Introducing the MemberRelations Advisory CouncilAs OLLI West moves into a second decade, it sets sail with organizational changes

Meet Karen LindsayMeet the Member Relations Advisory Council president and a popular facilitator at OLLI West and OLLI South

Where’s Doug?Our favorite AV guy is moving to Maine

In MemoriumRecognizing Warren Hamilton and EdSchuster

Members In ActionThe last 6 months captured in pictures

IN THIS EDITION

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at University of Denver

YOUR OLLI WESTCOMMUNITY NEWS

Fall 2018

A s OLLI West moves into a second decade,

it sets sail with organizational changes.

Improvements, designed to enhance member

experiences, have been instituted and are taking

hold to ensure a responsive “member operated”

organization. At the helm of these changes is

what previously was The Advisory Council, a

central team which has been upgraded to The

Member Relations Advisory Council or MRAC

(m-rack). The new name denotes expanded and

refined purpose as this active group, relying on

communication with OLLI members, charts the

course of OLLI West.

MRAC is composed of the co-chairs of some OLLI

West working committees with which you may be

familiar – the Curriculum Committee, Social Events

Committee and the Marketing Committee. Added

to the MRAC is a Volunteer Recruitment Committee

and a New Member Focus Committee while a

scribe, budget coordinator and a member-at-large

help round out the Council. An organizational

chart included in this article schematically provides

a look at MRAC.

Why these changes? The revisions are designed

to optimize connections within the community

that is at the heart of OLLI West. The new format

is intended to both respond to and nurture our

community. OLLI brings together two principal

ingredients: people and learning. An organization

designed for those 50 and over, OLLI presents

opportunities for the shared exploration of ideas,

experiences, information and talents at a time

when other outlets may be taking a less active

place in members’ lives. Study upon study affirms

that meaningful relationships fuel well-being; OLLI

West offers social interaction to foster relationships

and the resulting benefits of vigor, constructive

engagement and positive outlook. Think of OLLI

as a health club for seniors, one where health is

broadly defined.

Optimizing the value of the OLLI West experience

for its members is the mission of the refashioned

Member Relations Advisory Council. While the

configuration of MRAC is set, the committees need

to be filled. The missing ingredient – YOU! Please

consider joining a committee so you may fully give

to and receive from all that is OLLI West. Find with

this article, not only the MRAC organizational

chart, but also a roster of those already in place as

committee chairs. Any one of them welcomes your

interest and is counting on an enthusiastic response

from OLLI West members so we may be better

together.

Introducing the Member Relations Advisory Councilof OLLI West

My humanity is bound up in yours for we can only be human together. “~Desmond Tutu

CONSIDER JOINING ONE OF THE OLLI WESTMEMBERS’ COMMITTEES

HELP OLLI WEST SHINE

2 3 OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters

T uesday afternoons find Karen Lindsay

in the JUC sanctuary talking about the

Canadian women artists of The Beaver Hall

Group as paintings are projected large on the

screen above. Over a period of eight years,

Karen has taught this and other art-in-the-

dark OLLI classes, earning her status as an

OLLI Master Facilitator. In addition, this year

she steps into the role of OLLI West Member

Relations Advisory Council (MRAC) President.

Several forks-in-the-road along her way inform

Karen’s presence at OLLI and in the community

Looking back to her youth with a mom who is

an artist, we glimpse Karen steering clear of art.

Matriculating at DU, she becomes a teacher

and later, a travel agent as she progresses

along a path that continues to avoid art.

However, during a summer sojourn in Canada,

Karen overhears a conversation that will bring

her about-face. Two women discuss attending

a Toronto exhibition and, soon after, seeing a

billboard promoting this exhibit of The Group of

Seven (a 1920s group of landscape painters),

Karen is convinced that she, too, must attend.

The rest is history, in this case, art history, as

Karen will come to describe herself as “Art

Enthusiast!”

