Woman Walks 10,000 Miles for Husband

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Oct. 25) — An 88-year-old woman in Colorado Springs who walked laps around a nursing home in memory of her deceased husband has hit a major milestone: 10,000 miles.

Martha Michel walks laps daily around the lake at Namaste Alzheimer Center. Michel started walking the lake with her husband, former Colorado College Professor Dr. Lester Michel, who was a patient at the center. After Lester Michel's death in 1998, Martha Michel kept up the walking in his memory.

VIDEO HERE

She told The Gazette that the last time her husband spoke to her was by the lake.

"He was pretty far along with the Alzheimer’s," Michel said. "His arms just hung down and his face was just expressionless. We stopped over on the other side and he said to me, 'I want to hold you.' And I picked up his arms and put them around me."

More HERE

A Simpler Time

Back in the Day . . .

A simpler time

By Silver Planet Staff

What some might call the “old days” are pleasant memories for lots of us. How many of these do you remember?

• All the girls had ugly gym clothes.
• It took five minutes for the TV to warm up.
• Nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got home from school.
• Nobody owned a purebred dog.
• A quarter a week was a good allowance.
• You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
• Your mom wore nylons that came in two pieces.
• All your male teachers wore neckties, and the female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels.
• You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all free, every time. You didn't pay for air, and you got trading stamps.
• Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes, or towels hidden inside the box.
• It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
• Schools threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed—and they did.
• A ’57 Chevy was everyone's dream car.
• No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car ignition and the doors were never locked.
• Kids played baseball with no adults around to “help” with the rules of the game.
• Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.
• Being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited you at home.
• Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, the Shadow, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger, and Buttermilk were popular.
• Summers were filled with bike rides, baseball games, Hula Hoops, bowling, swimming, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.

With all our progress, don't you wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today?