THE SENIOR TIMES - June 2025

GOLDEN NUGGETS

Father's Day is a celebration of fathers, fathering, and fatherhood that originated in the United States in the early 20th century. It was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd, who wanted to honor her father, a Civil War veteran and a single parent of six children. The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. In 1972, President Richard Nixon made Father's Day a nationwide holiday in the United States, to be observed on the third Sunday of June.

However, Father’s Day is celebrated in many countries.   In traditionally Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal, Father’s Day is observed on March 19, the Feast of St. Joseph.  The Taiwanese celebrate Father’s Day on August 8—the eighth day of the eighth month—because the Mandarin Chinese word for eight sounds like the word for “Papa.”  In Thailand, Father’s Day is celebrated on former King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday, December 5.  Around the world fathers are seen as significant influences on children; we know from many studies what happens when a father figure is lacking. In a sense, today, Father’s Day, helps to demonstrate the importance and value of fatherhood—and the gifts beyond material goods that a father bestows on his children and family. 

As special and wonderful as our earthly fathers are, our heavenly father is the one who has created the standard for them.  It is God who disciplines us, cares for us, comforts us and sustains us. In the Bible it states, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”  1 John 3:1 Whether your earthly dad loved you with a tender love, was strict and hard to please or was not there for you, remember there is a heavenly Father whose love is eternal and Who wants you for His child regardless of your age. 

Remember When

Kenner introduced the Easy-Bake Oven in 1963, and it was an instant hit. An actual working oven for kids (on a smaller scale, of course), it used a pair of lightbulbs as a heating source that would take a combination of cake mix and water and bake it (though we can’t vouch for whether or not they actually tasted anything like cake). In its first year of production, it sold half-a-million units. Although Kenner was purchased by Hasbro, the Easy-Bake Oven has continued to be produced in different forms, but back then it was quite the innovation.

Brain Teaser (Answer at end)

Tom’s garden is full of bird and bee life.  There are 44 eyes and 96 legs in his garden.  How many bees and how many birds are there? 

Grandma’s Cooking Corner:

Italian Wedding Cookies

      Chris Hetherington 

Ingredients

·  1 ½ cups unsalted butter 

·  ¾ cup confectioners' sugar

·  ¾ teaspoon salt

·  1 ½ cups finely ground almonds

·  4½ tsp vanilla extract

·  3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

·  ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F

1.   Place butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes.

2.   Mix in ground almonds and vanilla.

3.   Blend in flour gradually until well-combined.

4.   Shape into balls using about 1 teaspoon for each cookie; place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

5.   Bake in preheated oven until just browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

6.   Let sit until slightly cooled, about 15 minutes. Roll cookies in remaining confectioners' sugar

MILITARY SALUTE

Nathan Green Gordon, an Arkansas native, was a Navy pilot in World War II. In Feb. 1944, he carried out a dangerous mission to rescue pilots lost near Papua, New Guinea. He landed his bulky seaplane three times, with Japanese forces nearby, to rescue nine men, then went back for six others in difficult weather conditions. Gordon received the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions. Green later went on to become lieutenant governor of Arkansas for 20 years.

HUMOR ME

A soldier shows up for military training but realizes he forgot to bring his gun.The sergeant hands him a stick and gestures to the training field.“You’ll have to use this, soldier. If you need to shoot someone, just aim your stick at them and shout ‘Bangity bang-bang’. If someone gets too close to you, poke them in the gut with it as though it was a bayonet and shout ‘Stabbity stab-stab’. Now get moving.”

 The soldier thinks this is pretty ridiculous, but to his surprise, when he aims his stick at a fellow trainee across the field and shouts “Bangity bang-bang!” the other soldier goes down in a theatrical display. Then, another trainee tries to run past him, so he pokes the guy in the ribs and shouts “Stabbity stab-stab!” and he too goes down, pretending to be dead.

 So, the soldier starts running through the mock-battlefield, shouting “Bangity bang-bang” and occasionally “Stabbity-stab-stab”, until eventually, he realizes he’s the last man standing.

He’s feeling pretty proud of himself until another soldier rounds a corner and starts walking toward him. Slowly. Stiffly. Menacingly. The soldier takes aim with his stick and shouts, “Bangity-bang-bang!” But the other soldier doesn’t go down this time. He keeps approaching, arms stiff at his sides, boots stomping aggressively into the ground.

 The soldier begins to sweat. He clears his throat, adjusts grip on his stick and hollers, “Bangity bang-bang!” But nothing happens. The other soldier keeps marching toward him.

 Now the soldier panics. He pretends to reload his stick and desperately cries out, “Bangity bang-bang! Bangity bang-bang! Stabbity stab-stab!” But to his dismay, nothing works.

 Finally, the other soldier reaches him, kicks him in the shin and knocks him onto the ground.

