Sharon Powell Quincy and Damon Ward

[00:04] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Ready? My name is Sharon Powell Quincy. I'm 74 years old. Today's date is March 26, 2022. And I am in the StoryCorps virtual recording booth. And I'm here with Damon, who is my one small step partner.

[00:22] DAMON WARD: My name is Damon Ward. I am 47 years old. The date is March 26, 2022. I am in the StoryCorps virtual recording booth, and I'm here with Sharon, who is my one small step partner.

[00:37] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Fantastic, Sharon. This is Damon's bio, so you can go ahead and read that out loud and then ask any initial questions that you have. Wichita, Kansas is home. I was raised primarily in a single parent home with conservative christian values. I was the first person on either side of my family to attend college, primarily as an avenue to have a higher standard of living than I grew up with. I believe in personal accountability, a limited role of government in society, and the importance of hard work. I'm married, and I have one son who is almost out of high school. Do I ask questions? Yep. So any initial questions or curiosities, go.

[01:21] DAMON WARD: Right ahead and ask.

[01:22] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, my first one is about your last name. Damon. How do you spell that last name?

[01:27] DAMON WARD: Ward.

[01:29] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, Ward. Oh, my goodness. Well, I have questions later about relatives. I'm one of those six. Six degrees people. And what part of rivers, what part of Wichita did you grow up in?

[01:44] DAMON WARD: So I grew up in southwest Wichita.

[01:47] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Okay. Okay. What high school and schools?

[01:50] DAMON WARD: I went to campus high school in Haysville.

[01:52] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yeah. And you obviously are younger than me. When did you graduate?

[01:58] DAMON WARD: I graduated in 1992.

[02:01] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Okay. And when you say conservative christian values, what denomination?

[02:06] DAMON WARD: So I actually grew up, raised pentecostal. And I would say that, you know, that was really, I would say my home religion with my mom. I went away from that as I branched out on my own. And really, I'm in a non denominational christian church now and have been since I was probably 20 years old. So no affiliated denomination right now.

[02:37] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And do you regularly go to church?

[02:39] DAMON WARD: We do. So we have, you know, I have since I was, you know, in my lower twenties by myself. And then that's where I met. Met my wife. And we've attended a couple of churches, one for a very long period of time. And then we recently changed churches, but probably about two years ago, and there was a. There was a pastoral change, and we didn't really have a strong connection to the new pastor. And we've been attending the same church now for a couple of years and really enjoy it.

[03:14] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: So you're. You're currently married or you're currently a.

[03:17] DAMON WARD: Single parent, currently married. Okay. I've been married. This will be the 23rd year.

[03:25] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Okay. Okay. I could go on and on, but I feel like I would do that all morning, so I comfortable turning it over. All right, Damon. This is Sharon's bio and same thing.

[03:39] DAMON WARD: Born in 1947 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Wichita, Kansas, is home since age six. I married Bill in 1974, and we honeymooned in Europe and Great Britain. We have two sons, two daughters in law, and three grandchildren. Our lives are centered on family, close friends, arts, music, local entertainment, good food, and reading. A we both graduated high school in 1965. Our careers were in industrial engineering and social work. Bill and her sons were active in Boy Scouts of America. I kept busy supporting their activities. In closing, I am an optimist and keep myself eager to learn and be as kind and good as I can. So, Sharon, similar to you, I think that we could probably have a conversation for hours.

[04:27] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I don't think so.

[04:29] DAMON WARD: I think that, you know, I have a feeling that you. That you enjoy a good conversation and ask questions, and so do I. So, just a few of the questions that I had. Looking at your bio is what brought your family to Wichita.

[04:43] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Divorce. My. I was born in Bowling Green, where my mother had met my father. He was in the army at Fort Hood from Fort. Not Fort. Well, whatever. Fort Campbell in Kentucky. And then we traveled from there to his home in Tampa. We had, my mother and my father, besides myself, had two other children, both sons. And at about my age, five and a half, almost six, they divorced, and my mother was a little embarrassed. Bowling green was her home. She had left a fiance in order to marry my father within two weeks, and she didn't want to go back home. So her brother, my uncle, lived here in Wichita, and we got on a train. My grandmother said, give the baby a little whiskey in his bottle, let the conductor take care of the two older kids. And we came to Wichita and lived very briefly with my uncle and aunt and their three children, our cousins. Anyway, then we married my stepdad, and that's where we've been here forever.

[05:44] DAMON WARD: Okay, excellent. Just a quick side note, and then I'll just move to my next question. But my dad was actually born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, so.

[05:50] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, my. I love small. See, that's two.

