A special day long seminar will help persons losing their sight or blind and their families and friends. The Heartland Council of the Blind will present the Coping with Vision Loss Seminar on Saturday, August 19, 2017 in Oklahoma City.
Vice President of the Heartland Council of the Blind is Sandi Webster of Oklahoma City who lost her vision in 2002. Sandi said the seminar will provide essential tools and encouragement for persons losing their vision and their families and friends. “These people go through the stages of grief, but there is help,” Sandi said.
A previous seminar participant says she used the provided helps right away. “It was like attending a one stop shop. We met Vision, Mobility and Technology Specialists and were introduced to Support Systems. Break-out sessions are: Advocacy, Training for Family/Friends, Just for Men, Just for Women, Technology, Deaf/Blind Information and Visual Services Information. Cost of $20 for the seminar includes lunch, a Resources Notebook and a CD. Registration forms are available at www.hcbokc.org. Or register by calling Heartland Council of the Blind President Frances Poindexter at 405-642-1068. Registration must be received by Wednesday, August 16th. The seminar will be at the New Hope United Methodist Church at 11600 N. Council Rd., OKC, from 9 AM to 4 PM. Check-in begins at 8:30 AM.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Excitement is buzzing up and down the halls at Village on the Park in Oklahoma City.
The retirement community is atwitter over what is expected to be the blockbuster event of the summer – the wedding of residents Ann Trumbly and Bud Barker.
“He caught me in a weak moment,” the 84-year-old Trumbly smiled when asked what led to the upcoming August ceremony.
Both currently reside in separate cottages at Village on the Park and each lost spouses in the past.
Neither ever dreamed they would remarry.
“We just clicked, we really did,” Barker said. “We weren’t expecting it but it happened.”
The couple’s first official date came last October when a group of Village on the Park travelers went to Royal Bavaria restaurant in Moore to celebrate Octoberfest.
For weeks Barker had been telling Marketing Director Karen Proctor that he planned on “bringing a friend” but declined to say who it was.
“And forever they were just going to be friends,” Proctor said, unfolding the story.
The couple agreed to go out once a week for dinner. One week Trumbly would pay, the next Barker would pick up the check.
“Somewhere along the way they shocked me,” Proctor said. “They’re both educated. They both love music and they both just love talking to each other.”
A few months ago the couple pulled Proctor aside to tell her the big news.
“I just cried and cried and cried,” Proctor said. “I was shocked. They had kept saying over and over it was nice to have a good friend.”
But both agreed it was great to have a best friend again.
EVERYONE’S ABUZZ
“Everybody’s so excited,” Proctor said. “We’ve had residents who have gone and bought dresses – even though it’s going to be super casual.” Everybody feels a part of it because they knew them with their other spouses and were so sad when their spouses passed away.
“It’s been fun to see them have so much fun.”
Cake and punch will be served back at Village on the Park.
“Real simple. That was Ann’s orders,” Proctor said.
She helped the bride-to-be shop for a wedding dress – all without ever leaving Village on the Park, helping Trumbly navigate the Internet for the perfect gown that was delivered to her house.
“They’ve got about 50 flower girls,” Proctor joked.
Barker swears he’s not nervous.
“Everybody has been fantastic, they really have,” Barker said. “Our children – she has a son and daughter and I have a son and daughter – and they’re all tickled to death. They could see we needed somebody.”
The couple doesn’t plan on registering anywhere, in fact, it might be the first wedding in history where guests receive all of the gifts.
The bride and groom are currently trying to downsize their respective cottages so that they may move in with each other after the wedding.
Once the nuptials are complete the two will fly down to Ft. Lauderdale to embark on a Caribbean cruise honeymoon.
But do the two have any skinny-dipping plans?
“I don’t know about that yet,” the 87-year-old Barker laughed. “Age is funny.”
Both are excited for the date to finally get here later this month.
They say planning – even a simple ceremony – doesn’t get any easier the second time around.
“Sometimes I wonder how we’re going to get through this. It’s not the marrying him (part) it’s about all the stuff you have to go through,” Trumbly said.
Trumbly has always been sort of a mother-figure for Proctor so it was Proctor who sat the couple down early just to make sure they had their bases covered.
The two had already discussed it with their respective families. A Sunday compromise was struck, with the couple attending Trumbly’s Catholic mass on Saturday nights and Barker’s Baptist church on Sundays.
Barker says he may be getting the better end of the deal, especially since Trumbly’s cottage has a washer and dryer as well as a covered carport for his Lincoln.
“There’s a lot of advantages for me, I don’t know about her,” he teased.
But the groom has shown he may be handy in the kitchen.
“I fixed her a bacon and tomato sandwich last night,” he said with pride. “Someone gave us a real nice tomato out of the garden and we stole some bread and bacon out of the kitchen and I cooked it in my room.”
It’s moments like those both were missing.
And they never expected to find them again.
“This is a marvelous place here. Everybody here is family,” Barker said.

