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

The trip down memory lane continues for the live experiences and recognition of outstanding performers and venues. By recalling our good times and interactions, if only as an audience member, it gives us comfort and enjoyment remembering our past efforts, and gives us hope for more live entertainment experiences in the near future.
If you are a loyal long time reader here, there is no surprise that I am an admirer of the 92 year old, iconic cabaret singer, Marilyn Maye, who performed most recently at the OKC boat house last year, courtesy of Central State University. I have seen her a couple of times in Dallas and other venues. She holds a record number of appearances on the Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson. Her enthusiasm for life and humorous attitude is only surpassed by her smooth, easy and warm voice. She is a testament and a life affirmation for all seniors.
Another theater veteran, for ever young yet a senior, Tommy Tune (currently 81), who performed a one man show at Lyric’s Plaza Theater. He of course was in the original Broadway cast of “Hello Dolly” and has performed and directed many Broadway shows, including “My One and Only” with Twiggy. His Tony and other theater awards are numerous . This tall Texan’s humor is infectious. His back stage stories are enlightening. His most touching story was how he lost decades of theater memorabilia and souvenirs when hurricane Sandy flooded parts of Manhattan and his storage unit. Fun to see him tap dance in red boots. He presented two nights, I saw both, and noticed each show was a bit different, as he went with spontaneous changes. After the performance he invited fans to accompany him on stage – where he let us be close and personal with photographs and to be in his presence. His optimism, generosity and theater history certainly makes him a person of greatness.
This reminds me of another offering by Lyric Theater of Oklahoma when they featured Chita Rivera. Senior Rivera was awarded the 2018 Tony for Lifetime achievement and was a Kennedy Center Honoree. Always enchanted by her dancing and mischievous personality, it was a pleasure to meet and greet her at an after party. She was gracious, but her handler (her assistant) was less so, bordering on rude. Odd how some personalities don’t recognizance that their assistants can mar the public’s perception and experience. I could list other occasions which were tarnished by their neglect to properly instruct them to be considerate to the fans, to which they owe part of their success.
You never know what’s going to blossom when going to a live theater event. Such was the case many years ago when the Oklahoma BLAC organisation brought in the three woman musical play called, “Blues In The Night.” It was performed as a benefit on the thrust stage of the Stage Center/Oklahoma Theater Center/aka the Mummers Theater. Sadly is was not well attended , and sadly the theater building is now a parking lot. Its headliner was the provocative Chanteuse Eartha Kitt. Best known for her “Santa Baby” recording but in this Oklahoma visit she performed and gave an extensive seminar on her life and even touching on her political activism, during the President Lyndon Johnson era. Even more astonishing was her willingness to pose for me and my camera. I treasure those times and images of the late Eartha Kitt. To her credit I sent her a couple hard copy black and white prints to her NYC address for her signature and she did such and returned to me. The Presence of Greatness.
Another photo opportunity was with Ballet Oklahoma’s performance and celebration of “Rodeo,” and the Ballet from “Oklahoma,” originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille. I was so pleased when I sent de Mille her copies of my photography of a dress rehearsal where she autographed my hard copy black and white photography. Agnes de Mille; truly greatness of the Ballet world.
While its fun to recall meetings with well known celebrities, let’s not forget our relatives and friends which also might fall into the category of greatness for their humanity and friendship.

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
3110 N.W. 15 Street – Oklahoma City, OK 73107
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The Board of Directors of the Hearing Loss Association of America Central Oklahoma Chapter (HLAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 HLAA Scholarship. This year’s scholarship award winners are Zachary Burlison, Mackenzie Chesnut and Cassidy Floyd.
The HLAA established the scholarship program to assist Oklahoma high school students with hearing loss to continue in higher education.
Traditionally, scholarship winners are announced at the annual HLAA Ice Cream Social which was cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing restrictions. The awards were presented in person at their home by members of the Scholarship Committee.
“Hearing loss in the classroom can be extremely difficult and our scholarship recipients have excelled despite the challenges,” said Sharon Hendricks, Scholarship Committee Chair. “We are confident in their futures and look forward to hearing their success stories.”