[05:54] DAMON WARD: So where did. So where in Europe did you have a chance to visit on your honeymoon?

[06:00] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, well, again, that's a little lengthy, but we landed in Luxembourg because that was a cheap student airfare between Wichita on icelandic air, and from there. My husband, by the way, had been to Europe before with two of his friends. So we went to Germany, went to the Black Forest, went to Rome for a day in, day out drive. My husband didn't care for Rome first trip, and so we just went to see a couple of big sites and left. We stayed in Florence, Italy, for several days. We stayed in Paris for several days, walked down to the Arc de Triomphe. Let's see, is that we train. Our transportation was on a train, and then our lodging was in b and B's. From Paris, we went to Calais, which is, if you've been to Europe, was where the hovercraft connected for rides across the water to great Britain. And we went to Robin Hoods Bay. That's where we landed, and met another couple friends of ours from Wichita that were married three months, three weeks later, met them at the castle on Dover, the white cliffs. And. See, I'm gonna get emotional. Anyway, so then we took a train, all of us, to London. Bill and I stayed in a different b and b than they did, and they were actually headed to Edinburgh because our friend was accepted into the PhD, ancient scottish history PhD program. Like, that's a very sellable degree. Not. And then from then, Bill and I did rent a car, and we drove along the east coast of Great Britain to Edinburgh, and I think we flew out of Glasgow. That's been 47 years ago. Yeah.

[07:59] DAMON WARD: I have a bunch more questions, but I know that we're going to save the time. But just a quick side note is that I do travel over to Scotland somewhat regularly for work. So I spent a handful of weekends in Edinburgh and quite a few in Glasgow as well. And so I could picture some of the things that you had a chance to see.

[08:22] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, and our friend that was went there, Damon took us on a drive through the. I want to say the highlands.

[08:30] DAMON WARD: Yeah.

[08:30] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And, of course, most of our pictures could almost look like someplace in the United States, but it was wonderful that it was Scotland. And his name is James Stewart. Just letting you know. So I can either prompt with some questions, or, you know, if you guys just want to, you know, keep. Keep going on your own term, this is your time. So go ahead.

[08:58] DAMON WARD: I'll let you. Let you jump in, and then I can fill in the gaps.

[09:03] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, I was thinking when I first read your bio, and again, I don't want to get deep into politics, of course, that would take us another day, but because of your conservative background, and obviously, I don't know what denomination you're in now, what non denominational church. But I'm assuming you're still more, as you say, more conservative. And I'm curious, I'm excited to know as a volunteer for the local NPR station, I'm excited to know that you listen to NPR a lot. I love NPR, too. Our whole family is NPR listeners. So I'm curious, what drew you to this, given your conservative background? Not that, not that NPR is, leans either way, but I think that most of the listeners tend to be less conservative. Is that what you think?

[09:56] DAMON WARD: Yeah, 100%. And I think just like anything else, I don't agree with everything I hear on NPR when I have a chance to listen. And I think that everybody's somewhat skeptical, regardless of what source. Well, I hope people are skeptical, I'll put it that way. But there's things that I can hear on NPR that I won't hear other places. And so I think what really drew me to just this activity and, you know, it really struck a chord when I heard Dave talk about it. And it's, and it's this, if we think about and we're both old enough to remember when our country was far less divided than it is right now.

[10:43] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yes.

[10:44] DAMON WARD: And I think that, you know, particularly if we think about, you know, some of the world events that we've both lived through and the, the emergence of technology. And I think the, I would say the transformation, this is, in my opinion, the transformation of politics and news into more of entertainment than really reporting the facts, reporting the news, having real conversation, real debate. I think, and it's not that I wanted to come on and debate anybody, but I think that what we've lost is the aspect that there's probably 80 or 90% of life that you and I would agree on. You and any person, me and any person, there's 80% to 90% of life that we all want the same things. We all care about the same things. And then there's, you know, ten to 20% that tends to divide people. And we've made it us and them.

[11:50] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yes.

[11:51] DAMON WARD: And I hate that, you know, it just, it's, it's a, it's, it's hurtful to people. I think that, you know, we've, we've moved to a place in society where we, we don't try and draw people together. It's. No, we want to divide more because we want, we want this side and we want, you know, my opinion, both sides want, want power in some way, shape or form. And I think that it's a, it's a bit of a broken process at the current state. And, you know, I saw this as an opportunity. Just, I thought it was fascinating, you know, in the sense of if you can, you know, the whole thought process, one small step. If you could repeat this a number of times, then I think that what it will do is reinvigorate the ability just to have conversation with people.

[12:44] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I do, too.

[12:46] DAMON WARD: So why did you want to do it?

