November/December 2016
THE
Villager
Magazine
THE
Villager
Magazine
November/December 2016 Contents
3Life at The Village
4Veteran’s Day at the Village
6Current Events
7Event Round up
8Travelin’ with Andy
11 - Our Neighbors: Bill Hutchinson
12 - Men’s Coffee Topic Update
13 - Village Garden Club News
14 - Cruisin’ 2016
BACK - Did You See?
The Villager Magazine
is a publication of the Office of Resident
Life at The Village in Gainesville, Florida.
Resident Life
Paula Bowlan, Manager
Christie Jones, Assistant Manager
Kristen Ayers, Program Coordinator
Joshua Wilson, Program Coordinator/
Chaplain
Our Mission:
To enrich the life of each senior we serve.
Our Vision:
To be the trusted choice for seniors.
8000 NW 27th Blvd | Gainesville, FL 32606
www.thevillageonline.org
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Villager | November/December 2016
“2016,What a Year!”
We started 2016 by celebrating our 30th
Anniversary - a celebration that lasted
the entire year. We end it with wonderful
seasonal celebrations. In between were
hundreds of events: parties, classes,
lectures, trips, festivals, shows, and
musical performances.
We were voted the Gainesville Sun’s
Readers Choice 2016 in two different
categories: Best Retirement Community
and Best Assisted Living Facility.
We had so many first time events like
the Jeopardy Experience hosted by a five
time Jeopardy Champion, the Holiday
Bazaar, the Fall Festival, a Casino Night,
and many more. New classes were offered
like Conversational Spanish and Art. A
new and expanded Village Woodshop
was opened. And we welcomed a new
Executive Director, Rebecca Catalanotto.
So many great things about 2016 and we
look forward to an exciting 2017...and to
our next amazing 30 years!
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Life at The
Village!
Villager | November/December 2016
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Veteran’s Day at the Village
Congressman Ted Yoho made our
Veteran’s Appreciation Luncheon
an event to remember as we
honored the over 100 veterans
that call The Village home.
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eterans Day originated as
“Armistice Day” on Nov. 11, 1919, the
first anniversary of the end of World
War I.
Congress passed a resolution in 1926
for an annual observance, and Nov. 11
became a national holiday beginning
in 1938. Veterans Day pays tribute to
all American veterans–living or dead–
but especially gives thanks to living
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Villager | November/December 2016
veterans who served their country
honorably during war or peacetime.
On November 11, over 100 residents,
guests, and associates celebrated
our veterans at the annual Veteran’s
Appreciation Luncheon.
In what has become a wonderful
tradition, the Buchholz High School
Air Force JROTC under the direction
of Chief Ricky Price, presented the colors
for the eighth straight year.
These young men and woman are so excited
to be able to honor our veterans in this way
every year.
Associates Debbie and Kristen Ayers
brought favorite musical pieces, including
“God Bless America” and “My Country ‘tis
of Thee”.
Keynote Speaker Congressman Ted Yoho
spoke eloquently about how the service of
our veterans through the years has bought
us our precious freedom.
As we took a moment of silence to honor
those who have passed away, we lifted our
thoughts and prayers in grateful thanks
to our veterans. We will never forget your
sacrifice.
(Top) Kristen and Debbie Ayers
(Middle) Calvin Faucett, Bill Gobus
(Below) Congressman Yoho greeting
Gerald David, the Buchholtz HS JROTC
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Villager | November/December 2016
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Current Events
Current Events is a weekly
resident-run round-table
discussion on local, national, and
international issues
James Joiner, microphone in hand, speaks
about how the influence of the university
system has shaped modern political thought.
After he has finishes, someone asks him to
“please restate what you said in one simple
sentence.”
“Don’t you know I can’t say anything is just
one sentence?” he responds as the room fills
with laughter.
This is Current Events, a weekly meeting
(every Monday at 3pm in the Community
Room) for discussion on events and issues of
the day. From the environment to the school
system to politics, no subject is off limits.
