THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 17, 1995 TAG: 9510170266
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Elizabeth Madeira, a former editor with Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, had never turned on a computer until Monday. But in the space of a few minutes, she'd not only turned one on, she'd rebooted the contraption as part of a course at the Adult Learning Center.
Not bad for a woman who typed her stories on a manual typewriter when she worked as a journalist in the fashion industry. Not bad at all for a 95-year-old who couldn't have taken a computer class at Vassar College because it didn't figure into the curriculum for the class of 1921.
``I think we've got to keep learning,'' she said. ``Or you just sort of flop.''
Mrs. Madeira is the oldest student in Adult Learning Center history, according to her teacher, Karin Reddick. The instructor calls most of her students by their first names, but couldn't bring herself to do that with Mrs. Madeira, whom she calls Miss Elizabeth.
``I feel like calling her `Elizabeth' is not respectful,'' Reddick said. The computer teacher said she's taught plenty of younger students who ``aren't half as sharp. I would love to have a roomful of 95-year-olds like her.''
For her part, Mrs. Madeira said she just wanted to keep up with the world around her, so she decided to attempt her first course since finishing Vassar.
``I felt so ignorant when I was with younger people. They were talking a language I don't know. It was like being in a foreign country.''
She decided to take an introductory class, which has taught her the basics of how computers work. Looking every bit the former fashion writer in a black sweater and slacks with a brightly colored jacket, Mrs. Madeira said it might have been interesting to do her work on a computer rather than patching stories together with a typewriter and paper.
``I probably would have preferred (a computer), but you can't tell.''
A widow, Mrs. Madeira is the mother of one, grandmother of three and great-grandmother of two. She is active in her garden club and loves to attend the theater with friends. And she believes learning is a lifelong process.
``I just get interested in things I don't know about,'' she said, sitting in front of a row of computers at the Adult Learning Center on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Linda Kuethe, who sat next to Mrs. Madeira for much of the five-week course, had been telling friends about the charming 75-year-old in her class. She had no idea until Monday, their last session, that her guess at Mrs. Madeira's age was off by 20 years.
``It's just amazing that someone would have the willpower to do this. She said she's always wanted to do this,'' Kuethe said.
Mrs. Madeira has even taken to discussing what sorts of computers are on the market with her nurse-companion, Deborah Villaluz.
``I would be very proud to be 95 years old and able to do what she does,'' Villaluz said.
Mrs. Madeira is considering what type of computer class she might take next, but as for buying a machine, she isn't quite certain yet.
``I'll probably wind up with one,'' she said. ``If you want to communicate with people in the next 10 years, you'll have to have one.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS\The Virginian-Pilot
Until recently, computers didn't figure into Elizabeth Madeira's
life. ``I felt so ignorant when I was with younger people,'' she
said. ``They were talking a language I don't know. It was like being
in a foreign country.''
by CNB