Story and photos by Darl DeVault

Recent retiree Rob Walker, 64, wants to share the concept that social distancing is an automatic added benefit of learning to kayak while exploring Oklahoma’s many places to get on the water. He explains that the flow of any river, the currents and the variations in any lake enforces social distancing. >From this, he insists seniors who take up the sport of kayaking are assured a COVID-19 safe recreational outing.
“Social distancing comes with the territory when you’re kayaking because you cannot get that close to each other without intending to get close to each other,” Edmond resident Walker said. “And certainly, if you are on one of Oklahoma’s rivers the current is such a variable that you have to consciously work to get within social distance of someone, making it safe to have a wonderful outing on the water.”
Oklahoma’s 1,231 square miles of water provide new senior paddle sport enthusiasts with plenty of safe opportunities for recreation. Paddle sport insiders say our state’s 78,603 miles of rivers entice senior kayakers to become outdoor enthusiasts.
Although magazine and television ads often portray sea and whitewater kayaking, Oklahoma has none of the former and little of the latter. Flatwater kayaking (also called recreational kayaking) with wide, lightweight plastic touring boats, dominates in Oklahoma.
A new generation of these wider, inexpensive flatwater kayaks with dynamic control and lightweight construction is fueling a paddle sport explosion. With the control and balance provided by these smaller, wider boats, many seniors have been enticed to try the sport.
With the COVID-19 pandemic requiring people to be six feet away from each other even in a recreational setting, safety on the water is now a plus. The need for social distancing means that for seniors kayaking is one of the safest forms of exercise.
Overall safety is also determined by other things that go on each day like the weather and the river flow rate seniors might be on or the conditions in a lake.
“I advise anyone planning to kayak or canoe to first go online to the many web sites detailing flow conditions and weather predictions,” said Larry Floyd, Surrey Hill outdoorsman and hiking book author. “With the demand placed on our rivers by the large number of paddlers in Oklahoma many organizations help us float safe by monitoring flow rates and weather conditions.”
This kayak boom is accompanied by growing scientific analysis of river conditions that make the sport safer than ever. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service data is presented and interpreted on numerous Web sites that give the paddler plenty of information to plan a safe trip. A link to the main site is: https://water.weather.gov/ahps/ The weather service provides this info to help promote its weather awareness activities.
Walker says fellow seniors who bicycle catch on to the effortless balance and the instant feedback provided by the new generation wider kayaks. He says many comment on how similar the two feelings are and yet one can relax more in a kayak when choosing to drift along with the river to admire the scenery.
The 60-mile section of the Illinois River near Tahlequah, where it flows nearly due west for its first 15 miles in Oklahoma until it joins Flint Creek, is a slow-moving place to relax according to Walker. He said you will find people in rubber rafts, canoes and kayaks traversing the river all summer. There the river ranges from 40 to 80 feet in width, with elms, maples, and oaks on the riverbank.
Recent technology has upgraded the quality and lowered the price of boats available to the recreational kayaker, while providing great kayaking opportunities for those of all ages, shapes, abilities, and fitness levels. As newcomers to the sport, many seniors enjoy the stability and ease of boarding these wider recreational boats.
Seniors can easily find out if they enjoy kayaking by renting one for a few hours. Flat Tide Paddleboard Rentals puts you on the water in kayaks and paddleboards at the northeast corner of Lake Overholser near the Route 66 Bridge on the weekends. Nearby RIVERSPORT at Overholser also rents all paddle sport recreational craft.
Seniors can use their kayaks on local lakes, ponds, rivers, or Class II streams. Most kayaks have a variety of uses such as weekend, full week, or longer self-supported river trips.
Many seniors are attracted to these new generation boats ranging from sit-on-tops to open-cockpit tandems. The closed-cockpit singles seen on Oklahoma lakes and rivers are generally shorter and wider (27-30 inches) than the standard expedition-style (20-25 inches). This makes them easy to maneuver and more stable. This feeling of being in control while gliding effortlessly through the water provides even the newbie senior the confidence to take a spin on flat water.
Some of these wider for seniors kayaks can be seen online at this link: https://kayakmanual.com/best-kayaks-for-senior-citizens/
Other seniors are buying kayaks for fishing platforms, with many seen seriously fishing from a kayak on Oklahoma water. “Fishing is one of the strongest segments of all of kayaking,” Floyd said. “Recreational kayak fishing is huge in Oklahoma with many different types and styles of fishing kayaks – whether you want sit on top or sit in the kayak.”
With all the major boat builders offering Web sites with tours of their products, one can comparison shop like never before. Shoppers should review the weight and features of many boats before purchasing. Again, stressing safety, everyone should wear a PFD (personal floatation device or lifejacket) on the water.
The Oklahoma River in downtown Oklahoma City is a boon to recreational kayaking. Organizers have created RIVERSPORT at the Chesapeake Boathouse to rent equipment and provide instruction to paddlers interested in kayaking and a wide variety of paddle sports such as stand up paddle boarding, whitewater kayaking and dragon boating.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenge to everyone. For many, the boredom and loneliness of staying home, away from family, friends and co-workers, has been the worst part. The members of the Edmond Quilt Guild have seen it as an opportunity to help their community.
Judy Elliott, EQG’s president, first received a request for cloth masks from a local hospital on March 20th. In early April, EQG board members shared instructions for face masks on the Guild’s website and spread an appeal via social media and emails to their members. By April 6th, they produced and distributed 266 masks to 6 different groups. By April 13, 1462 masks had been donated to 15 organizations. On May 3rd, the total was 2895. On May 17th, the count was up to 4225.
EQG has donated face masks to 22 organizations – mostly in Oklahoma but as far away as Texas and New York. They were donated to hospitals – OK Heart, OU, Mercy, St Anthony’s, and VA. They went to Edmond Fire and Police departments and Edmond Public Schools. Some masks went to churches, doctors’ offices, home health agencies, a Masonic Lodge, nursing homes, and the OKC Zoo Primate House.
Donated masks worn by staff at Bradford Village.
The masks were made by 66 members and 9 non-members. One member commented that making masks was like eating peanuts – Once you start, it’s hard to stop. Many noted that they had plenty of time and fabric and were happy to contribute both to the effort.
For more information about EQG and their community efforts – please see http://www.edmondquiltguild.us/