Fast forward to time more recent and Karen, an

OLLI student, is completing a class evaluation

form. Questioned whether she will consider

being an OLLI facilitator and, if so, what she

might teach, Karen nods yes and writes, “The

Group of Seven.” The following year, she

stands at the front of an OLLI classroom talking

about these artists. It is the first of a bevy of

art appreciation classes she will lead, each of

which share the common thread of including at

least one outing or field trip. From experience

in education, Karen understands that students

learn best in various ways, so hands-on

opportunities are vital. Also, being a travel

agent, Karen knows how to create meaningful

OLLI West SpotlightMeet Karen Lindsay

From experience in education, Karen understands that students learn best in various ways ...

excursions; accordingly, Karen’s current class

includes a spring visit to Montreal where works by

The Beaver Hall Group await visitors.

In Karen’s work, she wears hats beyond the OLLI

facilitator one. The arts persist as the focus in

her home community of Evergreen where Karen

has been on the advisory board of Sculpture

Evergreen and president and board member of

Art for the Mountain Community, (AMC). Karen’s

tenure with AMC leaves a mark of transformation

as AMC has grown beyond placing public art

to encouraging art and its appreciation through

public programs.

Karen arrives as President of the OLLI West

Member Relations Advisory Council as an

experienced and innovative leader. She is ready

to help the council move forward by better

understanding and meeting members’ wants and

needs. Three new Council committees are taking

their place as part of this effort: Communications,

Volunteer Recruitment and New Member Focus,

the latter with an eye to integrating new members

to our OLLI community. There will be new ways of

doing business as the Council gears up to expand

its contact with OLLI members. Think not only top

down, but bottom up as well - ideas, criticisms,

compliments -- feedback of all and various kinds

will be stimulated, encouraged, welcomed,

communicated and utilized for the benefit of the

OLLI West learning community.

OLLI members, stay tuned and note the Member

Relations Advisory Council’s developing role. Your

part in this effort is essential; please step up and

step in. You may be asked to complete a short

survey and, in general, Council members will be

inviting your participation and engagement in the

OLLI community so it can continue to thrive as OLLI

West moves into its second decade.

5 OLLI West Matters 4 OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters

Warren and Alicita Hamilton were at OLLI West

from its 2007 founding, and so it is with heavy

hearts we acknowledge Warren’s late-October

passing. Alicita preceded Warren in death. Both

were steeped in things OLLI, facilitating and taking

classes while continually supporting OLLI with

enthusiasm and leadership.

Warren was a senior facilitator

teaching “How the Earth

Works” each year. As an OLLI

presenter, he also detailed

travels across the globe,

sharing well-catalogued

photographs documenting adventures to places

as fascinating and faraway as Antarctica.

Most recently, as an OLLI West Friday speaker,

Warren presented volumes of scientific evidence

supporting Anthropogenic Global Warming.

A world-renowned geoscientist, Warren’s CV

is replete with accomplishments, publications,

awards, research and teaching. Fellow OLLI

member Paul Belanger describes Warren’s

career “illustrious” as he continued to teach

geodynamics at Colorado School of Mines and

In MemoriumWarren Hamilton

Where’s Doug?

F or nearly a decade, the answer to this oft-spoken query has been that Doug is in the building at OLLI West. Doug

Everitt scampers in and out of classrooms providing the oil essential to making the various OLLI cogs turn smoothly. Much depended on, much appreciated, Doug is a go-to guy as he moves tables and chairs, makes coffee, and connects the cords and wires allowing classrooms to welcome students and

learning to flourish. Connections… in his work with OLLI West, Doug abundantly makes them, the physical ones and others equally important, but less literal.

While Doug’s presence at OLLI West is substantial

and ubiquitous, soon it will not be so as he and his

wife head elsewhere. They are packing bags and

setting off to the Northeast. Why? “It is time,” Doug

reflects, time for a new adventure in another well-

liked part of the country. The compass points to

southern Maine and new beginnings, a move that

will take place in the near future.

Talking with Doug, it is certain he is not fleeing

Colorado. His musings about his time and work

here ooze with enthusiasm and well-garnered

satisfaction. Doug’s skills and his disposition

dovetail with OLLI West’s needs. Complementing

a tech consulting business which he plies half of his

working hours, Doug spends time at OLLI making

sure tables and chairs are in place (and later

replaced), coffee is made, facilitators’ microphones

are on and their laptops are connected to the AV

equipment, ready to go live, and supporting JUC’s

building maintenance. Facilitators and students

depend on Doug; it is to his credit that mornings

and afternoons begin in an orderly, effective

and welcoming way. Karen Thorne, the founding

manager of OLLI West, declares Doug’s impact

nothing short of “incredible – he does it all. And

with kindness.”

