It’s a reality no mother ever wants to imagine; being discharged from the hospital and leaving your newborn baby behind.
That fear became real for Keely Mallory. On Jan. 17, with more than a month left in her pregnancy, Keely gave birth to her first child, Rhett.
“We had a talk the morning I gave birth to him. I told him he was only 35 weeks and that he needed to stay in there, but he was determined to make a grand entrance,” Keely joked.
Keely laughs about it now, but for almost a month she and her husband put their lives on hold to be by Rhett’s side in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City.
They found comfort in a surprising place: a tiny piece of handmade cloth in the shape of a heart. Rhett had an identical heart inside his neonatal incubator. Keely would wear or sleep with hers one night, before exchanging it with the heart in Rhett’s bassinet the next day. “The idea is that the mother’s or child’s scent rubs off on the cloth,” said Mercy Hospital Chaplain, Trisha Wiscombe, who helped implement the idea. “We found through research that scent plays a large role in bonding.”
In turn, the scent of her child may help release a flood of happy hormones in the mother that assist with milk production. For Keely, she said it also helped provide her with a sense of comfort and calm during a time that was often stressful.
“It was a way to have him at home when he couldn’t be,” Keely said. “It was so hard leaving him at the hospital every day, so to just be able to lay the cloth on my pillow at night was very comforting and helped with our transition.”
Each of the hearts is handmade by Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City volunteer Fran Thibedea, who estimates she’s made close to 200 so far. All mothers with children in the NICU receive them. The idea is also in place at other Mercy hospitals in Missouri.
Rhett was discharged from the hospital on Feb. 12. Both he and Keely are doing well.

Photography and Text by Rick Steves

No city in Ireland connects the kaleidoscope of historical dots more colorfully than Derry, which is in British-ruled Northern Ireland. Small and pretty, the city is a welcoming and manageable place for visitors – and most of its sights can be covered easily on foot.
Now a worthy tourist destination with the best city walls in Ireland, during the 20th century, sectarian struggles plagued Derry. When Ireland was divvied up between the North and the Republic in the early 1920s, Derry’s waterway – the River Foyle – was a logical border. But, for sentimental and economic reasons, the Protestant North kept all of this predominantly Catholic Nationalist city. Subsequently, the two sides have fought over its status.
Even its name has been a source of dispute. It’s “Derry” to the Catholics and “Londonderry” to the Protestants. I once asked a Northern Ireland rail employee for a ticket to Derry; he replied that there was no such place. Still, I call it Derry since that’s what most of the city’s inhabitants do.
The name has a good pedigree, dating back to 546. In that year the holy St. Columba established a monastic citadel here. He chose a hilltop site in the middle of an oak grove, or “doire.” The name stuck.
Fast-forward a thousand years to 1613, when the English arrived. To establish a Protestant toehold in this Catholic part of Ireland, they began “planting” the region with loyal Protestant colonists imported from Scotland and England. Since many were financed by wealthy London guilds, they changed the name to “Londonderry.”
To keep out the Irish, who’d been forced onto less desirable land, the English surrounded the city with a stout defensive wall. Today those walls make Derry one of the best-preserved fortified cities in Ireland. They stand almost 20 feet high and nearly as thick, with 24 cannons standing sentinel.
The walls are a good place to start a Derry visit. Poetically described as the city’s “necklace,” they form a mile-long loop encircling the original old town, and give a good view of its 17th-century street plan. The top o’ the wall promenade (open from dawn until dusk) is a popular destination for Derry’s inhabitants too.
The walls proved their worth in 1688-89, when the Catholic King James II and an Irish army besieged the city. Derry’s determined Protestant defenders, loyal to King William of Orange, slammed the town gates shut and successfully outlasted their foes for 105 grinding days.
The townsmen held off James with the help of “Roaring Meg,” a cannon renowned for the fury of its firing. You’ll find her, beautifully restored, on the walls at the Double Bastion, a fortified platform.
From the Double Bastion, you can also enjoy a fine panoramic view over the Catholic Bogside neighborhood. These days, this gritty part of town is quiet and safe, but it wasn’t always so.
For many years, Bogside was the tinderbox of the modern “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Most notably, the tragic 1972 Bloody Sunday events unfolded here, during a march protesting the internment of pro-Catholic activists. When a British regiment moved in to make arrests, 13 marchers died. The clash sparked a sectarian inferno whose ashes took decades to cool.
Today, visitors come to Bogside to honor this sad past and to view 12 memorial murals, painted along a 300-yard stretch of road where the march took place. Dramatic and emotional, these political murals – and others around Northern Ireland – form an enduring travel memory.
Sectarian violence in Ireland has given way to a settlement that seems to be working. Both sides have come to the position that “an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.” In Derry, the growing hope for peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland is expressed in a powerful public-art sculpture of two figures extending their hands to one another.
Given the city’s complex history, it’s worth taking the time to drop by the Tower Museum Derry. Occupying a reconstruction of a fortified medieval tower, the exhibits at this well-organized museum help sort out Derry’s tangled historical roots.
These days, the once divided city sees itself as a shared city. The symbol of that recalibration is the Peace Bridge across the River Foyle. This pedestrian span, built with European Union funds, is intended to bring the two sides together: east bank and west bank, Irish and British, Catholic and Protestant, Nationalist and Unionist. And to the surprise of locals, it’s working. In a sign of the times, a British army base that once occupied prime real estate near the old city wall has been transformed into an outdoor concert venue and a gathering place for all of Derry. It’s an emblem of what’s happened here; you’ll find that now the long-divided communities love their “legend-Derry” Irish city.
IF YOU VISIT…
SLEEPING: Merchant’s House, on a quiet street a 10-minute stroll from Waterloo Place, is a fine Georgian townhouse with nine rooms (moderate, www.thesaddlershouse.com). Inside Derry’s walls is Maldron Hotel, offering 93 modern and immaculate rooms (splurge, www.maldronhotelderry.com).
EATING: The Custom House Restaurant and Wine Bar is the classiest place in town, serving great meals and a selection of fine wines in a posh, calm space (Queens Quay, tel. 028/7137-3366). Busy Fitzroy’s is stacked with locals, serving quality food at reasonable prices (2 Bridge Street, tel. 028/7126-6211).
GETTING AROUND: Derry is compact enough to see on foot, so you won’t need a car or public transportation to get around.
TOURIST INFORMATION: www.derryvisitor.com.

