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Editor: Henny van Dijk www.uthro.org April, 2016

In this Issue Page 1 A Great New Benefit—”Silver Sneakers” Page 2 STAR Awards; Endowment Fund Update Page 3 Trips to: Federal Reserve Bank; Liberty Opry; Page 4 My New Motto

Rolando Román, Manager of Wellness Programs send me the following e-mail:

The UT System Office of

Employee Benefits and our

systemwide Living Well Program are excited to announce

that beginning March 1, 2016, we will be offering access to

SilverSneakers. This program is available with no out-of-

pocket cost to retirees who are covered under our UT SE-

LECT Health Plan, including working retirees. Covered

spouses of retirees and surviving spouses participating in

the UT SELECT Health plan are also eligible. All qualifying

members will automatically receive a Welcome Kit soon

via U.S. Mail that details the program and will include a

membership card.

SilverSneakers is a comprehensive program that helps

older adults take greater control of their health through

physical activity, education, and social interaction. This

program includes the following:

Group fitness classes;

A fitness membership with access to 13,000+ fit-

ness locations nationwide;

SilverSneakers FLEX™ Community Fitness

Classes such as tai chi, yoga, and Latin dance;

Health education seminars and social events; A Program Advisor® for guidance and assistance

and a member website with detailed informa-

tion, resources and inspiration.

A Great New Benefit To find fitness locations, request your SilverSneakers ID

number, enroll in FLEX classes, or get additional details,

please visit www.silversneakers.com or call SilverSneakers

Customer Service at (888) 423-4632 (TTY: 711), Monday

through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (CT).

I contacted the website, answered a couple of questions

and got my personal ID which I can take to my neighborhood

YMCA for enrollment. As you can see from the map there are a

great number of participating fitness centers in the Greater Hous-

ton Area and it seems just a fantastic opportunity to get a free

membership to better health through physical exercises.

Henny van Dijk

PS: Mr Román told me that Silver Sneakers is a National program

available in all 50 states. So all our members are eligible.

UT Employee Assistant Program is looking to hire a Seasonal Hire. It would be a good opportunity for a UTHRO member in a temporary or part-time status from April 4 – Sept 2. The job entails basic clerical/front desk receptionist duties such as: answering phones, greeting visitors, scheduling appointments, filing, scan-ning, records retention assistance, etc. There is no pa-tient contact with this position. The position can be full-time or part-time (3 days a week) and we are located in the UCT building – 7000 Fannin, UCT 1670. For more information call Tina Blades 713.500.3320

Liberty Opry

Thu. June 2, Houston’s Federal Reserve Bank Sat. July 16, Liberty Opry Night (50's & 60's show)

The Federal Reserve Bank

April, 2016 The Evergreen Page 2

The UTHRO Endowment for Healthy Aging has blasted off! More than $5,000 has already been given for our permanent endowment to benefit UTHealth’s patient care, education and research for the aging population and their caregivers. Our goal is $25,000 minimum (including pledges) to be raised in the next

5 years. Any amount is welcome from members and our friends. Contributions can include memorial gifts, honor gifts and more. Please send your gift to:

c/o Ms. Angela Randolph UTHealth, Office of Development

P.O. Box 1321 Houston, TX 77251-1321

To insure your intention is met, please write “for UTHRO Endowment” on the memo line of your check. UTHRO members will hear from their Endowment Committee regularly to celebrate our successes as we pro-gress toward establishment of our permanent endowment. We are “Seniors Helping Seniors”.

Rick Bebermeyer, Endowment Committee Chair

The STAR Awards, an acronym for Service, Tradition, Achieve-ment and Recognition, are here again! Employees with five, 10 and 15 years of service will be honored on Tuesday, March 29 with a reception, while those with 20, 25, 30, 35 or 40 years of service will be honored on Thursday, March 31 with a luncheon.

