Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend any good online hearing tests? My husband has hearing loss, but I can’t get him to go in and get his hearing checked, so I thought a simple online test could help him recognize he has a problem. What can you tell me? — Loud Talking Linda

Dear Linda,
There’s actually a growing number of very good online and app-based hearing tests available that will let your husband check his hearing on his own. These tests are a quick and convenient option for the millions of Americans that have mild to moderate hearing loss but often ignore it, or don’t want to go through the hassle or expense of visiting an audiologist for a hearing exam.
Who Should Test?
Hearing loss for most people develops gradually over many years of wear and tear, which is the reason many people don’t realize they actually have a hearing problem.
Anyone who has difficulty hearing or understanding what people say, especially in noisier environments or over the phone. Or, if you need a higher volume of music or TV than other people, should take a few minutes to test their hearing.
Self-Hearing Tests
Online and app-based hearing tests can serve as a great screening tool. They are not meant to be a diagnosis, but rather to give you an idea of how bad your hearing loss is and what can be done about it.
For most do-it-yourself hearing tests, you’ll be advised to wear ear headphones or earbuds and sit in a quiet spot.
You also need to know that there are two different type of tests available. One type is known as pure-tone testing, where tones are played in decreasing volumes to determine your specific level of hearing loss. And the other type is known as speech-in-noise or digits-in-noise (DIN) where you’ll be asked to identify words, numbers, or phrases amid background noise.
Where to Test
If your husband uses a smartphone or tablet, two of my favorite app-based hearing tests are the hearWHO app created by the World Health Organization, and the Mimi Hearing Test app. Both apps are free to use and are available through the App Store and Google Play.
HearWHO allows users to check their hearing status and monitor it over time using a DIN test, while Mimi uses pure-tone and masked threshold tests to give you a detailed picture of your hearing abilities.
There are also a wide variety of online hearing tests your husband can take on a computer.
Some top online tests – all offered by hearing aid manufacturers – for speech-in-noise or DIN tests can be accessed at ReSound (resound.com/en-us/online-hearing-test) and Mircle Ear (miracle-ear.com/online-hearing-test).
And some good online hearing tests for pure-tone testing are available by Signia (signia.net/en/service/hearing-test); Ergo (eargo.com/hearing-health/hearing-check); and MD Hearing Aid (mdhearingaid.com/hearing-test).
All of these hearing tests are completely free to use and take less than five minutes to complete.
What to do with Results
If the tests indicate your husband has hearing loss, it’s best to think of that as a starting point. He should take results to his doctor or an audiologist for further evaluation.
Many insurance providers and Medicare Advantage plans cover routine hearing exams, however original Medicare does not.
If his hearing loss is mild to moderate, he should look into the new over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids, which are available this fall online and at retailers like Best Buy, Walgreens and CVS.
OTC hearing aids don’t require a prescription or medical examination for purchase and they’re much more affordable than traditional hearing aids you buy through an audiologist or a licensed hearing instrument specialist.

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 COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, especially those who suffered loss due to the virus. Nothing can replace loved ones, but FEMA may be able to help ease the financial burden that comes with that loss.
Those who had funeral COVID-19 related funeral expenses can apply for FEMA Funeral Assistance by calling 844-684-6333. Phone lines are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT, Monday through Friday with Multilingual services available. Applicants requiring relay services, such as a videophone, Innocaption or CapTel, must provide FEMA a specific number assigned to that service. It is important that FEMA is able to contact applicants.
There is currently no deadline to apply for aid.
The criteria to qualify for assistance includes:
* The person died of COVID-19. * The death occurred in the U.S. * The applicant paid for funeral, burial or cremation costs after Jan. 20, 2020.
* The applicant is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident or qualified refugee. The deceased does not need to meet these qualifications.
When applicants call for assistance, they need to provide the following information:
* Social security number * Date of birth * Current mailing address and phone number * The deceased date of birth * Location of deceased death * Information about any funeral or burial insurance policies * Information about other funeral assistance received, such as donations or CARES Act grants
Eligibility determinations are based on the submission of all required documents. Additional information and answers to frequently asked questions about the application process can be found on FEMA’s Funeral Assistance FAQ page here: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance/faq

The INTEGRIS Health Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation Courage Award was established in 1994 to recognize and honor individuals who have overcome disabilities caused by injury or illness, by facing the physical and mental challenges of rehabilitation with courage and determination. The award is named after the man known as the World’s Greatest Athlete, Jim Thorpe, and is presented annually.
On Tuesday, Sept. 20, INTEGRIS Health Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation hosted the 2022 Courage Award Luncheon to celebrate three inspirational men:

Jeremy Hoffman had an underlying health condition, so when he contracted COVID-19 in November of 2020, it was unclear if he would survive. The then 49-year-old from Edmond, fought tooth and nail to re-claim his life.