Dear Savvy Senior, Can you help me calculate about how much my wife and I need to save for retirement? We are both in out late-fifties and want to see where we stand. Looking Ahead

Dear Looking,
Calculating an approximate number of how much you’ll need to save for a comfortable retirement is actually pretty easy, and doesn’t take long to do. It’s a simple, three-step process that includes estimating your future living expenses, tallying up your retirement income and calculating the difference. There are even a host of online calculators that can help you with this too.
Living Expenses
The first step is the most difficult – estimating your living expenses when you retire. If you want a quick ballpark estimate, figure around 75 to 85 percent of your current gross income. That’s what most people find they need to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.
If you want a more precise estimate, track your current living expenses on a worksheet and deduct any costs you expect to go away or decline when you retire, and add whatever new ones you anticipate.
Costs you can scratch off your list include work-related expenses like commuting or lunches out, as well as the amount you’re socking away for retirement. You may also be able to deduct your mortgage if you expect to have it paid off by retirement, and your kid’s college expenses. Your income taxes should also be less.
On the other hand, some costs will probably go up when you retire, like health care, and depending on your interests you may spend a lot more on travel, golf or other hobbies. And, if you’re going to be retired for 20 or 30 years you also need to factor in the occasional big budget items like a new roof, furnace or car.
Tally Income
Step two is to calculate your retirement income. If you and/or your wife contribute to Social Security, go to ssa.gov/myaccount to get your personalized statement that estimates what your retirement benefits will be at age 62, full retirement age and when you turn 70.
In addition to Social Security, if you or your wife has a traditional pension plan from an employer, find out from the plan administrator how much you are likely to get when you retire. And, figure in any other income from other sources you expect to have, such as rental properties, part-time work, etc.
Calculate the Difference
The final step is to do the calculations. Subtract your annual living expenses from your annual retirement income. If your income alone can cover your bills, you’re all set. If not, you’ll need to tap your savings, including your 401(k) plans, IRAs, or other investments to make up the difference.
So, let’s say for example you need around $55,000 a year to meet your living expenses and pay taxes, and you and your wife expect to receive $30,000 a year from Social Security and other income. That leaves a $25,000 shortfall that you’ll need to pull from your nest egg each year ($55,000 – $30,000 = $25,000).
Then, depending on what age you want to retire, you need to multiply your shortfall by at least 25 if you want to retire at 60, 20 to retire at 65, and 17 to retire at 70 – or in this case that would equate to $625,000, $500,000 and $425,000, respectively.
Why 25, 20 and 17? Because that would allow you to pull 4 percent a year from your savings, which is a safe withdrawal strategy that in most cases will let your money last as long as you do.
If you need some help, there’s a bevy of free online retirement calculators to assist you, like the ones offered by T. Rowe Price (troweprice.com/retirement) or Financial Mentor (financialmentor.com/calculator).

