Dear Fellow WISE Members,

As I write this on Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful that I found WISE after I moved here from Southern California 13 years ago. The things I have learned and the friends I have made in WISE offset the change in the weather that came with my move.

Good News and Bad News

This past week has brought both joy and sadness to us. On the joyful side, Baltej (Tej) Maini, MD, has stepped up to be WISE’s Vice President. But, on November 18, Dolores Courtemanche, past president of WISE, passed away.

My first memory of Dolores was speaking with her on the bus during one of WISE’s trips to the Hudson Valley. She had the biggest, brightest smile that exemplified her essence. She was a fine writer, first for the Telegram and Gazette and then as a member of the Communications Committee when I was chair. As Joe Corn wrote upon hearing of Dolores’s passing, “Dolores was a wonderful lady throughout her life, and gave much to WISE. She will certainly be missed by all of us who knew her.” Dolores continues to give to us by having designated WISE as one of the organizations to which contributions can be made in her memory. https://www.sansoucyfuneral.com/notices/Dolores-Courtemanche

On the bright side this week, Zelda Schwartz recruited Baltej (Tej) Maini to be WISE's vice president. This news is a boon to WISE’s future considering his extensive administrative experience.

An expert on global health, Tej led international medical initiatives at Tufts Medical School and the Cleveland Clinic. While a practicing vascular surgeon with Fallon Clinic for nearly 30 years, he held significant administrative positions including Chair of Surgery at St. Vincent’s and the Fallon Clinic. For 10 years Dr. Maini was President, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Directors for Fallon Clinic and the Fallon Clinic Foundation. Recently retired, Tej is an avid consumer of WISE’s courses.

If you do not yet know Tej, please introduce yourself to him in class or at WISE’s annual Holiday luncheon, December 13, at Val’s in Holden.

Council Update

• WISE membership now stands at 423. After C & D course registration, which opens December 11 at 12:00 am, we will have an even larger number of members for this year. 
• Catalogs for C & D will be out November 28.  A drop-in workshop for one-on-one assistance with registering on line will be held November 30, 10am-12pm, at the Assumption College computer lab (Information Technology Center, Room. B223).
• Discussion continued on a Bylaw change to allow for electronic voting. Because this does not need to be done immediately, the proposed change(s) to the Bylaws will be voted on at our annual meeting next June.
• The need for sustainability of WISE’s programs in the future prompted discussion of what “member-directed” in our mission statement means. 
• Development of the plan to offer pilot summer courses in 2019, one of the ways to to meet members’ needs and to sustain WISE, progresses right on schedule. The proposed list of 36 courses has been narrowed to 11 from which 6-8 will be chosen to pursue further.

Simone Dinnerstein, Music Worcester’s First Artist In Residence, Teaches at WISE

Mark your calendars for January 16, 17, & 18. Through the auspices of Music Worcester, Ms. Dinnerstein, an internationally renowned performer of the Goldberg Variations, will explain the work’s major skeletal elements and then perform the work in its entirety. On the last day she will be joined by one of her talented students who is from Afghanistan. Look for more information in the “Director’s Corner” in the December Bulletin.

"I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life."
Corazon Aquino  (January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009)