A Lifetime of Learning

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Classes are presented by unpaid volunteers, who tend to be retired professionals from the academic and corporate worlds and others “who have an abiding interest in a particular area that they like to share,” said PALS President Bill Berger, a retired U.S. Department of Labor attorney who subsequently practiced immigration law.

For example, instead of focusing on battlefields, one of PALS’ Civil War instructors centered his discussions on how Southern state governments operated and handled money during the war.

Other continuing education programs for seniors are operating around metro Atlanta, and, seniors say, giving them valuable mental, social and physical stimulation.

The new manager of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Emory University, Jeffery Alejandro, says adult education has evolved since he started in the field.

“Twenty years ago, a lot of programs for seniors were geared more toward arts and crafts, literacy and basic skills,” Alejandro said. “As more of the baby boomers started reaching retirement age, they started demanding more intellectually challenging courses.”

PALS’ offers eight classes on Mondays in three time slots. The quarterly sessions alternate between Dunwoody Baptist Church and Dunwoody United Methodist Church, the site of PALS’ office and the current session of classes.

In addition to Pacific Coast Indians, PALS students are learning about the 2017 real estate market, travel, Shakespeare, state and local politics, President Harry S. Truman, ‘“The Black Experience 1800-1900,” bridge, Mah Jongg and “Examining Your Funny Bone I.”

Emory’s OLLI program started in 1979 with a few classes held at churches. It’s now a bustling branch of Emory Continuing Education, with an annual membership of nearly 1,300 students ages 50-plus and more than 150 course offerings a year taught by volunteers.

The growth is the result of a collaborative effort between Emory staff members and dedicated OLLI students, including Advisory Committee Chair Pat Miller, Alejandro said. The retired businesswoman recruited volunteers and helped lead a critical member fundraising drive in order to attract an additional endowment from the program’s benefactor, the Osher Foundation, he said.

OLLI’s spring session offers classes on Tuesdays through Thursdays, beginning April 3.

The spring catalog features course titles such as The Composer’s Universe: Mozart, Asian Brush Drawing, Fun With Algebra, ABCs of Law - Part 2, Learn Farsi, Introduction to Biotechnology, and “Where Do You Want To Be At 103?”

Improv classes taught by professional actors led to the birth of a performing OLLI troupe, “The Improvables,” which has been featured on the Dr. Oz website as an example of improving health through laughter.

Many members take three or four classes, while one of them is taking nine, said Jessica Wilson, the program’s senior outreach program coordinator.

OLLI’s classes fill up so quickly that 96-year-old Dorothy Marrinson finally agreed to be taught how to register for them online, Wilson said.

“It keeps me feeling alive,” Marrinson said of her long years with OLLI, where she ends morning classes by hanging out with her lunch bunch. “I like being with people. I like the courses. It’s intellectually stimulating.”

Marrinson’s driver’s license was just renewed and she’s raring to go to the four classes she’ll take on Tuesdays and Thursdays: The Shock of the New

American Modernism 1900-1960; The History of Russia; The 2016 Presidential Election Examined — The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; and Presidential Power Under the Constitution.

“I’m really looking forward to that one,” said Marrinson, of Presidential Power.

She attended OLLI’s 2016 Halloween party dressed as a “Trump Sandwich” that featured Russian dressing, among other politically incorrect ingredients.

The year before, the Morningside/Lenox Park resident who loves “junk stores” and “can’t live without the New York Times” won the OLLI Halloween contest for her Lady Gaga costume, which included gold high heels.

Judy Sutter, 78, of Buckhead, chairs a committee that plans these types of activities and day trips for members.

Makes sense. The retired advertising manager is an extremely active person herself.

She’s a docent at the High Museum, takes four classes weekly at OLLI, goes to the gym twice a week and recently has been catching up with friends by holding dinner parties for eight every two weeks.

A woman who enjoys diversity, she likes the fact that OLLI is coed.

“You really get a different perspective on life when you have men and women together,” Sutter said. “It’s like being in college, only we don’t sleep in the same dorm.”

Spring classes at PALS began March 27. About 75 people showed up, along with the Yates, for the latest in Tom McElhinny’s series of classes on American Indians.

The Yates, who are retired from real estate careers and will have been married 70 years in October,

Get schooled

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Emory offers spring, summer, fall and winter classes held on Tuesdays through Thursdays. $49 for one class; discounts for additional classes. Emory Continuing Education, 6 Executive Park Dr., Atlanta 30329. For more info, visit olli. emory.edu or call 404-727-6000.

OLLI classes are also available through Kennesaw State University's College of Continuing and Professional Education. Get details at ccpe. kennesaw.edu/olli/.

Perimeter Adults

Learning & Services (PALS)

Spring classes are underway through May 15 at Dunwoody

United Methodist Church, 1548 Mount Vernon Rd., Dunwoody 30338. Eight classes are held on Mondays in three time slots, with a lunch break in between. $45 for the entire spring session, or visit for $8 per day. Info at palsonline. org or by calling 770-698-0801.

Here are some other area education programs designed for seniors:

Georgia State University

Georgia residents aged 62 or over are welcome to resume, continue or begin a college education as a GSU-62 student. The program allows eligible applicants to register for college-level courses for credit or audit on a spaceavailable basis. Information is available at admissions.gsu.edu/ how-do-i-apply/other-enrollmenttypes/gsu-62-students/. For Perimeter College GSU-62 info, visit perimeter.gsu.edu/ admissions/apply/senior/.

Seniors Enriched Living (SEL) said they always look forward to classes taught by the retired historian, who’s a docent at the Funk Heritage Center at Reinhardt University in Waleska, Ga.

A nonprofit, interfaith organization, SEL provides senior adult continuing education classes at Roswell United Methodist Church, 814 Mimosa Blvd. Roswell 30075. More info at facebook.com/ SeniorsEnrichedLiving/.

PALS has also had great classes in the arts and history, Dot Yates said. “Gil likes humor, and anything to do with politics goes over very well [with people],” she said.

Dr. Mark Levine, who infused humor into organizational training during his career, is back at PALS this semester with his “Funny Bone” class.

The class examines the positive effects of humor and laughter and is a perfect fit for Annis Dinnerman, 86, a retiree who worked in sales at the Omni Hotel.

“My friends think I’m Joan Rivers,” she said. Turning to Levine, she added, “I expect you to get me a gig as soon as this is over.”

Dinnerman is new to PALS since her recent move from Buckhead to the Dunwoody area, and has taken OLLI classes for 12 years.

Meanwhile, IBM retiree Jim Davis, 84, of Brookhaven, is enjoying his third quarter of PALS classes.

“They make you think,” he said. “The older you get, the more you realize you need to stimulate your mind to have a healthy body. “In my thinking, if you stop learning, you start dying. And I want to be around as long as I can.”

Enrichment of Life Movement (ELM)

ELM is a nonprofit, nondenominational organization for individuals 50 and up. More than 60 classes are offered during the year. Classes are held at First United Methodist Church, 56 Whitlock Ave., Marietta 30064. Visit elmcobb.org for details.

Senior University of Greater Atlanta (SUGA)

SUGA classes include history, literature and science. and are offered in Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer sessions. The educational organization is based at Rehoboth Baptist Church, 2997 Lawrenceville Hwy., Tucker 30084. Go to su-ga.org for more info.