GCCCD Grapevine

Volume 11, Number 2                                                                                              July, 2001

Three retire from the Math Department

On April 28, members of the Mathematics Department and their families gathered at Bob Chow’s home in Poway to celebrate the transition from instructor to retiree of three long-time colleagues. Each  always kept the interest of students in the forefront. Six retirees were there to welcome them.        
    L to R: Howard Donnelly, Jim Hilton, Dave Lunsford, Bob Steinbach, Don Bellairs, Rob        Larson, Elaine Wolfe, Dick Mellien, Winston Dean.     Photo: C. Lee

   
          Winston Dean                                Dave Lunsford                             Jim Hilton
Winston Dean  joined the faculty in 1969 and was instrumental in introducing the Personalized System of Instruction to Beginning and Intermediate Algebra. He also was involved in the research surrounding "Institutional Effectiveness" in the early ‘90s.

Dave Lunsford has been an active and dedicated member of the Math Department since 1971. He served on a number of college and UF committees, most recently as Budget Analyst from 1996 – 1998. In the early ‘80s, Bob Steinbach and Dave developed educational software and an authoring system for the Apple II.

Jim Hilton taught part-time from 1969 until he joined the faculty full time in 1977. Jim has been Department Chair for the last two years. By Email, Bob Evans recalled his humorous participation with Jim in the Tecate – Ensenada Bike ride.
     
Winston, Jim and Dave sporting the              Nancy Blazovic and her Deans: Dick Mellien,  latest in retiree travel wear. The                     Bill Bradley and Bob Steinbach. Lee Brown          dashikis were a gift from                                 was not there.                                           instructor/traveler Jim Tarvin.

Bob Chow barbecued a delicious selection of protein including some outstanding Chilean Sea Bass to go with a variety of potluck side dishes and salads. After the meal, Dean Bill Bradley regretted the loss of so much departmental history and experience at one time. There was a gentle roast of each of the retirees that included gifts of Geritol and Metamucil. Math Instructor Cary Lee presented each new retiree with a large, framed aerial photo of the Grossmont Campus which those in attendance signed. (all photos except first one by Bob Steinbach)

Save this date!    GCCCD will have a gala 40th anniversary on Oct 20, 2001.

Editor’s Comments:
     
      by Tom Scanlan

With this issue, Grapevine has a new assistant editor. Before I introduce him (something he hardly needs for most of you), I’d like to thank our previous assistant editor, Gene Murray. Writing is usually done in isolation, making it a lonely job. When Pat Higgins retired from the co-editor’s post at the end of 1998, I put out a call to our retirees for assistance in reporting and writing future Grapevines and Gene volunteered to help share the load. He supplied a number of articles and wrote editorials in alternate issues beginning with the September, 1999 issue. We spent lots of time on the phone kicking around ideas for upcoming issues and shared the digging for stories and writing the articles that we thought were newsworthy to our retirees. He helped make the job of editing much less lonely and more pleasurable and provided our readers another point of view and his own special insight. Thank you, Gene, for your help and your friendship.

Now, for those of you who don’t read the credits, I’d like to welcome the new assistant editor, Bob Steinbach. Ever since he started writing the Driftwood column a little over a year ago (April, 2000 issue), Bob has helped to make this newsletter far more interesting to our readers. He has a natural aptitude for writing news articles, particularly at the more personal and human-interest level. And he’s a real worker, actively soliciting much of the information that fills his column rather than waiting to see who might write or call in with some snippet of news. Because he and his wife, Virginia were both active and well known on campus before retiring, they now have numerous contacts with fellow retirees. Consequently, Driftwood has become a major feature of the Grapevine, and that part of this newsletter which a number of our readers, myself included, find the most fun to read.

In addition, Bob’s computer and digital camera savvy have really made a difference in my own job because he and I can exchange information electronically, something I was unable to do with Pat Higgins or Gene Murray. This has made editing and rewriting much easier and has saved a lot of time for both of us, something retirees never seem to have enough of (isn’t it amazing how much less time we have now that we’re retired?!).

Save this date!    GCCCD will have a gala 40th anniversary on Oct 20, 2001.