[12:48] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, as I said earlier, I relish personal connections. I don't look forward to disagreements, and hopefully that doesn't happen as a rule. I think you're right. We are all headed and want the very same simple things in life, and we disagree only on a small, small ways to get there. And so. And again, as a. I guess as a volunteer for KMUW, I also think I should walk the walk, kind of walk the talk, so to speak. Volunteer. My area of volunteering is basically during their pledge drives. Okay. And I've missed a couple. Of course, they've done it differently during COVID and I missed, actually, they're in the middle of one, I think, right now in Wichita. And I, you know, I used to volunteer for a reading service. They provided for the people that had visual inabilities to read. I loved it. You went in once a week, you recorded a book you were reading, and you could pick the book. And the last book I read out loud was Gone with the wind, which was very long. And. And I learned that the book was different than the movie and that that was the name of, the actual name of the segment was the book is better. And it's true. But I'm also Damon. I'm in charge of my high school graduation. I'm the contact person for everything we do. Again, we graduated in 65. And that has brought me so much joy. As I find classmates, I get them to come to reunions or at least talk and share information. And I keep everybody up to date on losses. And because we're older, we have many more losses now. So I just love the ability to know people. I don't know any other way to say it, but yeah, that's what drew me.

[14:44] DAMON WARD: Sure. So, Sharon, just going back and touching on your bio, and I think that this is. Know what I struggled with is I wish I would have had a bio that I could have put about 3000 words on, quite frankly.

[14:59] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: But me too.

[15:02] DAMON WARD: So, you know, I wanted to really put somewhat limited bio to really spur conversation. But one thing that you had mentioned, you know, is arts and music and good food. So I'll say that's something that my wife and I are both passionate about as well. And we both enjoy cooking.

[15:22] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And, you know, I usually, oh, we can talk forever.

[15:26] DAMON WARD: So I usually, I usually try and do the cooking on, on Sundays, and it's more often than not something on the smoker or the grill or, you know, something to that effect. And my wife usually cooks during the week. She works part time. And so what are, what are some of your favorites, whether it's arts or music or food?

[15:46] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, just Thursday night we went to the art museum because there was a program. There's so many wonderful programs, and it wasn't about art. It was about the canopy of Wichita. And there's a, you know, a few people trying to form an actual governmental group, volunteer governmental group to protect and reinvest continually in our canopy. And that was very interesting. But we do we go to the Bartlett Arboretum for their music?

[16:16] DAMON WARD: Yeah.

[16:17] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: In fact, we might as well be seasoned members. We've gone for several years, and I, I often take a picture and post it and say, this is like it is heaven on earth to me down.

[16:27] DAMON WARD: It is.

[16:28] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: We've sat, huh? Have you been there?

[16:31] DAMON WARD: We've probably been there at the same time.

[16:32] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, my goodness. Well, in fact, there's two coming up. Did you see? There's a strings thing coming up. Anyway, then we can talk. And we used to go to the Dick arboretum. We had season tickets there. Their music program never was disappointed, even though we seldom knew the performers before. But we haven't gone back there yet because, you know, their seating is, their seating is inside and very close together. So we're going to wait a little bit on that. We also go up to the Stifel a lot. Just, just bought tickets for Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staple. And I really, really would like to go see James Taylor at the entrance, but I don't like their seating. But anyway, we had, we did see him there a while back, so. And, you know, my one, our sons are very musically inclined. Our oldest son was in a band, a scratch band for a long time. Anyway. We just, we love it.

[17:26] DAMON WARD: Okay, great. Fantastic. So I think that, you know, we, we like a broad spectrum of music. I will say that I like, I like rock more than anything else, but, you know, anything from classical to heavy metal and almost anything in between, except for me. I'm not a country fan. My wife is. But, you know, we enjoy that. Like I said, we enjoy cooking. My son, he recently, you know, I'll say that we prompted him last year to branch out a little bit. He's, you know, he's a junior in high school. This year. And he plays a fall sport, plays soccer. But we wanted to keep him busy in the spring. And we said, well, you can do the swim team or you can go try out for the, the play at school. He did that and thoroughly enjoyed it and then had a lead this fall or early earlier this year in Oklahoma.

[18:25] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Wow.

[18:26] DAMON WARD: For the school's production. Did a fantastic job.

[18:29] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Wow.

[18:29] DAMON WARD: We enjoyed.

[18:30] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Where does he go to school?

[18:32] DAMON WARD: He goes to Trinity Academy here in Wichita.

[18:35] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I go out there to the doctors all the time. I pass it. Do you have any more questions?

[18:43] DAMON WARD: I have a whole list of questions, but go ahead.