Michael Calloway of Norman and his wife, Lillie, are middle school sweethearts. They’ve been through a lot together, the good and the bad. But last November, a bout with COVID nearly took Michael’s life and a subsequent stroke stole his ability to communicate. Their story is living proof that love really does endure all things.

Chad Breske, a Choctaw native, was a lineman for an electric company when the dangers of his job became his reality. As a result of the electrocution, he would lose both arms, two ribs, an ear and part of his skull. Still, he continues to push forward – for his children.

The Oklahoma Dementia Care Network at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center will present a Training for Trainers for health professionals, in November. The event will be hosted by the Donald W. Reynolds Section of Geriatric Medicine at the OU College of Medicine and the department of Health Promotion Sciences at the OU Hudson College of Public Health.
The seminar is designed to elevate the level of care for persons living with dementia and to enhance encounters with older adults with cognitive impairment. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning that becomes more common as people grow older, affecting approximately one-third of persons over age 85.
OkDCN’s Training for Trainers is offered at no cost to participants. Topics covered will include: person-centered dementia care, infection control in dementia care, skin integrity in dementia care and end of life in dementia care. Participating educators/coordinators will receive a certificate of completion. Presenters include: Thomas Teasdale, DrPH, FGSA, FAGHE; Andrea Golden-Pogue, R.N., MSN; and the OkDCN team.
The training is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., November 17, at MetroTech Springlake Campus Business Development Center, 199 Springlake Drive, Room 123, Oklahoma City. To register, go to: ouhealth.com/events-calendar/event-signup/?Event=24744. For more information, please email your name, email and organization to [email protected].

The Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program serves residents in nursing homes, assisted living centers and residential care homes. An Ombudsman helps to improve the quality of care and life for the residents. As a friendly visitor and advocate, the volunteer has many opportunities to be of service and enrich the lives of the residents.
Interested individuals must be willing to attend a two-day training to become a designated volunteer and spend a minimum of 2 hours per week in the facility for which they are assigned visiting and advocating for the residents. Additionally, volunteers must be able to attend a monthly meeting for on-going training and supervision and pass a national background check.
If you are interested in making a difference in the lives of those residents in Canadian, Cleveland, Logan or Oklahoma County, the next training is scheduled for October 10 & 11 (Monday and Tuesday) from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Areawide Aging Agency located at 4101 Perimeter Center Drive, Suite 310, Oklahoma City, OK. Both sessions must be completed to become a designated volunteer.
For more information or to RSVP for the upcoming training, contact Dana Crum, LTC Ombudsman Supervisor at (405) 942-8500 to RSVP. There are limited slots available, RSVP today.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded $2.1 million to an Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist for the continued study of lymphatic vessels.
Experiments funded by the five-year grant to vascular biologist Pengchun Yu, Ph.D., will focus on turning on and off the mechanisms that trigger production of these vessels.
Lymphatic vessels form one of the body’s two superhighway systems. Blood vessels transport blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Lymphatic vessels collect lymph – the fluids that leak from blood vessels – and return it to the bloodstream.
While normally beneficial, lymphatic vessels sometimes sabotage healing. For instance, these vessels contribute to organ rejection after a transplant. The reason: Lymphatic vessels also transport immune cells, and these cells often recognize the donor organ as foreign.
Separately, cancer cells use lymphatic vessels to metastasize or spread to other parts of the body. “That’s why during a breast cancer surgery, surgeons remove lymph nodes to find out how far tumor cells have traveled and to help reduce metastasis by disrupting their highway,” said Yu, who joined OMRF in 2018 from Yale University.
However, removing the lymph nodes can lead to lymphedema, a chronic and potentially dangerous condition marked by painful swelling.
“In that case, when a patient is past the point of the cancer cells spreading, the surgeon would want to reconnect that highway to stop or treat lymphedema,” Yu said. “They need strategies to disrupt and promote the growth of lymphatic vessels, as the situation requires.”
With this new grant, Yu hopes to prove that a specific enzyme is key to producing lymphatic vessels. If correct, this hypothesis could lead to a therapy that inhibits the enzyme and suppresses the creation of these vessels when they might be detrimental. Another potential drug would have the opposite effect by promoting vessel production, he said.
OMRF Cardiovascular Biology Program chair Lijun Xia, M.D., Ph.D., said Yu’s grant represents a critical step toward manipulating the lymphatic system for human health benefits. “Lymphatic vessels influence the health of several organs, but we lack a deep understanding of how they work,” Xia said. “This research could be a major advancement in that effort.”
Yu’s grant, 1R01HL162985-01, is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a part of the NIH.

