PC says thank you to Priscilla and Joe Naworski
Suzanne Korinke
PebbleCreek is a beautiful community and made so in large part by the people who live here and have contributed to the unique opportunities to reinvent one’s life after retirement. Many of the things available in this community were brought about by two very special people – Priscilla and Joe Naworski. After living in PebbleCreek for 23 years they decided to return permanently to their home in Sonoma, California and this is a chance to recognize them and their contributions.
Priscilla and Joe arrived in PebbleCreek when there were only 600 homes. You might consider them among the pioneers of PebbleCreek. Both Priscilla and Joe saw the need for more activities and set out to initiate many organizations and substantive programs that all of us enjoy today.
Priscilla saw a beautiful building with rooms and a theatre used infrequently. She decided to start a lecture series and with help from Dennis DeFrain, among others, they built the lecture series into some of the best attended events in PebbleCreek. With her ability to see a need and her ability to find qualified people to teach, Priscilla also initiated classes. This effort was called the Education Club and it eventually became LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek (LLL). Today LLL offers a full calendar of lectures, trips, classes and special events.
Priscilla and Joe were active in the Duplicate Bridge Club and instrumental in bringing experts in to speak. Priscilla started a bridge library for all bridge players and organized their annual Mardi Gras party. She was also active in the Arts and Crafts area and personally made quilts for many people. Joe, a former engineer, was instrumental in the building of the Bocce Ball courts enabling thousands of people to join Bocce teams. Joe would sit at their dining room table, putting together all the games, matching competitors, times and courts. Both were active volunteers for their church, St. John Vianney, and in the choir. Joe was the fry cook for the annual Lenten fish fry.
The Naworskis made an impact on so many places in PebbleCreek and Goodyear. They genuinely cared for the people they met and they were people who made you think. They smiled often and made you smile. Priscilla and Joe gave much to our community.
They were the perfect example of people who represented Robert Browning’s great quote from a poem with the words “man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what is a heaven for.” The Naworskis reached for more, and their presence accentuated their grasp and PebbleCreek. Our best to them as they move on to once again give of themselves and to their community in Sonoma, California.
Breaking news
We listened to your concerns about registration and are making several changes this fall. There will be a lottery for the trip to Luke AFB, a Premier Lecture Season Ticket Package (pay for five lectures and get a ticket to all six!) and we are going to stagger registration dates for trips, classes and lectures for the 2019-2020 season. LLL is hoping to make registration easier for everyone. Stay tuned for more details.
Lottery for Luke AFB trip
Barb Younker
We hear you! We know the frustrations you have had with logging onto the LLL website and eagerly awaiting the October 1 event sales to begin at 8:00 a.m. You quickly go to the Luke AFB trip page and find out that the trip is already sold out and the wait list may be filled.
To help alleviate the frustration and give everyone who has not been on a trip to Luke a fair shot, LifeLong Learning is holding a lottery for the one Luke trip we can offer this coming season on December 3.
We are still working on the details of the lottery, but you will be able to enter the lottery both online and at the LLL Center during office hours. Entries will be for a single person and entries will be checked to make certain the registrant lives in PebbleCreek and has not been on a Luke trip in previous seasons.
As always, the capacity for the December 3, trip will be 30 people, including the required LifeLong Learning escorts.
You may ask:
* Why have Luke AFB tickets sold out in five minutes or less? With only 28 seats available to sell per trip, and hundreds of people trying to purchase a trip ticket at the 8:00 a.m. sales opening, it is likened to winning (or losing) a lottery. LifeLong Learning does limit the trip to only those who have not been on an LLL Luke AFB trip. (Trip registration lists are compared with previous year’s lists.)
* Why doesn’t LLL offer more trips to tour Luke AFB? We would offer more trips if we could, but we can only offer what Luke AFB offers us. Trip opportunities vary depending on base activity and base status.
* Are there LLL Volunteers on the Luke AFB trip? Yes, two LLL monitors are required to be on the trip to assist passengers and coordinate with Luke AFB personnel along the trip route.