[18:45] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I know mine aren't spontaneous. I was going to try to be organized. I did not. So cooking we have before COVID just since you love cooking, we began to take a couple, we got a couple of delivered meals, not meals delivered ingredients. And we use the Marley Spoon program, which is a Martha Stewart thing. It is a little pricier. But I, we, for some reason we both lost weight over Covid. And I don't know why exactly, but no, we're not going to question it. But I've come to really love the dinner prep time for those meals and I've started to do it for the other meals we cook during the week. And yes, in fact, when I went out on, we went out on Thursday night to that program at the art museum. We, we met some friends at the anchor. It was only the second time that bill and I sat down in a restaurant since COVID began.

[19:42] DAMON WARD: Oh, wow.

[19:42] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I've occasionally been me because I have a couple of different girlfriend groups I meet and have been to other places. Not a lot, but the Marley spoon meals, I just, you know, I get out, I get out my cutting board, I get out all my knives and utensils, a few measuring cups. Automatically the meals come with a, all the ingredients, including the garlic from scratch. And, and of course, they have steps to complete their recipe. You don't always need to follow them. Exactly. Last night was a wonderful chicken curry. But we have, we just enjoy that a lot and, you know, critique the meals and you get to choose your meals. And by the way, in case you're ever interested, it's, we pay about $56 a week for two meals for two people. So you can see it's not right. Cheat sheet. But anyway, that's what we like.

[20:35] DAMON WARD: Excellent. Excellent. You know, one of the, one of the conversation starter questions was about the most influential person in your life. Who would you say that is?

[20:49] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, lord. Well, see, you got to make me cry. I would have to say right now it's my mother. We were not close growing up. I wasn't kind of the frou frou little girl I think she wanted. I did my best. I didn't really care about doing that, but nonetheless. And we had a wild life growing up. When we married, my stepdad, he had three older children and my mother worked full time. I resented that because I thought at the time she was one of the few mothers that did work full time. Though I didn't get to come home for lunch, I had to stay at school. But she was the most accepting person of anybody. In fact, she, if somebody was down and out, that, that was her best friend. She, they were there at all the time. She had food on all the time. We ate every Sunday dinner over there. She babysat for all the grandkids and more. And in fact, as a grandmother now, I, I watch my grandkids whenever I need to. In fact, it's officially three days a week. My daughter in law is a nurse, but I've said often if I don't do this, my mother will come, you know, come out and haunt me. That kind of thing. And lastly, to say what kind of person she was, three of her blood, her direct line grandchildren, she has six, have her name tattooed on their body. That's, that's how important she was. And when my oldest son graduated from high school without telling me, he went to the cemetery there. They're buried at Rest Haven and, and wedged his mortarboard down in by her headstone just for the weekend. So. And of course, as with all always, I have regrets that we weren't better friends, actually friends, but anyway, she was, she was amazing.

[22:44] DAMON WARD: Yeah, that's a great story.

[22:45] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: What about you?

[22:47] DAMON WARD: So I would say that, you know, I always have to say that, you know, first and foremost, I'm going to give you two, I think that, you know, my wife is a, she is an amazing, amazing mother and person. And I'll say that she's much better than me in a lot of different ways, but she's, she's just a good example of, you know, what, what being a serving, good christian value person should be. So somebody that walks the walk in every way and she's a blessing. But if I look outside of that, you know, probably the most influential person is somebody that I became friends with about twelve years ago. And his name's Rick McNary and Rick is someone who's very active in the hunger relief space. And so we became friends and there was a meal packing event for the victims of the haitian earthquake in 2010, that was held in El Dorado. And my son was about six at the time, five at the time. And my wife and son and I went out. It was Christmas week, we went out and. Sorry, I'm gonna close my window here real quick.

[24:09] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: That's okay.

[24:11] DAMON WARD: That's trash truck back in the course, some construction equipment. Somebody's doing some lawn work of some kind. But there was a meal packaging event, and they were, you know, packaging a million meals for victims of the earthquake. And there were people, you know, we, over 300,000 people died. There were people that were starving. And so, you know, we've always looked for ways, you know, just from, you know, my wife and I, we grew up with very similar. She was, she grew up Baptist. I grew up pentecostal. But we, you know, we met in church. And it's one of those where there's, and it's sad to say, but there's, there's a lot of people that are, you know, christians, but they don't do anything for anybody except for themselves. And it's a sad state. And so, you know, we try to the best of our ability to really be the hands and feet of God. And so we went as a family to do that. And it was one of those where it was fun and it was emotional and it was moving because you knew that there were people that you would never see, never meet, never speak to, but you were going to impact their lives in a positive way. And so, you know, we had a really, really good conversation with Rick. He was the CEO of this small organization, and he's just somebody who's very optimistic and visionary. And he lives out his faith day by day in a very humble way. And we've had the chance over the years to do meal packaging events in New York City and San Francisco and multiple times here in Wichita, just really to help feed the hungry. And he moved to a different organization, I'm guessing probably about eight or nine years ago. It's a bigger organization. And my wife and I have, you know, we've invested in quite a few projects in Tanzania, where they have a children's center there to help bring clean water to the village. And that's been really a bit of a life changing experience because you have, you know, primarily the women and girls who spend a tremendous amount of their lives just trying to get clean water to keep their family from dying. Right.