The HLAA is one of Oklahoma’s oldest nonprofit groups, founded in 1990 to help Oklahomans with hearing loss live successfully in the hearing world. The scholarships are offered through donations from members and local businesses. The HLAA is currently accepting matching donations from Oklahoma audiologists and hearing professionals.
Zachary Burlison was born with severe complications and started wearing hearing aids at 10 weeks. His parents, Keith and Tammie Burlison from Bethany, OK believed hearing was extremely important to a child’s development and they took immediate action to see that he had every opportunity. Burlison found that he was able to compete and excel where ever he applied himself including varsity football, National Honor Society and achieving the rank of Eagle in the Boy Scouts. Burlison is headed to Oklahoma State University this fall where he plans to major in marketing and to work in social media. Burlison hopes to spread the word to parents of children with hearing impairment that wearing a hearing aid will not affect their ability in the classroom or on the sports field.
Mackenzie Chesnut is the daughter of Darwin & Bridgett Chesnut from Coctaw, OK. Her hearing loss journey began at age 14 when she woke up with an ear infection. She soon became the one of her pediatrician’s oldest patients and received her first hearing aid as she entered high school. The adjustment was made easier by her mother who also wears a hearing aid. Chesnut discovered her hearing aid helped in school, especially with the male teachers with low voices because her hearing loss is in the lower register. She experienced the common embarrassment when she first received her hearing aids, but her mother empowered her to be unafraid to be different. The advice soon became her motto that flaws are beautiful and should be embraced. Becoming hearing impaired as a teen gave her a drive and purpose. She hopes to encourage people with hearing loss to talk about it and not be embarrassed. She says that her audiologist, Dr. Emily Mills from Hearts For Hearing in Oklahoma City has made such a positive influence in her life that she wants to do the same for others. Chesnut plans to study audiology and will attend OSU-OKC this fall.
Cassidy Floyd will be attending Northeastern State University in Tahlequah after attending Eastern Oklahoma State College and playing softball for two years. Cassidy plans to become a math teacher and coach so she can give back and show her students that while life may not be perfect, it is wonderful and anything is possible. Floyd is the daughter of Tony & Clara Floyd of Roland, OK and was born with hearing loss in one ear which made a major impact on her life. The hearing loss required her to learn to be more self-reliant, but also showed that it is OK to ask for help. Many teachers, coaches, family & friends supported her through her schooling. Floyd learned that when you put on a hearing aid you almost become a different person; one who can be involved in a classroom discussion, can communicate in a group setting with background noise, and doesn’t feel left out. With her hearing aid Cassidy said, “I feel more comfortable out in the world and am ready to take on more challenges.”
The HLAA Central Oklahoma Chapter has cancelled the remainder of the 2020 group activities to protect our members and families but offers online support through their website OklahomaHearingLoss.com and on Facebook @oklahearingloss.

Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready announced today the 2021 preliminary rate filings for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Insurers that currently offer coverage through the Oklahoma Marketplace filed plans requesting average statewide increases of 2.7 percent.
The same three insurers that offered individual health plans on the 2020 Exchange will return for 2021 — Blue Cross Shield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) , Bright Health and Medica Insurance Company. In addition, Oscar Health, UnitedHealthCare (UHC) and CommunityCare Oklahoma (CCOK) will join the marketplace in Oklahoma for 2021 allowing consumers to have more choices. BCBSOK and Medica offer statewide plans while Bright Health, CCOK, Oscar and UHC serve limited areas of the state.
Moderate rate increase requests and new insurers looking to offer plans in Oklahoma revealed that the Oklahoma insurance market is stable and able to offer multiple health insurance options for all Oklahomans.
“Creating more choices for consumers has been a top priority of mine and it is encouraging to see more insurers enter the Oklahoma market and another year of modest rate change requests. It demonstrates our efforts to stabilize and improve affordability in this market have been working,” Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready said. “Oklahoma continues to have a healthy, competitive individual health insurance market, and insurers are committed to providing more options for Oklahomans who seek health insurance on the Marketplace.”
