Jane Byrnes

Photo courtesy of Jane Byrnes

This section highlights a local person of interest and admiration, a person whose achievements, manner, leadership, and/or character distinguish them.  If you know people we should include, please apprise us at editor@candor.news, and we will interview them for future issues of Candor. In your submission, include the person’s name, noteworthy traits and accomplishments, and their contact information.

In this issue, we are highlighting Jane Byrnes.

I was born and raised in Wichita’s “North End.”  I worked my way through several colleges, lived and worked in other cities, and returned to Wichita in 1982.  I am a registered, licensed dietitian and I teach a class on nutrition in the College of Health Professionals at Wichita State University. 

I helped start a group called Bike Walk Wichita.  In fact, I’m the reason “Walk” is in the name, and I continue to advocate for the health and safety of walking and walkability.  On the back of my Walk Kansas shirt, it says — “I walk because:

·       Life is not a race.

·       You don’t need lessons.

·       There’s nothing to assemble.

·       No one keeps score.

·       It makes me feel ten years younger.

·       There are no membership fees.

·       I plan to celebrate my 95th birthday.”

With walking, there’s no equipment to protect from theft, no tires to go flat, no gears to shift, no special clothes to wear.  Just put on shoes, open your front door and head out—if only around the block or to a park or school, to church, to groceries. With walking, you get to see porches, kids, flowers, and your neighbors, the good folks who chose the same neighborhood. You can admire other nature lovers’ coleuses, smell their lilacs, listen to their ponds gurgle.

Life is sweet at 3 miles per hour with all those birds and trees and neighbors, but even sweeter with a partner.  I’m a walker-and-talker.  Patty was my early morning partner for several years.  Judi was wonderful for another four, almost every weekday morning.  We were so dedicated that we’d meet up at the Y when it rained or snowed. Gloria is my Tuesday walking partner now and sometimes on Fridays.  Walking partners are conversationalists, become excellent friends, and create accountability.  They’re waiting for you and you wait up for them.  Dogs are happy walking accountability partners too. 

Walking my dog one otherwise-busy St. Patrick’s Day, it occurred to me that I was not going to have time for a green beer (my family leans Irish).  Lo and behold, on the next block a garage party offered me one!  My dog Lucy and I thought that perfect!  Would I have gotten the invite if I were in a car or on a bike?  Nope.  One green beer with neighbors made a memorable March 17, all the celebration I needed. 

Me, I’m a morning walker, but friend Crista relishes walking her dogs in the evenings.  Spouses and house partners and workmates figure out whether they can squeeze in mornings, lunch hours, after work, or in the dark.  Some folks I know like to walk alone—some listen to music or the news, to an audio book or podcast.  Accountability and routine matter because if folks walk regularly it benefits their health.  You know, versus TV.  And screen games. 

I see a lot of science about indoor air and COVID-19.  I only see a little bit of science about outdoor air and COVID. Nature dilutes and disperses viral particles.  Even if somebody just sneezed or coughed or sang a few minutes ago, the Kansas wind scatters any concentration to infinitesimal parts-per-million.  Yes, I mask up if I’m in a crowd outdoors, but not when there is no crowd. 

I live in the city and I’m a zealot for walkability, which is walking that is useful (healthy), comfortable (shade trees), and interesting (we walk as tourists, don’t we?).  In my city I am most concerned about safety: permit me a minute of grumbling that the budget for painting crosswalks was cut 12 years ago and several times since, even around schools and parks.  They seem to have enough bucks for cars--freeways and roadways and interchanges-- but never much for folks outside cars.  All taxpayers pay for roads whether they use them or not, but sidewalks in Wichita must be paid for by property owners whether they use them or not.

Walking in your own neighborhood makes your area safer and everybody more pleasant.  It’s simple and most folks can do it. It’s a community-builder and a friend-builder and a builder of mental and physical health, and it’s FREE. 

So, back to Bike Walk Wichita: it hosted fun walks throughout Walktober. Now, BWW invites you to take a picture of YOUR fun walks checking out seasonal holiday light in YOUR neighborhood walks. BWW will post them on their facebook page. Also, if YOU’d like to be a walk leader in your own neighborhood, tell us that too!

I hope we meet on a walk one day!