  Driftwood

by Bob Steinbach

Snippets of gossip that have been burnished by friends and washed up on the Grapevine desk.

The earthquake near Seattle last winter was almost right under Ivan Jones’ home in Shelton. Colleen and he were wintering in Morro Bay and returned to find "… books, knickknacks on the floor, pictures crooked, but no real damage or mess. My float is gone - broken anchor chain and the tide did the rest. No real harm, however, since I am going to sell the boat come Spring. Too much hassle getting it ready, into the water, tied to the float, rowing out more fuel when needed, etc., etc., etc. -- I say now in the rain!"

Don Bellairs continues to enjoy overhauling clocks. He commented on how bad the traffic is getting in Eureka, "Some days there are two cars in front of me at a stop light."

Howard Donnelly keeps limber on the golf course and looks exactly like he did 15 years ago. How does he do it?

Family matters give Elaine Wolfe the opportunity to live a bi-coastal life.

Wayne and Peg Harmon flew into to Beaumont, Texas, to check out the birds flying in from Mexico. After the field trip, they rented a car and sated eyes, ears, noses and palates in New Orleans and surrounds.

Bob Peck , Barbara and Lee Roper, Clark Mires,         Dorothy Ledbetter, Judy Barkley, Millie McAuley, Phebe Burnham and I enjoyed amusing anecdotes from Peg Harmon at a recent signing of her new book, A Field Guide to North American Birders, a laugh-out-loud parody of a Field Guide to Birds. The book is available at bookstores everywhere.(see Bibliophiles, this issue)

Keep your wits about you, there are opportunities everywhere. Muriel Owen’s daughter started designing and sewing ice skating costumes for little girls in a back bedroom, and it’s now a full-blown business.

Three groups of scientists from the NGS flew in to inspect Jake Rasmussen’s instrumentation for measuring the reputed tides at Echo Bay on Lake Mead. He says they spent more time fishing for bass than talking to him. He was about ready to write off the events as junkets when they came through with some transportation money to use his device to gather data on various large lakes around the world. We should have a report from Lake Titicaca by the next issue.

Don Shannon fell and broke his hip, then struggled with pneumonia while in the hospital. He’s now at the Country Hills Health Care Center at 1580 Broadway in El Cajon.  His room phone is 619-442-3437.  He’ll probably be there for some time, and welcomes visitors.

Eleanor Tucker writes: "As you know I had a double bypass in March. I'm making a good recovery and am walking about 2 miles a day now. I've been president of the La Jolla alumnae club of Pi Beta Phi, my college sorority. We have received many awards, including "Ideal Club" for our province for the last 4 years. I have won a leadership award, which means a great deal to me. I really enjoy living downtown, there is so much to do and I can leave my car in the garage for days at a time. Jay Richen and I flew to San Francisco last year for a four-day visit with the Townes, it was a treat."

Mimi Lee is serving on a Mental Health Task Force which involves doing educational outreach. She and husband Jim have just returned from two weeks in Italy, specifically Rome, Tuscany and Milan. They have also visited the Czech Republic and London, quite recently. Like many of her peers, "my greatest pleasure is spending time with our four grandchildren."

Charlie and Jeanne Hyde are now grandparents. They comment that their granddaughter, Ella Madison Hurst, "will probably become nationally recognized as the first perfect grandchild!" They are enjoying an active retirement. Charlie continues to teach one class a year just to keep a hand in and Jeanne is still working part-time as a consultant. Charlie got new hips last year and he is finally rehabilitated to the point that they can travel and really begin to enjoy retirement. "This year promises to be a great one for us."

Evelyn and Norm Gray "moved to Casa de las Campanas, our current residence, in 1992. It is a continuing care retirement facility. Casa, as it is generally called, is as far north in Rancho Bernardo as you can go and still be in the City of San Diego. We are both in reasonably good health, enjoy the many activities offered by Casa, and still like to travel, generally taking a couple of trips a year as well as visiting our sons and their families in Ashland, OR, and Temecula. In 1998 we went around Cape Horn and in 1999 to Alaska. Now we are mostly revisiting places in the ‘lower 48’ that we haven't seen for awhile.