Rate filings for 2021 health insurance plans were approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and are posted at https://ratereview.healthcare.gov/. Final approved rates will be made public in September.
If you have questions about other insurance issues, contact the Oklahoma Insurance Department at 1-800-522-0071 or visit our website at www.oid.ok.gov.

The now infamous Quarantine of 2020 never had an official start date. Unlike Dec. 25, July 4, Feb. 14 and other calendar days synonymous with celebratory events, the world didn’t simultaneously lock its doors on one particular day and fire up Netflix.
Was it March 16? March 27? Did you hold out until early April before realizing that, because your favorite sports team was canceling its season and your beloved restaurant was locking its doors, maybe you should take this Anthony Fauci guy seriously?
For me, the quarantine began the day my wife returned from Costco, presented me with a 45-ounce container of Dunkin Donuts Medium Roast Original Blend coffee and said, “That ought to hold you.”
Her shopping run also contained the items Americans were grabbing as if the doors to a Brink’s truck had just flung open at 65 miles per hour, scattering $100 bills on the interstate. Toilet paper, sanitizing wipes and gargantuan containers of condiments vied for space inside her SUV. Should an asteroid smash into our home anytime soon, what’s left of my body will be coated in salsa.
The label on the Dunkin Donuts java monstrosity stated I should be able to brew 150 cups. As someone who limits his caffeine intake to one cup of coffee per day, and occasionally skips the beverage altogether in favor of tea or water, I calculated that I should be set for five months.
“Where will I be in five months?” I remember asking myself as I opened the container and scooped the first grounds into my office coffee maker. Surely, I’ll be traveling again, spending nights in myriad hotels as I’ve been doing for the last 25 years due to my profession as a corporate comedian and keynote speaker. With so much time away from my home office, it might be upward of a year before I needed to replenish my coffee supply, I estimated.
Yesterday, while preparing my lone cup, the coffee measuring scoop touched plastic. That’s right, I was approaching the bottom. And, as the coffee brewed, I realized how little had changed from the day I opened the container.
There have been no plane trips or hotel stays. The only change to my morning routine was that I replaced the coffee maker’s charcoal filter after about the 60th cup. Five months after the country shut down, give or take a week, our routines have become so singular that we struggle to remember what they were like pre-pandemic.
Many of us can’t remember the last time we packed a suitcase. Bellied up to a bar. Visited a hair salon. Went to our closet and picked out a suit and tie or a cocktail dress. Hell, I can’t remember the last time I wore pants. Chalk that up to an inordinately warm Chicago summer and the fact that Zoom meetings and Skype video chats only require me to look presentable from the shoulders up.
And yet, I now consistently remember tasks that slipped my mind pre-quarantine. Watering flowers for instance. In previous summers, I would sometimes arrive home to dried up geraniums, as I erroneously assumed they could tough it out for 48 or 72 hours. Not so this year. Each day, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. they receive a drenching and have never looked better.
I walk the dog more, change the bed sheets more often and scrub my bathroom sink more frequently. I cook more, exercise more and watch more television.
Were COVID-19 to be eradicated from the earth tomorrow, I wonder how much of my new routine would remain. Would I return to neglecting the dog and the flowers? Or would I figure out some way to merge my pre- and post-pandemic lives?
Like the rest of the world, I am anxiously awaiting that day. In the meantime, I had better replenish my coffee supply.
Being an optimist, I’m going to stay away from Costco.
(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 Amazon.com. Visit Greg on the web at 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 www.gregschwem.com)

A new finding from the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation shows that a heart dysfunction associated with cardiovascular failure in aging adults may be reversible.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 6 million people in the U.S. are living with heart failure. Although it can happen to anyone, the chances increase as we age. OMRF scientist Ann Chiao, Ph.D., is investigating why — and whether it can be stopped.
