Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 3, 1994 TAG: 9412230088
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The people in the audience are not typical college students. They are senior citizens - people age 55.
Even though Cox is only 39, she says she has a "feel for" them. Respect for elders, she said, is an attitude she learned as a child in her native Galax.
Cox, a former schoolteacher, is working with senior residents in a lecture and study series called Elderscholar.
"They are wonderful to work with," she said. "They are fascinating and delightful people."
Elderscholar is celebrating its 10th anniversary at Roanoke College this year. A graduation lunch for the fall program and the 10th anniversary celebration will be held in Friendship Hall at Friendship Manor Nov. 10 at noon. The lecturer will be Roanoker Robert Slaughter, who was Sgt. Slaughter when he went ashore with the U.S. Army on D-Day at Omaha Beach in World War II.
This will be the sixth and last of the fall programs on subjects relating to the World War II era.
Elderscholar is the college's spinoff of Elderhostel, a worldwide study and travel program for senior citizens. Previously, Roanoke College offered Elderhostel but the program did not reach as many local people as college officials wanted. They learned in 1984 that the Roanoke Valley had a high number of older and retired people and decided the college should be trying to reach them.
``The college thought [Elderscholar] would be a good outreach program for continuing education,'' said Cox, who is director of the Center for Continuing Education and Special Events.
The first program had 17 participants but subsequent programs have grown. The demand is huge, Cox said.
Although registrations are limited to 120 seats in the college's Olin Recital Hall, where most of the lectures are held, Cox said the program has been at capacity for the past three years and has a waiting list.
Participants are as enthusiastic about it as Cox.
Dottie Murray, one of the owners of Murray Cider Co., has been attending Elderscholar programs almost since they began. She originally participated at Bridgewater College. When the program started at Roanoke College, she switched there because of the closeness to her Botetourt County home.
Murray said Elderscholar can be a good experience for older people who like to study and learn.
Otto Scholand and his wife, Christel, are in their second year.
``I enjoyed it tremendously last year,'' said Scholand, a retired engineering and architecture teacher in Roanoke County public schools. He said this year's program is equally good.
His wife, retired director of the pre-school at Thrasher Memorial United Methodist Church in Vinton, where they now live, echoed her husband's assessment.
Two other newcomers, Bob and Jean St. Lawrence of Salem, said they are impressed with the timeliness of the topics and the way the program ``opened new worlds'' to participants.
On the matter of up-to-date topics, Bob St. Lawrence said that last year's program was on Russia, where many world-shaking events were taking place, and this year's program is on World War II, on the 50th anniversary of that conflict.
All of the lectures have been ``very good,'' he said.
Mary Owen of Roanoke, a retired second-grade teacher at Oak Grove Elementary School, is in her fifth year in Elderscholar. She, too, had high praise.
``This is one of the best programs offered in the Roanoke Valley,'' she said.
Whitey Whitehurst of Vinton, a retired manager of the C&P Telephone Co., said Elderscholar has ``excellent speakers and timely programs.''
He and his wife, Emily, are now in their third year of the program.
The format has six lectures about 90 minutes each in the spring and fall. After the lecture, participants are given lunch in the college dining hall - where ``very good food'' is served, some of them said.
Occasionally, Cox said, the group will visit a local museum or art gallery instead of having a lecture.
Cox, who has education degrees from Virginia Tech and Hollins College, said Roanoke College is the first in Virginia to have Elderscholar, though many other colleges have similar programs.
Elderscholar ranks high in importance on the college's agenda, she said. It is one of three ranked as Signature Programs and is one of several programs designed for older people. Among the others are Elderforums, small group discussions; Elderbooks, a book study; Eldercogitans, a self-directed lecture series, and Roadscholars, a travel and study group.
For more information on Elderscholar, call 375-2207.
by CNB