UTHealth News

30 Year STARS Andrassy, Richard Aronowski, Jaroslaw Bek, Peggy Collins-Johnson, Sharon Engebretson, Joan C Finney, David A Galletti, Shari L. Gibson, Karen Gilbert, Harry Lee Jr., Robert Lodato, Robert Loose, David Loveland, Katherine Meininger, Janet Mills, Stephen

Uzoni-Boecker, Catherine Wainwright, David

35 Year STARS Brown, Mary Bull, Joan Butler, Bruce Felli, Patricia Murray, Barbara Pressel, Sara Richmond, Cynthia Scott, Larry Smalling, Richard Vernon, Sally

40 Year STARS Beetar, Rodney Debes, Robert Ericsson, Charles Katz, Allan Viola, Faye

UTHRO’s Endowment Fund

When I glanced at the list of this year’s STARs, I noticed a familiar name - Mary Brown I asked her to write me a little history!

In November 1978, I decided that I should get out in the world again. So I asked a friend, Patricia Sutton, who at the time was working in General Accounting, if there were any openings where she worked. She said they had an Accounting position I came in the next Monday and was hired on the spot. At this time Accounting was on the 1

st floor of the

Main Building (Prudential) with Personnel, Purchasing, Contracts & Grants, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Pay-ables, and General Accounting. I was moved to Travel. We had only 1 computer that we all shared. Each depart-ment was assigned a time slot to use it. We time shared this accounting system with UTMB and all the reports and data were processed at UTMB. Each morning we had a driver go down to Galveston to pick up the reports. We moved to the 6

th floor of the Main Building,

Shortly after making this move we developed our own IT department and everyone finally got a computer on her/his own desk. It was here that one morning everyone in Pay-roll walked in and quit. That was a fiasco! We developed our unique accounting system and TUFIMS was born. However, they could not come up with a way to get travel in that system. I handled all the data entry for the travel authorizations and the reimbursements for the entire Health Science Center. Travel grew. I was promoted to Travel Coordinator. It was during the time of developing TUFIMS that the first Chili Cook Off came about. It be-came clear very soon that we would have to put a limit on the number of beers one could absorb. We continued to grow and moved to OCB where each department was given its own suite. Several years later we moved to UCT. I loved working there, but due to health reasons, I took retirement on July 31, 2000. Leaving was one of the hardest things I have done. After having heart surgery in September and a year of recovery, I found that I felt 100% better and my desire to come back to work for UTHSC was very strong. I worked as a Casual at the Medical school from 2001 to 2004 when I was allowed to return on a full time basis. So I applied at the School of Public Health as an Adminis-trative Assistant. Academia was a culture shock for me, but I truly love my students and what I do.

I am now classified as a working retiree.

When will I retire for good? Not until I am ready! Mary Brown

I’m sure I speak for all of Mary’s colleague at UTHRO when I congratulate her and the other awardees who are cele-brating an anniversary. Henny van Dijk

Our Own UTHRO STAR

June 2,The Federal Reserve Bank July 16, Liberty Opry

April, 2016 The Evergreen Page 3

The hulking building on Allen Parkway that houses the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas was built shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which apparently explains its unfortunate lack of curb ap-peal. The original idea behind the design of Michael Graves was for it to be open and inviting, to project the idea of an institution that was stable and secure, yet inclusive. Instead, after the attacks it had to meet certain minimum security requirements. And that meant 30 percent more concrete and steel in a building that now screams "Stay out," rather than "Come on in."Which is a pity, because it's worth taking a peek inside. You will only get to see a fraction of the 300,000-square-foot building , but in the bank's spacious visitors center you will find displays that explain the history of the Federal Reserve System and how it works, the economic history of Houston, and how U.S. currency has evolved over the years. And you will get a glimpse, through bulletproof windows, of the heart of the bank's business - the cash op-eration. In a given year, it handles more than $50 billion in cash, which would explain the need for all that security. The cash is processed through high-speed machines that make sure the bundles are all of the same denomination, detect counterfeits, and separate out notes that are no longer fit for circulation. Those are automatically shredded. The currency is stored inside a huge vault, 68 feet high. Each of the vault's doors weighs 17 tons. Despite appearances to the contrary - the imposing edifice, the bronze eagle at the entrance, the flags, the se-curity, the name - the federal reserve banks are not a branch of the federal government. Come and explore the nation's financial system. Just don't let the lack of curb ap-peal put you off. Adapted from an article by Tony Freedman