“The group was formed after the events of
9/11,” says Bob Lee, who, with Ben Dyal,
moderates the group (both pictured
above), “then it just never stopped
meeting.”
In addition to participants bringing topics
to discuss, there are occasional guest
speakers.
Ben Dyal: “I love the exchange of views. It
never gets heated, most of the views agree.
But we do want to make sure to discuss
both sides of any issue.”
Emma Jean Schmidlapp attends because “I
want to hear others people’s opinions that
differ from mine.”
Residents are encouraged to join the
discussion every Monday afternoon.
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Villager | November/December 2016
Event Round up: The Holiday Bazaar
On Saturday, November 5, 27 associates and residents
offered their hand made arts and crafts to holiday shoppers,
both from the Village and from the general public.
Items such as jewelry,
woodworking, handmade
stocking and other unique
gifts were purchased as
shoppers marveled at the
talent and skill that we
have here at the Village.
Associate/Resident Holiday Party
On December 8, we held our annual
Associate/Resident Holiday Party.
Every year our residents generously
donate to an associate gift fund, which
is distributed to hourly staff members.
The party is a opportunity for
associates to thank the residents for
their continued generosity. THANK
YOU to each one of our residents, you
mean so much to us!
Villager |November/December 2016
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Andy Merritt (the Cottages) was a
consultant on hydroelectric projects
as a specialist in dam foundations
and tunnel design for 40 years. He
worked for contractors, energy
companies, The World Bank, The
Asian Development Bank, and
engineering design firms.
Alto Anchicayá, Colombia
by Andy Merritt
When work was finished on the Churchill
Falls Hydro Project in Labrador (when
excavation was finished and the spaces began
to be filled with equipment!) the Canadian
engineering company sent us to a project in
Colombia.
We packed our bags (and put everything in
storage) and headed for Cali, Colombia. We
joked that we were moving from the North
Pole to the Equator! We were all for it – yet
we knew no Spanish and the construction
camp was in the tropical jungle rain forest
in the northern Andes in western Colombia
and we had NO idea what that meant. With
children aged just 4, not yet 3 and not yet 2
and a few extra suitcases packed with toys
and English books we took off for Cali.
The construction camp was 2½ hours from
the city with the last half hour on rough
roads with sheer drop-offs of hundreds of
feet on the left and the threat of landslides
on the right. We soon began to experience
life in a tropical rain forest! The area gets
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Villager | November/December 2016
over 15 feet of rain a year and during the two
years we were there we saw the stars only
4 times and the moon once. However, the
mornings always had spectacular sunrises.
One could see swirling clouds that would
race up valleys and rise from behind the
successive mountain ridges. During the wet
season it would start raining about 10:00 am
and during the dry season rain wouldn’t start
until about noon.
The project was small (3 generating units
for 365 MW) compared to the one in
Labrador (11 generating units for 5500
MW). The contractor was Mexican so
the daily interaction of all aspects of the
project involved Colombians, Mexicans, and
Canadians (and me).
As was the custom for even modestly
successful families the company found a
wonderful young woman to live with us
during the week. Lucila cleaned, washed
clothes, played with the children, and as time
went on did more and more of the cooking.
She prepared delicious soups and stews –
yum!
I began to learn Spanish simply by being
immersed in it. I was one of the on-site
personnel supervising the construction
of tunnels, powerhouse, and dam from
the Canadian engineers’ perspective. I
learned later that the Colombians (who
were wonderful in their patient ways to
help me learn the language) were quite
precise in their construction language
and the Mexicans…well, they had many
construction ‘expressions’ that I absorbed
that apparently were not quite acceptable for
public conversation. I had the best of both
worlds!
The children started learning Spanish from
Lucila (who knew no English), and Eleanor
tried the only way she knew how – a Spanish
grammar book. You can guess who was the
least successful among us – she who tried to
remember where the indirect object goes in
a sentence!