"I personally tried to become computer literate after we moved here and then used it to good advantage in my genealogy research. I have also been active in the several committees that act as advisory to management and was on the Resident Council for four years. We have a well equipped gym and once a month I assist the Activities Department by giving the orientation of the gym that is required before any new resident uses it. I am also the drummer in the Casa orchestra."

Marion and Richard Sousa celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary on May 28th. They just returned from trip to NW Arkansas visiting Fort Smith and Eureka Springs. A highlight of the trip was canoeing on the White River among Canada geese. Their Maltese dog was in the canoe with them. The White River is below the Beaver Lake Dam outside of Eureka Springs.

Richard and Marion have been to Eureka Springs [the little Switzerland of America] many times before. Marion comments, "If you want to see the beautiful glass chapel in the woods that we visited just outside Eureka Springs, AR, the web site is: www.thorncrown.com [beautiful pictures]. While in Eureka, they also revisited the Christ of the Ozarks statue that is seven stories high. They highly recommend staying at the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs. It welcomes little dogs and has a wonderful dining room on the property with delicious food.

We offer our condolences to Jackie Couch on the death of her husband, John, a retired San Diego City College Professor. Jackie and John have each won the Governor’s Award in Virginia as playwrights. The Grossmont College CSIS Department is collecting money for a memorial fund in his honor.

 Lee and Barbara Roper and Marie James are just back from a tour of Morocco. Lee says the cities are like cities everywhere, but the villages have changed little for a thousand years. Fez was his favorite stop and he would have spent more time there, but the tour moved relentlessly on. Imagine everyone’s surprise when they ran into Bill Bornhorst in Marrakech. Bill’s grand tour of Eurpoe lasted seven weeks. Marie is on the road again in China.

Maryann Beverly bubbles over with enthusiasm describing her fabulous time on a 15-day tour of China.

Joanne Prescott was awarded Volunteer of the Year in the Gift Shop at Mission Trails Park. She also received a plaque recognizing five years of service as a volunteer in the park. 

                        First Tuesday-Coco’s, June 5, 2001
                      
L to R from the top: Judy Barkley, Bill Givens, Virginia Steinbach, Joanne Prescott; Peter Rushbrook (exchange from Australia, 1990), Neil Towne, Bobbi Towne, Pat Higgens; Bill Bornhorst, Wayne Harmon, Peggy Harmon, Shirl Collamer; Bob Peck, Lee Roper, Maryann Escamilla, Tom Scanlan.  photo: Bob Steinbach

To paraphrase Forrest Gump, "Breakfast on the first Tuesday at 9:00 is like a box o’ chocolates – you never know who you’re going to get." Join your fellow retirees for casual breakfast at Coco's on Navajo and Fanita, 9AM, the first Tuesday of every month

Save this date!    GCCCD will have a gala 40th anniversary on Oct 20, 2001.

Biblio-files
by Tom Scanlan

I begin this issue’s book reviews with a book from one of our own, Peggy Harmon, wife of Wayne Harmon.  (see Driftwood, this issue)

  A Field Guide to North American Birders, Margaret Harmon (Berkley, NY, 2001)

Margaret (Peggy) Harmon and her husband are devoted birders (bird watchers) who combine this activity with their extensive travels around the world. During this time, they learned a great deal about the people who seek out and watch birds. Peggy has written a small book about these birders, a parody which she has illustrated extensively with color caricatures embodying both human and avian features.

The book is formatted like a field guide and includes information about the size and characteristics, as well as the voice, range and location of various birders. Her full-page illustrations are a major feature of each of the individual birder types described. Some of the types are so universal that non-birders who are club members in other fields (antique cars, wine-tasting, etc.) might just recognize some of these same characteristics in their fellow hobbyists.

Those who will most appreciate some of the more subtle parts of this book are, of course, birders themselves. This book would be a delightful gift for anyone who gets up early, dons their special birding gear, and ventures out into the misty, soggy watersheds to observe these feathered creatures while the rest of us roll over, pull the covers over our head, and indulge ourselves with a few more hours of sleep.

