Our speaker on Wednesday November 13, 2024 was Colleen Crowley, Communications Manager of the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA.
Our speaker on Wednesday October 9, 2024 was Anne Ferguson, Founder, Executive Director, and Chairperson of the Board of “Bay Area Older Adults”.
Our speakers on Wednesday September 11, 2024 were Big Sir Bill Brown and Little Sir Nick Feimer giving a discussion regarding the initiatives that have been enacted by State SIR and their effect on our Branch. (The originally scheduled speaker cancelled.)
Our speaker on Wednesday August 14, 2024 was Nán Sū, reporter with The Epoch Times, who will spoke on “UPDATE: Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (Mainland)”.
Our speaker on Wednesday July 10, 2024 was be Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, who spoke on “Is the AI Race Worth the Environment Costs”.
Our speaker on Wednesday June 12, 2024 was be Timothy Clements, Ph. D. of the Earthquake Science Center of the U. S. Geologic Survey, who spoke on “Earthquakes in the Bay Area and Beyond”.
Our speaker on Wednesday April 10, 2024 was Allan Zhao of the Electric Power Research Institute, who spoke on Electric Vehicle Research.
Our speaker on Wednesday March 13, 2024 was Rico Medina, Mayor of San Bruno, speaking on the 101 Express Lanes.
Our speaker on Wednesday February 14, 2024 was our own Jim Crampton who spoke on the early days of Silicon Valley. Of the many untold stories of those days, he told one about Atari.
Our speaker on Wednesday January 10, 2024 was Margaret Baggerly who coordinates the Senior & Veterans Mobility Program at SamTrans. She spoke on public transportation services available to seniors, assistance available for new public transportation riders, Paratransit Services (Redi-Wheels/Redi-Coast), updates on SamTrans and CalTrain, different tools and resources, and other transportation options. A .pdf file of her presentation is here.
Our 2023 Holiday Luncheon included entertainment by Ol’ Blue Genes
Our speaker on Wednesday November 8, 2023 was Scott Lohmann who spoke about Adaptive Physical Education – a fitness and wellness program for seniors and boomers with physical disabilities or health limitations.
Our speaker on Wednesday October 11, 2023 was Tad Bogdan author of “How to Master the Universe”.
Our speaker on Wednesday September 13, 2023 was Terry Nagel who spoke on “Sustainable San Mateo County”.
Our speaker on Wednesday August 9, 2023 was Sū Nán, reporter with The Epoch Times who spoke on “Wisdom and Humanity from 5,000 Years of Ancient Chinese Culture”.
Our speaker on Wednesday July 12, 2023 was Sherry Plambeck, the Director of Marketing at the Magnolia of Millbrae who spoke on “The Ins and Outs of Senior Living”. Her presentation covered everything from senior day care facilities, in-home care givers, board and care homes, retirement communities, skilled nursing and hospice care. Sherry matriculated from the University Of San Francisco, summa cum laude, and started her career as the first female sales person with Procter and Gamble. She left P&G and entered the pharmacology arena. She became the divisional manager for the Western US. Moving forward, she opened a dementia community, a buy in a retirement community for the Pritzker family. Sherry has been repesenting The Magnolia of Millbrae for the past 19 years.
Our speaker on Wednesday June 14, 2023 was Melissa King of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine who spoke on Stem Cell Research for Stem Cell Therapy.
Our speaker on Wednesday April 12, 2023 was Kara Rosenberg, President of the San Mateo County Genealogical Society, who spoke on Myths and Realities of Genealogical Research.
Our speaker on Wednesday March 8, 2023 was Sue Eldredge, Executive Director for Villages of San Mateo County, which was the subject of her talk.
Our speaker on Wednesday February 8, 2023 was James Eggers of the Sierra Club speaking on grassroots conservation opportunities.
Our speaker on Wednesday January 11, 2023 was Mark Marymee (MemoryMan.com) who spoke on salvaging, sorting, digitizing, backing-up and archiving prints, slides, negatives, and movies; and using photo management software.
Our speaker on Wednesday November 9, 2022 was Michael Claire, Chancellor of the San Mateo Community College District (SMCCD) who spoke on Educational Trends and Learning Opportunities for Older Adults.
Our speaker on Wednesday October 12, 2022 was Margaret Baggerly, Community Liaison for Supple Senior Care, LLC. She is a passionate advocate and a resource for seniors in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. She spoke on Beware of Senior Frauds and Scams.
Our speaker on Wednesday September 14, 2022 was Don Spradlin of the California Historical Society presenting an overview of some of the major activities.
Our speakers on Wednesday August 10, 2022 were Chuck Myers and Bert Carlson, docents at the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum in Alameda, CA.