[26:44] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yes. Healthy.

[26:45] DAMON WARD: And they have, you know, they have issues with dysentery and cholera and those things. So, you know, we've we've been blessed enough in life to give back, and Rick's been a big part of spurring that along. So we talk regularly in some way, shape, or form. We probably talk at least once a week. So he's been a big influence over the last decade.

[27:10] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: That's cool. Yeah. I would like to say who else has been active and influential in my life, but I also, it's wonderful to have people like that and to know people like that. And I think I've heard about him, and I know I've heard about those programs. I was a social worker, and as a social worker, all my career was at the Red Cross, and we had a number of different programs under that umbrella, from things like helping veterans with VA claims, to helping military families communicate with somebody in an emergency, to helping pay rent and utilities for people in need. And as a result of that, we were very active on many different committees, groups in Wichita that had a variety of social service programs as well. However, the very last part of, throughout my career, and mostly in the very last part, I was a manager of disaster service. As a result of that, I responded to disasters all over our country, and I could have responded to other countries, but I didn't. And it was, it was, you know, because I was, we were raising two boys, and I didn't want to be gone forever. And you had to commit to three weeks. But as a result, whether it's, oh, it was horrible in Haiti, but I do pay attention to those events, I think partly because that's what I did for a living, and I grew very, you know, close to that issue. And it is amazing whether it's here, whether it's a house, a single house fire, whether it's the millions in Haiti, whether it's people in Greensburg, Kansas, their individual losses feel the very same, I think, from what I saw. But it is, it is those very simple things like you did, like they, the food and the water that makes such a big difference, and we just forget that, I think, you know, anyway, so I understand that what you're talking about. I miss that a little bit. I don't miss getting up in the middle of the night and worrying about a storm coming through the state or any of that. But anyway, pay attention.

[29:29] DAMON WARD: So, Sharon, give, give me an overview of what is your political mindset. What do you, how do you see, how do you see life through the political lens?

[29:41] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, one thing I noticed that you said that I imagine we could discuss a lot, was a limited role of government in society. And I realize I think what I think when I see that, Damon, is every one of us has our favorite thing. We want the government to be in control of.

[30:05] DAMON WARD: Yeah.

[30:06] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And I think that's what gets us into arguments. Because, you know, we may want great infrastructure. But somebody else may want food for everybody. Or somebody may want health insurance. So I do think that is a. That's a particular interesting point. But. So I'm very liberal. My folks used to cancel each other out voting. But my mother was from. Born in Kentucky. We were a very. I think that's where my social consciousness sort of came from. And my mother's care and concern. For anybody that came through the front door. And then add to that. Well, and the other thing is. My father had a drinking problem. And in the fifties and sixties. I think this is a little bit too generic of a statement. But I think a lot of working families. And the dads of a lot of working families. You know, my dad would go down to the corner service station. And the man in the back room would go have a little sit. When he was younger. He ran whiskey during prohibition. From Missouri. Anyway. But he was also. He wasn't. We didn't have a cruel family. We didn't have a physically violent family. He just had a drinking problem. Now, I don't know where I was. See, I've lost my train of thought. But anyway, he was the most wonderful, giving, kind person together. They were wonderful. And then as I got into high school, of course, I was in the sixties. And that was a tumultuous time. But not quite like, not divided so much like today, differently. And I just leaned. I just leaned that way. I couldn't say no to people in need of any. For anything. And I do believe I'd rather be taxed to the nth degree. To make sure everybody in our country. Has the minimum they need. To keep themselves healthy, safe, and with a decent life. Now, I know that means I'd be, you know, dirt poor. And living on the streets myself. But that's. That's where I come from. And my husband's very much like that, too. He was raised in the south end, south central land. And went to South High. Anyway, that's how. That's why. And I could go, you know, I could. You can ask me if you want to. About any individual.

[32:26] DAMON WARD: Sure.

[32:27] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: But.