  In the Lake of the Woods, Tim O’Brien (Penguin, NY, 1995) ***

This was selected by The New York Times Book Review as on of the best books of 1994 and was designated Notable Book by the American Library Association. It deals with secrets, marriage, politics and the lasting effects of the Vietnam war on a young man’s life.

John Wade has built a successful political career after returning from the war in Vietnam. As he nears the top of his career, his involvement in a massacre in a Vietnam village is revealed, along with the fact that he tried to hide this fact by altering documents. After a resounding political defeat, he retreats to a cabin by a lake in the woods with his wife, Kathy. Shortly thereafter, Kathy disappears. The story then becomes a mystery, and the reader is given various clues from newspaper items and the tales related by their neighbors in the woods, as well as the suspicions of his wife’s sister. It is very difficult to know whom to believe, and the narrator can no longer be trusted.

It’s a short novel, unusual in that it’s told from several different points of view, but a compelling story. Don’t expect an Agatha Christie type resolution to the mystery.

  Wish You Well, David Baldacci (Warner Books, NY, 2000) ***

The author is better known for his suspense and political novels,( e.g., Saving Faith, Absolute Power) but the setting for this story is rural, mountainous Virginia, the author’s native state. This novel sometimes reads like a modern version of To Kill a Mockingbird, dealing with various small town prejudices and turning finally on the outcome of a dramatic courtroom trial. The writing style turned me off initially, but the story and the characters fortunately kept me going.

A precocious 12 year old girl, Louisa May, and her younger brother, Oz, have been raised in New York city but are sent to live with a grandmother in Virginia when Lou’s writer father is killed and her mother seriously injured in a car accident. Coming of age is difficult for a city kid and a Yankee surrounded by country kids with very different skills and mores. Lou deals with the culture shock with the help of a wise and caring grandmother and by befriending several local misfits. And by a tough-mindedness that will endear you to her throughout the story.

She grows to love the countryside that her father had grown up in and written about even though she’s often in conflict with her school mates. The conflict is brought to a head when Lou’s grandmother will not sell part of her land to a mining conglomerate which promises jobs and wealth for the residents of this small town where over-harvesting the forest for timber has led to unemployment and poverty and desperation. Lives are lost and threatened before this issue ends up in the local courtroom. Read it.

  To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf (Harcourt Brace & Co. , NY, 1927)***

One of Woolf’s earlier novels, it was one her first efforts to use the stream-of-consciousness style of writing. Consequently, there is little plot to the story and the reader must focus on the characters and what they are up to.

Somewhat autobiographical, the story is set between 1910-20, during the summer visits of the Ramsay family to their vacation residence on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. There are a variety of points of view, sometimes the elderly Mrs. Ramsay trying to anticipate a marriage match for the younger women, one of whom is an artist, the other her more introverted daughter. She compares some of the possible suitors to her own sons. The point of view might then switch to the thoughts of the younger women, where they consider the several men available at this summer residence and reflect upon the nature of their own existence as well as the character of the men.

The third part of the book deals with a final visit to the summer place. Old Mrs. Ramsay has died, the war has taken the lives of some of the young men. Why go back at all? And will Father takes us out to the lighthouse? It is in this final third of the book that the relationships between family and friends is explored most interestingly.

There is much to contemplate in this book, though it is not that difficult to read.

The New Alexandrian Library

In scrounging up material for the Driftwood column, I note with pleasure that roughly 30% of the Grossmont Retirees admit a cyber-connection by publishing their email addresses in the Retiree Directory. Those of you who are connected may yawn at what follows, but perhaps you’ll get an idea or two. If you do not have Internet access, I hope I can encourage you to investigate your options for connecting by talking to friends, taking a class, using the computers at your public library, even buying a computer or Web TV.

Email alone is worth the price. If the sight of a blank page to fill keeps you from writing to your friends, email etiquette allows one to write a simple sentence or two about an event that brought your friend to mind -- no page to fill, no busy signal nor answering machine. Worried about spelling? Anything you type can be checked for spelling errors by the computer.

Virginia and I took our 9-year-old grandson to Belize in February. I gathered information at belizenet.com and belizex.com, purchased airline tickets, selected accommodations and made reservations all on the Internet. I also explored rent-car availability and prices as well as checked the bus schedule and fares from Belize City to San Ignacio.

