By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

The Lincolnville Senior Citizens organization was established in 1977. The group met in the former Lincolnville 4-H community building.

The size of the group has dwindled over the years, but the six Lincolnville senior citizens who meet each week at the new community center look forward to the time they spend together.

The group meets at Wednesday noon each week. They share a potluck lunch and play Mexican Train dominoes. Occasionally, they go to Durham or Marion Senior Center for lunch.

Maxine Barton is the matriarch of the group. The 83-year-old widow has lived in Lincolnville for 37 years. Her husband, Warren, died about a year ago.

Barton joined the senior citizens soon after she retired as a bus driver for Centre schools. She said there were a dozen or more members back then, including a few men.

In 2004, Evelyn Matz and Betty Frobenius bought a small house on Main Street for a senior citizens meeting place and named it Friendship House. Barton took over the leadership role in 2009, when Evelyn Matz moved away and Friendship House was sold.

The six currently active members said their meetings are the highlights of each week.

“It gives me a chance to get out of the house,” Twilla Baker said.

She and her husband, Lonnie, bought a farmhouse west of Lincolnville in 2010 after finding it online. He died just six months later, and she sought out the local group for companionship.

The Bakers moved to Lincolnville from the Keechi-Valley Center area.

“I wouldn’t go back to that area,” the 73-year-old mother of three said. “This is home.”

Like Baker, two of the others in the group moved into the community in recent years.

Barbara Craney, 64, has lived in Lincolnville since June 2009. She was living in Topeka when a daughter, who owned a house in Lincolnville, advised her to move there.

Another daughter, Sherry Wilson, and husband, John, live in Lincolnville.

Craney has become an active part of the senior citizen organization.

Alta Huffington has lived in Lincolnville for four years. The mother of six children moved to the town to be near her three youngest sons — Kenneth, Eugene, and Duane Remmers.

The 89-year-old widow remains active and enjoys the stimulation provided by belonging to a group.

“We come from different backgrounds, but we all get along,” Huffington said.

Cruz Carrasco, 84, has been a member of the group since she and her husband, Tomas, moved to Lincolnville in 1992. He had worked on the railroad between Wichita and Herington and was attracted to the little towns along the way. The couple moved to Lincolnville when he retired.

Carrasco married when she was 15 years old. She had 10 children. She said getting married was a way of getting away from a strict father.

“I thought I would have more freedom,” she said with a laugh.

Her husband died three years ago, and she appreciates her longtime friends.

Ruth Tajchman, 73, joined the senior citizens 14 years ago. She and her husband, Lester, moved to Lincolnville when they married 21 years ago.

She said 25 or 30 seniors were part of the group when she first joined, but even though the group has shrunk, she is happy to have them as friends.

“I love everyone,” she said. “It is wonderful to go there and meet with them every Wednesday.”

They are looking for other seniors in the area to join them.