Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UMass Boston

Learning for the love of it!

Above: OLLI's spring course, "Exploring Boston Harbor Islands," wrapped up yesterday with a two-hour boat tour of the outer islands including Boston Light on Little Brewster Island. Suzanne Gall Marsh, longtime course facilitator and OLLI member, led the course and included visits to the Deer Island water treatment facility, Lovells Island, and Cathleen Stone (Thompson) Island. UMass Boston Marine Operations will be sponsoring monthly lunchtime Boston Harbor cruises on select Mondays throughout the summer. Read more about these fun excursions in an article below.

What's included in this edition of OLLI Connections: Summer Programs Announced, Sharing Facebook Posts, In Memoriam - Marilyn McElaney, OLLI and Mental Health, Being Heumann, Soccer Grannies, and Monday Boston Harbor Cruises.

OLLI Office Summer Hours

The OLLI office's normal operating hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

The campus office is staffed Monday-Thursday; all employees work remotely on Fridays with access to email and phones. Due to meetings and programs, please call the office (617.287.7312) to make sure someone is on campus if you plan to visit.

First Summer Event is Monday, July 7

Registration is now open for OLLI's summer programs! Over 30 events will be offered in July and August and includes a mix of both in-person and online experiences.

Included in the summer offerings will be the Osher at Dartmouth's Summer Lecture series. This year the six-week program will be held on Wednesday mornings starting at 9:00 a.m., and is entitled "Preserving America's Four Freedoms: The Heart of Our Democracy."

The Smithsonian American Art Museum will host five separate programs for folks to enjoy. These highly interactive programs are led by trained study group leaders deeply familiar with the Museum’s collections and how to facilitate conversations about artworks.

Author talks, groups walks, integrative health coaching, a downsizing workshop, and much more are available this summer to enjoy! And yes...check out Spotlight on OLLI (July 17) which is a different twist on the OLLI summer open house. Also, don't forget to check out the OLLI Reads summer selection and related events (see article below).

The summer event schedule has many more details and descriptions of programs that have been confirmed. Additional events may be added over the next couple of weeks. Registration for summer programs is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Registration notes:

• OLLI members (whether your membership is current or not) should sign-in using their OLLI username and password and use the online registration system. As programs are loaded into the system, they will appear under the Summer Events section of the Courses and Programs page.
• Nonmembers who wish to attend OLLI's summer programs should simply email the OLLI Office and let us know which programs you would like to register for.
• For both the Smithsonian Art and Dartmouth Summer Lecture series, participants will need to register for each individual program they wish to attend.
• Zoom details will be sent out the day prior to the program if it is held online.

New posts each Thursday!

The OLLI office and Outreach Committee continue to reinvigorate our Facebook presence to get the word out about the exciting things happening at OLLI. Go to the following link and click on the “Like” button:

https://www.facebook.com/OLLIUMASSBOSTON 

Under the [ ... ] you will see the option to follow the page and to invite friends to it.

Our Facebook page will just be one more tool to share what is happening in our OLLI community. Not on social media? Don't worry about missing out on anything new! OLLI's Facebook postings will not replace the newsletter or other existing forms of official communication; it will simply complement them.

We encourage you to help OLLI's outreach efforts by sharing the page and its postings with your networks and other Facebook friends so more people become aware of OLLI. Hopefully, they will check out OLLI, become a member, and experience the great things that you already have!

Look for posts on Thursdays moving forward, and please share with your network!

Role model and former OLLI Board chair

A role model, voracious reader, compassionate friend, and dedicated leader. That is how many at OLLI describe Marilyn McElaney. Marilyn passed away Sunday morning and would have been 95 on Sunday. Her no-nonsense style of leadership served her well as she chaired the OLLI board of directors between 2005-2009. This was a period of significant change as the LETS (Life Enrichment Through Studies) Program transitioned into the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UMass Boston with the university receiving the first one million dollar endowment from The Bernard Osher Foundation.

Marilyn's serves as a constant reminder that one person can indeed make a profound difference, and she worked tirelessly to ensure the OLLI program was successful. With her development experience at Boston College, Marilyn set up the Friends of OLLI committee to meet the fundraising requirement outlined in the Osher Endowment agreement. She encouraged and supported other members to volunteer their time and talents to help OLLI. She enjoyed (and egged on) lively classroom discussions and helped lead the Book Club SIG (Shared Interest Group) that met monthly on the second Thursday. Marilyn and other members also collaborated each year to plan the annual OLLI winter film series.



OLLI member, Trish Garnett, recalls how their deep friendship began: “It started at a LETS outing when Marilyn said, ‘I know where we can get a glass of wine with our lunch’, and deepened through to our last cup of tea at her daughter’s home.” Her wonderful and colorful sense of humor and dedication to OLLI will be missed by many.

Marilyn’s obituary is a fitting tribute to her life. Visiting hours will be held at the Alfred D. Thomas Funeral Home (326 Granite Ave Milton) on Friday, June 6 from 8:30–9:30 a.m. A Funeral Mass will be held following visitation at St. Agatha Parish Milton at 10:00 a.m. After the burial at Milton Cemetery, everyone attending is invited to lunch at The Common Market at 97 Willard St. in Quincy.

