City, Miller started doing odd jobs and began building a solid work ethic.
He started working for a local sporting goods store and quickly worked his way up to general manager.
But he wondered if there was more in store for him than working in a store.
“Just out of the blue I decided to see if I could get a scholarship to Central State University,” Miller said. “I walked in off the street at 24 years old and asked if they had any grant money and they gave me a full ride.”
From there an internship at KOCO followed. He was granted a second internship based on his age.
“Basically what I did was every waking hour I wasn’t in school I was there learning the business,” Miller said. “They started using me as a reporter and photographer.”
He co-hosted a show with Karen Carney for a while in the 1980s before heading off to bigger markets.
San Diego would be where Miller would spend the next 25 years and raise his three children.
When he came back from the West Coast he had a rude awakening.
“It was culture shock,” Miller said. “Massive.”
But one thing that remained the same was the Oklahoma welcome.
“People in San Diego, they care but they don’t show it,” Miller said about the general reaction to his profession. “Oklahomans are passionate about their news people. You have to run the gauntlet to make it here. When people found out I was an Okie it wasn’t as hard for me.”
“I pity people who come in and try to anchor the news from outside the market. Oklahomans are fiercely loyal.”
Miller joined News 9 in June 2010.
He readily admits that he’s been somewhat of a news nomad.
Previously in his career, Miller anchored at KUSI-TV and KFMB-TV in San Diego as well as in Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Miami Florida, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Miller began his broadcast career in Oklahoma City in 1980 working as a disc jockey for KJIL Radio and then served as News Director at KKLR.
When he’s not on air, you can find Miller stumping for one of his causes.
Miller has served on the board of directors of several organizations including the San Diego Chapter of the American Liver Foundation; Camp Hope, a summer camp for severely abused children; and Care House, a support group for at risk teens.
Miller received an Emmy Award in San Diego for “Getting Out the Vote.” His other honors include the Hero Award from the San Diego Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, Volunteer of the Year from the San Diego Make-A-Wish Foundation and the San Diego Christian Media Leadership Award.
One of his favorites is Stan’s Ride.
What started as a ride in San Diego to benefit a child abuse prevention foundation has followed him back to Oklahoma.
When he returned he asked Griffin Communications owners David and Kirsten Griffin if he could continue his outreach through News9.
“Little did I know that Kirsten was involved with children’s charities all over the state,” Miller said. “They both went nuts over the deal and have underwritten it for five years. We’ve raised over $400,000.
You might also catch the ordained Baptist minister preaching on Sundays through his On Call ministry which provides fill-in services for pastors who are unable to preach for whatever reason.
He says all of it goes to helping keep him young.
That’s why “I’m never taking the McDonald’s discount,” Miller said. “Never.”

Caption: Stan Miller, 60, (right) is still going strong with his News9 morning show co-hosts (left
to right) Jed Castles, Bobbie Miller and Lacey Swope.

What’s your favorite thing about spring? Featherstone Plaza Retirement and Assisted Living

The birds singing and things are trying to grow and just the whole atmosphere. Betty Young

I guess the best part is the beginning when we’ve been sitting in winter so long and we’re tired of it. It just makes you feel good. Hassie Milner

To me it’s the Talimena Scenic Drive and seeing all the trees in bloom. Bill Brown