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

by Bobby Anderson, staff writer

Feisty. Funny. Fortitude. Those are some of the adjectives used to describe Norma Jean Schritter, the granddaughter of 1889 land run homesteader, John Krivanek.
She’s lived in Mustang most of her life thanks to her family tracing back to the Land Run of 1889.
The family farm, located at S.W. 44th and Sara Road in Canadian County, is state designated as a Centennial Farm.
To be a Centennial Farm, the property must be at least 40 acres and operated or owned by family descendants for at least 100 years.
James “Bud” Schritter was the love of Norma Jean’s life. They were married 60 years before he passed “to prepare their next home together” as Norma Jean says.
They met at Czech Hall in Yukon after he saw her dancing and told his friends he was “going to marry that girl.”
They courted three years before tying the knot. Once during a large snow storm, Bud drove his tractor from Wheatland, Oklahoma to see her.
He stopped and cut barb wire fences to forge a path to her home and then repaired them on his drive back to Wheatland.
It’s no wonder Bud was smitten by Norma Jean. Her radiant smile and smart wit is like a magnet to iron.
Norma Jean, age 83, is a fascinating resource of historic Mustang events and families. A grease fire burned down her family home in January 1951 when she was a senior in high school. Neighbors from miles around rushed over and started hauling things out of the house.
Two ladies carried out a refrigerator on their backs. Many of those same neighborly friends helped rebuild the house and returned again to plant and harvest the farm when Norma’s father was ill.
“Sharing and helping each other was a normal way of life for neighbors back then,” said Norma Jean.
The farm has also survived dust storms and the tornado of 1970, which took the wash house, hay barn, storage barn, machine shed, and several large farm combines.
Bud and Norma Jean grew wheat and hay and lived off the products of their land. Norma Jean cultivated a huge garden and became an expert canner. Her favorite items to can include possum grapes, strawberries, sand plums, blackberries, okra, and pretty much any Oklahoma vegetable.
She has always been an excellent cook. Her cousin, Louis Krivanek, lives nearby on land that has been in his family since 1917.
He recalls that for two decades at harvest time he helped drive farm equipment for Norma Jean. It was a demanding job. He says they “worked hard and ate really good.”
The Schritters loved the television show Hee Haw and didn’t let the long work days of harvest season stop them from watching it.
Long before today’s mobile devices, they found a way to rig a TV to run off the tractor so they could work their crop to the tunes of Buck Owens and Roy Clark.
Norma Jean has been a fan of the Days of Our Lives soap opera for 45 years and gladly admits she schedules her day around its viewing time.
After that, you may find the petite redhead driving around town in her bright red Chevy pickup. She has been going to the same Mustang beauty operator, Maxine Pierce, for 41 years.
Norma Jean and her husband also partnered as “pumpers” for a national oil company. They determined how much oil, natural gas, and salt water was produced daily for each well.
They measured and tracked more than 50 well sites for almost 30 years.
Norma Jean is an avid collector of sea shells. “Shelling” in the gulf is one of her favorite hobbies. She also plays the accordion and maintains an active social calendar. In her younger years, she was a Beseda dancer for parades, Czech festivals, and the 1957 state 50th year celebration.
She still enjoys dancing and says she has always felt she would rather dance than eat.
Recently Norma Jean moved to a new house at Whispering Creek Active Adult Retirement Neighborhood in the south Oklahoma City/Mustang area. She loves the country feel of the gated addition for people age 55 and better.
She says she is surprised how big the rooms are and that they seemed even larger when she added furniture.
“I’m thrilled to find this neighborhood and my only wish is that Bud was here to enjoy it too,” she said.

