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Speaker Series: Know Your Neighbors on Tuesday at 7:30PM

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Speaker Series
   Know Your "Neighbors"

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

7:30pm Zoom Talk




In February, our speaker series will feature four WN members who took a memoir-writing class Wellesley Weston Lifetime Learning (WWLL). They will share “hilarious stories, stories of family culture, stories of chickens, the unexpected,” says Catherine Connor. Both organizer and participant, she

promises that “you’ll know much more about your fellow members through listening to their writings--and you will be thoroughly entertained.” 




Jerry Gans, psychiatrist--When I entered my 70s, I decided I was through with international travel. I’ve  found myself instead gravitating to internal travel, by which I mean taking stock of my life by lookinginside. Memoir-writing has turned out to be a wonderful way of taking this journey – not to mention less expensive. Three years ago I took “Writing Your Story” at WWLL and discovered several members ofWellesley Neighbors there, The class’s positive reactions to what I shared was a great satisfaction, andI’m now putting together what will be a self-published book of some 40 pieces that I’ve written since then. 
 

Lee Delph, elementary school teacher—In my 33 years of teaching, I never wrote just for the sake ofwriting. I loved teaching writing, but it wasn’t until I joined a memoir class in 2007 that I grew to love it.

A whole world of memories and new friends opened up for me. Dredging up memories of my childhood,world travels, marriage and divorce, and moving to Needham and then Wellesley gave me lots ofmaterial. The camaraderie and helpful criticism helped me grow as a writer and a person. I think Ilearned about Wellesley Neighbors through one or more of the other class members.



Peter Offenhartz, educator and IT entrepreneur--Peter was born in Brooklyn, NY,

but was raised in the countryside just north of Croton-on-Hudson, a major commuting town for the city. He attended the local schools, and graduated after his junior year. In the summers he turned 13, 14, and 15, he attended Camp Wanderlust, a trout fishing camp that traveled by canoe on the Allagash river system from just north of Moosehead Lake to the Canadian border near Fort Kent.  When he was 16 he bicycled through Ireland, Wales, England, France, and Italy, a journey he planned by himself, visiting Irish relatives at the start but on his own for most of the rest.

After high school he entered Swarthmore College, where he graduated in 1960 and married Barbara (Hopf). He then entered the University Of Pennsylvania, which awarded him a PhD. in 1963. Graduate school was followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Cambridge, England, Tokyo, and Harvard. He began his teaching career at the University of Colorado in 1966, which continued at Amherst College in 1968. Amherst awarded him a faculty fellowship in Strasbourg, France, in 1971, but did not give him tenure, so in 1973 he moved ro Wellesley, where his two children, Kathleen and John, eventually graduated from high school. 

While in Amherst he earned a pilot's license (single engine, land) and a glider license, bought a used plane, flew with his family across country to Seattle, but didn't  fly much again after moving to Wellesley. He taught briefly at Mass Bay CC, but found it unremunerative, and turned instead to a career in computer software and hardware, founding several small companies along the way. He is one of the Webmasters for Wellesley Neighbors.




Catherine Connor, biomedical researcher, administrator--I moved to Natick from Urbana, Illinois. 13 years ago, having spent most of my life in Urbana, mostly at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.  I found it somewhat difficult to find compatriots of my age in this brand-new place, until discovering WWLL, where I signed up for the memoir-writing class. There I found friends, including Ilse Sangree, who invited her to join Wellesley Neighbors.  Because Ilse’s invitation was the third I’d received, I decided it would be worth trying. I’ve now belonged for 7 years and am delighted


Click on the "Register" button (preferred) or 
email events@wellesleyneighbors.org or 
phone 781 283-0417 ext 2
Once you register, you will receive a Zoom invitation with the link you need to join the Zoom conversation. You will receive a Zoom invite on the day before and morning of the event. 




When:
Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 7:30 PM
Videoconference information will be provided in an email once registration is complete.
Additional Info:
Event Contact(s):
Joyce S Wadlington
Category:
Speaker Series
Registration is recommended
Payment In Full In Advance Only
No Fee
No Fee
No Fee

Wellesley Neighbors,  PO Box 812609 , Wellesley, MA 02482   (781) 283-0417 director@wellesleyneighbors.org
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