By Nick Thomas

First screened in movie theaters during the early 1920s, the “Our Gang” film series was produced for another two decades and featured an ever-changing cast of children, showcasing their comedic neighborhood antics.
Throughout the series of some 220 short films created by producer Hal Roach, about 40 child actors appeared regularly beginning in 1922’s silent era and continuing through 1944. Sidney Kibrick is one of the last surviving “Our Gang” cast regulars.
Kibrick, 95, appeared in more than 2-dozen ‘Gang’ shorts, initially as an unnamed character but eventually anointed with the nickname ‘Woim,’ the exaggerated Brooklyn pronunciation of ‘worm.’ Other well-known members of the gang included Spanky (George McFarland), Butch (Tommy Bond), Buckwheat (Billie Thomas), and Alfalfa (Carl Switzer).
“We’d have 2 hours of schooling in the morning and then work anywhere from 6 to 16 hours until we finished,” recalled Kibrick from his home in Los Angeles. “There was a lot of work, no question about it, but our director Gordon Douglas was a terrific guy and he was really able to get a lot out of each kid.”
Despite the long hours, there was occasionally time to relax and be a kid off-camera.
“There was a big pond at the studio, so Spanky and I would go fishing a lot,” said Kibrick. “We developed a lifelong friendship and although he moved to Dallas while I lived in Beverly Hills, we used to visit and stay at each other’s homes time and time again over the years.”
Despite dozens of kids running around on set, Kibrick remembers things never getting out of control.
“We had scripts and had to rehearse before shooting so it was very structured,” he recalled. “Parents had to be on the set at all times.”
And while most of the young actors got along, Kibrick remembers one troublemaker.
“Alfalfa (Switzer) was a very difficult kid and created a lot of problems on the set. He was not nice – not only to the gang, but to the boys and girls who were extras in the movies. It was just his nature. Years later, he was killed in a fight, so he was basically a tough kid.”
So too was Kibrick’s character, Woim.
“I was Butch’s sidekick and we were the bad guys always taking on Spanky, Alfalfa, and Darla (Hood),” he explained.
Born in Minneapolis, young Sid was just an infant when the family moved to Los Angeles so his dad could find better work and was later ‘discovered’ after turning five.
“My mother took us to Grauman’s Chinese theater and after the movie, a man came over to us, pointed at me, and said he could ‘use that little kid in the movies,’” Kibrick recalled. His parents really pushed him and his brother, Leonard, into acting.
“I was earning $750 a week in ‘Our Gang’ which was a lot in those days, especially during the Depression,” he said. “But by the time I was 15, I’d had enough. My parents wanted me to continue but finally my mother went along with my wishes. I later attended college and became a real estate developer. So I had a very successful post-Hollywood career.”
Last year, Kibrick attended the opening of an exhibit at the Hollywood Museum honoring the 100th anniversary of the “Our Gang” series. “It’s nice to be remembered!” he said.
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, in Alabama, and has written features, columns, and interviews for numerous magazines and newspapers. See https://www.getnickt.org/.

Ruby Miller

(Right) Ruby Miller was 100 on April 10, 2023. She lived in Hominy all her life and was a meat cutter and caregiver until retiring in her 90s. Ruby loves Christmas, having the family together, seeing grandkids happy and cooking big meals.

Georgia Friedman

(Left) Georgia Friedman celebrated her 100th birthday today in Bartlesville. She loves music from the Big Band Era, a big pot of spaghetti for the family & meatloaf.
Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday because of the food & watching her family play the annual touch football game called “The Turkey Bowl!” She loved to wear hats so her words of wisdom for younger people: “Take care of your skin; wear hats; use sunscreen; work hard & enjoy your family!”

Loretta Marshall

(Right) Loretta (Keller) Marshall of Hydro celebrated her 100th birthday earlier this year. She was a farmer, homemaker, mother & housekeeper. She keeps her yard & its many flowers & cactus in beautiful condition & mows a half acre lawn. She was the only church organist for her Parrish (Hinton Sacred Heart Catholic Church) for 52 years.

Bill Eugene Muncy

(Right) WWII Army Veteran Bill Eugene Muncy celebrated his 100th birthday today in McAlester.
He enjoys family gatherings, traveling, fishing & being outdoors. Candy bars were the only gifts he requested for his birthday. Thank You for Your Service and Welcome to the Centenarians Hall of Fame.