As a result of Virginia’s exchange to Box Hill College in Australia, we have a number of friends there. Parcel post rates are awful. This year I shopped for Christmas gifts on the web site of David Jones, a national department store chain in Australia. The cost of gift, wrapping and shipping was little more than the cost of postage from the US and the bill showed up on my next VISA statement.

What’s the wording of the Apostles’ Creed? My digital Webster and digital Grollier’s only told me the nature of the Creed. In a couple of minutes on the Internet, I had the wording in Latin, Greek, Traditional English and Modern English along with the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The same web site provided The Scots’ Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism and four other similar documents.

From the home page of NBCi.com, you can get driving directions from one address to another, even in different towns; maps surrounding specific addresses in various scales; also Yellow Pages for any city. That’s how I found out it was cheaper to cut and ship a gravestone from San Diego than to have it cut on site in San Francisco. If a person is listed in a telephone book, you can get their address and phone number. A click gets you to when and where movies are playing along with both professional reviews and comments from people who have seen the movie. Name a major city, a restaurant guide is available. A similar source for city information is Digitalcity.com

I use www.gist.com for my TV guide. I use Rootsweb.com, and Ancestry.com for genealogical research. Both have links to governmental records (census, birth, death), and various local historical and genealogical societies. Looking for an out-of-print book? Try www.alibris.com.

Searching the Internet is as simple as typing one or two key words and clicking on a search button. The results miraculously appear in seconds. If you want to phrase your question to the Internet in English, go to www.askjeeves.com. I went there and asked, "What size hole do I drill to tap for a ¼ by 20 bolt?" I looked at a half-dozen of the 50 or so suggested sources and found nothing. Jeeves gave me a list of three alternative search sites to ask my question and I clicked on my favorite, NBCi.com and in less than a minute I had a table of hole sizes for a variety of bolts for both hard and soft materials. I clicked the print button and put the list next to the taps in my tool drawer.

Have you ever read Serpentine (1979)? Bob Peck gave it to me recently, and when I finished, I wondered what ever became of the serial killer Charles Sobhraj after he was sentenced to seven years in India. A search on his name revealed that he escaped, was recaptured and given a longer sentence, thereby avoiding extradition to Thailand. He ultimately got French papers and as of 1999 was living in France and claiming contrition for his criminal career.

To anyone who has not searched the net, it sounds like magic. To anyone who has, there is joy with overtones of frustration. Some searches turn up over 10,000 possible places to look. Each reference comes with a brief description. If it sounds right, a mouse click takes you there. You now have what you are looking for, or you can click the "Back" button to go back to the list and sift through other references.

One caution: Just because it’s on the computer screen, it is not necessarily the TRUTH. Many governmental, academic and commercial sites are quite reliable, but anyone can create a web site and publish almost anything they want. You must exercise critical judgment about the legitimacy of the site and the information it contains. Many web sites are little more than electronic versions of the junk mail and flyers that appear on your doorstep. It is ultimately your responsibility to assess the value of the information and decide whether or not to rely on or use it.

As a final note, let me quote a paragraph from the April 2001 issue of Conde Naste Traveler: "You can find just about anything on the Internet these days, including, very soon, a list of every public toilet in Australia. The government-funded project is scheduled to go online sometime this year. Now if only they included the GPS coordinates …"

The Internet provides a great source of amusement, information and communication. Those who do not use this great, free (for now) resource are missing out on a real opportunity. It’s like having every library, newspaper, travel agent and mall (and advertising agency) in one corner of your home. If you’ve used the Internet in a unique way, let me hear about it: Rcsteinbach@cs.com

From Keith Richardson:  

News from South of the Border-After retirement I moved to Rosarita Beach, Baja California.  I have a wonderful two story house right on the beach.  It would have cost me two or three million if it were in La Jolla.   No, I am not going to lose my house.  The people who have bought (yes, Americans can own  property in Mexico) south of Ensenada should have known better and investigated more about whom they were buying from.  By the way, I have some property in Florida that I could sell you.