Please watch the PebbleCreek Post and your emails for details as they are finalized over the summer.
Send us your PC shots
Emily Grotta
Last year, when LifeLong Learning asked residents to submit photographs for use on the website and printed materials, the response was so wonderful, we’re doing it again. The deadline to submit photos is July 15, so don’t delay.
If your photo is chosen, you will receive two tickets to a Premier Lecture of your choice.
This year, we’re asking for photos taken in PebbleCreek. They could be of familiar sights—the fountains at Eagle’s Nest or the entrance to Tuscany—or they could be more mysterious, such as a bird’s nest in a tree on a golf course or a rainbow over the clubhouse. If we receive many mysterious photos, we’ll post them and hold a contest to see who can identify the site with winners receiving two Monday Morning Tickets.
Please make sure your photo is high resolution so that it can be printed in color. Please do not send photos with people in them (we would need permission to print) unless it’s a general shot, such as the pickleball court or fitness center.
Sound interesting? Send your photos to Emily Grotta by July 15 at [email protected] with a description of where the photo was taken and your permission to use it.
If you’d like to see the winners from the 2018-19 contest, please visit www.lifelonglearningatpc.org/aboutus/photograllery.
Classes Team is busy
Carole Korzilius
The Classes Team of Lifelong Learning is once again busy scheduling our offerings for the coming year. Several favorites will be back by popular demand and many new options will be introduced to PebbleCreek. As usual we are looking at a variety of topics – baking, cooking, interior design, pet care, technology, hobbies, parental care, financial planning, gardening, ethnic history and genealogy as family stories.
Since Arizonans are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Grand Canyon, we are planning a class related to Canyon history as well. At the class vetting meeting we sometimes chose to put suggestions on hold for future years if we had duplicate offerings or if instructors were unable to meet our schedule.
Suggestions from previous class participants include the subjects of down-sizing and home safety—most appropriate as people consider a move to the villas or to Robson Reserve. Finally, we are offering a fifth time option for Great Decisions, our foreign policy series, in hopes of accommodating additional participants. We will continue to garner suggestions for instructors and topics in the hope of finding classes of interest to everyone!
The full schedule of classes will be available at the beginning of September. Watch your emails, the LLL website at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org, and the PebbleCreek Post for details.
Want to join LLL?
Jeanne Chasko
LifeLong Learning is an all-volunteer organization, and as such we are always on the look-out for new volunteers with new ideas. Volunteering with LifeLong Learning will reward you with helping others, as well as intellectual stimulation and you will be surrounded by like-minded people who share your interest in learning and discovery.
Please consider these needs of our organization:
If you like office work, the LifeLong Learning Center has opportunities for receptionists and those with computer skills.
Want to meet your neighbors as they come to our lectures? We invite you to join our lobby team helping once a week, or once a month, greeting attendees.
Are you excited by classroom experiences? Our classes team needs facilitators to help teachers, or to assist with contracts and scheduling.
Love to plan and implement events? TED Talks and the Sunday Series may be the place for you.
If lectures are your thing, you could help by selecting and recruiting speakers, introducing them and completing a myriad of behind-the-scenes tasks.
Prefer to work in your own home? We have opportunities to write, edit and assist with basic administrative tasks, all in the quiet of your home and at a time convenient to you.
Though our programs are currently enjoying a summer respite, there is a lot being done so we’ll be ready for the beginning of our 2019-2020 season October 1. If any of these opportunities pique your interest and you would like to know more about them, please contact me: Jeanne Chasko, Volunteer Coordinator, at [email protected]. Hope to hear from you!
Your 2019-2020 LifeLong Learning Board. Top row: Phil Korzilius, Phyllis Minsuk, Jeff Young, Nancy Wilson Smith, Jeanne Chasko, Carole Korzilius, Dave Hungerford. Bottom row: Emily Grotta, Lorna Bray, Cathy Lindstrom, Sue Roth, Wendy Frumkin. Missing from the photo is Barb Fenster.