The RAPS Sheet The newsletter of the Retirement Association of Portland State DECEMBER 2019 Retirement Association of Portland State Portland State University–RAPS Post Office Box 751 Portland OR 97207-0751 Campus Public Safety Building Second Floor, Room 212 SW Montgomery at Broadway Office Manager Emily Caparelli Telephone: 503-725-3447 Email: rapsmail@pdx.edu Office hours: Mon. 8 am to 12 pm; Tues. 12 pm to 4 pm; Weds. 8 am to 10 am; Thurs., 8 am to 4 pm. Campus mail: RAPS Web: www.pdx.edu/raps Board Members Co-Presidents Steve Brennan David Krug Secretary Brian Lewis Treasurer Ansel Johnson Members-at-Large Constance Andersen Steven Brenner Nancy Eriksson RAPS Sheet Editor Eileen Brennan Website Editor Larry Sawyer RAPS Representative to Regional & National Retirement Associations Larry Sawyer Committees Awards Steve Brennan, Chair History Preservation David Krug, Chair Membership/Program Dawn White, Chair Scholarships Joan Shireman, Chair Social Nancy Eriksson, Chair Join RAPS members and guests at December 12 holiday brunch RAPS MEMBERS kick off their holiday season on Thursday, December 12, with the annual holiday brunch. The event begins at 10:30 am with the opening of the holiday beverage service, followed by a catered brunch buffet at 11:00 am. The brunch menu includes scones, scrambled eggs, roasted vegetable scramble, broccolini, green salad, house-cured bacon, roasted red potatoes, coffee, and other beverages. This year the event will be held at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Ave., Portland. There is free on-street parking, or you can use TriMet line 8, Jackson Park/NE 15th. For easiest access, please enter on 15th Avenue (the east side of the building), which has a ramp. For $25 a person, you will enjoy a wonderful meal and beverages while catching up with RAPS friends. To reserve your spot, please contact Emily Caparelli at rapsmail@pdx.edu or 503 725-3447 no later than November 27. The brunch’s storied Treat Table, which supports the RAPS Scholarship fund, will again offer seasonal goodies, gift certificates, and other gift items for sale (cash or check only). Please consider donating an item to the Treat Table; contact Emily Caparelli for additional details. —Nancy Eriksson —Photograph by Larry Sawyer —
Co-President’s Message 2 I HOPE YOU ARE FINDING your golden retirement years to be an interesting and enjoyable time of your life. If you are at all like me, however, you may be discovering that without the structure of going to work with colleagues on a daily basis, you have become somewhat isolated. During the years of my retirement, I have discovered that engaging in meaningful volunteer activities, such as Habitat for I especially find that attending stimulating RAPS events is enriching for the mind, but also a great opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues. So my recommendation is for you to take a look at your busy schedule and consider making room for spending a meaningful couple of hours a month with your PSU colleagues and old friends. I am sure you will be glad you made the effort. Finally, as we enter full steam ahead into this holiday season, we wish you and your loved ones wonderful celebrations. May you ring in the New Year with much health, joy, and happiness! —Dave Krug Humanity, and getting involved in organizations, such as RAPS, has been very rewarding and seems to be keeping me as busy as I ever was while working! Happy holidays to RAPS members RAPS 2019-20 Board. Front row: Emily Caparelli (office manager), Nancy Eriksson, Eileen Brennan, Joan Shireman, Brian Lewis. Back row: Steve Brenner, Dave Krug, Steve Brennan, Dawn White, Ansel Johnson, Larry Sawyer. Not shown: Constance Anderson. —Photograph by Larry Sawyer
RAPS Group Reports Book Group THE RAPS BOOK GROUP met on November 19 at the home of Eileen and Steve Brennan, and discussed Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. This is the report of an investigative journalist, based on multiple interviews and reviews of records. It details the fraud behind the rise of a Silicon Valley medical technology start-up, and the circumstances of its collapse. For many in the group this was a new world, with a very different set of standards and priorities. However, the ethical issues were familiar, and interesting to discuss. On December 17 we are meeting at Joan Shireman’s house and discussing Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Amazon describes the book: “Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.” Does she sound a bit like the ambitious young woman at the center of Bad Blood? But this one is set in 1938—with a very different set of challenges and opportunities. Joan’s home is at 13584 SE Snowfire Dr., Happy Valley. Please email her at joanshireman@gmail.com or call 503-698-9951 to let her know if you can be there. In January we will be reading Lynne Olson’s Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with England in its Darkest, Finest Hour. This nonfiction work explores the origins of an Anglo-American alliance that helped turn the tide during the most widespread conflict in history. The book group meets at 1:30 pm on the third Tuesday of every month. New members are always welcome. . —Joan Shireman 3 Hiking Group ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, the hiking group followed a portion of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail, which was the first linear rail trail state park in Oregon. We began the hike at the Buxton Railroad Trestle, traveling to the Stubbs Park day area, where we enjoyed a sack lunch before returning about 3.5 miles to the Buxton trail head. Our December meeting is a potluck lunch and 2020 hiking planning session at the home of Larry and Diane Sawyer. Please contact Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net for further information. Additional background information about the 2019 hikes can be found at: https://www.pdx.edu/raps/RAPS-Hikers —Larry Sawyer Bridge Group THE RAPS BRIDGE GROUPmeets in the afternoon on the first Tuesday of each month. We begin play at 12:15 pm and try to finish up by 4 pm. We meet in Smith Center. We have had some new and returning members join us for our last few meetings. Please feel free to be another one of our new members for bridge (we really would welcome more new members). Our next meeting will be on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 3, in Room 329 Smith Center. Please mark your calendars for the following upcoming meetings in winter term: Tuesday, January 7; Tuesday, February 4; and Tuesday, March 3. I will send out the reminder email notice about one week prior to each date we play. If you wish to join us, please contact Steve Brennan, 503-646-6297. My email address is: the.steve.brennan@gmail.com. —Steve Brennan Scott Burns (second from left) curated a fall term RAPS wine tasting event hosted by Jerry and Leslie Marshall at Oswego Hills Winery in West Linn. —photograph by Eileen Brennan