I am still involved in physical education in Mexico.  I do personal training up and down the coast.  I have been involved with the Red Cross, Flying Sams, Police Department, Fire Department, Little League, even worked at Los Rocas Resort and Spa and even have time to marshall at Rio Del Mar Golf Course.  One year I raised over $10,000. for the Red Cross and Sister Ruth in Rosarito.  I was responsible for obtaining workers from a Drug Rehab center to provide assistance for themselves and their community.  We have raised enough money that the Red Cross now has the Jaws of Life.  Last year I was the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the San Diego Stingrays.

A lot of stories that you read about in your local paper are not all true. Especially about the car accidents that Americans are in.   There are so many neat things to do and see in Mexico.  The locals are wonderful people.  They are so willing to learn and help all the time.  Coming to Mexico?  Need assistance as to where to stay, eat and even places to see?  You can e-mail me at mypersonalcoach@hotmail.com.

From Neil and Bobbi Towne:  

About Bobbi and I. We're preparing for a busy, too-short, hot summer. We didn't receive our average amount of rainfall this winter and our beautiful lake is not full. Anyway, summer is when our kids come to visit and play in the waters of Clear Lake. We enjoy this time of year to the max!. . . as our grandkids would say. We have eight of them. They are all within the 3 to 10 year range,and enjoy everything from trying to water ski to tying fishline to sticks and fishing from the dock. Perhaps we're a bit biased,but they are all wonder-full and beauty-full.

In February '01 Bobbi and I did manage a trip to Baja to watch the gray whales in Magdalena Bay. For two and a half days we watched these mammoth mammals at the ocean's entrance to the bay. We stopped counting after we had seen forty plus during the first forenoon. This is something we have wanted to do since we first caught gray-whale fever from Jim Sumich so many years ago. It was awesome!

We also enjoyed the National Maritime Park at Cabo Pulmo on this trip. We were impressed with the recent efforts at nature conversation we saw and heard about in Mexico.

Just after New Years '01 we did an Elderhostle on museums of New York City. January on the east coast is something neither of us have experienced for forty-nine years. There was a lot of snow in the streets and below freezing temperatures, but we really enjoyed it. The three Broadway shows we got to see brought back good memories too.

I've rambled on enough. Bobbi and I seem to be busier than ever and still come down stairs each morning seeing the lake out the front windows and thinking our saying, "Wow! another day in paradise."

 GCCCD Retirees Obituaries:

Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me.  The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.        ~ Emily Dickinson ~

    
Marjory Galbally

Marjory died March 31, 2001 in La Mesa, California at the age of 79. Marjory’s professional career in education spanned 42 years. She retired from Grossmont College in 1992 after serving 28 years as reference librarian. She enjoyed her retired life by continuing to pursue her love of books, theatre, museums and travel, and she became an active volunteer.

    
Clarence Jasmagy

Clarence died on March 24, 2001. He was 80 years old. Clarence was a highly decorated veteran of World War II. He was awarded three Purple Hearts, three Oak Leaf Clusters and two Bronze Stars. A native of Brooklyn, Clarence taught at Helix High School and then Grossmont College, where set up the Photography department in 1964. He retired from Grossmont College in 1980 to his home in Eucalyptus Hills.

   
Larissa Janczyn

Larissa died on May 26, 2001. She was 74 years old. She retired from Grossmont College in 1995, as chairperson of the Music department, where she’d taught since 1968. Born in Odessa, Russia, she studied piano before emigrating to the United States in 1949. An accomplished pianist, she was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Larissa was a strong supporter of the San Diego Symphony, the La Jolla Chamber Orchestra and the La Jolla Playhouse. After retiring she devoted her time to gardening and to teaching her three youngest grandchildren the piano.

   
Frieda Ralston

Frieda died on May 5, 2001. She was 82 years old. A native of Escondido, she married in 1936 and moved to Spring Valley. She began her career at Grossmont College in 1967 and retired in 1982 as a clerk in the Duplicating department. After retirement she continued to help out in various departments of the college. She volunteered for many organizations, including the Spring Valley Historical Society, Spring Valley Women’s Club, Girl Scouts, and the PTA. She also traveled extensively, loved to swim and was a championship competitive shooter.

Save this date!    GCCCD will have a gala 40th anniversary on Oct 20, 2001.