Dear Savvy Senior, All this horrible coronavirus carnage got me thinking about my own end-of-life decisions if I were to get sick. Can you recommend some good resources that can help me create a living will or advance directive, or other pertinent documents? I’ve put it off long enough. Almost 70

Dear Almost,
Creating a living will (also known as an advance directive) is one of those things most people plan to do, but rarely get around to actually doing. Only about one-third of Americans currently have one. But the cold hard reality of the novel coronavirus may be changing that. Here’s what you should know along with some resources to help you create an advance directive.
Advance Directives
To adequately spell out your wishes regarding your end-of-life medical treatment are two key documents: A “living will” which tells your doctor what kind of care you want to receive if you become incapacitated, and a “health care power of attorney” (or health care proxy), which names a person you authorize to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to.
These two documents are known as an “advance directive,” and will only be utilized if you are too ill to make medical decisions yourself. You can also change or update it whenever you please.
It isn’t necessary to hire a lawyer to prepare an advance directive. There are free or low-cost resources available today to help you create one, and it takes only a few minutes from start to finish.
One that I highly recommend that’s completely free to use is My Directives (MyDirectives.com). This is an online tool and mobile app that will help you create, store and share a detailed, customized digital advance directive. Their easy-to-use platform combines eight thoughtful questions to guide you through the process. If you’re not computer savvy, ask a family member or trusted friend to help you.
The advantage of having a digital advance directive versus a paper document is being able to access it quickly and easily via smartphone, which is crucial in emergency situations when they’re most often needed.
If, however, you’d rather have a paper document, one of the best do-it-yourself options is the Five Wishes advance directive (they offer online forms too). Created by Aging with Dignity, a nonprofit advocacy organization, Five Wishes costs $5, and is available in many languages. To learn more or to receive a copy, visit FiveWishes.org or call 850-681-2010.
Another tool you should know about that will compliment your advance directive is the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or POLST (sometimes called Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, or MOLST). A POLST form translates your end-of-life wishes into medical orders to be honored by your doctors. To learn more about your state’s program or set one up, see POLST.org.
Readers should also know that if you’ve already prepared an advanced directive paper document, a POLST form or the VA advance directive form 10-0137, you can upload, store and share these documents too at MyDirectives.com.
And finally, to ensure your final wishes are followed, make sure to tell your family members, health care proxy and doctors. If you make a digital advance directive or have uploaded your existing forms, you can easily share them electronically to everyone involved. Or, if you make a paper advance directive that isn’t uploaded, you should provide everyone copies to help prevent stress and arguments later.
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.

