SALINA -Former U. S. Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, who represented Kansas in Washington D. C. for more than 20 years, will be the keynote speaker at the 2015 Sunflower Fair.

Kassebaum Baker will speak on Tues., Sept. 22 at Salina’s Bicentennial Center, 800 the Midway. The former U.S. Senator’s participation was announced today in a media release by the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging (NC-FH AAA).

Kassebaum Baker’s presentation is part of the Agency’s celebration recognizing the 50th anniversaries of Medicare, Medicaid and The Older Americans Act.

Kansans may register for the Sunflower Fair by calling 1-800-432-2703 or by going to www.ncfhaaa.com. Cost for the all-day event is $20 for those registering before Sept. 11. Registrations may also be mailed to the Area Agency on Aging at 401 Houston St., Manhattan, KS 66502. Major event sponsors are Salina Regional Health Center, Eagle Communications and the Flint Hills Foundation for Older Kansans.

Kassebaum Baker took office in December 1978. She served on many prominent committees, including Commerce, Budget, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Science and Transportation, and the Special Committee on Aging. When Republicans took control of the Senate in 1980, Kassebaum Baker exchanged her seat on the Banking Committee for one on the prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In 1985, shechaired the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation and also chaired the Select Committee on Ethics.

Beginning in the 101st Congress in 1989, Kassebaum Baker served on the Labor and Human Resources Committee, the committee with oversight of Medicare, Medicaid and The Older Americans Act.When the Republican Party recaptured the Senate in 1994, her seniority in the 104th Congress made her chair of the committee. Her chairmanship of Labor and Human Resources marked the first time a woman had chaired a major standing Senate committee and the first time that any woman headed a Senate panel since Margaret Chase Smith chaired the Senate Special Committee on Rates and Compensation of Certain Officers and Employees in 1954.

“We are delighted that Senator Kassebaum Baker will share her perspectives with us at our Sunflower Fair this year as we celebrate our Agency’s 40th anniversary and 50 years of The Older Americans Act,” said Jay Rowh, Chair of the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging Board of Directors. “Her leadership, her focus on national health care priorities and her long-standing work and concern for care of elders and disabled Americans brings context to our celebration of the important anniversaries we have this year,” he said.

“We make the Sunflower Fair a wonderful day of useful information and fun, said Julie Govert Walter, NC-FH AAA Executive Director. “Besides Senator Kassebaum’s participation, our celebration will feature 70 exhibits, 12 workshops and the Kansas Lions Mobile Screening Unit and more. We invite seniors, caregivers—and all who plan to celebrate more happy birthdays—to come for a great time!”