KNOW A CENTENARIAN?
If you know of a Centenarian you would like to honor, please visit
http://centenariansok.com/ and download and submit our form.

https://www.harborchase.com/harborchase-south-oklahoma-city/?utm_campaign=gmb

National Newspaper Carrier Day on September 4th recognizes the dedicated newspaper carriers (yes, they are still delivering) who deliver the news in the wee hours of the morning.
A lot has changed since the first newspaper carrier. Not only have the routines changed, but their methods and the age of the people delivering has changed, too. However, the newspaper carrier still exists in some form. Each and every newspaper carrier owe their start to an enterprising young immigrant in New York City over 180 years ago. As the tradition gradually fades, their history becomes no less fascinating.
According to a captioned photo released by the Museum of the City of New York, The Sun‘s publisher Benjamin Day hired the first paperboy on Septemeber 4, 1833. A 10-year-old Barney Flaherty answered the advertisement that September day. And although the ad specified for “steady men” to apply, Flaherty so impressed the editor that Day was so impressed by the boy’s sincerity; he gave him the job.
Down on the corner, passersby soon heard Flaherty hawking his sales pitch. Eventually, the universal chorus of boys (and sometimes girls) calling, “Paper! Get your paper, here!” could be heard on the streets selling papers.
“A number of steady men can find employment by vending this paper. A liberal discount is allowed to those who buy to sell again.” ~ Benjamin Day’s 1833 advertisement in The Sun.
In 1960, The Newspaper Carrier Hall of Fame was created. It acknowledges some famous newspaper carriers in our nation’s history, too. Included in the Newspaper Carrier Hall of Fame are Martin Luther King Jr., Warren Buffet, and John Wayne.
Note from the publisher:

Nearly every time I attend an event, I meet someone that delivered papers at some point in their lives.
My brother and I started selling GRIT newspapers. Kids could buy these “Enquirer” type publications – 50 at a time – out of the ad section in comic books. I think we paid eight cents per copy and stood outside Gibson’s Department store in McAlester and hawked those papers to customers for a quarter. It wasn’t much, but it paid for our next batch of papers and a bunch of junk food and soda pop.
Later we delivered the Mcalester News Capital and really started making money, LOL. I’ve been in the business for 53 years, all because of GRIT. Oh, and my Grandpa, for sitting at Gibson’s Department store watching us sell those GRIT copies – sometimes all day!
Times have changed (and I’m still not in the Hall of Fame with John Wayne) but the 55-plus crowd still loves picking up our newspaper every month. Advertisers know that when they contact us – and we are sure glad they do.
Take care of those newspaper carriers this month. Give a pat on the back to our SNL delivery folks that work so hard to make sure you have your latest copy of Oklahoma’s Senior News and Living.
By the way, I love hearing your stories. So if you delivered newspapers or just know a funny story, send me an email at news@okveterannews.com. Who knows, maybe I’ll publish your nugget so more than 60,000 seniors can enjoy.

Dear Savvy Senior,

I spend a lot of time online and love the convenience of paying bills, shopping, and keeping up with my grandkids on Facebook and Instagram. But a few months ago, my computer was infected with malware, and I just found out some cyber crook opened up a credit card using my identity and went on a shopping spree. Do you have some simple tips to help me stay safe while online? Paranoid Patty

Dear Patty, Unfortunately, cybercrimes against seniors continue to be a big problem in the U.S. According to the FBI 2022 Elder Fraud Report, cybercrime cost Americans over age 60 more than $3 billion last year, a whopping 84 percent increase from 2021.
While anyone can be subject to cybercrimes, seniors are frequent targets because they tend to be more trusting and have more money than their younger counterparts. But there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from online fraud, hacking and scams. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Strengthen your passwords: A strong password should contain at least 12 characters and include numbers and a special character, like an exclamation point or asterisk. Be sure to change up your password across different sites to ensure a hacker would not gain access to all accounts through one password. And keep a written list of all your passwords stored in a safe secure place.
On your smartphone or tablet, be sure to set up a four or six-digit PIN to protect your device.
Opt out of pop-ups: To protect yourself from computer viruses and other forms of malware, make it a habit to avoid any pop-up style message when you’re on the web. Sometimes hackers disguise their malware as pop-up advertisements or “special offers” when you’re shopping or reading online. Clicking on these pop-ups can lead to viruses or data breaches.
If you encounter a suspicious pop-up message, don’t click on anything in the window. Simply leave the site or close out of your web browser.
When in doubt, throw it out: Sometimes online hackers will send you an email or text message and pretend to be someone they’re not in order to convince you to share valuable information with them, such as your Social Security Number, address or credit card information. This is called phishing.
If you receive a message from an unknown sender, do not respond or click on any links or attachments. Instead, either ignore the message or delete it.
Share with care: There is such a thing as oversharing, and it definitely applies to online profiles. On social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, online hackers can easily gather information about you from what you post – like where you live.
Ensure that your privacy settings are up to date so that only people who follow you or are your Facebook friend can see your posts.
Verify websites: Before you shop or access your bank online, double check the validity of the website you’re using. Reputable sites use technologies such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that encrypt data during transmission. You will see a little padlock icon in your browser and usually “https” at the front of your address bar to confirm it’s a secure connection. If you don’t see it in the web address that you’re on, you should not trust that website with your passwords, payment or banking information.
Have some back-up: Practicing safe habits will protect you and your information, but you don’t have to rely on just yourself to stay safe. Anti-virus software works in the background to protect your computer from a variety of malware and helps to make it easier for you to avoid threats while surfing the web.
For more information on how to safeguard your personal technology devices and information, visit Consumer.ftc.gov and search “Protect Your Personal Information and Data.” And to report fraud and identity theft go to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ and IdentityTheft.gov.