Iola Caldwell springs from hardworking small-town Oklahoma stock. Diligence, meticulousness, and self-sacrifice characterized the lives of her parents, and their values have been passed down undiluted to their daughter. Growing up in Depression-era Oklahoma required a unique kind of personal determination and pride in oneself and in work. Iola’s father made hand-crafted leather saddles that still exist. Her mother, in addition to caring for her family, washed dishes in a local restaurant. Iola remembers that her mother always admonished her to “always do your best.”
A youth of 82 years, Iola’s best includes careful, specialized attention to the laundry of all the residents at Rivermont Gardens Assisted Living. For the last sixteen years, Iola has faithfully treated the residents and families at the Gardens the way she would want to be treated herself. No matter what particular wishes or demands an individual may have, Iola meets them. Here are some actual, verifiable examples of individual laundry requirements imposed by various residents for whom Iola cares:
One man required that at all times, ten empty plastic (only) hangers were to be left in his closet. Another man insisted that his pants be dried for five minutes, only-no more and no less-and then hung by the cuffs. Two current residents require that their sheets and bedspread be washed bi-weekly only. Another woman wants all her clothes hung on velvet hangers. There are approximately 58 residents in the Gardens, and each one is an individual who receives respect, right down to the way their washcloths are folded. “I have a certain way I like to fold the towels and washcloths,” says the Queen of Laundry.
While these demands may seem petty to some, Iola respects the preferences of the people who live at the Gardens. She not only abides by their wishes, but is cheerful and even proud of the way she provides such individualized service. “I’m here for the residents” is Iola’s constant motto. Soiled or stained clothing is lovingly cleaned, scrubbed, repaired, unstained, re- sewn, re-buttoned, and returned to the resident without complaint. Other staff-members joke that Iola knows the owner of every sock and washcloth in the entire building, and it is true! “I do watch out for people’s things,” Iola says. “I try to make sure that everything is returned to the particular place that each resident keeps it. I want them to be able to find their things easily.”
A full-time employee, Iola is punctual and dependable. She is unfailingly cheerful and diligent. She says “My work is a joy.” And it is obviously so-never grouchy, never discouraged, and never failing, Iola not only enjoys work, but participates in a bowling league, the Moose Lodge, Eastern Star, VFW, and a national railroad employee organization. Iola is an avid University of Oklahoma sports fan, wears school colors on appropriate days, and attends games regularly.
For uniqueness, it would be difficult to match an 82 year old laundress who works circles around employees fifty years her junior. Regarding her example to other employees, she is never absent or late, and her work is not only done, but done with a meticulous attention to detail that defies description. She works as a team with housekeepers to ensure efficient processing of laundry. Iola’s oversight of residents’ possessions reflects her deep care for their dignity and quality of life. What is more basic to quality of life than having clean and well cared-for clothing and bedding? As an example of independence, Iola is older than a number of her clients at the Gardens Assisted Living. She works full-time, stays physically fit, and clearly enjoys a very active social life outside of work. Simply knowing and observing her on a daily basis encourages residents to be independent like Iola. Ageism? Please! The very life that Iola lives is a slap in the face to ageism. She is more active than many who are half her age. And she has such joie de vivre! To her, everything is fun. What could be more opposite to the stereotype of grumpy, sedentary, depressed old age?
In summary, we have never met a better example of willing, committed, service to a senior care employer or senior clients and employees than Iola Caldwell. As one staff-member put it, “It is an honor to work with her.” We agree.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com

