Dear OLLI Members,

First, some practical information.  If you signed up for Winter 2018 courses you should have received a schedule of courses. You may also check your schedule by logging on to our website and   Our add/drop period begins Monday, December 4, 10 a.m. so there is still time to sign up for courses.  We will have staff and volunteers at the Reuter Center to help with sign up. If you are calling us with questions, please remember that it is helpful to leave only one message and to leave a message with only one staff member.  We have a system for taking and returning calls, but we are most efficient with our time if we are not duplicating efforts.  It may take a little longer to get through tomorrow, but we will work as we can to meet your needs.

Please remember that you have until Friday, January 5, 2018, 3 p.m. to request a full refund for your course fees.  The OLLI office and the online registration system will close Friday, December 15, 5 p.m. and re-open Tuesday, January 2, 2018, 8 a.m.This is slightly different from the schedule we announced in our catalog. 

Tomorrow is the annual "Education Day" basketball game when children come from around Western North Carolina to enjoy a basketball game and visit a college campus.  As buses load and unload, there may be traffic delays on Campus Drive.  If you are coming for registration help, you may want to enter campus through another route.

Now for some reflection. We try to keep our memorials to our members simple, but occasionally we lose someone who has helped to shape our organization in unique ways.  Nick Jordan, who passed away this past week, was one of those individuals who helped us see our work in new ways.  Nick had always seemed like a force of nature.  He first came to OLLI to explore ways to connect SCORE, the Senior Corps of Retired Executives, with OLLI. He became a facilitator for our Paths to Creative Retirement program; during every break you could find Nick surrounded by a group of people, telling stories that made us laugh and made a point about the possibilities of this phase of life, of maintaining a sense of purpose and fun. You could always tell when Nick was waiting for his Men's Wisdom Works group to convene, because there would be a group of people at one of our lobby sofas laughing and talking. He had a gift for making everyone feel heard, welcomed and valued. 

Nick came to our life transitions committee and matter-of-factly told us that he had had a terminal cancer diagnosis.  He responded to this as he had to all of the challenges in his life; he made a plan to manage it.  He gathered his papers; he planned his funeral; he created a series of legacy gifts for his family.  He wanted to help others respond in the same way, with joy and learning and a sense of control.  With support from the committee, "The Gift of Time," an end of life planning program, was born. Thanks to Dr. David Mouw we had been holding advance care planning workshops, but Nick, working with OLLI members Dave Castel, Ken McFarlane, Chuck Rosenblum, Paula Withrow, staff member Laurel Jernigan and others, developed a program that brought Nick's spirit and care to this process. As one of our Paths participants noted, Nick would introduce himself as someone who was dying and then give you ten reasons why you should want to live with passion and purpose. In remembering Nick, who taught us so much about dying well, I keep thinking of the phrase "joie de vivre"; Nick taught us how to live every moment with joy in things grand and simple and for that we are grateful.

With respect for all that you do to model creative retirement,

Catherine Frank

Executive Director

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