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.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reminds the Medicare community of the Jimmo Settlement Agreement (January 2013), which clarified that the Medicare program covers skilled nursing care and skilled therapy services under Medicare’s skilled nursing facility, home health, and outpatient therapy benefits when a beneficiary needs skilled care to maintain function or to prevent or slow decline or deterioration (provided all other coverage criteria are met). Specifically, the Jimmo Settlement Agreement required manual revisions to restate a “maintenance coverage standard” for both skilled nursing and therapy services under these benefits:
Skilled nursing services would be covered where such skilled nursing services are necessary to maintain the patient’s current condition or prevent or slow further deterioration so long as the beneficiary requires skilled care for the services to be safely and effectively provided.
Skilled therapy services are covered when an individualized assessment of the patient’s clinical condition demonstrates that the specialized judgment, knowledge, and skills of a qualified therapist (“skilled care”) are necessary for the performance of a safe and effective maintenance program. Such a maintenance program to maintain the patient’s current condition or to prevent or slow further deterioration is covered so long as the beneficiary requires skilled care for the safe and effective performance of the program.
The Jimmo Settlement Agreement may reflect a change in practice for those providers, adjudicators, and contractors who may have erroneously believed that the Medicare program covers nursing and therapy services under these benefits only when a beneficiary is expected to improve. The Jimmo Settlement Agreement is consistent with the Medicare program’s regulations governing maintenance nursing and therapy in skilled nursing facilities, home health services, and outpatient therapy (physical, occupational, and speech) and nursing and therapy in inpatient rehabilitation hospitals for beneficiaries who need the level of care that such hospitals provide.
The Jimmo Settlement Agreement included language specifying that nothing in the settlement agreement modified, contracted, or expanded the existing eligibility requirements for receiving Medicare coverage. While the Jimmo Settlement Agreement resulted in clarifications of the coverage criteria for skilled nursing and therapy services in the SNF, HH, OPT, and IRF care settings, it did not affect other existing aspects of Medicare coverage and eligibility for these settings. A few examples of such other requirements would include that the services be reasonable and necessary, comply with therapy caps in the OPT setting, and not exceed the 100-day limit for Part A SNF benefits during a benefit period.
If you have a loved one in a Long-Term Care facility and have any questions regarding care or concerns you may have, you can contact an Ombudsman to assist you.
Areawide Aging Agency’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program advocates for the needs of residents in LTC facilities serving Canadian, Cleveland, Logan, and Oklahoma Counties. You may contact us at (405) 942-8500 and ask to speak with an Ombudsman or visit our website at https://www.areawideaging.org.

The Pioneer Woman Museum is excited to host its annual Prairie to Palate fundraising dinner on Thursday, September 21, from 6-9 p.m. The event will be held on the beautiful lawn of the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City.
Prairie to Palate is an outdoor, farm-to-table dining experience. Enjoy a night of delicious food, wine, live music, and a silent auction. Dinner will be provided by Stagecoach BBQ & Catering, dessert by Banana Crate, drinks by Vortex Alley Brewing and El Patio, and live music by Ryan Burkett. All proceeds support the Pioneer Woman Museum and Statue’s operating costs throughout the year.
Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased online at the PWM website. Bottomless drinks with a souvenir-etched Pioneer Woman Museum pint or wine glass can be purchased for an additional $12.50. Please RSVP by Friday, September 15.
Corporate sponsorships are available for $1,000 each. This covers eight dinners with bottomless drinks and souvenir glasses.
The Pioneer Woman Museum is located at 701 Monument Rd. in Ponca City. For more information, please call 580-765-6108 or visit their website, https://www.pioneerwomanmuseum.com/.
The Pioneer Woman Museum and Statue is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit https://www.okhistory.org/.

