Faculty Activities

Mort Waitzman at the Bremen Center

On December 14, EUEC member Mort Waitzman talked about his experiences in World War II to a packed audience at the Bremen Center.  A poster for that event can be seen by clicking here.   

This spring, we will get to hear Mort talk about his experiences at a Lunch Colloquium on May 18.  Be sure to save that date! 

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LUNCH COLLOQUIUM / HOLIDAY PARTY

For the final Lunch Colloquium of 2014, on Monday, December 15, we divided our time between a program and a party, both planned to enable attendees to celebrate the season by giving of themselves in a variety of ways, while receiving plenty of pleasure in the process, too.

For one thing, attendees were able to give to the Emeritus College itself (and hence to one another) by responding with enthusiasm to our presenters' pleas for contributions--contributions in the form of suggestions for ways in which the EUEC might enhance opportunities it already makes available to its members and add to the roster of such opportunities, as well. The Co-chairs of our Membership Committee, Julianne Daffin and Beverly Schaffer, reported on ideas that had emerged in discussions with their committee members and solicited further ideas from all present at the Colloquium, ideas on what the EUEC might do (or do better) for its members and what it might enable its members to do for the EUEC, the University, and the wider community, indeed, the wider world.

Julianne and Bev identified a long list of topics retirees (and soon-to-be retirees) might like EUEC programming to address in some fashion, including those related to living arrangements in later years (like reverse mortgages, leaving one's home, and elder care), financial planning (like wills, estate taxes, and power of attorney), and health care (like concierge medicine). They spoke about activities the EUEC might somehow promote--like group visits to the theater, the opera, the symphony, and so on, with a focus on the issue of transportation to such outings. Would there be interest in having transportation provided, for example, between the Luce Center and various arts destinations? There were also suggestions of activities like book clubs, discussion groups (as, perhaps, on travel experiences) and MOOC-related gatherings.

Julianne spoke at some length about an activity the EUEC already sponsors that more might wish to get involved in--the Medshare project that sends shipments of available medical supplies to places worldwide where they are much needed. (Helen O'Shea and Marianne Scharbo-DeHaan confirmed how rewarding work on this project has been for all involved and also encouraged others to consider getting involved, pointing out that information about how to do so can be found on the EUEC website.) John Bugge then spoke about the possibility of creating a version of a "retirement village" in the University area--organizing mutual support and social interaction for retirees living within relatively easy reach of one another as has been done in other locations with which he's familiar. And attendees offered still further ideas--with Stewart Roberts sharing some of a long list of subjects worth attention that he'd prepared ahead of time (click here to see his list of suggestions) and others suggesting arrangements to enable the sharing of interests in bridge or bird-watching or photography. As the program portion of the Colloquium concluded, Julianne and Bev collected brief surveys of member views that they'd distributed earlier, promising to put information they provide together with everything else as their committee continues to consider recommendations for action the EUEC might undertake or somehow support in the future. Click here to see their report. They encouraged members to get in touch as more ideas occur to them: jdaffin@aol.com and bschaff@emory.edu.

Then it was time to party. And it can be said that we partied pretty hearty. Serving wenches distributed plates of cookies (provided by volunteers, including organizer Tiny Westbrook and Holly York, Bee Nahmias, Helen O'Shea, Susa Nahmias, and Pat Miller---mmm, mmm, mmm) while John Bugge offered bottle after bottle of the sparkling cider he provided. Don Saliers slipped into a seat behind the keyboard he'd brought with him, flung a colorful scarf around his neck, and led us through a roster of holiday classics, sacred and profane and everything in between. John (again), and Pat (again), and Gretchen Schulz read poems with a holiday theme. And a few shared memories of this special  season from years past, often long past--none more touching than Mort Waitzman's description of Christmas Eve 1944 when the silence of a temporary truce in the Battle of the Bulge let the men of his company hear nearby German soldiers singing "heilige Nacht."

At the end of the party, the contenders in the "Most Spectacularly Seasonal Sweater" contest rose to model their entries in the competition, with voting by attendees awarding the prize (of a recording of Dylan Thomas reciting "A Child's Christmas in Wales") to Jerry Williamson (though Bev Schaffer was as close a runner-up as a runner-up can be). We sent people on their way to their individual holiday celebrations with little bags of leftover cookies (mmm, mmm, mmm) while Kim Hawkins lugged big bags of the Toys for Tots we'd collected to an official collection site just up the road. Let's hope they gave the tots as much pleasure as picking them out and handing them in did us. "God bless [them], every one"