Rossmoor End of Life Concerns Club

A couple of new friends from Australia, by Marley Middlebrook

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Jim Greenberg, President EOLCC

President’s Musings

Well, we made it into a new year. It’s wonderful to be on the other side of the Winter Solstice with minutes of daylight increasing daily. We’re now sliding down a chronological hill toward June and the Summer Solstice. I’ll take it! Even if the skies are overcast and the temperatures are at their yearly nadir, hope and optimism are hard to restrain. Go outside, observe the green hills, and take a deep breath. Soon we’ll be noticing the first signs of spring.

Last year was really hard for some of us. This year will be challenging for many of us. What can be a real challenge is teasing the light from the darkness at this time of year. I won’t presume to offer suggestions for what a person of our generation might find useful, nor will I await advice from my Rossmoor friends. But I know that at some level we’re all going through a task that takes just a bit of extra energy to surmount.

I welcome all of our End of Life Concerns Club members back for a new year of stimulating programs, films, and interactive discussions intended to help maximize our quality of life as we move into our final chapter. With much appreciation to our members and best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year from our Board of Directors:

Jim Greenberg, President and Death Café Co-Facilitator

Bess Chosak, Death Café Co-Facilitator

Richard Naegle, Vice President and Treasurer

Marley Middlebrook, Memberhip Chair

Marcia Liberson, Program Chair

Nancy Dimsdale, Communication and Publicity Chair

Bill Patten, Film Chair

Ray Riess, Librarian and Archivist

Jim Greenberg, President EOLCC

CLUB PRESIDENT JIM GREENBERG AND BESS CHOSAK, DEATH CAFE CO-FACILiTATORS

The Rossmoor Death Café will meet on Friday, January 9, 3:30-5 PM in the Vista Room at the Hillside Clubhouse.

Though not a grief support or therapy group, our Death Café offers a safe place for participants to bring up such end-of-life issues as Advanced Healthcare Directives, how to talk about final plans and wishes with your family, and other late life concerns.

Thank you to those who attended December's Death Café.

Please join us for our One Time Special Poetry Event presented by Richard Naegle and guest poets on Wednesday January 7.

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January Film: DEPARTURE

MONDAY JANUARY 19, 1 PM, Peacock Theater, Gateway

Departure is based on an autobiographical book by Aoki Shinmon and features Masahiro Motoki as Diago Kobayashi, a cellist.

Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki) learns that his orchestra is disbanding. Daigo and his wife move back to his hometown in northern Japan, where he answers an ad for what he thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary. As he learns and carries out the rituals used in preparing the dead for their final rest, Daigo finds his true calling in life.

BILL PATTEN, Film Chair

RICHARD NAEGLE, VICE PRESIDENT AND TREASURER

A SPECIAL ONE-TIME EVENT 

Free for Club Members!

Wednesday, January 7, 1-3 pm

Club Room at Creekside

POETRY FOR LIFE



Many participants in the monthly Death Cafe have enjoyed the evocative poems that begin each session. Carefully curated and then spoken from the heart, these poems have addressed our concerns and aspirations as we seek to fulfill and culminate our lives. 

There will be an afternoon of such poetry on Wednesday, January 7, in the Creekside Club Room—free to Club members, $10 admission for all others. Come and bathe in the beauty of soulful words and images which support and inspire you on your journey. Invite friends to share the experience! Audience response and dialogue will be encouraged to deepen meaning and involvement. Bring your journal, writing and/or art materials to record your feelings and responses. 

Not an ordinary event….



Prescription for the Disillusioned

by Rebecca del Rio

Come new to this

day. Remove the rigid

overcoat of experience,

the notion of knowing,

the beliefs that cloud

your vision.

Leave behind the stories

of your life. Spit out the

sour taste of unmet expectation.

Let the stale scent of what-ifs

waft back into the swamp

of your useless fears.

Arrive curious, without the armor

of certainty, the plans and planned

results of the life you’ve imagined.

Live the life that chooses you, new with 

every breath, with every blink of

your astonished eyes.

For more information, call Richard Naegle, 1-707-887-1685

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Club Website, Please Visit!

 https://www.rossmooreolcc.org/

The End of Life Concerns Club lending library is open. To access the available titles, go to our website as follows: rossmoorEOLCC.org>resources>bibliography. Titles with an asterisk are available for borrowing. For information, or to borrow a book, please contact Ray Riess, EOLCC Librarian, at (510) 406-2429.

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MARLEY MIDDLEBROOK, MEMBERSHIP

 ROSSMOOR END OF LIFE CONCERNS CLUB    

RENEWAL TIME CONTINUES FOR 2026

If you are coming to the SPECIAL POETRY EVENT on Wednesday, January 7th, you may renew at that time as the event is free for members who have renewed.

Your Membership dues help pay for room rental, literature, speaker programs, website and movie rentals. We are now accepting membership renewals for the year of 2026 at $20. Thank you to the many members who renewed over the last couple of months.)

As a reminder, we offer Death Cafe, Programs related to issues of concern such as Health Care Directives, POLST’s, MAID (CA law for Medical Aid in Dying), Films related to this issue and a monthly Newsletter.

Please make check payable to EOLCC. Options for renewal include: dropping off the checks at the Gateway mail slot, bringing them to the Death Cafe or sending them by postal mail to the Membership chair at the following address:

ELOCC Membership, Attention:     or call Marley (925) 385-0336

Marley Middlebrook marleypsyd@me.com      

5954 Autumnwood Dr, 2A

Walnut Creek, CA 94595

Thank you,

Marley Middlebrook

marleypsyd@me.com or (925) 385-0336

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Jim Greenberg, President

endoflifeconcerns@gmail.com

(412) 736-2317