Having recently returned from a trip of a lifetime, in 1980 touring of ancient Egypt icons, I found exotic culture back home in Colony, Oklahoma at the annual Cheyenne and Arapaho Labor Day Powwow.
As I reported in 1981, “Faces of men painted red and yellow, and brown bodies clad in numerous combinations of colors, feathers, and animal skins rhythmically dance out of the dark and into a dimly lit clearing beneath a giant canopy of cottonwoods.”
“Ladies in pure white buckskin proudly keeping in step as their shawls and fringe swing hypnotically in the moon light. Very young braves of 7 or 8 years, dressed in colorful fancy dance dress feathers join in the ways of their elders.”
As a result, I humbly photographically documented the weekend, and returned two more Labor Day weekends to try and capture the thrill and unique authentic Cheyenne Arapaho offering. While most of the dances are held at night, and with the movement of the dancers I could not use dim available light but had to use flash for my black and white negative exposures. The challenge was not to invade or disturbed the reverential dance with the bright flash in the darkness of night, but it was the only way to get an acceptable photograph. I guess I accomplished my goal as I was not admonished for my flash.
This Labor Day Colony’s Native American powwow homecoming continues as it has each year since the end of World War II with added interests. This year the Colony Gallery of the Plains Indian will host two photographic exhibitions of Native Americans proud of their heritage. The Gallery has always encouraged Native American art and artists. The Gallery is reborn with the showing of The Last Powwow ~ the result of my three-year visits ~ and Red Earth Spirit, ~ formal double exposure color photographs made during the Oklahoma City Red Earth Festival. While many of these images have been in exhibitions during the 1980s this is the first time since then that some are on public view. Some have never been seen before as the complete portfolios are too large to mount in one exhibition.
After seeing The Last Powwow exhibition at the Center of the American Indian back in 1983, the then Director of Photography, L.L. Smith, at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, endorsed the exhibit when he wrote, “I was most impressed with the quality of your work and the dignity of your subjects. Your devotion over the years to this event is quite evident in your work. As a cultural document, I believe certain prints will stand the test of time.”
The renovated petite Gallery of the Plains Indian and the historic town of Colony is a treat to those travelers willing to turn off Interstate 40 at Weatherford and head south.
Justice Yvonne Kauger, a native of Colony, had long wanted a small gallery in Colony to exhibit Indian art and in particular Cheyenne Arapaho artists which would coincide with the annual powwow. The gallery building on the main street was built by her Grandfather, Fred Kauger in 1923 and served as post office until 1960 when it was used for storage..
Through the efforts of Yvonne’s parents, John and Alice Kauger, and family and friends, the old stucco structure was remodeled into a functional art gallery. The gallery had its first showing in 1981. Both exhibits this year are dedicated to Yvonne, John and Alice Kauger and all who help preserve and promote Indian heritage.
“I grew up to the sound of the powwows as a little girl,” Yvonne Kauger explains, “My father was raised by Cheyenne nannies and had a very deep respect for the Cheyenne which he passed on. In fact, until the sixth grade I thought I was Indian.”
In 1984, the Cheyenne-Arapaho adopted Yvonne Kauger as a member of the Standing Bird Clan.
Since the late 1880’s this area has been the tribal land of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Indians. Just west of Cobb Creek, teepees were first erected in a hardy grove and became home and gathering place for the Cheyenne-Arapaho powwow.
Colony’s Mayor Lonnie Yearwood is an active member of the community and an integral part in the rebirth of Colony with restoration projects. One project is the corner building in Colony which is destined to become a museum, and another is the Church Parsonage, a two-story stone structure from 1897.
Mayor Yearwood’s great grandfather John Seger, brought the Cheyenne-Arapahos to Colony to establish an Indian school.
“My great grandfather wanted a post office in Colony in 1896,” says the Mayor, “But there already was a post office west of here, and it was called Seger. If that was not already established the town might have been called Seger instead of Colony, as it was known as John Seger’s Colony.”
The Mayor continues, “Colony has more history than any other town in the county, as Colony started before there was an official county.”
Colony is in a renaissance with not only the Mayors projects but some homes are also being restored, upgraded and preserved. Someday the restoration projects may be on a town tour. The Mayor may be reached by email for more information on the town and the gallery accessibly during the Labor Day Weekend powwow.
Mayor Lonnie Yearwood: yrwd19@gmail.com
Since the authentic powwow activities, dance and singing, continues deep into the night, a planned overnight stay in Weatherford, Oklahoma is recommended.
I plan to be in attendance, not only at the gallery but at the powwow grounds. For a gallery appointment time email me before August 29. I continue my enthusiasm as I reported in my 1981 article, “Had I secretly crept upon this trial meeting on the great western plains of Oklahoma some hundred years ago, I could not have been more excited!”

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
http://realtraveladventures.com/author/zinn/
http://www.examiner.com/travel-in-oklahoma-city/terry-zinn
www.new.okveterannews.com – www.martinitravels.com

What’s your favorite summertime memory? Village on the Park

I’ve got a lot but it would be the day I got married when I was 18. Kathy Ream

Going fishing about anywhere. I fished Texhoma and Eufaula when they were coming in. Raymond Leetrammell

I rode my horse every afternoon around our ranch. Evelyn Wilcoxson

Visiting my grandfather in Chandler. We would hitch the horse to the wagon and he would give us a quarter for a movie, popcorn, and a coke in town. Helen LaFevers