AARP JOB LATEST CHAPTER IN EXCITING LIFE.Byline: Bettie Rencoret Senior columnist PALMDALE - Joanne Strauss, president of Palmdale Chapter 2195 of the AARP AARP, a nonprofit, nonpartisan national organization dedicated to "enriching the experience of aging"; membership is open to people age 50 or older. Founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus as American Association of Retired Persons, AARP now has over 30 million , likes to see smiling faces. She not only likes people to be happy but a big, toothy grin also reminds her of her 35 years in the field of dentistry. A native Californian, the former Joanne Gates graduated from Hollywood High School
dental school grad school, graduate school - a school in a university offering study leading to degrees beyond the bachelor's degree . She quit dentistry for a time in favor of eloping to Las Vegas on Aug. 31, 1954, with John Strauss, a charming, multitalented concert violinist. ``After living in Vegas for a couple of years, I got back to the dental office routine in 1957 and finally retired in 1983,'' she said. Bill Strauss, their only child, has his own computer business in Palmdale, she said. Her life with John, before he died in 1996, was an exciting one. ``He was such an imposing figure that he made an impression the minute he walked into a room,'' she said. ``That's how we got involved with AARP. We walked in the door one day and somebody sidled up to him and asked him to be vice president. He said OK and that was it.'' She said John later was elected president of the group and held that job for three terms while she alternated as treasurer, secretary and newsletter editor over the years. John's father, William Strauss, a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of attorney who owned his own stock company, brought his family to California when John was 3 years old, Strauss said. ``His father became the attorney for a Hollywood studio and incidentally tried his hand at acting. He appeared in 'Golden Boy' with William Holden,'' she said. ``For that movie, my husband, John, taught Holden how to simulate playing a violin. He worked with him for several weeks.'' She said John's mother was a Ziegfeld Follies girl who lived with them for several years toward the end of her life. John was the star of his own radio show, ``Wee Willie and Elizabeth,'' for several years, she said. ``He also became a producer, and we wrote a book together with the idea in mind that it would be made into a movie. We sank a lot of money into it, and when the project fell through we moved up here,'' she said. ``It's a good book. I think it'll still be published someday.'' When Strauss took office as this year's president of AARP, she was a little apprehensive about it. ``I wasn't sure if I could do it. It seemed like a lot of work, but it's actually been a lot of fun,'' she said. ``We have a pretty active group of about 50 regulars that attend and we have good meetings. At the next one, on (Friday), we'll have guest speaker Dennis Stewart.'' He'll present a program on estate planning Estate Planning The overall planning of a person's wealth, including the preparation of a will and the planning of taxes after the individual's death. Notes: Contrary to popular belief, estate planning involves much more than preparing a will, and it is not only for the at 1 p.m. in the multipurpose mul·ti·pur·pose adj. Designed or used for several purposes: a multipurpose room; multipurpose software. multipurpose Adjective room of the Palmdale Senior Center, 1002 East Ave. Q-12, she said. ``He's a pretty erudite er·u·dite adj. Characterized by erudition; learned. See Synonyms at learned. [Middle English erudit, from Latin speaker and we expect a good turnout because it's an interesting subject to most of us,'' she said. ``People our age like to know about things like that. Besides, people can come and make an afternoon of it. We play bingo after we adjourn adjourn v. the final closing of a meeting, such as a convention, a meeting of the board of directors, or any official gathering. It should not be confused with a recess, meaning the meeting will break and then continue at a later time. (See: recess, session) .'' Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and South Valley have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for a donation of $2. Monday: Spaghetti with meatballs, mixed vegetables, tossed salad, grape juice, apple. Tuesday: Barbecued pork, parsleyed potatoes, green beans, coleslaw cole·slaw also cole slaw n. A salad of finely shredded raw cabbage and sometimes shredded carrots, dressed with mayonnaise or a vinaigrette. , chocolate pudding. Wednesday: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, corn Niblets, marinated salad, apple cobbler. Thursday: Tuna pasta casserole, peas, garden salad, cherry Jell-O with pears, juice. Friday: Corned beef and cabbage, parsleyed potatoes, lime Jell-O with pineapple, shamrock cake. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Joanne Strauss, Palmdale AARP president, has been active in the group for years. Bettie Rencoret/Staff Photographer |
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