On Saturday, September 9, from 1-4 p.m., the Oklahoma History Center with host an introduction to cross-stitch workshop. Participants will learn the process of cross-stitching and create a cross-stitch bookmark to take home.
The cost of the class is $20 for Oklahoma Historical Society members and $25 for nonmembers. The deadline to register is Saturday, September 2. All materials and instruction will be provided, along with light refreshments.
The Oklahoma History Center is located at 800 Nazih Zuhdi Dr. in Oklahoma City. It is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Please call 405-522-0765 or visit
https://www.okhistory.org/historycenter for admission costs and group rates.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department (OID) announced today that Oklahoma has adopted regulations enacting a “best interest” standard on annuity sales and recommendations based on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Model Regulation (#275).
The amended regulations, which are located in Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 365:25-17, are set to go into effect on September 1, 2023. The rules require a producer to act in the best interest of consumers under the circumstances known at the time the recommendation is made.
“The new rules will provide stronger protections for retirees and safeguard access for lower and middle-income families in the state,” Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said.
Oklahoma is the 40th state to implement the NAIC model regulation, a template for states to create their own regulation governing annuity sales that would align with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest providing robust consumer protection at the state and federal levels.
Earlier this month, the OID issued a bulletin about the training requirements for producers involved in the sale, solicitation, or negotiation of annuities. The training requirements are now located in OAC 365:25-17-7.1. To learn more about annuities, visit
https://www.oid.ok.gov/consumers/annuity/ or contact the OID at 800-522-0071.

by Greg Schwem

One of the greatest joys of having adult children is knowing I now have the freedom to criticize other parents and their disciplinary methods.
OK, maybe “criticize” is too harsh; “actively observe and silently disagree” might be a better phrase.
My children are 26 and 21, independent (more or less) and free to make their own decisions without my guidance. Which leaves me with plenty of free time to notice, in grocery stores, airports and other public facilities, millennial and Gen Z couples who have chosen to have children instead of dogs and now realize you can’t cage a child if it acts up. Like my parents, I find myself cringing at what this new breed of procreators consider to be acceptable punishment.
I don’t envy today’s parents and the challenges they face. Suffice it to say none of the other parents in my daughters’ kindergarten carpools would have marched into their schools and demanded their severely underpaid teachers stop reading “The Little Engine That Could” because it’s too “woke.” Well, come to think of it, a mother of seven who lived on my block and attended church several times a day may have if she’d been familiar with the word and its meaning.
Social media was a novelty in my daughters’ middle and high school years and certainly not the harmful behemoth that, today, is the gateway to bullying, ostracization and, in some cases, suicide. Yes, they both had cellphones at young ages and there were moments I had to lecture them about proper phone etiquette. Was I too lenient in certain situations? My father certainly thought so and wasn’t shy about voicing his opinions, usually at holiday gatherings. I would fruitlessly explain that he may have a different view if cellphones had existed when I was under his tutelage.
So maybe I’m overstepping my bounds when I question today’s parents about their punishment tactics. But I am generally curious. At the very least, can somebody with children please answer the following three questions?
1. Have you ever actually gotten to ”three”?
Time and again, I see children misbehaving, only to silently snicker as their mom or dad says, “Logan, I am going to count to three.” What follows is the slowest, most drawn out recitation of “one” and “two” that I have ever heard. If I were a professional boxer, got knocked down in the ring and had 10 seconds to get to my feet, I would want one of Logan’s parents to be the referee. The Logans of the world aren’t stupid; they know they still have at least 20 seconds to do whatever has drawn their parents’ ire before backing off.
2. What exactly are “privileges”?
Because I am always looking for future comedic material and column ideas, I recently started driving for Uber. While taking a couple and their two children to the airport, I heard the dad telling his son if his behavior didn’t improve, he would lose all “privileges.” It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, and now this inquiring mind wants a definition. Maybe it’s because I don’t remember having any “privileges” when I was growing up. In my father’s eyes, being born was a privilege.
3. What, and where, is the “Circle of Trust”?
I first heard that phrase when Robert DeNiro famously uttered it to Ben Stiller in “Meet the Parents.” But that was a fictitious movie. When the Uber dad reminded his son that he was approaching a Circle of Trust violation, I wanted to stop my vehicle and ask if I could view the circle some time. Is it actually drawn somewhere in the house? What are the dimensions? These circles must exist somewhere, because I have heard multiple parents refer to them.
Parents of young children, if I receive the answers to these questions, perhaps I will no longer roll my eyes or mumble under my breath when your little darlings are throwing tantrums at the bank or the hardware store. Even though my father never understood my concept of parenting, I want to understand yours. So I eagerly await your replies.
Don’t make me count to three.

(Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at https://www.amazon.com/. Visit Greg on the web at https://www.gregschwem.com/.
You’ve enjoyed reading, and laughing at, Greg Schwem’s monthly humor columns in Senior Living News. But did you know Greg is also a nationally touring stand-up comedian? And he loves to make audiences laugh about the joys, and frustrations, of growing older. Watch the clip and, if you’d like Greg to perform at your senior center or senior event, contact him through his website at https://www.gregschwem.com/)