Diane Martinez is the picture of a resilient journey through difficulties to success. As a Creek Indian and member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, her traditions are very important to her. She attends the Weoguf-kee (Muddy Waters) Ceremonial Grounds in Hanna, Oklahoma. Diane has learned some of her native Mvskoke language through classes at the College of the Muscogee Nation and tries to teach her grandchildren. She has survived many challenges and found a place where she can thrive. As a participant in the National Indian Council on Aging’s Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), Diane now works 20 – 30 hours per week to supplement her company retirement income. She has found a place with NICOA SCSEP to grow and learn additional employment skills.
Life was not always rosy for Diane. In 2014 at the age of 57, Diane resigned from her job. As time drifted forward, she felt more and more useless. The lumbering days lacked purpose. Being without a regular wage, she felt aimless and soon struggled financially. What seemed like a good idea, soon began to impact Diane’s goals and dreams. Emotionally, the lack of purpose and financial security was taking a toll on her wellbeing.
Diane states went through a period of being homeless and living in a shelter. She felt depressed and without hope. About this period, she states, “I knew and believed there was no hope for me.” She declares that she felt like meaningful employment was beyond her – “having gray hair and no teeth and being an older person.”
Working three different jobs over a four-year period and trying to live on a small pension, as well as income from baking goods and making jewelry, Diane moved to different places and stayed with different people. She lived with many relatives, but she kept a desire to have a stable income and to get into her own place. Diane suffers with back problems and arthritis. So, doing the physical work of the past was not very conducive to good bodily or mental health. Her decision to resign from a job she performed for 27 years was turning into a terribly difficult journey.
In 2019 Diane heard about the SCSEP program through a friend who was in the program in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Her decision to apply for SCSEP has led her to definite changes. “When I called NICOA to see what they were all about I had no clue. I now know that NICOA SCSEP helps me to plan, have guidance, set goals, and believe in myself.” Working in the NICOA Central Region office as a receptionist trainee, Diane is gaining valuable skills that impact her opportunities for future unsubsidized employment.
“I am still able to work, and now I am becoming independent with more knowledge and wisdom. Through this program, I learned to be mindful and to help others like I was helped.” Through the SCSEP on-the-job training Diane states that she has “been spared and given an opportunity.” As a result of her own hard work, she has gained what she so often desired in her heart, a home and the skills to take care of herself financially, physically, and mentally. “I am grateful, and I appreciate this program.”
Diane’s goals and interests for her future include both employment and traditional aspirations. She has in mind to return to work fulltime in a clerical position. She wants to work five to ten more years and to continue to be independent. Diane hopes to stay connected to family, being surrounded by her grandkids. As important as these goals are, she hopes equally to continue to be connected to her Mvskoke-Muscogee culture through language learning, dances and traditional ceremonies. To her this will be a sound life and a demonstration to her family of how to age well as an elder. NICOA SCSEP is contributing as a valuable resource along this part of her journey.

