By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Volunteer cook’s assistant Joan Lago of Peabody Senior Center is the 2017 Sunflower Sensation from Marion County. She has been a volunteer for two years at Peabody Senior Center. She works two days a week as a cook’s assistant.

Lago was selected by Senior Citizens of Marion County to represent the county.

“I was excited,” she said, “but I’m the oldest of 11 children, and I raised six children, so I’m used to working.”

In addition to working two days a week at the senior center, she is president of the women’s organization at Peabody Christian Church. The organization sends cards, serves refreshments at funerals, and recently hired someone to clean church carpets.

She and her husband moved to Peabody in 1983 while working in Wichita. She retired from Coleman Co. in 2001.