For Seniors : Still Thirsty for Knowledge, Adults Enjoy OASIS Classes
They are the new old. Rocking chairs and bingo don’t figure in their lives. They want to rekindle old interests and develop new ones, but most of all they want to stay connected to a world they’ve helped to build. Where do they go?
OASIS.
Located in a shopping plaza in Park La Brea, Older Adult Service and Information System serves people over the age of 60, offering 67 classes ranging from “Yoga for Health” to “Goethe: The Man, His Philosophy and His Work.” The most popular classes are “Television Comedy Then and Now (Part IX)” and “Politics and the Media--A Marriage Made in Heaven or Hell?”
About 130 students are enrolled in the current events class taught by Lila Garrett, writer and longtime political activist. Bob Lees, 82, a blacklisted writer during the McCarthy era, attends the class with his girlfriend, Helen Colton. “I’ve lived through a lot of history, and it’s a sad situation in 1995 when liberal is a dirty word. So I didn’t know where I was, politically, and Lila is giving me a little strength to come back,” he said.
Next door to Garrett’s class is “Bonjour, Paris!” where smaller groups learn conversational French for fun and travel, taught by Angele B. Clark. On a recent day, students were writing about what they did when they were 25 years old, first in English and then in French. For Margaret Kershaw, it was 1946 and she was an exchange student in France, studying art. Jan Berger was a newlywed moving to California, and Fred Barnes was in the Navy, doing what sailors do--looking forward to his leave.
If it’s Wednesday at OASIS, it’s time for Iris Merrick’s ballet class. Merrick, 85, has been dancing since she was a child and was the former director of the Westchester Ballet Company in her native New York. Now her students are mostly older women. Her oldest student is 92. As far as Merrick is concerned, there is no age limit for ballet.
“Ballet is wonderful for older people--I don’t like the term senior citizen-- because it exercises the whole body,” she said. “First, you have to learn to stand up straight, and then you have balance, so all of my students develop perfect posture.”
Not only are some students learning to stand up straight, but a few are also even learning second careers. Earl Schuman, 79, was unenthusiastic about enrolling in Adrienne Omansky’s commercial acting class, but his wife, Beulah, insisted. The class, sponsored by the Fairfax Community Adult School, changed his life.
Schuman recently retired from a 30-year career as a real estate broker. Now he has an agent, a Screen Actors Guild card and four commercials to his credit--one of them was aired during the Academy Awards show. Schuman admits life will never be the same for him.
“The most exciting things that ever happened to me was my marriage, children and grandchildren. Now people recognize me on the street, and I’ve already received three residual checks,” he said.
Schuman says he hopes his fame isn’t short-lived. “There are a lot of disappointments,” he admits. “I’ve gone 10 days without a call, but that’s the way the business is. I’m not going to get every role.”
OASIS, established in 1982 in St. Louis, is a 212,085-member national organization with 32 centers in 25 cities. May Department Stores Co., along with regional sponsors, provide the funding. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Area Agency on Aging, the Freda Mohr Multiservice Center for Seniors, Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles and FHP Health Care contribute financial support. Many of the centers, like the one in Los Angeles, are run by volunteers.
There are five OASIS centers in Southern California; a new satellite center recently opened in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley. In Los Angeles, director Thea Neal has been guiding the program for five years.
“These people are concerned with the bigger picture,” Neal said. “They are pioneers, and we want to assist them to expand what the possibilities are rather than reinforce what is already out there.”
OASIS, 6282 West Third St. Los Angeles, (213) 931-8968.