While compliments aplenty flow toward Doug, he

likewise offers them. Making coffee? It provides

social contacts, connections with friendly and

interesting people. Moving tables and chairs?

This provides physical activity to foster strength

and mobility, Doug’s built-in workout. Hooking

up mics and AV equipment? This allows visits with

facilitators and the content they purvey which offers

intellectual stimulation on which Doug depends. For

him, working at OLLI is far from “hum-drum” as his

interest in people, learning and ideas are cultivated

in fertile ground.

Because his facility with technology is striking,

one might be tempted to affectionately peg Doug

Everitt a geek. Even if this moniker is what initially

brought Doug to OLLI, it captures only one aspect

of who he is and what he has to offer. Technology

may be his practice, but where and how he does it

connects to what is magnetic about OLLI. Doug is a

learner and an explorer. He is drawn to others with

open minds. Any stereotype of older people stuck

in traditional thinking is “blown away” by those he

encounters at OLLI. As he goes about completing

the various tasks that comprise his OLLI work, Doug

thrives on the contact with people, information

and ideas. These provide his eager mind with

stimulation that nourishes him, and we hope

and trust that, as he packs his bags for the next

destination, he will take with him the rich harvests of

his OLLI West time. We will do the same as we hold

him in our fond gratitude and wish Doug well.

challenging conventional interpretations of

plate tectonics. Recently and increasingly,

Warren became concerned about

climate change and sustainability. A

fellow geologist, characterizes Warren as

“always a maverick, offering new ideas in

interpretation of regional

and local geology, backed

up by his encyclopedic

knowledge and

experience in the field.”

The world, the earth and

OLLI West misses Warren

Hamilton’s presence as his contributions,

intelligence, ardor and respect endure on

the long and distinguished trail he navigated

in his time with us.

A memorial service will be held for Warren

on Friday, December 7 at 11:00 a.m. at the Jefferson Unitarian Church on West

32nd Avenue

6 7 OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters

Tamara Goldstein (piano), Ruth Carver (soprano singer) and

Marcia Ragonetti (mezzo soprano) performed for the Fall Term

Beethoven course

OLLI West’s 2017-2018 new facilitators

Some of the awardees at the OLLI West Facilitator Dinner

Dean Maguire addresses the attendees at the OLLI West 2017-

2018 Facilitator Dinner

The OLLI West 2017-2018 Spirit Award winner, Sherma Erholm, who embodies the OLLI spirit not only as a Diamond Facilitator but in her volunteerism on several OLLI committees, as greeter,

class assistant, registration assistant, and general administrative help - always with a huge, warm smile!

Members enjoying the Halloween Potluck

The Fall Term field trip - Geology Along Trail Ridge

Road

The Fall Term Science Tours to the National Institute of Standards & Technology in

Boulder

The Fall Term Science Tours to Marston Water

Treatment Plant

The Fall Term Science Tours to the National Institute of Standards & Technology in

Boulder

A Halloween Potluck costume contestant

The Fall Term Research at Colorado School of Mines course

The OLLI West 2017-2018 Facilitator Dinner at Mount Vernon Country Club

OLLI West Membersin action

Ed Schuster In Memorium

With sadness we say farewell to Ed Schuster

who passed away earlier this year. Ed embraced lifelong learning at OLLI

West for nearly a decade. He enjoyed courses on geology, history, stamps

and most recently the current events course.

Ed will be missed.

8 9 OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters OLLI West Matters

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)2211 South Josephine St., Denver, CO 80208

303-871-3090www.universitycollege.du.edu/olli

Susan Schmetzer, OLLI West Managersusanolliwest@gmail.com

November 16 Senator Perlmutter’s Senior Resource Fair

November 19 Winter Term Registration Begins

December 7 OLLI at DU Well Aware Event

December 17 Winter Term Registration Confirmations Emailed

January 14 Winter Term BEGINS

January 21 Martin Luther King Jr Day - NO CLASSES

March 11 Last Day of Winter Term

For full calendar details please go to the OLLI West website:

https://portfolio.du.edu/olliwest

MARK YOURCalendar

OLLI West Matters