Story and photo Van Mitchell, Contributing Writer

An estimated 20 million Americans are living with chronic pain due to neuropathy

At Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic located at 3705 NW 63rd Street, Suite 101 in Oklahoma City, they help Oklahomans renew their quality of life through proven nerve pain treatments that provide safe and effective relief.
Clinic hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
“At Nerve Renewal, we are on a mission to help Oklahomans renew their quality of life through established nerve pain treatments that provide safe and effective relief,” said Tim Bales, owner of Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic. “Our prominent clients are seniors. They have some sort of pain, mainly neuropathy, and they are looking for some kind of relief from that pain or more feeling in their extremities.”
Peripheral Neuropathy is a disorder of the peripheral nerves, which connect the spinal cord to the muscles, skin, and internal organs in our bodies.
Neuropathy usually affects the hands and feet, and causes weakness, numbness, tingling and pain.
Patients may also report burning sensations, leg cramps, loss of balance, muscle weakness, and sensitivity to touch.
Neuropathy may come and go, progress over time, or even become severe and debilitating. Left untreated, it can lead to the loss of fingers, toes, and even limbs.
Each year, over 86,000 Americans undergo amputations as a result of uncontrolled neuropathy. However, if diagnosed early, peripheral neuropathy can often be treated.
Bales said while there is no cure for neuropathy, over 80 percent of patients report a significant reduction in pain after treatments. They can also enjoy better sleep due to reduced pain and recover more quickly from knee and hip surgery.
“Rather than masking your pain with medication, that can cause very undesirable side effects, as well as creating a long-term dependence on them, our staff of medical professionals will address the symptoms of neuropathy at the source with a non-invasive, drug-free form of therapy that combines injections of pharmaceutical-grade nutrient blend with electroanalgesia to provide relief from your symptoms,” he said. “Usually, treatments take between 16 and 24 treatments. Those vitamin injections really help the healing.”
Neuropathy has many different causes. The most common metabolic cause are patients with diabetes. Nearly 60 percent of all patients with diabetes develop neuropathy. This can commonly present as pain, numbness, swelling, burning, tingling, sleepless nights, balance issues.
Other causes of neuropathy include: chemotherapy, alcoholism, drugs/prescription medications; battlefield toxins, industrial toxins, vitamin deficiencies, acute physical trauma, and post-surgical pain.
Traditional neuropathy treatments, such as surgery and strong pain medications, can have a severe impact on patients’ long-term health.
Bales said Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic takes a different approach, using established Electroanalgesia (EA) treatments to reduce pain without the drawbacks of invasive procedures or addictive medications.
EA works by delivering exact dosages of electrical stimulation to peripheral nerves. These high frequencies can decrease the ability of the affected nerves to transmit pain, which brings relief and healing. There is no opioid drowsiness, addiction concerns, or side effects.
“This non-evasive, drug-free form of technology is one of the oldest and most documented forms of medical science,” said Glenn Cope, Chief Operating Officer with Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic. “Patients don’t feel trapped by pain. They are able to move and get exercise, leading to healthier outcomes for all other medical treatments.”
Cope said controlled research studies have shown that most patients find long-term relief from neuropathy after receiving Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic’s specific treatment.
Bales said once the initial treatment is completed, patients then return every two weeks for follow-up care.
“Once you get to that threshold, there is maintenance,” he said. “You come back every two weeks, and it (helps) keep you where you are.”
