PRESIDENT'S CORNER: May 26, 2017

Memorial Day: Monday is one of those important holidays that so many just consider part of a long weekend or the unofficial beginning of summer. Beginning as Decoration Day after the Civil War, Memorial Day eventually evolved to honor all who died in defense of the U.S.A. in any war. It’s why we fly our flags on the front porch and decorate military graves and salute parading veterans and give heart-felt thanks to any vets we know or meet. A long moment of silence, if you please…  

The Afib Club: I’m real tired of talking about my health, so I won’t.

Life has got to be lived—that’s all there is to it. [Humanitarian Eleanor Roosevelt]

What a strange thing is memory, and hope; one looks backward, the other forward. The one is of today, the other is the tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter; it paints pictures of the past and of the day. [Artist Grandma Moses]

Reflections 2: Only a few more weeks as your Prez, folks. I am grateful to have had this very different experience of leadership. When I served as department chair of Theater, I left feeling that my major accomplishments were three things: managing the ten-year re-accreditation of our program, helping our faculty and staff heal after a truly awful internal legal mess, and learning to lead by consensus. When I began my term as OLLI president, I did not know that our director, Angela, would be resigning and that we would have to find a replacement. However, as we put together a search committee, I realized that we had a perfect group for this effort that worked together in complete harmony and with agreed upon goals. As we narrowed the search down to five finalists and held interviews, we were as one in deciding on Jascenna Haislet who, I think we can all agree, is doing an outstanding job for us and has bought into our program for the long haul. Have I accomplished all that I thought I wanted to achieve during the past two years? No, but progress has been made and I believe we are on the right path to expanding our curriculum, solidifying our finances, and making the best use of all those who volunteer for us. Onward!

In the midst of all the doubts which have been discussed for four thousand years in four thousand ways, the safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear of death. [Voltaire]