Eleanor was provided a driver and every few
weeks she would go to Cali to buy food and
whatever supplies that were needed. There
were no supermarkets and she learned how
wonderful it was to go to various little corner
tiendas to buy bread here, vegetables there,
meat elsewhere.
From time to time a few strangers would
appear out of the jungle and it turned out
they were always entomology graduate
students from Cornell tracking some ant or
leaf mold in the rain forest. We’d invite them
in for tea and a sandwich and a sandwich
and then they’d be on their way.
It was really fun.
Eleanor and the children would take
frequent walks along the construction
roads (once wet one doesn’t get any wetter)
and when she felt comfortable enough in
Spanish she would have conversations with
the workmen – the painters and carpenters
and mechanics. Some would invite her to
meet their families in Cali on her weekend
trips which she thoroughly enjoyed. We all
shared a non-pretentious humor and take on
life and she could do this because she wasn’t
part of the established cultural divisions of
the country. She was just herself.
Life in the tropical rain forest was certainly
different. Virtually every pin prick and
scratch became a festering sore for which
we needed an unknown number of salves,
unguents, and lotions to treat. We used
to laugh that worms and parasites were
more common than colds, and certainly
constipation was never a problem. We had
a large dehumidifier which we emptied
every day and the closet shelves were all
equipped with sockets for the heat of a
light-bulb and this is where we kept our
Andy, continued
Shortly after we settled in Eleanor went
to a department store near Toronto and
watched as our oldest child (6) went behind
the counter and was fascinated by punching
numbers on the cash register and another
child (not yet 5) climbed up on a display of
beach furniture and sat down on one of the
chairs. The sales person was beside herself
and actually said “You would think these
children had never been in a store before” to
which Eleanor replied, with a huge smile on
her face, “They haven’t.”
clothes, medications, books, LP records, and
especially valuable items such as the flour
sifter (flour often found with -ugh- bugs).
In Labrador we loved the remoteness
from civilization and the beauty of the
winter solitude – it was quiet and peaceful.
In Colombia we loved the wonderful
encompassing culture of Spanish, music,
food, history, and expressive conversation.
Maybe that is where Eleanor learned that she
has to use both arms and hands to talk!
When we came home in 1972 after more
than four years in remote construction
camps it took us quite some time to accept
the tremendous abundance of everything
in stores – all the aisles, all the lights. How
many shelves and brands of peanut butter or
toilet paper or tomato sauce do we need?
With this return to civilization and to work
in the Canadian engineering company I
quickly realized I could not stand being in
an office all day. I was a field geologist and
I needed to be in the field. I was sent on one
magnificent trip to Ethiopia where I spent
several weeks in the field looking for a good
place for a dam on various tributaries to the
Blue Nile though for the most part I was in
a building where I had an office and a desk!
NO! It was soon after that when Don Deere
(Tower Villas) called and asked if I’d like to
move to Gainesville and join him in a 2-man
consulting firm. YES! And that opened up
the world to us and kept me in the field until
the day before my stroke in 2008.
Eleanor saw a bumper sticker a few months
ago that we love. “Attitude is the difference
between ordeal and adventure.” We have
been fortunate to have had a lifetime of
adventure.
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Villager | November/December 2016
Our Neighbors: Bill Hutchinson
by Mimi Baumstein
Do you have a “wunderkammer” in your
home? According to our frequent guest
lecturer, Bill Hutchinson, it’s a wonder
cabinet which contains objects or art that
“engender wonder or promote a higher mode
of discourse.” In other words, the goal is to
encourage interest in everything!
since childhood. His lectures here
have included: Lost Letters, Evidence
of Bipedal-ism, Old Newspapers, Chips
and Wafers (electronics), A History of
Glass, Touching the Purple (Royalty)
and A History of the Western World in
Nuggets. He has so many artifacts that
he is planning to open a museum as a
“Theater of Memory.”
