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SENIORNET  COMPUTER  LEARNING  CENTER  NEWS

April 1, 2002; Vol. 3; Issue #4; Mail Address: PMB 44,  12819 SE 38th St., Bellevue, WA 98006-1326

Voice Mail: 206-232-5892; Classroom: Phantom Lake Elementary School, Bellevue

For Detailed Information, Class Schedules:  http://www.seniornetps.org/

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By Phil Scheier

 

SENIORNET ELECTS NEW OFFICER SLATE: A heavily attended Annual Meeting of the SeniorNet Computer Learning Center re-elected Pres. Helen Hesketh to head incoming officers for the next two years.  At the meeting held at the Bellevue Educational Service Center March 19, 2002, following a continental breakfast, other officers elected were:

 

Vice Pres. Adella J. Granger; Treas. Bob Swenson; and Secy. Patricia Braun. 

 

The slate of nominees was presented by Joe Hesketh who headed the nominating committee, with all elected by acclimation.

 

Helen thanked the outgoing board members, Vice Pres. Bill Bumpas, Secy. Dave Lewis; and Publicity Chair Josephine Hugh, for their long and dedicated service in behalf of SeniorNet. Josephine will continue working with her husband, Clair, in getting out the regular catalogues with courses and class schedules, sent to prospective students.

 

Opening the meeting attended by some 60 members who crowded into the auditorium provided by the School District, Pres. Hesketh issued her official welcome to "the full house" and warmly welcomed back former Pres. Clif Wuesthoff, and Marilyn Emerson, now living in Vancouver, WA. Clif, who is the immediate past president, continues with his affiliation with SeniorNet by 'mailing out' the monthly SeniorNet Online Newsletter.

 

Jill McLeod, principal of our host Phantom Lake Elementary School in Bellevue, who also hosted the breakfast, pledged "We are with you," in describing plans to continue providing a school room in the new school to be constructed on the same site, following removal of the current school. SeniorNet classes will continue in the interim site at the old Bellewood School. McLeod outlined moving plans for the school to its new interim site.  "April 5th is the last day of school at the current site," she said. Elementary school classes will resume April 15th at the interim site. SeniorNet classes will resume April 22.

 

The interim site is the former Bellewood School, 301 - 15th Place NE. However, 151st is an exit only, so enter from 153 place as follows:  From Main St., turn north at 153rd Place, continue past NE 4th Place, staying to the left. This leads directly to the Bellewood School parking lot.

 

IN MEMORIAM: Members expressed their thoughts and memories of Ed Broadwell, a former Quicken instructor, with a moment of silence observed.

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COMMITTEE REPORTS: Reports were given by: Coordinator Harry Shedd on the final curriculum study report; Treasurer Bob Swenson; Facilities Coordinator Ken Crandall; Curriculum Coordinator John Wise; Instructors Coordinator Ray French; Registration Coordinator Louise Flora; Volunteers Coordinator Delores Davis; Granpals Coordinator Patricia Herzog whose report was read by Nancy Harsh. A demonstration of the operation of eBay, the online trading and sales site, was given by Fran Middleton, SeniorNet Ebay consultant from San Francisco. She said eBay had recently donated $1 million to SeniorNet to expand its work of training seniors in computer operations. The close of the meeting saw drawings for prizes, donated by members.

 

PRES. HELEN HESKETH

For Pres. Hesketh, this will mark her third two-year term as head of SeniorNet, following her initial election to succeed then Pres. Clif Wuesthoff.  She and husband Joe have eight children, 33 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, with the latest arrival born  this past month.  A past president of the State of Maine Jaycee Wives, she was the official chaperone to Miss Maine of 1969 and made the gown that Miss Maine wore in the Miss America Pageant. Long active in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts Leadership, she has also been a church secretary.

 

In the business world, she was administrative assistant to the local sales manager of a national company. After serving as president and then as co-president with Joe, of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Speakers Association, she became executive secretary of the group for almost 10 years. In addition, the Helen-Joe partnership continues a busy pace at the St. Louise Church in various activities. She and Joe travel regularly in their RV as members of the Evergreen Winnies, where they are co-presidents.

 

VICE PRES. ADELLA J. GRANGER
Newly-elected Vice Pres. Adella J. Granger is a native of Seattle, with her pioneer family including a cousin who was the first postmistress in Redmond.  Adella has a lengthy business background in mortgage lending. For 23 years, she worked in the Real Estate Investment Department of Prudential Insurance. When the company transferred operations to California, she moved to the Seattle First National Bank where she worked for 17 years, becoming assistant vice president of the Real Estate Group's Internal Audit Department. She spent the next 11 years with Washington Mutual as assistant vice president in its Loan Servicing Department.  Her final project at WAMU was project manager with responsibility for the renovation and remodeling of the Newmark Building on Second Ave..

