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Sign up this week for Adventures in Aging 2017; free lunch, great program

Participants in the PI's 2016 Adventures in Aging event join a mental acuity exercise.

The Post Independent’s second annual program for area residents 50 and older, aimed at promoting ways to remain mentally, fiscally and physically fit and enjoy all our great region has to offer, is Saturday, Oct. 7.

Adventures in Aging 2017 presented by Visiting Angels begins at 9:30 a.m. that day at Colorado Mountain College’s Morgridge Commons, above the Glenwood Springs Branch Library at 815 Cooper Ave. This is a great new event and meeting venue that’s not really open to the public yet, so our program offers a sneak peek.

I personally invite you to the FREE event. Entrance is free, a light breakfast before the program is free, a range of exhibitors will be providing free information and — yes — there IS a free lunch, provided by Valley View Hospital.



Because Valley View needs a head count and we want to have enough lunches and don’t want to be wasteful, I’m asking that you sign up by Friday. More than 100 people attended the first Adventures in Aging, held in March 2016 at the Third Street Center in Carbondale. We have greater capacity this time, but still ask that you register in advance.

Here’s how to register online: http://tinyurl.com/Adventure2017. If you have questions, lack computer access or have trouble signing up, call me at 970-384-9110 or email me at ressex@postindependent.com.



I’m excited about the lineup of speakers and presenters this year.

The day kicks off with a conversation with Bob and Joyce Rankin. You may know them as our area’s state representative and State Board of Education member, but this talk will be about their varied and truly adventurous background. I don’t want to give away too much, and if you know the Rankins personally, you may know this, but: Joyce, a teacher, ran in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and Bob once left a corporate leadership role and went to bicycle maintenance school.

Even if we were charging for admission, hearing their story would be worth the price. (But it’s free.)

The session with the Rankins will be followed by a presentation from the Roaring Fork Valley chapter of Spellbinders, which trains older adults as storytellers. The organization is “dedicated to restoring the art of oral storytelling to connect elders to youth, weaving together the wisdom of diverse cultures throughout time.”

Spellbinders’ founding, like the Rankins’ story, is a terrific example of exactly why we are offering Adventures in Aging in hopes of inspiring folks in our audience. From the group’s website:

“Founder Germaine Dietsch became alarmed at the growing disconnect between the generations as more and more older adults moved into retirement communities. She feared this trend would deprive elders of the sense of meaning and purpose important to their physical and emotional health, and deprive youngsters of the sources of wisdom and talent her own relatives and neighbors had been.

“At age 51, Germaine earned a master’s degree in theater arts and a certificate in gerontology with the intention of finding ways to encourage older adults to remain creatively engaged in their communities.” In 1988, she started a pilot storytelling program in the Denver public schools, and the program now is spreading across the country.

In the afternoon, we will offer six breakouts in two separate sessions:

• Judd Haims, who writes an occasional column for the PI’s Body & More pages and whose Visiting Angels organization is the presenting sponsor of Adventures in Aging this year, will talk about being prepared for housing as we age and how to stay in our homes. Judd was one of our partners last year in starting this program.

• Garfield and Hecht Law firm will provide an overview of estate planning.

• Angye Frankenberg, who did a breakout at last year’s Adventures event and has started Age Smart with Angye, will present a new session on brain fitness.

• Danielle Howard of Wealth by Design, also a PI contributing columnist and presenter last year, will offer her perspective on fiscal fitness. Danielle likes to talk about “rewirement” rather than retirement.

• The American Diabetes Association is sending a speaker from Denver to present the organization’s Colorado prevention program.

• Our lunch speaker will be Evan Zislis of Carbondale, whose Intentional Solutions helps people simplify and declutter their lives.

The PI will publish a special section Oct. 5, two days before the event, as a preview that also will serve as the Adventures in Aging program.

The event kicks off a weekend of information for this audience in the valley, with Alpine Legal Services and Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties planning a Senior Law Day in El Jebel on Monday, Oct. 9, which is Columbus Day.

Oct. 7 is going to be an inspiring day. To those 50 and older, I’d note that there’s a lot of catering to millennials and other younger consumers. They are essential to the economy and future civil leadership. This event, though, is for you. Please sign up this week. Did I mention that it’s free?

Randy Essex, who’s 59, is the Post Independent editor and publisher.


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