Past Tense—RAPS sponsors legacy interviews SOME TIME IN 1985 a member of the RAPS Board proposed that legacy interviews be collected and stored for posterity. Bernard V. Burke (1986) was the first to be recorded and in the late 1980s eight additional audio interviews were collected. These included interviews with Brock Dixon, E. Hugh Hinds, George C. Hoffmann, and Frank Roberts. During the late nineties Steve Brannan, chair of the RAPS History Preservation Committee, and PSU librarian Cristine Paschild began collecting video interviews. These interviews include PSU faculty and administrators Charles LeGuin, Judith Ramaley, Michael Reardon, Bill Lemman, Margaret Dobson, Maxine Thomas, Charlie White, and Vic Dahl, among others. The interviews are transcribed and stored in PSU archives, and are available through the PSU Library website: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/rememberpsu_oralhist/ This legacy project is ongoing and provides a significant contribution to retaining the early history of Portland State. If you know of someone you think would be interested and could make a valuable addition to this project, please contact Cristine Paschild, who is head of Special Collections and University Archivist, at paschild@pdx.edu or 503-725-9883. —Dave Krug In 2016 Clarence Hein interviewed former PSU president Judith Ramaley. Both transcript and video interview are available online. —photograph from PSU Archives 4 Upcoming RAPS winter term events JANUARY (Thursday, January 16) “Surviving and Thriving as We Age,” presentation by Susan Poulsen, professor emerita of speech communication and licensed nurse; Christine A. Krueger, physical therapist; and AnnMarie Cordova, physical therapist assistant, 333 SMSU. FEBRUARY (Thursday, Feb. 20) "Providing an Inclusive College Experience for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: PSU's Remarkable Career and Community Studies Program," presentation by Ann Fullerton and Mary Morningstar, PSU Special Education professors, 333 SMSU. MARCH(Thursday, March 19) RAPS potluck and spring opera preview with PSU opera program director Christine Meadows. —Dawn White Scholarship contribution listing errors We regret that we made errors in the listing of scholarship contributions that appeared in the November 2019 RAPS Sheet. There were problems in compiling the information that led to incorrect listings. Thank you to the members who informed us about mistakes in listings. We will correct our records. —Eileen Brennan
Portugal Mark your calendar for October 3-12, 2020. That’s when RAPS journeys to Portugal, a land of ancient castles, Roman ruins, whitewashed villages and welcoming locals. We’ll see Lisbon and the narrow streets of its Alfama District . . . the Portuguese Riviera and its brightly colored buildings . . . the countryside, including Evora, “the museum city of Portugal”. . . and, if you choose the optional extension, Madeira, an island full of culture and charming villages. And part of your fare supports the RAPS scholarship! $3,649 per person, double occupancy. TRIP DETAILS: https://gateway.gocollette.com/link/944136 For more information, contact Larry Sawyer at 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net Obidos OCTOBER 3-12, 2020 Scholarship fundraising through RAPS travel programs A FEW YEARS AGOthe Scholarship Subcommittee for Fundraising through Travel decided to work with only one company. We chose Collette Travel since it is a family-owned company that is now 101 years old. It offers excellent tours and has supported several biannual conferences of our national higher education retirement association (AROHE). It is reputed to be one of the easiest travel companies to work with, and its Northwest representatives work out of Portland. After some surveys and discussion, subcommittee members chose Italian Vistas as the first group tour. The four travelers who participated had a wonderful trip and great weather, with no wading boots required for Venice! After the trip was completed, Collette sent a commission check for $1,936 to RAPS. Six RAPS members went on the Eastern Canada tour last September, with RAPS netting a commission of $1,744. With the 2019-20 scholarship already taken out, our balance in the scholarship fund is $42,729. We are approaching the minimum endowment of $50,000. Our next scheduled group trip is to sunny Portugal, with an optional extension to Madeira Island. The RAPS office has brochures on the trip, which are available at any RAPS general meeting. Collette has also created a specific web page for us detailing the trip. It can be reached through https://gateway.gocollette.com /link/944136. There is a $100 discount for a six month early registration and deposit. Collette has another option for you. If you don’t want to travel to Portugal, you can choose your own destination tour. View the possible trips at https://www.gocollette.com. Collette will also give RAPS commissions if non-RAPS members request that the commissions associated with their trips go to RAPS. I have the correct phone number to call and the account number to credit. You can plan your whole trip over the phone. For this and other information, please contact me at: 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. —-Larry Sawyer, chair of the Scholarship Subcommittee for Fundraising through Travel 5
RAPS members participate in Schnitzer Gallery opening RAPS members Diane and Larry Sawyer tour the inaugural exhibition “Art for All” at the November 7 Grand Opening event at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, located in Fariborz Maseeh Hall, formerly Neuberger Hall. The Jordan Schnitzer museum is located in a 7,500-square-foot space on two floors overlooking SW Broadway. It offers accessible art experiences to PSU and the public, at no cost. Fred Hamilton and Charlene Levesque pause before a work of art that exemplifies the museum’s goal of exploring contemporary culture through art. —photographs by Larry Sawyer 6
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