This also included working with the company, which installed the bank's online computer services.  With the project completed in 1999, Adella retired from WAMU. About this time she also discovered SeniorNet, took classes, including genealogy, where she has now listed some 500 Grangers in her family tree program.

 

TREAS. BOB SWENSON:

For Treas. Bob Swenson, a retired banker and long-time SeniorNet veteran here, this marks his third two-year as treasurer, plus his equally lengthy role as instructor and active volunteer year commitment in the formative years of the organization.  Swenson also prepared the successful key fund grant request that provided the center's new, fast PC computers, plus the larger 17-inch monitors, and new printers.

 

IT'S KAFFEE KLATCH TIME AGAIN: And this month it's coming up fast, since the first Tuesday in April is April 2. So come meet and get to better know whom your SeniorNet colleagues are. And you can even talk shop; ask some computer questions of the many experts in our membership, while enjoying no-host lunch, or cawfee, whatever. See you all starting at 11 am in the Crossroads Mall food circus area, where the tables are drawn up.

 

SITE CHANGE: MONTHLY MEETING NOW AT CROSSROADS MALL: The SeniorNet monthly membership meeting will be held Tuesday, April 16th, at 10 a.m., at a new site at the Crossroads Mall Community Room. You can reach the community room via the south entrance to the mall, continue walking straight until you pass Bartell's on the left, and immediate there will be a security sign and a hallway. The SeniorNet sign will be there to direct you. Hang a left there and go to the end of the hall, and into the meeting room.

 

SCHOOL MOVING TIME APPROACHING: The past months have been busy times at the Phantom Lake Elementary School preparing for the move to an interim site while the current buildings are demolished and replaced with a larger, modern structure. And of course SeniorNet Computer Learning Center and our regular class schedule is moving right along on April 8th to the old Bellewood School near the Crossroads Mall. Facilities Coordinator Ken Crandall reports:  "I have eight great volunteers. The plan of action is that we will pack on April 6th. After the move, we will start to unpack on April 11 at the interim site, since we are likely to be the last to move from Phantom Lake. I plan to have the classroom up and running by April 17th."  Our appreciation to Ken and his hard-working band of volunteers for handling this staggering task. By mid-March workmen were already preparing to the portables, and had taken over the on-site parking space.

 

OUR THANKS TO PATTY NELSON: Our three-year volunteer, Patty Nelson who has been an instructor and assistant in the classroom, has bought a truck and a fifth-wheeler and will be spending part of her time here in the northwest, and the remainder of the year in Florida. She has purchased a home near her sister who is seriously ill. SeniorNet extends its thanks and appreciation to her.

 

HELP SPREAD WORD OF SENIORNET LEARNING CLASSES: If you have friends who are online, and may be interested in taking hands-on classes to expand their skills, forward this e-mail newsletter to them by clicking Forward when this message is displayed. Then enter their address in the to box when the new message form appears, and then if you wish, add your own message, and click Send. Or, send them the URL (Internet address) of this Newsletter if you are reading it on line. Your friends will thank you when you tell them of the wide variety of computer courses, our modern computers, large monitors, new printers and our wall-size projection screen to follow lessons move by move.

 

OUR GRANPALS REAL PALS TO PUPILS: Playing a welcome role in working one-on-one with Phantom Lake School students to help them in reading, math etc., are our SeniorNet Granpals. And the very warm and genuine welcome they receive from these elementary school students when they come to class once or twice a week is a heartfelt experience. At the start of the school year, according to Granpals Coordinator Patricia Herzog, there were 16 returning Granpals, plus another 11 newcomers. Granpals returning for the current school year are: Margaret Amory, Betty Block, Burt Block, Dick Burrus, John Chrismer, Beverly Feichter, Irene Fernandes, Patricia FitzGerald, Chuck Flora, Maxine Giard, Sue Grieff, Pat Herzog, Charles Hurter, Robert Runkel, Philip R. Scheier and Joann Swanson. New Granpals for the current school year are: Mary Carter, Emma Eng, Adella J. Granger ,who is also our new Vice President, Nancy Harsh, Shirley Kelly, Sylvia Kuebler, Shirley Lincoln, Barbara McDaniel, Ken McDivitt, Rita Schaab and Martha Simon.

 

Several members who meet with the students several times weekly, according to Pat, include Charles Hurter, Chuck Flora and Shirley Lincoln, with Pat FitzGerald spending the entire morning in her class.  Many of the Granpals have been volunteering since 1994. 