story and photo by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

The movie theatre industry has been around for more than a century. And as the newest technology drives multiplex theatres and viewing experiences, Winchester Drive-In in Oklahoma CIty still delivers movies the way many of us grew up watching them.
There are some 305 drive-in theatres remaining in the U.S., according to the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association.
Oklahoma has five.
Oklahoma City has one – the Winchester.
At the industry’s peak in 1958, there were 4,063 drive-in screens across the country. These days, California is one of the biggest players in the space, with 44 screens; only Pennsylvania (45) and New York (49) have more.
As May turned to June, the Winchester was showing one movie a day – Jurassic Park.
The story of a pragmatic paleontologist visiting an almost complete theme park debuted in 1993 but that didn’t seem to matter to those in attendance.
The Winchester Drive-In opened on July 3, 1968 with a triple bill program: Paul Newman in “Harry Frigg”, George Peppard in “PJ” & Lee Marvin in “Sergeant Ryker”.
Owner Lindy Shanbour was there to greet those first customers as he would do almost every night until he started having health problems.
He was able to hold on until the 50th anniversary season before he passed at age 91 as the season closed in November.
Today, the 53-foot waving, neon cowboy complete with mustache and rifle still greets customers as they drive up to the theatre
And manager Jeff Massad wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s a generational thing at this point. It opened July 3, 1968 so a lot of people were seven, eight or nine years-old and they’re bringing their grandkids now wanting them to enjoy what they loved when they were kids,” Massad said.
Back then customers hung a speaker on their car window to pipe in the sound. Today, moviegoers tune in to a Dolby digital channel on their car radio.
“It’s come a long way but it’s still nostalgic,” he said.
For the short term, Hollywood has told theatres not to expect any new releases until social distancing guidelines begin to ease.
But Winchester patrons are just happy to be out of the house and parked in front of the big screen on a weekend evening in south OKC.
June or July are anticipated for new releases but Massad is showing classic movies.
On a given night it takes about 20 people to staff the venerable drive-in.
He said he couldn’t imagine not having the theatre open.
Once Shanbour passed, the theatre remained in the family’s trust. As the trustee, Massad felt keeping the theatre going was just the right thing to do.
“There was no question,” Massad said. “I loved those guys. My dad died when I was young so they have kind of been father figures to me – first George, then Lindy.”
Growing up in the Lebanese community, Massad said the Shanbours were always there for him. And they were always there for the southside moviegoers.
It was indeed a labor of love.
“It’s a lot of work to get it ready,” Massad said. “We shut down typically in October or November. When it gets really cold and nasty weather people don’t want to sit outside and watch a movie.”
Opening generally occurs at the end of March or the first of April.
Covid 19 restrictions on gatherings pushed that until May this year.
Two weeks in May were spent repairing the neon sign. A typical Oklahoma spring night blew out much of the hard work.
“Traffic the first weekend was fantastic,” said Massad, noting only every other car spot in the 400-plus car lot is in use due to social distancing guidelines.
Massad says typical customers include those who live around the area. The second group is a devoted fan base that has always come regardless of where they call home.
“That’s a big group. We have about 50,000 fans on Facebook which is pretty amazing,” he said. “Our responses have been pretty fantastic.”
Drive-in theatres across the country are experiencing a resurgence.
“For me, being around the Shanbours for 30-years plus and helping, I just feel like I’m helping carry on their legacy they loved so much. It was something they adored, cared about and treated like their baby and I just felt like I wanted to help them continue that.”

Story by Darl DeVault

Oklahoma and the nation lost one of its best leaders March 28, with the passing of Dr. Tom Coburn (R), former U.S. representative (1995-2001) and senator (2005-2015) from Oklahoma at 72. With the nation locked down and absorbed with the COVID-19 crisis, not near enough has been said and written to commemorate this fiscal conservative leader’s passing.
A medical doctor for decades before heading to Congress, Coburn probably would have offered some good insight into our current pandemic. His office blistered the Center for Disease Control in a 2007 report, which highlighted lavish spending by the CDC and a lack of accountability for its core mission of controlling disease. That report is still available as a PDF at this link: https://www.menshealthnetwork.org/library/CDCoffcenter.pdf.
The CDC was just one of the many government agencies and programs to draw fire from this taxpayers’ watchdog. But Coburn spent his final years on another project that many Oklahomans are unaware of —working to get the required 34 states to petition Congress for an Article V amendments convention to propose needed changes to the U.S. Constitution.
Related to this project, I had the privilege to meet “Doctor Coburn” (his preferred title rather than “Senator”) at his home in Tulsa in 2018. As a volunteer, I drove with a friend to deliver several hundred copies of his final book, Smashing the DC Monopoly. He autographed them for our mailing and delivery to state legislators who had not passed the petition for the convention in numerous states. He was generous with his time to autograph the books and to distribute the books free of charge to those state leaders around the country. It was an in-depth way for him to advocate for action.
The Constitution provides for amendments by delegates at a convention of states once the necessary 34 states have petitioned Congress. Currently, 15 state legislatures (including Oklahoma) have passed resolutions for this petition.
Coburn’s book on diffusing the centralized power of Washington politicians dovetailed with his final efforts as Senior Advisor for the Convention of States Project. The project was started by Citizens for Self Governance to push for an Article V convention of states to restrict federal power. Article V is a little known and never used provision in the Constitution that allows the states to make amendments to it. It takes 38 states to ratify any amendments that are proposed.
I was struck by how much the Tom Coburn I met in person was so much like the leader we saw in the media for 20 years or more. No pretentions or airs from Dr. Coburn; what you saw was what you got — whether speaking to the U.S. Senate or one-on-one with a first-time visitor to his home.
My foreign-made SUV caught his eye. He immediately put me at ease with small talk about my car choice. He talked about how imports have become so ubiquitous in America. He remarked that it was ironic that we were working together to help America while I was showing up in a Korean-made car.
On a later visit delivering more books to his home, I had the pleasure of meeting his wife, Carolyn. Her friendly manner matched her husband’s ability to put a guest at ease. Most Oklahomans have forgotten that Carolyn was Miss Oklahoma for 1967, just the year before she married her former high school sweetheart from Muskogee.
I was at our state capitol the day the resolution passed to create a petition for the amendments convention in the Oklahoma state legislature. Seeing our state leaders get involved motivated me to help support the distribution of the last book Coburn wrote.
The petitions for the convention include wording to limit spending by Congress, but also language for term limits on House and Senate members. Coburn had fought hard in his first House term to have this term-limit amendment proposed by Congress. He said he soon learned that most members of Congress prefer staying in power as long as possible and are unsupportive of this limiting legislation.
By 2014 Coburn had determined that Congress was too broken by career politicians and partisan politics to limit the out-of-control spending, overreach, and dysfunction in the federal government. He likened his attempts in the House and Senate to stop wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars to “pushing boulders up ice floes.” His frustration with the political system led to his resignation from the Senate in 2015, he said, more than his battle with cancer.
So along with battling cancer the last five years of his life, Coburn continued to fight against business-as-usual DC politics by promoting an Article V amendments convention of states. He said it was the only way—and he of all people would know.
I was fortunate to interact with him in his new role as citizen Tom Coburn. He spoke out, telling fellow citizens and politicians that he supported the Convention of States movement. He was still at work to try to fix our government so that it returned to an exoteric endeavor serving everyone, rather than an esoteric situation where elected representatives serve themselves.
Watching an online video of former Senator Coburn speaking last year at a Convention of States Action meeting he looked thinner. He appeared frailer than when I had met him, but he spoke clearly and powerfully about the continued need for an amendments convention of states. From his appearance, it was apparent he would not be with us much longer. But he was still battling for what he believed in at that meeting—just as he always had.
The book’s subtitle sums it up for Coburn: USING ARTICLE V to RESTORE FREEDOM and STOP RUNAWAY GOVERNMENT.

