Classes Team members celebrate among more than 50 other volunteers at LifeLong Learning’s Fall Kickoff Volunteer Meeting Nov. 5 in the Chianti Room. (Photo by Phil Korzilius)
New Season of Programming Underway
Patricia Ingalls
LifeLong Learning held its annual Fall Kickoff Volunteer Meeting Nov. 5, attended by more than 50, to celebrate volunteerism and another new season of activities for the PebbleCreek community.
“All LifeLong Learning’s volunteer teams have been working very hard to plan another exciting season of fun and learning,” said LLL’s president, Tim Pisarski. Here’s a recap:
The Trips Team’s six trips during the 2025-26 season include a March 2026 visit to Rae-Dawn Arabian Stables. Recent past trips this fall went to Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Citizens Academy, to State Farm Stadium, and to Barleens Home for the Holidays Matinee. The fall tour of Luke Air Force Base again required a ticket lottery, due to high demand.
The Speaker Team has been planning a great season of 12 Monday (morning) speakers and six Premier (evening) speakers. A recent evening highlight was an ASU researcher on the potential impact of artificial intelligence. Coming soon is a Mark Twain re-enactor. In November, a federal prosecutor explained to a morning audience the government’s efforts to shut down inhumane human trafficking. Future weekday speakers include staff from the City of Goodyear and from St. Mary’s Food Bank.
The Classes Team has been planning more than 30 classes this season. They cover popular topics, such as autumn’s “all you wanted to know about owning a golf cart,” several classes on learning magic tricks, and a large, free class on Social Security 101. Several cooking classes demonstrate making artisan bread, lemon meringue pie, and Korean delicacies. The team also organizes LLL’s community book groups—PC Reads (fiction and non-fiction)—as well as the acclaimed Great Decisions discussion groups, beginning in January.
Additional teams work tirelessly in the background to support all events. Those support teams are Lobby and Community Outreach, Website, Marketing, Audio-visual, Board and Volunteers.
For more information and to register for LLL’s many events and activities, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.
As an all-volunteer organization, LLL is always looking for new volunteers to help in a variety of roles. For example, the specialized role of website director will open this spring, when the current director plans to retire. If you are interested (or know someone else who might be) please contact LLL’s volunteer co-directors: Pam O’Shea at pamela.a.oshea2gmail.com or Jill Burnham at jjteach2@bellsouth.net.
Celebrating Christmas during the 1950s is historian Jim Turner’s topic at a Monday Morning LifeLong Learning presentation Dec. 8.
Historian Revisits 1950s Christmas
Patricia Ingalls
On Monday, Dec. 8, at 10 a.m., in the Renaissance Theater, historian Jim Turner will present a nostalgic tribute to Christmas in the 1950s.
For most Americans, the 1950s was a decade of prosperity, optimism, and transformation. The postwar economic boom brought rising incomes, suburban homes, and a surge in consumer spending that reshaped the country’s social fabric. Advertising and television turned holiday shopping into a national pastime, promoting an image of cheerful domestic life, centered around family and children.
Movies, radio, and the magic of television reinforced the decade’s wholesome values with sparkling Christmas specials from Perry Como, Ed Sullivan, Kate Smith, and Liberace. Jingles advertised electric shavers, cigarettes, and Coca-Cola, and new songs, like “Silver Bells,” “Santa Baby,” and “Jingle Bell Rock” became timeless classics. People stacked Christmas albums on their record players and spent their holidays singing along with Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Frank Sinatra.
From department stores’ wonderland displays to the latest toys under the tree, the 1950s Christmas blended modern consumerism with nostalgic traditions, creating the warm, glittering holiday ideal that still shapes celebrations today.
Speaker Jim Turner earned his master’s degree in U.S. history at the University of Arizona in 1999. He served as historian for the Arizona Historical Society from 2001-2009. From then until 2020, he was an author/editor for Rio Nuevo Publishers, where he wrote, co-authored, or edited more than a dozen books about the Southwest.
Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. in the theater lobby and are $5 at the door. No registration is required.