Get involved with OLLI, get a mental boost!

As May, Mental Health Awareness Month, draws to a close, it’s a perfect moment to reflect on the invaluable role that OLLI plays in nurturing the mental well-being of its members. Good mental health is a cornerstone of happiness and purpose; it fosters stronger relationships, boosts physical health, and enhances cognitive function while reducing the risks of depression and anxiety. The stories shared by our OLLI members recount how participating in our courses, lively trips, engaging theatre outings, and vibrant group activities has profoundly enriched their lives.

These experiences not only promote learning but also forge connections that are essential for positive mental health. Check out the latest post on the Gerontology Institute's blog, which highlights OLLI's commitment to creating meaningful opportunities for connection and growth. Join us in celebrating the transformative power of community and lifelong learning—because at OLLI, we believe that every moment spent learning and engaging is a step towards a happier, healthier life!

OLLI and Mental Health blog posting

This is a great story to share with others to highlight one of the many benefits of joining OLLI! Share the link on your social media accounts, send the article to your doctor (and encourage them to "prescribe" OLLI to their patients), or send it to your local newspaper and ask them to do a feature story about OLLI!

Book discussion to be held in August.

Through Being Heumann, one of the most influential disability rights activists in U.S. history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human. Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy Heumann's struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a ‘fire hazard’ to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her paralysis, Judy’s actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people.

Working with a community of over 150 disabled activists and allies, Judy successfully pressured the Carter administration to implement protections for disabled peoples’ rights, sparking a national movement and leading to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Candid, intimate, and irreverent, Judy Heumann’s memoir about resistance to exclusion invites readers to imagine and make real a world in which we all belong.

OLLI will host a discussion about the book at the end of August.

• In-person discussion: Tuesday, August 19 at 11:00 a.m. (Adams Street Library)
• Online discussion: Thursday, August 21 at 10:00 a.m. (via Zoom)

Related summer programming:

• A viewing and discussion of the documentary Crip Camp (2020) on Tuesday, July 8 at 10:00 a.m. Viewing and discussion will take place in-person at Thayer Public Library and as well as online via Zoom.
• Local disability rights pioneer and activist, Charlie Carr, will speak on Wednesday, September 3 at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Registration is now available for the book discussion and related programs. See details above in the Summer Programs article.

OLLI Reads is an initiative that is supported by the OLLI’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Along the way we will read and discuss various books in the hopes of having a better understanding of the world around us. OLLI Reads is open to all OLLI members and guests and allows us to come together as a community reading and discussing the same book. We hope you will be part of our OLLI Reads!

Massachusetts' Role in Creating Grannies International

Did you know that May was designated Older American Month and that this year’s theme was “Flip the Script on Aging?”  Did you also know that there is a Grannies International Football (Soccer) Tournament where the motto is “You are never too old to play!”? It takes place in a small town in South Africa named Tzaneen with over 19 squads of women all over the age of 50 (many in their 70s) from 7 different countries including the United States (in particular Massachusetts).

Soccer Grannies was started by Beka Ntsanwisi, a 57 year old Tzaneen, South African gospel radio host and community activist. Ntsanwisi wanted to respond to the stress older women in her town were experiencing. They were raising grandchildren orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, and many had poor health themselves and were lonely. She started a soccer team for women over the age of 50 and it thrived!

Jean Duffy from Massachusetts read an article about this group and relayed it to her own "soccer for soccer moms" team. The group was so inspired that they extended an invitation to the Grannies in South Africa to visit Massachusetts to attend the 2010 Veterans Cup, a national tournament for older players. The South African team made the trip, friends were made, and Grannies International was founded. The 2025 tournament final in late April saw a French Team called the Les Z’amies Foot (the Football Friends) facing the New England Breakers in a penalty shoot out. The Breakers won by one kick but all the women celebrated by dancing and singing together. Recently, Jean Duffy wrote a book about them called Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World.

Learn more:

• Watch the YouTube video of the South African Grannies in action against the Lexpresses (Lexington women's team) at the 2010 Veterans Cup.
• Read about the New England Breakers win at the 2025 Grannies International Football Tournament.
• Explore more about Jean Duffy's experience that led her to write the book.

Select Mondays in Summer

UMass Boston's Marine Operations are bringing back (on a limited scale) the Monday noontime harbor cruises. Join them for a 90-minute, narrated cruise around Boston Harbor aboard the M/V Columbia Point. Enjoy incredible views of the Harbor Islands, Revolutionary era forts, and Downtown Boston. Narration, fun facts, and occasional jokes are provided by UMass Boston's Division of Marine Operations.

OLLI members with a current UMass Boston student ID (you should have a blue 2025 sticker on it) can enjoy a free ticket. Regular price for guests and the general public is $15. With limited capacity of 80 people, tickets go quickly. It is recommended that you obtain tickets ahead of time by emailing Marine Operations. The boat departs promptly at 12:00 noon from Fox Point dock. Monday dates include: June 9 (almost sold out), July 14, Aug 11, Sept 8 and 22.

Please note that this is a service of Marine Operations at UMass Boston. The OLLI Office does not handle ticket requests for these cruises.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UMass Boston

Address:

3rd fl., McCormack Hall, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125-3393

Phone: 617.287.7312