 

 

GETTING TO KNOW YOU BETTER: MEET OUR MEMBERS:

 

KEN CRANDALL: After spending 37 years as an engineer at Boeing working with varied computers and becoming hooked on the wonder machines "because they can do so many different things very fast," our always-busy Facilities Coordinator Ken Crandall listened to his wife, Norma, when he retired in 1995.  She suggested he get involved in a hobby where he would continue meeting interesting people. So of course he thought of volunteering as a computer instructor. When he volunteered at the Bellevue Senior Center, he learned the instructor didn't want an assistant. But she did mention some of her computers had been loaned from SeniorNet, which might be looking for teachers. And that is how Ken joined SeniorNet

 

Following his retirement, Ken started experimenting with his own computer, as many other SeniorNet members have done. He installed new hardware, started using a modem to connect to other computers, activities which helped him in teaching and keeping the class computers operating.  In those early years, he recalls, "I had the good fortune to work with Gerry Farrell, also an ex Boeing employee, who knew a lot more about computers than I did. And despite a serious illness, he was willing to teach me. I have also learned that my wife was correct.  I enjoy the continued association with people."

 

HAL MOZER: This veteran and always busy SeniorNet instructor who was a 1995 Windows beta tester, and developed and taught our first Windows 95 course, has an unusual method of relaxing.  Hal Mozer, who was an electrical engineer specializing in electric utility engineering, is an avid scuba diver who hit the depths in various exotic spots around the world. He and his wife Sue, both frequent travelers, have visited 50 countries to date. Hal first learned of SeniorNet back in 1996 when another SeniorNet veteran, Ray Hansen, who worked for the same engineering firm, recruited Hal as an instructor. A good choice, since Hal had been using PCs in his work since 1982 and had a PC at home since 1983. A perfect fit for SeniorNet. Hal, who also has worked on the SeniorNet web site with Jay Schlechter, now teaches the File Management, Photo Editing and Scanning courses, and also has served as Curriculum Coordinator.

 

An enthusiastic scuba diver, he has gone underwater in Sipadan Island in Borneo, Truk Lagoon, Palau, the Great Barrier Reef, Coral Sea, Red Sea, Fiji, and the Caribbean. When not underwater, he dabbles in photography, both still and underwater, and video, and is getting into digital video and editing. And always an enthusiastic computer student, he adds:  "Of course, I spend a lot of time learning and using the computer - every day seems to bring a new challenge!"

 

SENIORNET COMPUTER CENTERS GO INTERNATIONAL:  The Annual Report recently issued by national SeniorNet by CEO and Pres. Ann Wrixon, shows the mostly volunteer organization   has added 35 new learning centers for a new total high of 215 centers as of June 30, 2001. And a development drive is underway to bring the total to 300 by 2003.  She reports SeniorNet is also expanding internationally. "In partnership with a Japanese non-profit organization, SeniorNet Japan officially went into operation during this last year and currently runs two Learning Centers and an active Japanese language web site."  You will find all the interesting and encouraging details in the annual report.

 

JOIN THE LIBRARY AND TRAVEL THE WORLD-ONLINE: Assuming the big majority of our readers live in King County-and you know who you are-there is a big, exciting world of easy-to-find information for computer users with access to the Internet, which means almost everybody. Now available at King County Library System libraries (http://www.kcls.org/) is a free handy colorful booklet, "Online Databases." If you don't see it atop the librarian's desk, just ask for it. As you know, an online database is a file of specialized information available via your computer.  The KCLS database, with many requiring payment by KCLS, much like a magazine subscription, covers a wide array of interests.  But users require a library card number, hence library membership, which is free, is required.  Go to http://www.kcls.org/ and click on the Online Databases button, or flip through the booklet for a complete list of databases. Categories include genealogy, careers, job, consumer information, education, history, poem finder, dictionary of music, business, financial and economic databases, among many.

 

CAUTION NOTE: While all computer-operating tips come from usually reliable sources, readers are reminded they use them at your own risk. We welcome your personal news items sent to the editor at b26flyer@attbi.com. If you wish to receive this newsletter monthly, send your full name, phone and email address to the above email address. And if you wish to unsubscribe, just send a message to same email address.

 

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Pres.> Helen Hesketh;  Vice Pres.>Adella J. Granger; Treas.>Bob Swenson; Secy>Patricia Braun;  Registrar>Louise Flora;  Immediate Past Pres.>Clif Wuesthoff; Curriculum Coordinator> John Wise;  Facilities Coordinator> Ken Crandall;  Member-at-Large>Delores Davis;   Volunteers Coordinator> Delores Davis; Public Relations & Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier

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