The First Fall Open House

Tuesday, July 24th.

As is my wont, I showed up late. I’d volunteered to help out with the first Fall Open House at the McCarl Center on the fourth floor of the Cathedral. The event ran like a well-oiled machine, without much help from me (maybe that’s why).

Course Information Dispensary

I did manage to touch base with some of my fellow volunteers, several of whom have travel on their minds. Jutta Vance is back from a biking holiday in Switzerland and visiting with relatives in Germany. Ruthe Karlin is going on a month-long trip to Japan to immerse herself that country’s art treasures. Ginny Eskridge plans on giving a Brown Bag talk about her adventures traveling with Elder Hostel.

Gail Eiben and Ginny Eskridge

Others have been busy doing their thing here in the Burgh. I talked to Gail Eiben, whose path I hadn’t crossed since the end of spring term. Gail tells me she’s been conducting tours of the Nationality Rooms. I remarked to Vivian Lawski about how much I enjoyed her writing in the Osher Newsletter. Her member interviews are a highlight, and she did an interesting Q&A with Dr. Carol Baker in the latest issue. The interview also included Carol’s helpful checklist for use in preparation for a visit to a doctor.

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Judi Bobenage covers all the bases in her OLLI program explanation

And John Rose was on hand to compare and contrast OLLI courses with auditing courses. In the picture, above, he’s sitting in the left rear of the room. John graduated from Penn with a degree in business in 1950. Upon retiring in 1985, he decided to add structure to his retirement by learning things that he hadn’t had time for up to that point, what with serving in World War II, his career and raising a family. John spent the ensuing years auditing an astounding 58 non-credit undergraduate courses at Pitt–equivalent to the credit requirement for one and one-half college degrees. So far as John knows, his record has yet to be broken. But he now prefers taking OLLI classes rather than auditing courses. “When I started, I was taking courses with people my childrens’ age. Then later, I was taking courses with people my grandchildrens’ age. Now, I’ve got seven grandchildren, and I think it’s time to draw the line,” he said as listeners chuckled. “But seriously,” he continued, “I think this program here at Pitt is the best deal since 1945, when we veterans came back from World War II and they said, ‘How’d you like a free college education?’ I can’t say enough about the value of this program.”

Neither can we, John. Neither can we.

Len Zapler