by Bobby Anderson
Staff Writer

In the beginning, it was just Rodney Bivens and a half-ton pickup driving around to local safeway stores picking up canned goods.
Thirty-six years later, the Oklahoma Food Bank has grown into a world class organization meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of people needing help putting food on the table.
“I always felt if it was right, you believed in something and put the time and resources into it … people would respond to it,” Bivens said.
Bivens, 70, is the founder and executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. But he’ll pass the torch soon, leaving a legacy that has touched so many Oklahomans.
“Maybe a week ago I said this retirement gig is harder than I thought it would be,” Bivens said of all the attention he’s been getting since announcing his retirement. “Maybe I should have just written out of a resignation letter and gave my two weeks notice.”
His work with other nonprofit agencies led him to witness what hunger can do to individuals and families.
Out of his personal conviction that no one should have to face hunger in a nation blessed with so much abundance, he founded the organization in 1980.
Born and raised in Chickasha, Bivens and his three older brothers grew up on a farm just outside of town. After his father was disabled in a car accident, the Bivens’ family came to rely on friends, family and church to help them keep food on their table.
The experience left Bivens with a unique perspective on the impact of hunger on children and families in Oklahoma.
Under his leadership, the Regional Food Bank has grown rapidly to fulfill the need for food in central and western Oklahoma. In its first year of operation, the Regional Food Bank distributed 280,000 pounds of food.
Today, that amount is distributed in about three days.
The nonprofit provides enough food to feed more than 110,000 people every week with administrative and fundraising costs less than four percent.
Since its inception in 1980, the Regional Food Bank has distributed more than 545 million pounds of food to our hungry Oklahoma neighbors.
It’s food that goes out the door, but for Bivens it’s about so much more.
“You reminisce a little about things,” Bivens said of what’s been on his mind the last few weeks. “I think about the people we serve and the contacts we’ve had. It’s all about people, the people we serve, the folks who work here, the volunteers we have the board members and I’ve been privileged to get to know a lot of people. For me it always comes down to people.”
Bivens and his team at the Regional Food Bank developed one of the first rural distribution systems in the country, which has become a model for other food banks.
The Regional Food Bank currently serves more than 1,200 charitable feeding programs and schools throughout 53 counties in central and western Oklahoma, and distributes nationally donated product to four other food banks in Kansas, Texas and New Mexico, as well.
The Regional Food Bank was the first in the nation to implement an online inventory and agency ordering system with new technology for increased efficiency in food distribution.
Other efficiency initiatives implemented at the food bank facilitate energy conservation, solid waste reduction, air quality controls and sustainable living techniques for a more efficient operation.
Bivens has also shepherded other innovative programs into existence at the Regional Food Bank, including Urban Harvest, an urban sustainable agriculture program that aims to teach individuals and community groups to grow their own food.
The Regional Food Bank also implemented the Food for Kids Backpack Program, which provides a backpack full of weekend food to chronically hungry elementary children throughout the school year. The program began in 2003 as a pilot program in five urban elementary schools, and it now serves more than 18,500 children in 501 elementary schools.
There are now 124 school pantries in middle and high schools in Oklahoma serving the needs of nearly 5,000 chronically hungry students. As the founder of the 21st food bank in the U.S., Bivens has more than 35 years of experience fighting domestic hunger and he is seen as a leader in the food banking arena.
Bivens served on the board of directors of Feeding America for more than 12 years in various positions. He also helps in national disaster relief efforts, and in 2005, set up an emergency relief warehouse for Hurricane Katrina and Rita storm victims.
In less than four weeks, he helped to distribute more than 8 million pounds of relief supplies in the New Orleans area.
“I feel good about. I feel great about the organization and where we’re at,” Bivens said of retiring. “I know we’re going to continue to grow and throw in the community and the community will continue to respond to the need.”

