THE RAPS SHEET NOVEMBER 2010 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 Koinonia House, second floor SW Montgomery at Broadway Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Officers Clarence Hein President Joan Shireman President-elect / Program Chair Larry Sawyer Past President / Membership Chair Robert Lockerby Secretary Robert Vogelsang Treasurer Dawn White Editor Board Members-at-Large Priscilla Blumel Susan Jackson Dawn White Committees Pat Squire Alumni Association Steve Brannan History Preservation Committee Chair Mary Brannan Pictorial History Book Committee Chair Beryl and Vic Dahl Social/Friendship Committee Co-Chairs Office Manager Maya Burton 503/725-3447 / raps@pdx.edu Maya Burton, RAPS Office Manager, and RAPS Member Steve Brannan promote Portland State: A History in Pictures during PSU Weekend (Oct. 21-24). As chair of the History Preservation Committee, Brannan has also been working on the “Our History” section of PSU’s home page. (See President’s Message on page 2 for more information). Photo by Larry Sawyer. Making music, generating scholarships obert Vogelsang is a busy man. In addition to serving as RAPS Treasurer, he chairs the Ad Hoc Regional Retirement Association Committee and the Scholarship Committee. In service to the latter, “Vogie” hosted “A Musical Evening at the Vogelsangs,” a benefit for the RAPS Scholarship Fund, Oct. 23 at his home. Performing at the benefit were Bill Murlin and Carl Allen (aka “The Wanderers”), Hap Sermol, and Ben Graves. Murlin and Allen, former students of Vogelsang’s, have been playing together for 50 years and, according to Vogie, are keeping Woody Guthrie’s music alive. Sermol is an accomplished flamenco guitarist, and Graves, who has performed at the RAPS Christmas event the last two years, is a talented jazz and flamenco guitarist who plays both acoustic and electric instruments. Contributions to the RAPS Scholarship fund are always welcome. Any amount a member wishes to donate will help build the fund. Checks may be made out to the PSU Foundation and sent to Maya Burton in the RAPS Office. R
2 President’s Message If you haven’t taken the time to check out the University’s web page recently, I recommend a couple specific items of interest. The first is the product of our own History Preservation/Celebration Committee led by Chair Steve Brannan. At the far right on the PSU home page (www.pdx.edu), you’ll see "About PSU." Among the items under that heading is "Our History." There you’ll find a good history of PSU’s early years in brief easy to read sections, some taken from the RAPS history book project. It is an excellent beginning for a complete University history, presented as a service of our organization, raising the RAPS profile for anyone who visits the site. This is just one aspect of the History Committee’s activities which will receive a more complete discussion in future RAPS Sheet editions. The History Committee is one of several RAPS groups working on projects of interest to our members. Elsewhere in this newsletter, for example, you can get information about the RAPS Scholarship, the work of another committee. The second new item on the PSU Home Page is the report of the OHSU/PSU Strategic Partnership Task Force. This group was appointed by the presidents of OHSU and PSU to make recommendations on how the two universities could best collaborate. This report should generate a good deal of public discussion regarding the relationship between OHSU and PSU. First among the Task Force’s recommendations is that the two institutions develop a "strategic alliance" rather than a complete "merger." Among the goals for such an alliance would be formation of a new, collaborative School of Public Health and the creation of a joint non-profit research consortium with a potential research portfolio exceeding $450 million annually. The group also calls for expanded academic collaboration and programs and additional "operational flexibility" for PSU, making it possible for the two universities to form partnerships. I hope you’ll take the time to check out these two items – one dealing with the University’s past and other with its future -- on the PSU home page. --Clarence Hein Oct. recap, Nov. preview of RAPS programs n Portland on Oct. 20, President Obama urged Oregonians to mail in their ballots. At the RAPS meeting on Oct. 21, we got ready to do so, when Corinne Paulson from the League of Women Voters reviewed those often puzzling measures that appear on the ballot. Distinguishing between proposed constitutional amendments and proposed legislation, and between initiative petitions and measures referred to the ballot by the legislature, Corinne helped members understand the measures so that voting decisions could be well informed. She was careful in answering RAPS members’ questions, and