Bales said their customers have requested adding Friday openings to their clinic hours, and he said that is something they are considering.
Cope said they are opening several other Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinics throughout the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
“They (patients) aren’t crazy about driving a long way so we are building additional locations so it will be easier for them to get to places in town closer to them,” Cope said. “We are doing southwest Oklahoma City, just south of Oklahoma City Community College, Midwest City and Norman.”
Bales said the treatments are covered by most insurances.
“These established treatments are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and most medical insurance companies, so you can focus on enjoying life again,” he said.
For more information about Nerve Renewal Neuropathy Clinic call (405) 495-9270 or visit www.nerverenewalnow.com.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain. If you ask Joyce Clark about her life’s purpose, she lights up with enthusiasm and gratitude for a career well spent. Until recently, Clark was the CEO and owner of Achievis Senior Living Associates. She has been a trailblazer in Oklahoma’s senior living sector. Clark developed and opened six assisted and memory care communities in the state. All of them have thrived and made significant profits for their owners. “Most importantly,” said Clark, “each of the homes have blessed people with great care, helping hand services, and rewarding jobs.” During the past 26 years, Joyce has traveled the nation assisting long-term care providers with strategic planning, feasibility analysis, marketing, budgeting, and other consulting. “If I should die today, I would go knowing my work improved the lives of thousands of people,” said Clark.
Last year Joyce left her company behind and took the reins at Saint Ann Retirement Center. She is the Executive Director of the independent and assisted living campus and its attached convent. It is the perfect spot for someone who has spent two decades guiding senior living owners and operators to success. “I have always admired Saint Ann Retirement Center and viewed it as a premiere option for assisted and independent living,” said Clark. “It is the most fun and friendly place I have ever been.”
Saint Ann Retirement Center is a ministry of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Catholics love Saint Ann for its daily Mass and related amenities but people of all faiths are welcome and happy with the center’s many attractions. Amenities include savory meals, 24-hour concierge, paid utilities, free wifi and basic cable television, chauffer rides to appointments and shopping, full-time Chaplin, and more. Life enrichment calendars are packed with things to do ranging from art, choir, parties, interesting speakers, and games to concerts, dancing, and exercise classes. Additional levels of care were just added to the assisted living service menu. Around the clock staff are available there to assist with personal care and medication administration.
“People often tell us they are surprised Saint Ann does not charge an expensive buy-in fee to live here,” said Clark. “Residents pay a simple all-inclusive monthly rent.” “It’s affordable and only a month-to-month commitment.”
This year is Saint Ann’s 20th anniversary, which has been celebrated with a fair, talent showcase, volleyball tournament and luau, big band dance, reception, and an anniversary Mass with Archbishop Coakley and Archbishop Beltran. On November 12, Saint Ann is planning a craft show and Fall festival for residents and the public.
Saint Ann’s location on Britton Road between Rockwell and Council appeals to people from all regions of the state. A nursing home with the same name is conveniently located next door but is not owned or operated by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
Joyce Clark added: “I have dedicated my professional life to creating facilities that focus on the well-being of their residents, families, and employees.” “Saint Ann Retirement Center exemplifies that philosophy and I am so fortunate to be a part of this exceptional ministry.”
For more information about Saint Ann Retirement Center, visit https://www.saintannretirementcenter.com/