Coburn discusses the book in a short YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVGZ4Btdo-Q. It is for sale at Barnes & Noble and you can borrow it as an E-Book from the University of Oklahoma Libraries.

Gerald Jaquith lived a frugal, unassuming life. A math teacher who’d retired from Ringwood High School, he was still driving the Ford truck he’d bought in 1986 when he died last summer in an accident on his Waynoka farm at the age of 78.
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation officials were recently surprised to learn that Jaquith, who’d given OMRF approximately $7,500 over a period of 33 years, had made the Oklahoma City nonprofit the sole beneficiary of his estate. They were stunned when they discovered the estate totaled more than $2 million in assets.
Jaquith never told John Meinders, his long-time attorney, why he chose OMRF as his beneficiary, but the Woodward lawyer suspects it stems from his client’s loss of his brother and parents to heart disease.
“Gerald was a man with vision and a strict set of values. He always wanted to help other people,” said Meinders.
Jaquith grew up in rural Woods County, on land that his family settled around the time of the Land Run. Jaquith helpied his father tend nearly 1,000 acres of land, where the family grew wheat and raised cattle.
After college, Jaquith made his way to Texas and New Mexico, teaching high school math in both places. But when his father and brother passed away, he returned to western Oklahoma in 1984 to help his mother run the farm.
Jaquith continued teaching math in the Shattuck and Ringwood schools, encouraging his charges to head to college and expand their horizons, much as he had.
Mark Dickinson, a friend who helped Jaquith tend his farm for many years, described Jaquith as “a good-natured, everyday kind of person, the type of guy who would stop to help someone broken down on the side of the road.”
Dickinson said he wasn’t surprised when he learned his friend had left his estate to charity. “He was kind-hearted about everything he did.”
After Jaquith’s passing, OMRF Senior Director of Development Sonny Wilkinson visited Jaquith’s farm.
There, Wilkinson found the remains of a life lived simply and frugally: Tinkerbell, the dwarf cow with a crippled leg Jaquith had chosen to keep as a pet; a cache of family photos; a collection of farm equipment he used to tend the land that had been in his family for generations.
Atop a stack of documents and a neatly folded pair of new overalls on the kitchen table, Wilkinson also discovered a copy of OMRF’s 2015 annual report.
Meinders sold Jaquith’s farm to a neighbor and is still in the process of liquidating the remainder of his assets, which also included savings accounts and bonds. When the process is complete, Meinders estimates OMRF will receive more than $2 million from the estate.
Because Jaquith did not designate the gift to any particular type of research, the donation can be used to fund areas of OMRF research where they’re needed most. OMRF scientists work on projects affecting a wide range of illnesses, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
“We’ll never know exactly why Mr. Jaquith decided to help OMRF, but we’re extremely grateful he did,” said Wilkinson. “I only wish I’d had a chance to meet him and to say thank you.”