some lively discussion was generated by the presentation and the questions. We are indebted to Marge Terdal who arranged for the speaker. Marge also presented information about the mentoring project that RAPS has agreed to participate in. The project involves introducing foreign students to social aspects of life in the United States: movies, family gatherings, hikes, and restaurant dinners were among the activities suggested. Members who wanted more information left their names and email addresses with Marge. The November RAPS meeting will be a tour of the “green” buildings of Portland State—of which there are many, both new and old. It will be a walking tour; the need to keep distances as short as possible and to avoid stairs has been considered in the planning. Members should meet in the lobby of the new Academic and Student Recreation Center, 1800 SW 6th Ave. on Nov. 18 (our usual third Thursday) at 1:30 p.m. for the tour. The ASRC fronts on the plaza—just across the bricks from the bookstore and the Urban Studies buildings. We hope for nice weather and a good turnout. --Joan Shireman I
3 RAPS club reports RAPS Hikers: Wildlife beckons at Oaks Bottoms Our last hike in 2010 will be a local hike at Oaks Bottom on Tuesday, Nov. 23. This is an easy hike with little elevation gain, and part of it will be on a paved bike path along the Willamette River. Oaks Bottom is near Oaks Park, and we expect to see wildlife such as great blue herons, eagles, ducks, song birds and osprey. Bring your binoculars. The hike will begin at the Milwaukie trailhead at 9:30 a.m., and the hikers will decide on a local restaurant for lunch. To get to the trailhead, travel about one mile south of the Ross Island Bridge to the Milwaukie exit. The parking lot is just to the right on Milwaukie. You can also take the #19 Woodstock bus which stops near the trailhead. In early December, we will meet at a hiker’s home for a potluck and 2011 planning session. Confirm your participation of the Oaks Bottom hike by Nov. 22 to Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. --Larry Sawyer Book Club: ‘A Reliable Wife’ The RAPS Book Club will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 3:30 p.m. at the home of Linda Smeltzer, 1214 Hallinan Circle, Lake Oswego. NOTE THE TIME CHANGE. Please contact Linda at smeltzer@gmail.com or 503-636-5221 to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss a #1 New York Times bestseller, A Reliable Wife, written by Robert Goolrick. The book is described as follows on the back cover: He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for a “reliable wife.” She responded, saying that she was “a simple, honest woman.” She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving herself a wealthy widow. What Catherine Land did not realize was that the enigmatic and lonely Ralph Truitt had a plan of his own. Looking ahead to December, we have selected Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. --Mary Brannan Bridge Group: Deals on Nov. 9 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at Willamette View at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9. For further information, please call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call no later than Friday, Nov. 5. --Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE Remembering Kathy Greey: the Quintessential Academic Librarian Kathy was a well loved and respected librarian throughout her career at PSU (1967-1997). She quipped that she was a "mail order librarian" because she was hired sight unseen right out of college by a public library in the east. She eventually came back to Portland to be with her parents and chose to work at Portland State's library. Never owning a car, she lived at the Ione Plaza (now the Vue Apartments) on campus and walked to the library. Although she remained the quintessential academic librarian, Kathy changed with the times, making the transition from card catalog to computers with grace, style, and skill. She was a lady; her favorite word was "appropriate.” Kathy was also all about public service. She was responsible for giving many scholarships through Phi Kappa Phi and served as bookstore manager at the First Unitarian she attended. Her favorite children's book was Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius, a tale of a redheaded librarian who traveled, and Kathy followed suit. Continuing to travel after retiring from PSU, she met with misfortune and died on a trip to China, doing what she loved best: traveling. Attesting to Kathy as a person, at her memorial there was not enough room in her church's sanctuary for all of her grateful friends and students. She was a truly special friend. --Susan Jackson PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu.
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