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November 2017 Newsletter

In This Issue
Ashby Village October Happy Hour
BambergerUpcoming Events
Arts & Culture: The Art of Listening, with Jeanne Bamberger   

Photo by Nancy Rubin
Sunday, November 19, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley 
  
Spend an afternoon with inspirational educator, superb musician and Ashby Village member  Jeanne Bamberger! Listening to music is a conversation between performer, composer, and listener.  
aduAccessory Dwelling Units 
 
Sunday, November 28, 2:30 - 4:00 PM         
Ashby Village office, 1821 Catalina Ave., Berkeley

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are small self-contained residential units built on the property of a single-family home. Members of the recently-formed Berkeley ADU Task Force will inform Ashby Village about new ADU regulations and standards.  
LRCLiving Room Chat 
 
Join us for our December "meet and greet" Living Room Chat! You'll have the opportunity to hear what Ashby Village offers to our members and volunteers, how it enhances their quality of life, and why it helps them develop peace of mind about the future. 

Sunday, December 10, 2:00 - 4:00 PM
6363 Christie Avenue, Emeryville CA - ground floor Christie Room

RSVP    
Life Art Process - Sample Workshop (Tamalpa Experience)     
 
Thursday, December 14, 2:00 - 3:30 PM
Ashby Village office, 1821 Catalina Ave., Berkeley  
 
This workshop will preview a series of classes starting in the New Year. The Life Art Process explores and gives a voice to our personal stories through poetry, drawing, movement and other forms of personal expression.  
Volunteers training
 
***
Veteran's Day Event ***
Saturday, November 11, 9:30 - 3:00 More info and RSVP 

Wednesday, December 13, 9:30 - 2:30 More info and RSVP


dragonDragon Boat Event

2017 Play-It-Forward Dragon Max boat racing
2017 Play-It-Forward Dragon Max boat racing

A dragon boat is a long, slender, paddle-powered craft.  Twenty-seven Ashby Village volunteers and friends, ranging in age from 13 to 79, showed up on August 26 at the Berkeley Marina for a dragon boat experience - learning to coordinate our paddling so we could have a few short races, followed by a lazy picnic on the grass. 
 
 
adaFocus on Volunteers: Ada Lusardi
 
Ada Lusardi believes that it is possible to "move more confidently, steadily, and actively as we age, to stay connected to activities we like to do."  In yoga she has found a way to support students in healthy movement as they grow older. For seventeen years she has been a full time yoga teacher in Berkeley, and for two years has been teaching the weekly Gentle Yoga class for Ashby Village members.
 
 
 
techteamVolunteer with the Technology Team
 
If you have some confidence with your smartphone, tablet or computer, you can help Ashby Village members become more comfortable with their devices. The Village is seeking volunteers at  all skill levels to help our members enjoy the advantages of our technology-connected society.                                      
Read more  
 
 donorDonating to Ashby Village
 
Culture of Giving
 
Carol Takaki describes her participation in Ashby Village, and uncovers a little-known method for donating to charities - transferring the RMD (Required Minimum Distribution - sometimes written as MRD) from her IRA each year.                                                    
 directorReflections from the Director
 
Losing Beloved Friends

Ashby Village has a mission to connect us with one another as we age, and provide programs and services to enhance our quality of life.  But mortality is also a fact of life and, as a Village, we wish to be sensitive to what our members need when facing the loss of friends and loved ones.
                                                     Read the article  

 blochFrom the Story Team
 
Photo by Nancy Rubin
Chana Bloch

IN MEMORIAM
1940 - 2017 

"As I got older, the writing got - in a way - a little bit easier. I began to have access to areas that I might have closed up before."

In March of this year, poet, professor, translator Chana Bloch shared some reflections on her life and aging.
                                                     Read her story

 NG
From the Neighborhood Groups
 
Every Wednesday, 11:00 - noon: Emery Bunch Water Aerobics 
Clipper Club of the Watergate Condos, 5 Captain Dr. Emeryville
 
November 7, 2:00 - 4:00 PM: Thousand Oaks Hamlet Mac Users Group at Thousand Oaks Neighborhood, 7 Menlo Place, Berkeley
 
November 10, 6:30 PM: Outlandish Neighborhood Potluck. Contact Audre Newman for address.
 
November 30, 3:00 - 5:00 PM: Clarewood I-Group Workshop  at Bob Reynold's house  

Check the  online calendar for all Neighborhood Groups events.

activities  Ongoing Activities

Friday, November 3, 4:00 - 5:30 PM
1821 Catalina Ave. Berkeley

 

                         
    Gentle Yoga
    Every Thursday, 10:00 - 11:30 AM
    The Yoga Room, 2530 San Pab lo Ave. Berkeley
                                                                
 
 


Wednesday, November 8, 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Ashby Village Office, 1821 Catalina Ave. Berkeley                                                                                             

past-events Reflections from past events 
Philip Yun talk on North Korea

On October 15, more than 100 Ashby Village members, volunteers and friends attended a thought-provoking discussion about North Korea presented by Philip Yun and organized by the Ashby Village Arts and Culture group. 

