2 President’s Message he holidays are over—and what pleasant memories they bring. The RAPS holiday dinner was a grand affair. With 68 of us attending, there were chances to visit with people we seldom see, as well as with good friends. In fact, we were so busy visiting that I imagine relatively few actually heard the strolling carolers, in Victorian garb, singing familiar songs. Music was a theme of the evening, with The Wanderers performing for us. Did you get a chance to talk with either of the Wanderers? Bill Marlin and Carl Allen met when they were students at Washington State University, they told me, and have presented concerts together for over 50 years, despite academic careers that located them in different cities. Along the way, at one of those academic meetings, they discovered the name of Robert Vogelsang, a former favorite professor, on the program, and reconnected with him. The Wanderers brought us splendid music at the holiday dinner, with many songs on the program written by folk artists we knew well when we were young. And our Robert Vogelsang joined in the Wanderers’ final number, playing the harmonica. The other theme of the evening, from my perspective, was the close cooperation and willingness of everyone to work together and do whatever was needed to make the evening a success. Mary Brannan and Dave Krug worked with the Multnomah Athletic Club to bring the cost of dinner down, and the Board voted to subsidize it from the RAPS treasury to further reduce the price. Then, with the mailing of information about the dinner delayed due to illness, all the Board members pitched in to make telephone calls. Every RAPS member for whom we had a telephone number received a personal invitation to the dinner (and a reminder to reply promptly). Larry Sawyer made new name tags for everyone, and then took good pictures. Together we created a gala evening. As we leave the holidays behind and turn to the tasks of the New Year, I think the memories of this dinner will energize us. The solicitation for funds for our student scholarship fund is probably the first major task of 2012—we have a committee working on the planning. (There too the dinner played a part: our wine raffle, enhanced by donations of three of their CDs by the Wanderers, netted about $175 for the RAPS scholarship.) There are good programs lined up for the New Year, including an “extra” in January that is really very special. The many activities of the organization continue. So, I wish you a prosperous New Year and hope to see you at many of the RAPS events. --Joan Shireman RAPS club reports Bridge Group plays the hands it’s dealt on Jan. 10 Why Bridge? And why a RAPS Bridge Group? In chess, everything is out on the table. All the information is there for both players. It is a game of skill. Luck has nothing to do with it – unless you consider it lucky when your opponent makes a fatal mistake. In bridge, a fair amount of information is out on the table but much is hidden, and each person knows something that no one else knows for sure. Oh yes, there is plenty of luck, but there is also skill in how you make use of that luck. In poker there is . . . well, I’ll leave that to you. On a scale of 1 (Relaxed) to 10 (Competitive), the RAPS Bridge Group ranks about a 3. Remember, we are all retired! We play to enjoy the challenge of doing our best with the hands we are dealt (not unlike life). Most of us play using conventions we learned years ago – and we still learn from each other. If you played in the past and would like to take it up again, you would probably fit in well with our group. If you know a little about the game (or nothing at all) and would like to know more, we can give you a little help to get you started. The RAPS Bridge Group meets the second Tuesday of each month from 1:00 pm to about 4:00 pm. Currently we have about a dozen regular members and meet at Friendly House in northwest Portland. If you would like to know more, please let me know. You can reach me at 503-292-0838 or by email at colinkeld@gmail.com. --Colin Dunkeld Book Club reads Hirsi Ali’s memoir ‘Infidel’ Our first RAPS Book Club meeting in 2012 will be held Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 1:30 pm at the home of Dez Roberts, 2610 SW 84th in Portland. Contact her at 503-292-6095 or dezrob@comcast.net to RSVP and for directions. We will discuss Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. continued on page 3 T
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