I just love things growing whether it’s flowers or whatever. James Smith

by Mike Lee,
Staff Writer

Statistically, one in six Oklahoma seniors is hungry in our state.
It’s a tragedy that can be avoided, according to Angie Doss, director of marketing and communications for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma,
“It’s a huge problem,” Doss says of hunger in Oklahoma. “A lot of seniors are on a very tight and limited income. They may receive $600 per month. By the time you take out housing, utilities and transportation there’s not a lot left for food or medicine.
“A lot of our senior clients have faced the choice whether to pay for medicine or food.”
Oklahoma continues to rank among the top 10 states in the nation for food insecurity among seniors.
This spring, Oklahomans can double the impact of their gifts to help feed even more seniors struggling with hunger.
Through April 30, the Charles and Cassandra Bowen Charitable Foundation and the Anderson Charitable Foundation have teamed up to match donations to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to fight senior hunger – up to $130,000.
Donations will help provide food for seniors in central and western Oklahoma.
“After a lifetime of work, many seniors are living on fixed incomes and may not have enough money to purchase food at the end of the month,” said Rodney Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank. “About 700,000 seniors, age 60-plus, live in Oklahoma and one in six face hunger every day.”
In a recent study by Feeding America, 27 percent of seniors in the Regional Food Bank’s service area have had to choose between buying food and buying medicine. Limited mobility and dependence on outside assistance makes seniors particularly vulnerable to hunger. In Oklahoma, seniors are 25 percent more likely to be have inconsistent access to food than the national average.
Seniors facing hunger are also forced to choose between buying food and paying for utilities. Additionally, they are more likely to have lower intakes of food and major vitamins; be in poor to fair health; have limitations in activities of daily living and have increased risk of stroke.
“At the end of the month, most seniors are out of money and depend on the Regional Food Bank,” shared one senior client. “If they did not come, many seniors would be without food at the end of the month and it would affect them all. We’re just so awfully grateful for what we get.”
The Regional Food Bank serves seniors through food pantries, emergency shelters, soup kitchens, and senior nutrition programs. Additionally, the nonprofit’s Senior Feeding program fights senior hunger through Senior Mobile Pantries, Senior Home Delivery, and Senior Mobile Markets.
Through the Senior Mobile Pantry program, the Regional Food Bank provides food each month to seniors living in nine Oklahoma City Housing Authority sites and one Norman Housing Authority site. Approximately 850 senior residents receive a sack of nonperishable food items along with produce, refrigerated items, meat, and bread.
The mobile pantry is set up as a “client choice” program, where seniors choose which items they need.
The Senior Home Delivery Program is at 32 sites in the Regional Food Bank’s 53-county service area. Seniors who, receive home delivery sacks, receive a nutritional supplement at the end of the month. These sites serve an average of 1,000 seniors a month.
The Senior Mobile Markets provide a monthly distribution of food that is set up farmer’s market style, where participants select the food they want. A typical mobile market provides a bag of non-perishable foods like fruits and vegetables, cereal, shelf stable milk, and other easy to prepare foods. Items also include protein, fresh produce and bread.
The program currently has 18 locations in the Oklahoma City metro and serves over 1,100 seniors a month.
“Sadly, many older Oklahomans have outlived their families, outlived their income or have simply been forgotten,” said Charlie Bowen with the Charles and Cassandra Bowen Charitable Foundation. “That is why this match is so important.”
Traditionally, the Regional Food Bank provides five meals for every dollar donated; however, thanks to this generous match, a dollar donation will provide the equivalent of 10 meals to seniors facing hunger.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is the state’s largest private hunger relief organization.  The nonprofit provides enough food to feed more than 110,000 hungry Oklahomans each week through a network of nearly 1,200 schools and charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. Since its inception in 1980, the Regional Food Bank has distributed more than 538 million pounds of food to feed Oklahoma’s hungry.
For more information you can contact the Regional Food Bank at 405-600-3136 or online at www.www.regionalfoodbank.org.