Ashby Village at local street fairs

How to engage visitors of the Solano Stroll, Rockridge Out & About and El Cerrito Senior fair and explain the Village's place in the community? Watch this video!

                                                        
Storytime for Adults
 
On October 3, Midlandish and Clarewood Neighborhood Groups held a potluck at Ashby Village featuring Berkeley Public Library actors performing a reading of William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily."

Read story    
bulletinBulletin Board 
Venues: Reframing Aging Photo Exhibit

The Reframing Aging Photo Exhibit will remain at the North Berkeley branch of the Berkeley Public Library through November, after which it moves to the Corte Madera Public Library.
New Project: Request for video interviews

Rick Beeman, an Ashby Village Volunteer, is interviewing people 80 and older for a video project, Oral Histories of Everyday Elders. He is seeking people from Ashby Village to recount their personal histories and their reflections on life, events, and their journey of aging. The interviews usually last two hours.

Welcome to Eugene, office volunteer Hyunhee's baby!
 
Eugene Henry Lee was born to Hyunhee Kwak and Youngkwang Lee on September 28th, at 7 lb 2 oz!
He arrived a week earlier than his due date, in time for his daddy's birthday!
Elder Action Forum on Healthcare

On October 28, Elder Action, a coalition of Ashby Village members and independent activists on elder issues, invited a panel of speakers to address health care policy and reform, both at the national and state level. Read more
UC Berkeley Student Fellows Investigating Fall Prevention

Are you interested in being interviewed for 30 minutes by a member of a UC Berkeley undergraduate team investigating technologies to measure mobility and help prevent falls?  The students are 4th year Fellows in the Fung Fellowship Program; for information, contact Cheryl Brewster at cbrewster@berkeley.edu.
NCAA March Madness Pool

Miss your old workplace NCAA March Madness pool? Help start one by Selection Sunday 3/11/18 with Ashby Village. Read more
Born March 29, 1921 in Pennsylvania, Kenderton Smith Lynch II grew up and went to college in Gettysburg at the edge of the battlefield.
Despite congenital scoliosis he was eager to join the military. He served in the Army in Korea, retiring from the Army Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel.

After a long career at Pacific Far East Lines, Ken worked for the UN in the Sultanate of Oman on the development of the port in the gulf. He served on a NATO commission, and as a lobbyist in Washington DC. before retiring in 1984 and returning to Berkeley.

Please join us for a celebration of Ken's life on November 11th at 2 PM, St. John's Presbyterian Church 2727 College Ave., Berkeley.
Janet Messman
Janet Messman died on September 29th from injuries sustained in a car accident earlier that week. Born in 1923 in Camden, New Jersey, Janet attended Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and was active in the YMCA/YWCA and in many honors societies. Her sense of community activism and service was shaped by her war experience and by the YWCA's commitment to young women all over the world.

Janet moved to the Bay Area in 1958 to work on a Master's degree in Psychology at UC Berkeley, where she met her future husband, Bob Messman. While raising their daughter Anne, Janet worked at 
Kaiser, at the Institute of Industrial Relations at UC Berkeley, at the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies and Higher Education, and directed the Tutor Richmond Youth (TRY) educational program.

A Memorial Service will be held Sunday November 5 at 2:00 PM at the Berkeley YWCA, 2600 Bancroft (between Telegraph and College).
Donations in her memory may be made to: Kensington Library,
Arlington Community Church in Kensington or Berkeley YWCA



Merle Updike Davis passed away peacefully on October 7, 2017 at the age of 94.

Born in Orlean, Virginia, Merle received her BS from Mary Washington College and did graduate work at The George Warren Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, and at Columbia University, New York City.

In 1956 Merle moved to California, working first at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Clinic at UCSF and then in 1962 helping set up the City of Berkeley-Herrick Hospital psychiatric outpatient clinic, where she remained until 1978, leaving to set up a private practice. In 2000 she wrote a memoir "Ties Across Time - A Woman's Life in Social Work."

A memorial service will be held on November 12th at 1:00 PM at the Northbrae Chapel, 941 The Alameda, Berkeley. 
 
Dr. Sheldon Baumrind (Shelly) died on July 22 after a long bout with multiple myeloma. He was a practicing dentist, orthodontist and researcher in the field of cranial-facial growth and development.

He labored to develop more accurate ways of seeing, measuring, mapping and communicating, but at the same time considered justice, human and civil rights to be inseparable from scientific achievement. Over the years he became a mentor to scores of young clinicians and researchers in many countries.
Newsletter co-editors Richard Bermack and  Charli Depner




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