Story and photos by Darl Devault, Contributing Editor

Fifty years ago, John Carpenter, 67, was attending his last year of high school and most major rock’n’roll concerts available in Oklahoma as an immense fan of live performances, going on to attend more than 1,000.
From Midwest City High School, he went on to Oscar Rose Junior College on a wrestling scholarship. He continued attending many major concerts at the zenith of what many consider the most productive era of rock’n’roll music.
Soon arena shows and music videos changed the way young people were entertained, as live performances were enhanced with showmanship.
For Carpenter, it was about the music. Those five years, 1970-1975, were some of the most iconic in rock’n’roll history, including the release of the most famous song ever recorded in the rock’n’roll genre, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” selling 37 million copies since 1971.
In 1970 Carpenter bought his first copy of “Rolling Stone Magazine” as a MCHS sophomore. “It had articles about Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones that gave me a window to a world that I was missing, and I loved it,” Carpenter said. “I sent my money off for a year’s subscription, which cost $8, and I soon learned about all these new artists and groups, including one from California, the Grateful Dead.”
Not that he’s competitive about it, but local music historians could easily describe Carpenter’s status as one of the most dedicated rock’n’roll fans of the last 50 years. He has averaged 20 (yes, 20) concerts a year. Married in 1979, he and his wife Jo often attend shows together.
The list of the concerts he has witnessed is so long it is easier to list the four that got away. He missed seeing Jimi Hendrix in May of 1970 because he was 15 and could not find a ride to Norman that Friday night. He missed the first two Led Zeppelin concerts because of no car and no ride and says he is still puzzled about how he missed seeing Led Zeppelin in 1977.
And then there were Oklahoma State Fairgrounds Arena concerts that came with a bonus, like first seeing the Eagles in 1972 as an opening. “I recognized the song they were performing as a new hit on the radio, “Take It Easy!” The single had been out a little over a month,” Carpenter said in a recent interview. “I watched the “new group” in action. I think it was Don Henley who was wearing an OU football jersey. I was just over two weeks out of high school, but I could tell these guys were really good. Their 50-minute set ended way too fast for us before British sensation Jethro Tull took the stage.”
Carpenter can relive that special night through the magic of YouTube. “Someone in the crowd taped the Eagles’ portion of the concert that night and recently posted it on YouTube,” Carpenter said. “Listening to it 50 years later, it is like I am back at the beginning of all that major concert going.”
He made the trip to a Rolling Stones concert on June 24th in Ft. Worth, where he saw his favorite group on their Rolling Stones American Tour 1972, which also included Canada. He says he could get tickets only because that tour was so successful the Stones added a second show.
But in Oklahoma City, later in 1972, he became a diehard fan of his favorite all-time supergroup. “The Grateful Dead were to play at the Civic Center, probably the best acoustics in Oklahoma,” Carpenter said. “When a second concert was added for November 15th, we got outstanding tickets near the front of the concert hall.”
His third world-class concert of the year swept him away. “The Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia took the stage without fanfare, and we were off. They played two long sets that night, with the standout for me being the almost half-hour jam on their classic “Playing in the Band,” Carpenter said. “During that show, with such great acoustics, I became a Deadhead for life.”
Hundreds of concerts, hundreds of artists later, in 2022, Carpenter still thinks about the Grateful Dead, especially since he saw them play at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds Arena again almost a year after that eventful night. “As the years went by, I continued to follow the Grateful Dead and watched them become an icon in American popular culture,” Carpenter said.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology at Oklahoma State University and became a distinguished Probation and Parole officer. He capped his 24-year career as the Sentencing Guideline Specialist for the Western District of Oklahoma. He has been retirement privileged since 2011 and has become a well-known yoga and spin teacher in the Oklahoma City area.
Today he will share with you all the complications of modern ticketing where you can think that you’re buying a ticket at one price only to find that the price is two or three times higher when it’s time to pay. Still, the genuinely dedicated will put up with that because, as Carpenter will tell you, nothing beats hearing the live performance version of talented artists’ songs.
When he thinks about what keepsake is his favorite from all those concerts, he thinks about Garcia. Never one to follow the band from city to city as some fans did, he says he is devoted. “Although he died in 1995 of a heart attack, their records and music continue to sell,” Carpenter said. “Jerry (Garcia) remains as popular as ever and is even revered by younger generations of music fans who never had the privilege as I did of seeing him in concert. I am grateful to rock’n’roll music to have experienced this phenomenon myself.”
Speaking with Carpenter about Oklahoma being the crossroads of America and touring musicians, he not only gives you answers but opens your eyes to more questions, more ideas, more perspectives and more wonder about Oklahoma’s place in rock’n’roll history. When you hear Carpenter speak with a high school friend his age, another strong concertgoer, Barbie Garrison, you realize his nearly encyclopedic knowledge of rock’n’roll history.
“My Facebook friends asked me about specific artists I have seen, so I wrote narratives about what was going on in my life when I went to specific concerts and what kind of performance it was,” Carpenter said. “This recent writing has sparked my realization of how profoundly concert going has affected my life.”
“Concert going helped me create a whole different circle of friends and provided at times a much-needed release from the stress of being a college athlete and on throughout my life working with offenders on parole or probation,” Carpenter said. “Being a fresh diversion each time, many concerts were so startlingly creative, with high-quality musicians and their voices and their harmonizing and the brilliance of their words and poems set to music. Rock and Roll music will never die.”