by Vickie Jenkins

Meet Kristi Brewer Campbell, Owner and Director of Care Plus Home Care. “This is a family-owned, licensed and private duty home care agency,” Kristi says. “We have certified care-givers and assisted living services to individuals and couples that want to stay home and stay well.”
Here, you will find that services are offered 7 days a week up to 24 hours a day. Live-in services are also provided if around-the-clock care is needed. Their caregivers can assist with personal care and hygiene, take care of their medications, prepare meals, clean, do laundry and assist with transportation and errands.
The family-owned business understands how important it is to their clients to feel and remain safe in their own homes. “When people can stay in their home, it makes them feel good about themselves. They feel a bit of independence even though they have a caregiver come in to assist them with their specific needs,” Kristi says. “All of our caregivers are bonded, references are verified and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation checks are run on each caregiver prior to employment. That is a big plus and when it comes to feeling safe and secure, our clients really like that. It is a peace of mind for the client and their families. The caregivers are carefully screened and undergo a criminal background check. In addition, each caregiver is bonded, insured and covered under workers’ compensation insurance. It’s nice to know that they can trust their caregiver.”
Established in 1993, Care Plus Home Care agency provides an alternative for seniors wanting to remain independent and in the comfort of their own home. The mission here is to meet the home care needs of their clients with respect, compensation and services of the highest quality. They will operate in a manner that will appropriately reward their clients and employees alike. Presently, Care Plus Home Care has about 70 clients but the number varies. “All of our clients are treated with respect, and we want to make them feel like the most important person in the world,” Kristi comments.
Kristi Brewer Campbell and her mom Nancy Brewer add a little something special for their clients. “I remember when I was a little girl, there was an elderly lady, Maddox, that we would visit each week, just to stop by to see if she needed anything. I remember how my mom was so nice to her. Now, my mom continues caring for the elderly by making our clients a birthday cake on their special day. Mom has been baking birthday cakes for a little over 3 years now and she loves it,” Kristi said. “It certainly brightens their day,” she adds. “The two of us deliver the cakes to our clients and sometimes, it’s a big celebration with their families. Everyone in the family appreciates us bringing them a birthday cake. That makes us feel really good.”
“It was my mom’s idea to bake a cake for each of our clients on their birthdays,” Kristi said. Asking Nancy how she began baking cakes for the clients, she replied, “Of course it takes a little bit for the client to get used to the daily adjustments when they need assistance in their homes. There was a gentleman that was having a hard time with it and it just happened to be his birthday. Kristi and I decided to bake a cake for his birthday. When we delivered it to his home, his whole attitude changed, for the better. It was amazing! After that, I decided that I would bake a cake for all of the clients on their birthday,” she said with a smile.
“How does it make you feel when you deliver a cake to the clients?” I ask Nancy. “Well, it makes me feel really good to know that I am doing something for someone else and by me baking a cake for them, they really appreciate it. Sometimes, Kristi and I are greeted by their families and they want us to stay for the party, etc. It is such a great feeling knowing that such a simple gesture from us can mean so much to them.”
Kristi and Nancy deliver the cakes all over Oklahoma, wherever their clients are and they never miss a birthday. The cakes are usually 2 to 3 layers of luscious flavor upon the client’s request. Decorated with icing and a Happy Birthday on the top, it almost looks too good to eat! Nancy loves to bake and will continue to bake birthday cakes as long as she is able.
A big thank you to Don and Joan Herndon for allowing me to come into your home and a thank you to Kristi and Nancy for spending your time and effort to go out of your way to make seniors feel special.