Bill is an Entertainment Director for the
Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs
Department at the City of Gainesville. He
provides entertainment for festivals such
as the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire and the
Downtown Festival and Art Show. Lately he
has enjoyed scheduling programs for the new
Depot Park. He also produces entertainment
for the Thornebrook Festival and the Quilt and
Bluegrass Festival.
His singing partner and wife, Jennifer,
is proud of and shares some of his
many interests. Their grown children,
Ryan and Torrey, whom he adores,
understand his eccentricities and see
him as creative and interesting, and
“only a little strange”. And they provide
great intellectual companionship.
But what he loves best, is the fact that he gets to
put on shows at the Village and drum in a band
that plays for dances. He has been a drummer
Bill makes people happy for a living and
considers himself the luckiest person
alive.
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Villager | November/December 2016
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Men’s Coffee Fall Topic Update
Held on the fourth Friday of every month, the
Men’s Coffee hosts a question and answer time
with various experts in their field. The autumn
roster included Officer Earnest Graham and Mr.
Carl Fritz.
Officer Graham is a member of the GDP
Negotiation Team, the team of men and women
that are called in to diffuse a tense or dangerous
situation or standoff around town. An engaging
and garrulous speaker, Officer Graham’s stories
were spellbinding.
Mr. Fritz is a self taught expert in vintage cars
and the processes in which they are refurbished.
His catalog of well taken photographs and his
encyclopedic knowledge of even the smallest
technical details of vintage automotive craft
combined to make for a great morning.
We look forward to 2017 and more interesting
guests.
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Villager | November/December 2016
(Above) Harry Hughes,
John Hall, Ofc. Earnest
Graham, and Chet Callero
(Below) Carl Fritz and Bob
Rose discuss classic cars
Village Garden Club News
by Nancy Klokke
Residents are still talking about George
A. Grant’s Poinsettia: A Florida Treasure
and Legacy presentation, and attendees
smile when they remember the new
poinsettia varieties. His combination
lecture and presentation of the newest
varieties generated interest for gardeners
and non-gardeners alike on December 5
in the Lake House Community Room.
The Village Garden Club was pleased to
host this event that offered a chat with
George A. Grant (pictured below), a UF
doctoral candidate and
poinsettia expert.
Mr. Grant
oversees the UF
Environmental
Horticulture
Club’s annual
poinsettia sale held this year on December
8 – 9, 2016.
His presentation included poinsettia
basics, poinsettia propagation/rooting,
poinsettia flowering, and growing
recommendations. People were attentive;
they want to treat their new poinsettias
right.
The audience received a sneak preview of
the exotic new varieties available: two
large tables’ worth of exotic specimens
that are a part of the 2016 UF National
Poinsettia Trials. ‘Ahhhhhs’, ‘oooohs’,
and sighs came in response to amazing
varieties with names like Titan Jingle,
Orange Spice, Ice Punch, and even
Autumn Leaves.
As a bonus, Mr. Grant provided attendees
with special souvenirs: small, gloriously
red poinsettia plants. There were no
leftovers.
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Villager | November/December 2016
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“Cruisin’ 2016”
The Annual Village
Cruise was a big success
as residents cruised the
Caribbean.
On December 9, 28 residents left the
Village for our annual Village Cruise.
Accompanied by Paula Bowlan, the
residents embarked from Tampa
on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise with 4
ports of call in Key West, Honduras,
Guatemala, and Mexico.
Upon returning from this amazing
adventure, the cruisers immediately
began to plan for the next cruise.
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Villager | November/December 2016
(Above) Warren Zurheide and
Charlene Gault
(Left) Marie Rielding and Jane
Gresley
(Below) Enjoying the cruise!
(Above) Ileene Tow
celebrating her 90th birthday
on board!
(Right) Residents touring
Key West
Villager | November/December 2016
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Did you see...?
Did you see this beautiful representation of the
Tower Club done in Gingerbread and candy?
What a treat provided by Dining Services to add to
our festive holiday decorations!
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