[32:28] DAMON WARD: Sure. So, Sharon, we could probably talk about this. And I think that it's. Here's what I like is that about this experience is we can have a conversation without it being personal. It's personal to each one. Of us. But, you know, as long as we can do it without a judging way because we are on complete opposite ends.

[32:54] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yes.

[32:55] DAMON WARD: But I'll share, I'll share some of my thoughts with you. And again, it's just, I'm going to share just like you did. But one thing, I'm going to take one step aside. And it's amazing how even in spite of our bios and how we fill things out, my father also had a drinking problem. And it was really the, and it was started with drinking and moved to drugs. And it was the reason why my mom and dad got divorced. And again, nothing was ever violent. He was, when he was there, he was an amazing father. We had great fun together, but it just, it didn't work. And it's ultimately what, he died at age 57. And it was because of, he really just abused his body. You know, he was in and out of jail and prison and he wasn't a criminal, but it was just one of those where addiction drove his entire life. But that being aside just from a political perspective, you know, we didn't, we didn't grow up as politics being the center of any family discussion, but, you know, certainly leaned very heavily republican. And if I just, if I just take one step back and I mentioned this somewhat briefly earlier, but I think, you know, systems, system is somewhat broken. I think that we find ourselves in this, you know, endless election circus where, you know, most people will go to Washington because they're passionate about one cause or another, and Washington does change the system. You know, it's fascinating. I've had the chance to go and lobby for our company on Capitol Hill. I've been on Capitol Hill probably 50 different times. So I've seen in living color how the system really works. And you're exactly right that people don't necessarily understand that, you know, each member of Congress, each senator, the president, every person on the administration, that there is a constant stream of people asking for help on one issue or another, and there's no way to help everyone. There's no way to hear everyone's problem or do something about it. And I think that the one thing that I was able to observe, and I think this is where there's some level of hope, but there's a systematic problem. But the individual people that are in those offices that have been elected, I mean, there's. And their staffs. And their staffs. I mean, I think that there's a tremendous number of people on both sides of the aisle that are, you know, intelligent, caring, you know, high integrity. People that they really, they really just want to do good. And you're exactly right on how they get there. And what they focus on can be very, very different. You know, if I. If I talk about the role of limited government, and this is probably where we're going to differ the most, but I look at it just general. Right. Just generally, I'm saying, well, if everything worked perfectly and I'm going to come back and say one comment, so remind me to mention it. If I don't, I look at it and say, what do I want government to do? Well, I want them to keep us safe. So, you know, clearly defense, clearly infrastructure, there is a very important role for government and regulation, so keeping us safe from what do we put in our bodies to food? And, you know, I will say I'm not far left on climate, but do I believe wholeheartedly that we affect our world? Yes, you mentioned canopy. I wrote that down because I want. And green space is probably the number one threat that I see to our world in a lack of green space and clear cutting of forests. And it's devastating. But, you know, I just watched a documentary on that this week. But I think that, you know, you look at those, and I. And I do believe wholeheartedly that government plays a role in providing a social safety net to people who, for whatever reason, we, we growing up. I mean, I was on the, uh, public assistance growing up, multiple times. You know, my mother, you know, she had a high school education. She didn't have really any skills training, no college. My dad abandoned us, never paid a dime of child support. And so she. She did what she needed to do to keep it safe. But there were times where ends couldn't be met, and. And those are the times where government needs to. To provide that safety net to people. I view it as something temporary versus something that's systemic. That's just my view, because I think that if. If people have the right initiative, we have the opportunity in our country for people to really do anything they want to do. Now. There's limitations. The one thing I wanted to come back to is I will say that I think that where. And I'll use the word religion, and it's really people. I think that we've become more dependent on government because people with religious values have not stepped in to fill the gap, which is one reason why we do what we do as a family, is because we see. Absolutely there are people in need. Absolutely there are people that don't necessarily know what to do or how to do it. There are people that are down and up that need. That need a hand up. And I view it as a hand up versus a handout. I think that it creates a certain level of dependency, which that's the struggle, is how do we break that cycle? And that's where we probably differ the most.

[39:01] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Well, and I do agree. I do think it should be a hand up, not a handout. I guess, coming from social work, the one difference may be. And I. But I bet you agree with this as well. There are people who. Well, I think are. I think the growing need for mental health in our country says that. Says what I want to say, because there are people who won't. Who won't be able to do the right thing. Not that they don't want to.

[39:28] DAMON WARD: Right.

