Resident Reporter 3/27/2014

Breast Cancer Support Hour

The Breast Cancer Support Hour held the first meeting of the year at the Pinecrest Restaurant on March 2. The new team leaders for 2014 were announced.

The BCSH members in the group picture are:
Back row: Carole Janninck, Sherri Manz, Charlene Hurt, Audrey Munger, Sharon Kooi
Middle row: Per Glomski, Irm Niemann, Gail Grosskurth, Lorraine Handlin, Birdie Argast
Front row: Luanne Lukasziewski, Midge Novy, Shirley Gorby, Andrea Berebitsky, Pat Oakley.
The new team leaders for 2014 are:
Back row: Lorraine Handlin, Andrea Berebitsky
Front row: Audrey Munger, Pat Oakley

Andrea Berebitsky
Breast Cancer Support Hour
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Sun City’s own running “Olympian”

On Feb. 1, Nick Koplos, Neighborhood 32B, was honored at the Chicago Area Running Association’s yearly luncheon banquet held in downtown Chicago. The association includes runners from Chicago and its suburban/outlying areas. At the event, Nick received the second highest amount of points for first and second place finishes in CARA’s 10K and 5K running races. The Sun City resident, 77 years old, competes in the male division of 75 to 79 years of age. Nick completed 15 races, with several gold medals earned during the spring, summer, and fall of 2013.

Also in this same time period and proving his versatility, Mr. Koplos was the sole Sun City/Huntley track representative. In July, he successfully competed in the Six County Senior Olympic track meet. Here, his depth in long-distance running earned him a gold in the 2-mile and 800-meter runs. He also earned a silver in the 400-meter run and a bronze in the 200-meter run.

On Feb.22, our Sun City elite runner of Greek heritage garnished a second place finish in Punta Gorda, Florida’s 5K Run. Congratulations to our “Olympian” for his successful running endeavors!

By Joanie Koplos
Sun City resident
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Stingrays win big in their first meet of 2014

On Jan. 12, five Stingray Swim Club members rose early on a crisp Sunday morning. Their goal was to participate in the first Masters swim meet of 2014, held at the Des Plaines Lattof YMCA. The Sun City tankers were comprised of Terry Hora, Nancy Moore, Mark Schark, Joan Souchek, and Joanie Koplos.

The 200 Mixed Medley Relay proved to be one of the highlights of the morning. The event consists of two men and two women participating in the same relay using four different strokes. The 55-Plus Age Group Relay was swam in this order: Schark swimming initially the 50-yard Backstroke, Moore next swimming the 50-yard Breaststroke, Hora continuing by swimming the 50-yard Butterfly, and Koplos finishing by swimming the 50-yard Freestyle. A first place ribbon was earned by the quartet of tankers!

In fact, a total of 16 ribbons were won by the end of the meet: 12 first place, three second place, and one third place. Here are the individual results for each swim­mer and the age group in which each participated:

Joan Souchek (Women’s 85-89): Two first place: 50 Freestyle and 50 Backstroke

Nancy Moore (Women’s 70-74): Three first place: 200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, and 200 Mixed Medley Relay

Terry Hora (Men’s 70-74): Three first place: 100 Freestyle, 50 Breaststroke, and 200 Mixed Medley Relay; One second Place: 50 Backstroke

Mark Schark (Men’s 50-54): One first place: 200 Mixed Medley Relay; One sec­ond Place: 200 Freestyle, One third place: 50 Backstroke

Joanie Koplos (Women’s 70-74): Three first place: 100 IM, 50 Butterfly and 200 Mixed Medley Relay; One second place: 200 Freestyle

Joanie Koplos
Sun City resident
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Celebrating Tax Day

My wife Mary and I like to celebrate. One of the standard DJ songs at wed­dings and parties which people our age attend is: “Celebrate.” After all, some of the song’s words include: “Let’s celebrate good times, come on!” You can’t help but to smile and feel joyful as you hear these words and dance to the music beat.

Well maybe Mary and I are too joyful, but we thank God and celebrate being alive and together – and even the comple­tion of our annual income tax submission.

Since we were married 25 exciting years ago, we have our joint income taxes done by a C.P.A. at least a month before the deadline date, Tax Day, April 15. Then, af­ter signing and submitting the documents to the IRS and our State, we go out to a very nice restaurant and have a delicious luncheon and dessert to celebrate. We re­ally look forward to this celebration event every year!

If you can’t understand why, think about it for a minute. All of us spend many hours gathering the deductible receipts, checks, info, and forms for the itemized “1040” tax reports. We collect everything into a logical order to go over with a tax expert. That’s a lot of work and anxiety to go through. It was difficult when we were working fulltime, but we are supposed to be retired now! What a relief when it is finished, isn’t it?

As to the payment of taxes (you may find this surprising), our philosophy has the same positive view as that of Mary’s father. He believed it was a privilege to be a citizen of our great country and to have earned enough money to qualify to pay taxes to support the overall wonder­ful things the USA does for us and others as citizens, as well as for the world. He ex­perienced the Great Depression, enlisted in the Army’s World War II Pacific Opera­tions, and came back home to work hard, raised a family, prospered, and purchased a home. He was a humble person and a grateful person – as was my father, a vet­eran of WWI, who experienced the Great Depression as well as the major upward rebounds in our prosperous economy. Our mothers shared that philosophy also.

We, too, consider our tax payments as our small way of paying for the freedoms, benefits, democracy, and security that our country and state offer us. We have served our country and others in need, travelled and talked with many from other countries, and realized from their testimonies just how wonderful the USA and our people are. Believe me, our taxes are a very small price for all the freedoms and blessings we have received. Taxes are not evil; they can produce some good.

So despite the naysayers and negative, sour commentators about our country whom we hear and who try to spoil our feelings of national pride, you may agree that overall, our country has been very good, though not perfect, and has done for us what we could not do for or by ourselves as individuals.

In mid-March, we signed the forms and our CPA electronically transmitted our tax forms to the IRS and state – this now “instantly” signifies the completion of our tax process. We look forward soon to our annual “taxes are submitted” celebration luncheon. We thank God for so many blessings, and we are very happy that we can celebrate Tax Day again. Hope you decide to have a celebration this year as well. God bless America!

Ken Kozy
Sun City resident

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