THE RAPS SHEET March 2015 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University Post Office Box 751--RAPS Portland OR 97207-0751 Koinonia House, second floor SW Montgomery at Broadway Office Manager Carissa Ponting (503)725-3447, raps@pdx.edu Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Winter Term Office hours: Wednesday and Friday, noon to 4pm, Thursday, 9am5pm. Officers Priscilla Blumel President Eileen Brennan President-elect / Program Chair Susan Poulsen Past President / Elections Chair Robert Lockerby Secretary Nancy Benson Treasurer Mary Ricks RAPS Sheet Editor Larry Sawyer RAPS Representative to Regional & National Retirement Associations, Website Editor Board Members-at-Large Nancy Chapman Chik Erzurumlu Brian Lewis Committees Steve Brannan History Preservation and Pictorial History Book Chair Terril Doherty Social Committee Chair John Cooper Friendship Chair Brian Lewis Membership Chair Nancy Chapman Scholarship Chair Chik Erzurumlu Awards Chair Christine Meadows to Share the Voice and Vision of Opera t the Thursday, March 19 RAPS meeting, PSU Opera Program Director Christine Meadows will talk about Le Nozze di Figaro, PSU Opera's upcoming production. Students featured in the production will sing excerpts from the opera. Professor Meadows is known for her inspiring work with students, teaching them about the unique art form of opera, that combines world-renowned music and visual arts with the excitement of theater. Productions she has led at PSU include Dialogues of the Carmelites, Street Scene, The Merry Widow, Falstaff, La Bohème, and Così fan tutte, drawing capacity crowds, and featuring award-winning performances. Christine Meadows received her undergraduate training at Portland State University, and earned an M.M. in Vocal Performance from Indiana University. She went on to pursue a successful career as a concert and opera soloist, winning roles with New York City Opera, the Dallas Lyric Opera, the Houston Opera, and the Portland Opera. The meeting will be in the Vanport Room 338 Smith Memorial Student Union. A potluck lunch will be available at noon (please see page 3 for more information.) Christine Meadows will speak and the PSU students will perform beginning at 1:00pm. A
President’s Message Beryl and Vic Dahl have served on the RAPS Board for the longest period of anyone I know. Now, they have asked RAPS to pass the baton on to a new team to lead Social and Friendship activities. They are a hard act to follow, and we are grateful to them for their many years of service. Terril Doherty and John Cooper have agreed to undertake these assignments and both are especially qualified. Terril Doherty retired from Extended Studies and will be working to make our social events a success. John Cooper will serve as Friendship Chair. He is Professor Emeritus of English and has previously served on the RAPS Board. We thank Terril and John for taking on these duties. A very nice invitation has come to RAPS from the Office of Academic Affairs (see page 5.) They are starting a monthly get-together for faculty and staff called the Second Thursday Social Club. All RAPS members are invited to these Second Thursday events. We encourage RAPS members to participate. --Priscilla Blumel Please Save these Dates for Spring Events! hursday April 16, 2015 is the date of the President’s annual luncheon for retired faculty and staff. The luncheon will be at University Place and will include a brief address from President Wiewel and the presentation of the 2015 RAPS Awards. Parking will be available in the University Place lot. We will also hold our scholarship wine raffle and provide more information about the May 3 Wine Tasting at Storyteller Wines in the Johns Landing area. The event will benefit the RAPS Scholarship Fund. --Eileen Brennan RAPS Scholarship Fund gift to the RAPS Scholarship Fund was made last month by: The Robert W. Vogelsang Memorial Wine Raffle. 2 T A
On March 19th, plan to join the RAPS monthly gathering to share a Potluck Lunch and to hear about the PSU production of Le Nozze di Figaro from Christine Meadows PSU Opera Program Director, and students in the cast. Vanport Room 338 Smith Memorial Student Union Please come and bring your favorite salad or dessert. The Potluck starts at noon, and Christine Meadows and students will perform at 1PM. Please contact Terril Doherty (by email at the.terriljoan@gmail.com or by phone at 503-238-0545,) or Carissa Ponting, RAPS Office (by e-mail at: rapsmail@pdx.edu or by phone at 503-725-3447) to let us know what dish you will bring. 3
RAPS Group Reports The RAPS Book Group met February 17 at the home of Maxine Thomas to discuss A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. This is the account of a teenager caught in the rebellion in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, of his experience as a child fleeing violence, and in a UNICEF rehabilitation center. We were appalled by the experiences recounted, captured by the elegance of the writing, and amazed that a young person could have survived such a war and emerged to become a successful student and writer. On March 17 the group will discuss The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, advertised by Amazon as “historical fiction at its best.” Booklist’s review states “Coplin’s mesmerizing debut stands out with its depictions of uniquely Western personalities and a stark, gorgeously realized landscape that will settle deeply into readers’ bones.” It is the tale of a solitary orchardist who takes in two young girls, with dramatic consequences. We will meet at the home of Felicia Wirtz, 16433 NW Avamere Ct, Portland. Contact Felicia at (503) 628-2252 or feliciawirtz@gmail.com to RSVP and for directions. The April meeting of the book group will be at the home of Brian Lewis. We will discuss The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. It is a tale of the young ballerinas who were the subjects of Degas’ art. “Wonderfully imagined and masterfully rendered, this story of 19th century Paris and life behind the scenes of its legendary Opera House will change the way you see the world of ballet, art and the lives it portrays.”—Shilpi Somaya Gowda, New York Times. The Book Group meets the third Tuesday of each month. New members are always welcome. --Joan Shireman The RAPS Bridge Group will meet (or has already met) on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. We meet regularly on the first Tuesday of each month. Given the timing of the monthly RAPS Sheet, let me inform you of a couple of upcoming bridge sessions: April 7, 2015 and May 5, 2015. We gather in the conference room of Friendly House’s Anderson Building. This building is on the north side of Savier Street, just around the corner from the main entrance of Friendly House at 26th and Thurman. Playing begins at 1pm and continues to about 4:30pm. We are friendly and are always looking for new players. If you wish to join us, please contact Steve Brennan at 503-646-6297. My email address is the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. --Steve Brennan The RAPS Hiking Group hiked a four-mile stairs hike on Mount Tabor on February 13. The pace was leisurely and not as strenuous as it sounds. We passed many of the reservoirs. The fog did not clear until the afternoon. We stopped at the Song Bird Café on 69th and Belmont for lunch. On Friday, March 13, we will venture farther out. This hike will be on the Banks to Vernonia Linear Park, and will be about ten miles with no elevation gain. Starting at L. L. “Stub” Stewart State Park we will travel to the end of the trail at Vernonia where we will have lunch. This will be a car pool and car shuttle hike. Meet at our regular spot at the Cedar Hills Shopping Center, near Highways 26 and 217, by the DMV Office at 9 am. To confirm your attendance or for more information contact Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. (There’s an underscore between “larry” and “sawyer” in that email address.) --Larry Sawyer 4
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Photos from the Hiking Group Hiking Group on the trail in light fog Hiking Group on the summit of the Portland Stairs Hike Leif Terdal, Marge Terdal, Mary Lane Stevens and Tom Hard --Photos by Larry Sawyer 6
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