by Nick Thomas

If you don’t think Jimmy Stewart put the classic in ‘classic movies,’ consider these titles in which he starred: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo,” “Harvey,” and the list goes on. No wonder Stewart appears near the top of just about every list of all-time most popular classic film actors.
With such a resume, it’s hard to imagine the man didn’t develop an ego the size of the famous Hollywood Sign on Mount Lee in the Santa Monica Mountains. But according to his daughter, Kelly, the respectable, unpretentious, all-American guy he often portrayed on film was also the real Jimmy Stewart.
Married to his beloved Gloria for 45 years, the Stewarts had two sons (one killed in Vietnam) and twin daughters. Like her siblings, Kelly never took up acting (she became an anthropologist).
“The life of an actor didn’t really look like that much fun to me,” she said. “We went to dad’s set a couple of times (and) it looked very tedious to me – short takes, just a few minutes long, after which people come rushing up to you, touching up make-up and hair, hovering and fussing and looking. I remember thinking, I could never do this.”
Growing up, Kelly recalls her father preparing for roles at home.
“Dad sat in a big comfy armchair that had a matching footrest and no one else ever sat in that chair when (he) was home! When he was working on a movie, he would sit with the script in his hands and his lips moving saying his lines to himself. He never said anything out loud. I have that image of him burned into my mind. We never read any of the lines with him. Except for that, he rarely brought his work home with him.”
His trademark slow drawl, says Kelly, was no act. “He loved to tell stories about his own experiences and he had great timing. He just took a long time to come out with the punch line!”
Although not a traditional father in some ways, she still gives him high praise. “He wasn’t a hands-on dad – he didn’t help us with our homework and I doubt he ever changed a diaper. But he taught by example and just had a very quiet way about him.”
Not surprisingly, Kelly remembers her dad as being gracious with fans.
“I’ve had people come up to me and tell me they wrote him a letter when they were in high school and got a personal response back. He had a secretary helping him, of course, but he signed all the letters. I never saw him say ‘no’ to an autograph seeker, even when there were crowds of people. It was actually a kick to get that glimpse of dad’s fame.”
When Stewart’s wife died in 1994, Kelly remembers him retreating into great despair.
“I think he had just had enough of the world. Dad was the most stubborn person I’ve ever met and was going to do what he wanted – to hunker down inside his beloved home, with his two dogs. At the end, I believe he appreciated his wonderful life and knew he was loved.”
This interview for Father’s Day was condensed and edited from the author’s book “Raised by the Stars.”
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 800 magazines and newspapers.

It seems like every year around this time, a new insect-borne virus comes along. Fortunately, at this time, experts say no data exists to suggest Covid-19 can be transmitted by either mosquitoes or ticks.
“Although highly contagious, Covid-19 does not appear to be spread through blood like some other communicable illnesses,” said Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation immunologist Eliza Chakravarty, M.D. “And it’s the blood-borne transmission that allows insects to transmit diseases like West Nile and Lyme.”
Covid-19 and other coronaviruses like SARS and MERS are spread from person to person through tiny viral droplets, which pass from one person to another through mucus or saliva.
The virus also survives on some surfaces for significant periods, “which means you can infect yourself by touching an object and then putting your hand in your nose, mouth or eyes,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D.
While much still remains unknown about Covid-19, said Prescott, there is no biological reason to suggest transmission through insects is a threat.
“That’s good news, but it’s not a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” said Chakravarty. “Other diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks are still dangerous. They didn’t go away just because Covid-19 is dominating the news cycle.”
In Oklahoma, the most common insect-borne diseases are West Nile virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which ticks pass from animals to humans. The Oklahoma Department of Health also reports that tick-borne Lyme disease may be present in the state.
“Oklahoma has a quite a few insect-borne diseases, and others like dengue and chikungunya could be on the way,” said Prescott. “These can result in serious damage to health, so it’s important we guard against them as temperatures warm and insect populations surge.”
If you’re practicing social distancing by gardening, walking the dog or reading a book on the patio, the best defense is to keep insects off your skin by wearing long sleeves and pants. Limit outdoor activities around dusk and dawn or walking though tall grass, and avoid excess standing water that collects in flower pots, gutters and drains.
Chakravarty also recommends applying an insect repellant that contains DEET.
“And, no, using DEET is not the threat some make it out to be,” said Chakravarty. “The amounts used in regular application pose no proven health issues. The real risk is getting bitten by an infected insect, because one bad bug bite can change your life.”