“Using experimental models of the aging heart, we targeted diastolic dysfunction, a common problem in older adults that occurs when the heart can’t relax properly between beats,” said Chiao, whose lab is part of OMRF’s Aging and Metabolism Research Program. “It can lead to more significant cardiovascular problems, but there’s currently no proven treatment.”
Chiao and her team zeroed in on the mitochondria of heart cells and how they are impacted by oxidative stress, the imbalance caused by byproducts of metabolism called free radicals.
“Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells,” Chiao explained. “As cells process oxygen for power, their mitochondria emit free radicals, byproducts of oxygen that can lead to organ dysfunction.”
It’s known that lowering high levels of free radicals in cells improves organ function. But in a new finding, Chiao and her team demonstrated that suppressing free radical production later in life reversed existing age-related diastolic heart damage and improved cardiac function. The findings were published in the scientific journal eLife.
“This study is an important step in the process of looking for potential drugs or interventions to improve heart function in the elderly,” said Holly Van Remmen, Ph.D., who leads OMRF’s Aging and Metabolism Research Program. “Our goal as a group is to develop ways to delay, lessen or even reverse some of the negative changes that occur with natural aging. Dr. Chiao is doing phenomenal work to improve heart function for all of us as we age.”
Medication that could reverse cardiac aging would be life-changing for many — and this study shows the potential is there, explained Chiao. “The drug compound we used in the study is currently in clinical trials for heart failure and rare diseases involving heart muscles, but further study is needed,” she said.
Her lab will now dive deeper into the findings to help identify the best potential drug targets in heart cells. And for those who want to keep free radicals in check before arriving in their latter decades? The solution may not come from a medication at all.
“Research shows that regular, moderate exercise and an active lifestyle play a significant role in protecting the body from oxidative damage,” Chiao said.

The American Cancer Society of Oklahoma (ACS) is one step closer to groundbreaking on a new Hope Lodge, thanks to a generous $5 million donation from Chad Richison, founder and CEO at Paycom.
“Everyone is either zero or one degree away from cancer,” said Jeff Fehlis, executive vice president for ACS South Region. “It’s a disease that touches us all, and that’s why it is so important to bring Hope Lodge to Oklahoma. The investment Mr. Richison has made will be felt in all corners of the state.”
This year, the American Cancer Society estimates that 20,540 Oklahoma residents will be diagnosed with cancer and that 8,420 will die from the disease. It also estimates 3,700 cancer patients will travel 40 miles or more for treatment in Oklahoma City.
“We firmly believe your ZIP code should never determine whether you live or die,” Fehlis added. “We are very fortunate to have partners like Mr. Richison investing in the state’s health care and for his compassion and contributions to patient’s recovery and peace of mind.”
The Chad Richison Hope Lodge of Oklahoma City will have 34 guest rooms, each with a private bathroom. Free, on-site parking will be available, as well as fully equipped kitchens, laundry facilities, common guest lounges and a dining room. It will serve approximately 2,400 patients and caregivers annually, providing approximately 14,600 free nights of lodging valued at$1,971,000 in annual savings.
“Providing community style lodging and other essentials to patients and families during their battle with cancer is a much-needed service that hopefully takes one less stress off their minds,” said Richison. “I’m pleased to be part of bringing this new concept to Oklahoma and grateful for what the American Cancer Society is doing with the Hope Lodge experience.”
The new facility will be built near the Stephenson Cancer Center at NE 8th St. and N Phillips Ave., with land leased for $1 per year from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The Chad Richison Hope Lodge of Oklahoma City will be the only free lodging program available for adult cancer patients and their caregivers.
“Our world has turned upside down the past few months as a result of COVID-19,” Fehlis said. “But cancer hasn’t stopped and neither has ACS. The pandemic has created challenges which we must now factor into construction, making sure we are creating a safe environment for our guests. We have a chance every day to do good in the world, and partners like Mr. Richison are a great example.”
Currently ACS operates more than 30 Hope Lodge locations throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Groundbreaking on the new Hope Lodge Oklahoma City is set for fall 2020. Additional information can be found at: cancer.org/hopelodgeoklahomacity.