Riders of the Orphan Train were given away at train stations across America.
Although it will be several months before dates and speakers are finalized for the upcoming LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek season, there are two dates you will want to put in your calendar now.
On Friday, January 23, LifeLong Learning brings to PebbleCreek Riders on the Orphan Train, a two person program that uses original songs, storytelling and video interviews with surviving riders to tell the story of this little known chapter in American history. The show has sold out in performances from Arkansas to Arizona.
The Orphan Train, now the subject of a best-selling novel by Christina Baker Kline, brought 250,000 orphans and unwanted children from New York City to the West: the largest mass migration of children in U.S. history. From 1854 to 1929, the children were given away at train stations across America, hopefully providing them with an opportunity to find new homes in the developing Midwest.
The Riders on the Orphan Train program by Alison Moore and Phil Lancaster often features relatives and acquaintances of Orphan Train Riders to share their stories. If you or someone you know has had personal experience with the riders or the families in which they were placed, please let LifeLong Learning know by contacting Dennis DeFrain at 623-535-3102 or [email protected]. More information can be found at www.ridersontheorphantrain.org.
One month after this outstanding program on Saturday, February 28, LifeLong Learning brings the four time First Place winners of the International Sweet Adelines to the Renaissance Theater. The more than 100 member Scottsdale Chorus includes women from their teens to eighties from all over Arizona. The chorus adds innovative choreography and glittering costumes to their performances of four part harmony, barbershop style music. If you’d like a sneak preview, the Scottsdale Chorus will be at the Chandler Center for the Arts on Sunday, June 29 at 3:00 p.m. (See www.chandlercenter.org for tickets).
The 2014-15 LifeLong Learning program will include 17 Monday Morning Lectures from October to March and four additional Friday night premier lectures, trips, classes, book and author events and more! The best way to stay on top of what will be happening and to ensure you can get into the class, trip or program you want to attend is by subscribing to the LifeLong Learning enewsletter. Delivered directly to your email inbox, you’ll be among the first to know what’s available.
So sign up now by emailing [email protected].