by Jason Chandler
Staff Writer

Rick and Denise Guttenberger help families who are faced with finding senior care options, navigate to find those options.
“It can be confusing and complex at times, so we help them do that at no cost to them,” Rick said.
The Guttenbergers are the owners of Senior Care Referral Services, a company based in Edmond and serving the greater metropolitan area of Oklahoma City. Their service area ranges from Edmond to Norman and from Mustang to Midwest City.
“We get to say, ‘We can help you,’” Denise said.
Whether seniors need independent living communities, assisted living, memory care or at home care, Senior Care Referral helps seniors find the resources they need.
“For the past couple of years, we have felt called to work with the senior community,” Denise said. “I can’t really explain it other than it was a calling and we needed to do something and we started looking at different options that might be available.”
Rick recalled the common conversations with his peers before they founded the company. Friends would say, “Gosh, I’ve got to do something with mom. She can’t live at home anymore.’”
He recognized a need for guidance to establish a place to start.
“We really felt there was a need locally for a trusted group that could provide that information for them,” Rick said.
They found their niche with Senior Care Referral Services. It is a wonderful way to walk with families, providing them ease of mind by simplifying their search for answers.
“What does it cost? What kind of care am I going to find? Does my insurance pay for it?” are typical questions posed by their clients.
Oftentimes when approached by a prospective client, the Guttenbergers will hear, “We don’t know what to do.’”
Helping seniors to navigate, making their life easier with a myriad of answers, brings joy to both the Guttenbergers and their clients.
When a client needs home health, then Senior Care Referral Services will provide referral services to companies they recognize as senior-friendly leaders in the field.
“We spent quite a few months visiting almost all the communities in the greater Oklahoma City area,” Denise said. “We took the tours.  We talked to the marketing people and the director, looked at reviews, so we could feel confident that any place we would take a family is a place we would take our own family.”
Primary caregivers can reach a point in their lives when there are more questions than solutions. Their own energy becomes spent in trying to do more than they can handle. Senior Care Referral Services allows the Guttenbergers to find solutions for seniors.
“Sometimes it’s just time. Sometimes it’s, ‘Gosh, I think mom would be safer if we helped mom find a community she could live in and where meals are prepared and the maintenance is done. She doesn’t have to get out on the roads to drive.’”
A fall or injury with a loved one may prompt a son or daughter to make a decision to enhance their parent’s quality of life for the better.
The first determination made by Senior Care Referral Services is to determine the level of care a client needs, Rick said. It could be independent living, providing meals and a safe environment.
Others may need assistance with daily living activities, he said, such as dressing, eating and medication management.
“The next thing is — do they have a geographical preference?” Rick continued. “Do they want to be in Norman. Do they want to be in Midwest City or northwest Oklahoma City?”
One’s budget is the third consideration, because prices vary significantly, Rick said. There are average prices for certain levels of care, so Senior Care Referral Services helps clients to understand what services can fit their budgets.
“The fourth thing is timing,” Rick said. “When someone is coming out of skilled nursing Tuesday, and they need a place Tuesday because they can’t go back home — that may limit their options with the availability in different communities.”
All of these considerations are fine-tuned into an understanding of choices that are best suited for the individual clients’ needs. Services provided by Senior Care Referral Services are free to the clients. Service providers in the community pay for the cost.
“We can help narrow their option choices pretty quickly,” Rick said. “What might take them months to figure out on their own, we can help them figure that out in a 20-minute phone call.”
Sometimes, Rick and Denise will work with the seniors themselves, who have become isolated. Churches have asked them to help some of their members.
“We’ll go and get them and help them go on tours, and find their new home,” Denise said.

Story and photo by Vickie Jenkins

Have you ever prayed for something, not sure if your prayer would be answered?  That is what Don Lowrey did 40 years ago.  Little did he know that his prayer in 1975 would be a lifetime blessing.
The weather was in the low 20’s on the morning of February 12, 1975 in Oklahoma City.  Working as an electrical apprentice, Lowrey had just gotten to work.  Still in the parking lot, his attention turned to a man tapping on his car window, asking for help with a flat tire.
Moments later, Lowrey was hit over the head and put in the trunk of his car by three men.  Driven to a wooded area, a gun was put to Lowey’s head.  The gun malfunctioned and didn’t fire.  Lowrey was then hit over the head and knocked out.
Driven to another site, Lowrey was dumped out of the car.  The three men hit Lowrey with pieces of concrete blocks to his face.  His body was scarred with boot marks.  His right hip was dislocated and his left knee was severely injured.  He was then dragged over rocks and broken glass to an outhouse, located behind an abandoned shack.  Propping Lowrey against the wall, a pistol was put to the back of his head as a bullet was fired into his skull.  Both eyes swollen, a broken nose, a broken left jaw, smashed right cheek and a .22 caliber bullet lodged in his head, teeth knocked out and a fractured skull, the three men assumed Lowrey was dead.  Hours later, barely able to move, Lowrey began crawling to the abandoned shack 50 feet away, leaving a trail of blood.
It was three days later; a passerby saw movement through a window in the small shack.  The police and FBI were called.  Left for dead, Lowrey was still alive!   Lowrey was taken to Midwest City Memorial Hospital but later moved to Deaconess for safety reasons due to Lowrey being the only witness to the three fugitives.
The following days consisted of multiply surgeries and over 500 stitches in his head.  Surgery to remove the bullet was too risky; the bullet still remains.  Lowrey is thankful for the many doctors, nurses and friends that worked with him, encouraging him along the way.
What had Lowrey prayed for?  He asked God to give him a testimony.  His prayer was answered.   Lowrey continues to share his testimony to others through his book, I Didn’t Have a Prayer, but that’s What Saved Me and Lowrey will be releasing another book, Officially Christian August 2015.  Lowrey is active as a speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, churches, schools, civic organizations, prayer breakfasts,  book clubs, prisons and retirement centers.
Now, a retired electrician, Lowrey is a veteran basketball and football official with the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association and a licensed minister.  His hobbies include golfing, writing books, poetry and songs.  A remarkable man, Lowrey has a miraculous story to share.  To order Lowrey’s book, call 405-816-8220 or email donlowrey5459@gmail.com