Story and photos by Van Mitchell, contributing writer

“A Night for the Museum” fundraiser featuring live and silent auctions and entertainment, will be held Thursday, Oct. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the State Capital Publishing Museum, located at 301 West Harrison in Guthrie.
Proceeds from the event will go towards restoration efforts of the historic building that was built in 1902 and served as home to Oklahoma’s first newspaper.
The fundraiser will include Hors d’oeuvres, music by Justin Echols, Auctioneer Barrett Bray, and keynote speakers Dr. Bob Blackburn and Trait Thompson, the former and current Executive Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS).
Reserve tickets can be purchased by visiting www.publishingmuseum.org
“We are going to have some really cool auction items including a photo safari trip to South Africa,” said Lynn Bilodeau, CEO of Guthrie Tomorrow Coalition, Inc., dba/State Capital Publishing Museum, which was created to acquire, restore, renovate, preserve, maintain, and recognize the historical significance of the building. “My wife Sherri and I took that trip in 2017, and it really is a trip of a lifetime. There will also be a lot of raffle items as well.”
Bilodeau hopes to exceed the $93,000 raised from their 2021 museum fundraiser, and said the fundraiser will be an opportunity to show off some of their restoration efforts.
“We are going to be able to show off four of the windows on the first floor that will be fully restored,” he said. “We wanted to show off some progress.”
The State Capital Publishing Museum building is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was here on Nov. 16, 1907, that President Theodore Roosevelt sent a teletype message congratulating Oklahoma Indian Territory for becoming the 46th state in the Union.
“Not only is this building the tangible representation of Oklahoma’s early history, it also represents a time when our forebears built for beauty and for the ages,” Trait Thompson said in a press release. “Nobody builds like this anymore because it is too expensive and time consuming. This building is worth preserving because once it’s gone, we will never see anything like it again.”
The building was constructed in 1902 from a design by Belgian architect Joseph Foucart, the first professional architect in Oklahoma Territory.
The building “is more than bricks and mortar,” Bob Blackburn said in a press release.
“It’s an example of important pre-statehood architecture, and the site where so much Oklahoma Territory history was documented,” he said.
The building was the home of the turn-of-the-20th-century State Capital newspaper and was a museum for years until it fell into disrepair.
In 2012 the building’s boiler broke down and was deemed irreparable, and the museum closed.
Bilodeau said after some shifting in state government, the State of Oklahoma almost forced OHS to sell the building to a developer with plans to convert the building into affordable senior housing by using low-income housing tax credits.
Fearing that much of the rich history of the building would be lost forever, concerned citizens from all over the state of Oklahoma began a concerted effort to stop the conversion.
A coalition of private citizens, City Council, the Guthrie Chamber of Commerce and others successfully negotiated a deal which allowed the current owner (/dba The State Capital Publishing Museum) to take title to the property, along with the historical contents, on June 27, 2018 from the OHS.
As part of that deal, The State Capital Publishing Museum has committed to spend (in dollars or fair-market labor) a minimum of $262,000 towards repairing, preserving and restoring the building by June 27, 2023. This amount was agreed upon based on two assessments of the building’s current worth.
Bilodeau said the State Capital Publishing Museum Board outlined a plan of action to assist with execution of restoration and renovation of the building, which is estimated to cost $10 million.
“We want to do modern HVAC in the building,” he said. “We want it to be a four-season facility. We want an external elevator on the first floor on the west side of the building that would access all of the floors, and we would be ADA compliant. It will also serve as a fire escape.”
Bilodeau said they hope to renovate some of the building’s upper floors into office/meeting space.
“We would also be able to rent it out to offset the maintenance of the building,” he said. “We are going to have to find other sources of fundraising besides a fundraiser.”
Bilodeau said he wants the museum restored so future generations can learn about its place in Oklahoma history.
“We want to have at least one field trip during the school year,” he said. “They can see what their ancestors had to do to get something into print.”
Bilodeau and his wife Sherri have become very involved in their Guthrie community, and are both involved with the museum fundraising efforts.
“Sherri and I live next door to that building,” he said. “Our house and that building were built at the exact same time. I feel a kinship to the building because of that.”
For more information about the State Capital Publishing Museum call (405) 282-4123.