 He stands over the fallen soldier and says:

 “Tankity tank-tank.”

  WORDS OF WISDOM

When a woman says “What?”, it isn’t because she didn’t hear you.  She is giving you a chance to change what you said.                Jackie Gleason

 Who’d A Thunk

New York City ophthalmologist Steven Trokel made the connection to the cornea and performed the first laser surgery on a patient’s eyes in 1987. The next ten years were spent perfecting the equipment and the techniques used in laser eye surgery. In 1996, the first Excimer laser for ophthalmic refractive use was approved in the United States. 

Trokel patented the Excimer laser for vision correction. The Excimer laser was originally used for etching silicone computer chips in the 1970s. Working in the IBM research laboratories in 1982, Rangaswamy Srinivasin, James Wynne and Samuel Blum saw the potential of the Excimer laser in interacting with biological tissue. Srinivasin and the IBM team realized that you could remove tissue with a laser without causing any heat damage to the neighboring material. 

But it took the observations of Dr. Fyodorov in a case of eye trauma in the 1970’s to bring about the practical application of refractive surgery through radial keratotomy.

SENIOR-FRIENDLY HALL OF FAME

If you know an individual, a business, a group, an organization, or a municipality that  is “senior-friendly”, you may nominate them for the “Senior-Friendly”  Hall of Fame.  Submit their name, contact information and why you think they should be considered.

SENIOR OF THE MONTH

June 2025

JERRY MANGUM

Jerry Magnum was born and raised in Clayton, North Carolina. He graduated from Clayton High School and joined the military, serving in the United States Army for twenty-eight years, working as a Senior Network Operations Chief. In 2007, he retired as Master Sergeant and returned to his hometown of Clayton. He worked for the Town of Clayton for six years as a Meter Reader/Technician. In 2013, Jerry earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Management and Organizational Development from Mount Olive College. He is currently employed with the United States  Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services as the Mail Center Manager.

Jerry has been a member of the American Legion since 2003. He was previously the Commander for American Legion Post 518 in Clayton, NC for six years. He is currently a member of the American Legion Post 529 in Knightdale, NC and Post 1 in Raleigh. He is also a member of the National American Legion College Alumni Association (NALCAA) class of 2014. Jerry has also held the following positions in the American Legion: The North Carolina American Legion Department Vice Commander (one term), the Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission, Johnston County Veterans Services Advisory Board for three years and Vice President, Johnston County Veterans Committee Council for five years. He is a lifetime member of The Disabled Veterans of America and served as Sr. Vice Commander for one year. He is also a member of Serve the Need of Johnston County. Jerry is the founder of the Rolesville Veterans Group and owner of the FB Page: MSG Veterans Helping Veterans Outreach Ministry.

A busy man that cares for people, Jerry was also the driver of the recently purchased shuttle bus by The Senior Network at its “unveiling” in March. Jerry tries to be available to help seniors from all backgrounds and walks of life by driving the shuttle bus to help keep seniors active and “on the move”.

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Although based in northern Wake County, North Carolina, we are receiving numerous requests from around the country and are now partnering with churches and other organizations in many states to fulfill needs of seniors. 

Nonprofit of the Month

Doctors Without Borders provides independent, impartial medical humanitarian assistance to the people who need it most.  It cares for people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.  When disaster strikes,  teams of doctors, nurses, logisticians, and other staff are often among the first on the scene—sometimes arriving in a matter of minutes.  They are financially independent which enables them to freely evaluate medical needs, reach communities in need without restriction, and directly provide high quality medical care.

Grandpa’s Sports Stories

Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer ever, with a total of 18 major wins, made his first pro appearance at the age of 21. He finished 50th in the event. He then won the US Open the same year for his first major win.

Universal Music (Submitted by Larry Barnhill)

 Some people just seem to have music in their bones and one geneticist has proven it. There are only 4 bases which make up our DNA and they are arranged like rungs on a ladder. The pattern of these rungs describes every part of our bodies and if the ladder was stretched out in a line, it would be about 120 billion miles long. 

The geneticist thought It would be neat to assign notes to each of these DNA bases and play the pattern to hear what DNA would actually sound like. To his amazement, there is a melody and musical style for each of the various gene structures.

Some bands have picked up on this technique and are actually publishing DNA music and some doctors have found this music to be therapeutic. It takes many hours to pour over images of DNA structures to find defects that may be a potential problem, whereas the same sequences can be listened to much faster and with good accuracy in detecting an out of sequence pattern. There are companies that will take your DNA sample and for a fee, provide you with your own personal recording. We are all musically inclined.

 Answer to Brain Teaser:  There are 9 birds and 13 bees in the garden.

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THE SENIOR NETWORK

3650 Rogers Road, Suite #323

Wake Forest, North Carolina 27587

954-666-2040

info@theseniornetwork.org