Because of the increased security after 9/11 UTHRO will have to submit a list of those who intend to par-ticipate. Please get this information to either Tena Lummus or Barbara Kelly before May 1. Their info is on page 4. The tour starts at 10 AM, so our bus will leave OCB promptly at 9 AM due to numerous construction downtown. We will have lunch afterwards at Treebeards. The buffet luncheon runs you between $9.50 and $10.50 p.p. After lunch a tour of nearby Christ Church Cathedral is planned.

For those of us alive and rocking during the fifties and sixties (and you know who you are) this event will be a nostalgic trip to yesteryear when Elvis was King or a group of young lads from Liverpool changed the music scene for-ever. I remember dancing and gyrating to the tunes of Bill Haley and his Rock Around the Clock on a wood floor at a camping in Holland. The music was vibrating, loud and catchy and seemingly very much alive and kicking. The booming bass line or searching sax solos were the drivers behind R&R as were the free spins and twirls of the danc-ers; American Bandstand became the “must see and hear” of our generation. I still remember the first TV appear-ance of the Beatles in Holland in June ’64 and when estab-lished stars like Ella Fitzgerald recorded their “All My Lovin’” we knew we had our own “songbook.” Liberty Opry does tributes to the 50s & 60s on a regular basis and the shows are fun and I dare you not to tap your feet or start dancing in the aisles, because it still moves. If you would like to go back for an evening to those days, sign up for the trip before June 15. The show will cost you $15.00 pp and is non-refundable after July 1. The bus will leave OCB at 4PM for the hour long drive to Liberty TX where we will have dinner first at Casa Don Boni’s Mexican Restaurant in Liberty. You can park your cars in the OCB visitors lot where they will be pretty secure. To make your reservations write a check for $15 pp to Barbara Kelly (info on page 4) and remember no refunds after July 1. Then call or e-mail Tena Lummus or Barbara to RSVP:

Barbara Kelly—bkelly0127@gmail.com—281-933-3634 Tena Lummus —nanapoo1@att.net — 832-288-3085

It will be a “rockin’ night out!”

UTHRO The University of Texas Houston Retiree Organization 1851 Crosspoint, Suite 1.204 Houston, TX 77054 To update your address or phone number

please contact us at 281-933-3634

And Now For Something Completely Different...

UTHRO OFFICERS 2016

President Peggy O’Neill 3107 Wroxton Road, Houston, TX 77005 713-666-1075 poneill@swbell.net

Vice-Pres Tena Lummus 1209 Modena Dr., Pearland, TX 77581 832-288-3085 nanapoo1@att.net

Secretary Ted Jones 9219 Brahms Lane, Houston, TX 77040 281.217.3076 tednotes@att.net

Treasurer Barbara Kelly 15714 Barbarossa, Houston, TX 77083 281-933-3634 bkelly0127@gmail.com

Web Administrator Sherri Orioli

I’ve found my new motto at my age— and so did many famous “philosophers”—hope you get a kick out of them...

Careful grooming may take twenty years of a woman’s age, but you can’t fool a long flight of stairs Marlene Dietrich You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake Bob Hope Life would be infinitely happier if only we could be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18 Mark Twain If you pull out a gray hair, seven will come to its funeral German Proverb Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger Dolly Parton She was so old that when she went to school, they didn’t have history Rodney Dangerfield

When I was young, the Dead Sea was alive George Burns Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art Garson Kanin

Saying Attributed to Bette Davis

“Words from the Witty, the Wise and the

Weathered.”

A compilation published by Hallmark Thanks Barbara for the inspiration