[39:29] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: They never had a role model. They never had. Whatever was the little difference that made you go to college, college that nobody else. They never had that. And I think what I would say for government, it would be wonderful if the role of government was to be the connectivity between allowing local volunteer, local, not for profits, to do their job and piece together those volunteers from religious or non religious backgrounds. But, yeah, I. I would hate to be making those decisions. And I agree with you that I'm sure once somebody gets to their office in DC, it's very hard for them to stick to their original principles, I would imagine. It's horrible.

[40:12] DAMON WARD: Yeah.

[40:14] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I was gonna ask you something and I don't know what it was now. Darn it. Well, it's two things that. Not related to what we just been talking about. But you mentioned you love rock. Did you know that the drummer, Foo fighters, was found dead?

[40:27] DAMON WARD: I did see that this morning. And so, you know, my wife and I, Foo fighters is one of the bands that we. That we love. And, you know, I can't help but think that it's drug related somehow at the age of 50 and right before a concert. But we'll wait and see. But, yeah, you know, it's one of those where, right when I saw the news article, I remember the last concert we went to when they were here in Wichita, and I. And he just has such a tremendous energy about him and, you know, absolutely sad.

[40:59] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: So sometimes those people that seem to have the most charisma in that way and be able to reach out to us end up being troubled so much inside. That's what the other thing I was curious about was, what do you do that takes you to Scotland several times? So I don't want to be too nosy, but I guess I.

[41:19] DAMON WARD: No, this is a, this is a very transparent conversation. So I'm a vice president in finance at Spirit Aerosystems here in town.

[41:28] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Okay.

[41:29] DAMON WARD: And so, you know, my, I went to college and have a degree in accounting, became a certified public accountant and certified global management accountant. And, you know, I've worked either in corporate, corporate taxation or accounting for the last 25 years. And we have, you know, operating a plant in Prestwick, Scotland. So just right outside of Glasgow. Okay. And we also acquired a company from Bombardier a couple of years back that has an operating facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland. And so usually I go over at least once a year, and then we have operating facilities in France and in Malaysia and then obviously a few places here in the US. But it's really. Covid, I'll just put it this way. In 2019, I spent at least one night in 19 different cities in 2019 and in 20200 and in 20210. And so I took my first international business trip about a month ago. I went back over to Scotland and Northern Ireland for a week, but that was my first time in a couple of years of any business trip at all, which for me, I've traveled quite a bit for a very, very long period of time. So being at home for as long as I was was a bit of a life change.

[43:03] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Yeah. Well, that's interesting because I wonder how you feel that very interesting job. My husband was a Boeing employee and at the very last spirit before he retired, and a young man right across the street as an engineer. Anyway, so I have to say during COVID I don't feel guilty. I get, I think first I felt guilty about saying this, that I really like being at home a lot, and I like not. I think it has brought Bill and I, obviously, a lot more time together. That's my husband. And really, the only thing we focused on was our children. And we do have a very. Anyway, so I am hoping to keep some of that less hectic schedule myself. And as a retiree, it's a little bit easier. We do have a group of friends that my husband graduated. They became a group of friends related to graduating together from South High. And so two or three of these men have been friends with my husband since grade school, and a couple of them went to the prom, double dated. Anyway, we, they are a very liberal group. If somebody shows up that I happen to know that's not liberal, I'm kind of worried that they're going to, it's just going to be some, you know, discomfort on somebody's part. But. But anyway, we have been doing zoom for two years and every Friday night. The good thing about this, two or three of these people don't live in Wichita. One lives in, one lives in Des Moines, one lives in Casey. And one, he's. He's got a travel trailer and fishes between Michigan and Texas. So because we do zoom, they can join us every Friday night. That's what we did last, not. And so now we're struggling with. So do we go, we. What we did before Damon was we. Somebody would. Somebody would choose where we're going to go for dinner. We'd meet for dinner, and then we go back to that person's house, that family's house, and have dinner and drinks and conversation. Not dinner, drinks. And. So how do we start that again? But. But also include these out of town people. And so we're just beginning to probably come up with some ideas on that. But that's another thing about eating out. I just wanted to make sure, you know, about the foo fighters. And let me see if there's anything else that. What part of town do you live in now?

[45:26] DAMON WARD: So I live at 127th and Harry.

[45:30] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[45:32] DAMON WARD: So we've lived on. You know, my wife and I have lived on the east side of town since. Since we got married. And, you know, interesting comment. My wife also graduated from south, so. Oh, Wichita, obviously. It's a small world.

[45:47] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: It is a small town.

[45:48] DAMON WARD: We probably would have 75,000 connection points on things that we do.