Our speaker on Wednesday July 13, 2022 was Davena Gentry, of the Sequoia Audubon Society who, along with Doug Brown, spoke on Birds of San Mateo County.
Our speaker on Wednesday June 8, 2022 was Joe Hurley, Director
Administration and Product Delivery, San Mateo County Transit Authority, who spoke on the San Mateo 101 Express Lane project and other improvement projects on the 101 Corridor.
Wednesday May 11, 2022 SIR Branch One celebrated our Spring Luncheon with entertainment provided by the Killer Bees, a band consisting of our own Bill Brown, Buzz Romero, and Bob Valdez
Our speaker on Wednesday April 13, 2022 was Richard Ferman, President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of Sons of the American Revolution.
Our speaker on Wednesday March 9, 2022 was Thomas Bastis, PGA Tour Competition Agronomist.
Our speaker on Wednesday February 9, 2022 was Ron Freund speaking about electric vehicles. You may access the video of the meeting including his presentation, the slides of his presentation, or the slides with notes of his presentation by clicking on the desired choice.
Our speaker at our luncheon on Wednesday January 12, 2022 was our own Tony Brown who spoke of “The Adventures of a Modern-Day Alchemist”. Recording of the Zoom meeting.
Our speaker at our 2021 Holiday Luncheon on December 8, 2021 was showbiz personality & critic, Jan Wahl.
On November 10, 2021 Jim Weil, President and Host of the MPSF Speaker Series spoke of his duties and experiences.
On October 13, 2021 Mitch Postel spoke of the San Mateo County Historical Association.
On August 11, 2021 Gordon Deeg, Director of the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt, give an Introduction to Bonsai.
On July 14, 2021 Dick Haiduck spoke on Shifting Gears – Journeys in Retirement. Here are the slides of his talk (which were elaborated during his presentation and discussion at the end). If you have additional questions, please e-mail him dhaiduck@gmail.com.
On June 9, 2021 Michael and Judy Yublosky presented 1968 – Those Were the Days! An Interactive Trip Down Memory Lane. Recording of the Zoom meeting.
On May 12, 2021, Tom Graves of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association told the inside story of Joe Rosenthal’s historic photo of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima during World War II. To sign an online petition to name a U.S. Navy warship the USS Joe Rosenthal, go to www.USSJoe.org. Tom’s Joe Rosenthal Chapter is always looking for new members and volunteers for the USS Joe Rosenthal Project and their educational outreach on the important role of war correspondents in our society. Tom’s email is tom@tomgraves.com.
On April 14, 2021, Carlos Moreno gave a presentation on “Community Outreach” by Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE). Much of the material he presented is available on their website, www.peninsulacleanenergy.com.
On March 10, 2021, Bill Heiden gave a presentation on “40 Years Behind the TV Camera”. As an introduction to his varied experiences, he shared this video montage of some of his work.
On February 10, 2021, Alan Deardorff gave a presentation on “International Trade and Trade Policy During the Pandemic“. Thanks to the National Economic Education Delegation, here are the slides of his talk.
On January 13, 2021, our Jim Crampton spoke about “The Early Days of Silicon Valley – An Untold Story About a Company Many are Familiar With” including interactions with a young Steve Jobs.
On December 9, 2020, Jeanne MacVicar spoke about “The Orphan Train Movement”, the largest mass migration of children in American history. In 1911, Jeanne’s great aunt Adeline Trowbridge – at age 3 – traveled aboard an Orphan Train to Clyde, Kansas, Jeanne’s home town.
On November 11, 2020, Carol Jensen (pictured) and Tracy Clark of the League of Women’s Voters spoke on “The 19th Ammendment” and the history of the women’s suffrage movement.
On October 14, 2020, our own Steve Wallace spoke on interesting stories of his family in the history of the Old West.
On September 9, 2020, our own Dwight Sale spoke on “The Crisis at Glen Canyon Dam” recounting how the Guy F. Atkinson company assisted the Bureau of Reclamation dealing with record run-off which threatened the dam’s existence.
On August 12, 2020, Michelle Carter spoke on her experiences as the United States Information Agency’s Journalist-in-Residence in Moscow. There she traveled across Russia’s eleven time zones to work with newspaper editors who were struggling to adapt to the new concepts of press freedom and a market economy during Russia’s “bubble of freedom” in the pre-Putin era. Michelle’s experiences in Russia are the subject of her memoir From Under the Russian Snow.
On July 8, 2020, Kevin Moran, chair of Branch One’s Genealogy activity group, spoke on using internet resources and in-person search of county records to confirm the identity of one of his mother’s grandfathers. This was Branch One’s first use of Zoom teleconferencing to conduct a General Meeting.