[45:54] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I think so, too. I envy you're being able to hear, Dave. I see. That would be wonderful. I hate to interrupt. We're getting close to the end of our time here, so just kind of putting things in a reframe for, you know, wrapping up the conversation. One of the questions that we do like to end on is, what are your hopes for the future? And you can feel free to answer that, you know, from whatever spectrum, you know, whether it be very personal for you and your family or larger, in terms of a country. But. So let's take the conversation in that direction for a little bit of a closing, and then we'll get to each of you for final thoughts, if that's okay. So, Dave. You were just talking about Dave. I say, Damon, do you have any thoughts on hopes for the future?

[46:45] DAMON WARD: Yeah. So, hopes for the future. So my son had the chance to go on his first college visit yesterday, so he was up at K State with my wife all day. Unfortunately, I had some meetings I couldn't reschedule for work. But. But really, you know, our life for the last 17 years, we, you know, we only have one, and it wasn't by design, but that's what happened. But, you know, it's really been, how do we teach and nurture and correct and demonstrate examples to him on what it means to be a productive, caring member of society and be a blessing to others? And, you know, we have a wonderful young man that we've raised. And so, you know, really from hopes for the future is really twofold. One, that he finds his path. He still does not know exactly what he wants to do as a career. It's going to be in finance in some way, but that we find a good school for him, the right fit, and that he has a chance to thrive and grow and, you know, obviously be successful. Successful and safe. But then, you know, we look forward where, you know, I'm, hopefully, my goal is to retire at 60, but it would be just retire from my core job and then go do something more probably in the volunteer space because I'm someone that needs to stay busy or I will drive everyone, including myself, crazy. So, so really, it's, you know, so hitting the mark from a retirement plan and getting our son through college, those are the two immediate ones that come to mind.

[48:36] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And, Sharon, what about you? Well, my wish for my grandchildren mirrors what you wish for your son. We were fortunate, didn't know it all the time. But our two sons are wonderful men. One is a manager of a liquor store. One is a managing broker of a realty company in town, a good sized one. And they couldn't be nicer and more helpful. In fact, just a little side story. Last year, they gave me a birthday present, and that is to take me, just them and me, to the Kentucky Derby. This year. I've got my hat and they've got, they've got theirs. And, and we're going to do a couple of bourbon distilleries, going to get tattoos and bowling green where I was born. That's my highlight for this year. But, yes, we went through the same worries with our children, believe me. But they're good. They made it. But it takes sometimes until they're about 30 or 35 before you. Okay, they've done it. But, yeah, I only have three grandchildren, which doesn't seem like a lot. If you were near them, it would seem like a lot, but yes. And of course, I guess I, because I'm older than you. We did retire, by the way, at 59. But I hope that we are able to see them graduate from high school at least, or whatever their future may be past that point. And any closing thoughts on this experience or, you know, anything that you. You want to say to each other before I end the tape?

[50:12] DAMON WARD: Well, I'll start. You know, Sharon, I think this has been an absolute pleasure. I will say, I think that we could probably talk for hours and hours. So, you know, the only thing that was negative was that it seemed to go by in about five minutes.

[50:28] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I know. I know. Well, I feel we could meet for dinner, some nice restaurant.

[50:34] DAMON WARD: I think we should. Orlando, you know, would be happy to host you and your husband over for dinner and drinks sometime.

[50:40] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: That would be fun. I do want to ask one more question. The name Ward. One of my coworkers was Darla Ward. Her husband, her father passed before she came to work, and I don't remember her mother's name, but she has brothers. She now lives in Lawrence, and her brothers live in Lawrence. Any ward relationship?

[51:01] DAMON WARD: I will say that it's a very common question. There's. There's only a handful of wards that I really come across very regularly. But I will tell you, I don't have one single ward relative that lives here in town. Okay, maybe fascinating. But most of my ward relatives live in southeast Missouri. They. They, you know, ended up there from Kentucky, but. Kentucky. Kentucky, then Tennessee, then ended up in southeast Missouri. Yeah. No other ward relatives here in town besides my two sisters.

[51:36] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I do. I have enjoyed this conversation very, very much. It's. I had no idea what to expect. I'm sure you didn't either. In fact, I wasn't. I don't think I even saw or zeroed in on your gender. I was thinking you might be a woman. I don't know.

[51:50] DAMON WARD: I didn't figure out that you were. You know, I looked and I was like, oh, well, I don't know if I'm speaking with a woman or a man. And I figured that out. I said, well, she's around 75, but, yeah. So I tried not to dig too much, because I wanted to be more surprised and have a. Have a spontaneous conversation.

[52:09] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: I think we. I feel very, very enthused and energetic after our conversation.

[52:14] DAMON WARD: Me as well.

[52:15] SHARON POWELL QUINCY: And you did good. Mark Morgan, thank you very much for the facilitating.