Touch of Gray - January 2005

A First for Carolina Meadows - A Day with Three Diplomats

A First for Carolina Meadows - A Day with Three Diplomats
   Since moving to Carolina Meadows four years ago, Murray and Esther Bovarnick have become involved in a host of activities. Esther, a former librarian, actively volunteers in several Chatham County Outreach programs, including the CORA Food Bank. Murray, who was a management consultant and still is an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers, For three years he has chaired the Carolina Meadows Residents’ Budget & Finance Advisory Committee which works closely with the administration in planning the Carolina Meadows annual budgets. Despite their many campus activities, they still attend several Elderhostel programs each year. Last spring they were at a week-long U.S. Foreign Service Elderhostel in Washington, DC with the intriguing title, “U. S. Diplomacy: Over-Rated or Under-Appreciated?” The presenters of the program were members of the American Foreign Policy Association (AFSA).

   AFSA includes 13,000 active, retired and semi-retired officers of the United States Foreign Service. Largely through Elderhostel, they present several weeklong programs on international relations each year to public audiences, as well as shorter programs to more specialized groups. The members enjoy explaining the organization of the Foreign Service and how it implements US foreign policy throughout the world.

   Would it be possible, the Bovarnicks wondered, to invite a panel of speakers to present a one-day program at Carolina Meadows Were there enough AFSA speakers in the Triangle area? APSA speakers normally do not charge for their services at short programs; such a program would not be expensive. The Bovarnicks believed that we have enough residents interested in international affairs to ensure an audience of at least 50. Dick Sampson, a resident and former CIA officer, conducts a weekly discussion group about foreign affairs and draws an enthusiastic attendance. Also, thanks to UNC’s Speakers’ Bureau, we enjoy frequent talks each year by visiting professors on other countries and cultures.

   When Esther and Murray returned from Washington, Murray approached Carolina Meadows Executive Director, Rob Boening, with the suggestion that we organize our own one-day AFSA program. Rob responded enthusiastically and suggested that the event be planned as a resident-endorsed and funded initiative. The next step was to contact Dot Reilly, President of the Residents Association. At her suggestion, the Executive Committee fully approved the concept of a one-day program to include three invited AFSA speakers.

   An ad hoc committee headed by Murray was charged with developing the program. Serving on his committee were Dick Sampson and Dick Ballard, chair of Special Events at Carolina Meadows. The Residents Association agreed to cover such costs as meals for the guest speakers, overnight accommodations if needed and reproduction costs for handouts.

   Murray contacted AFSA Communications Director Tom Switzer to get the names of possible nearby speakers. We were fortunate in finding three senior, semi-retired diplomats who agreed to spend a full day with us on October 12. The traditional Columbus Day seemed an appropriate time for us to learn more about our place in the world.

   Our lead-off speaker was Michael Cotter, who lives in Fearrington Village. Michael was familiar to us from a well-attended program he had presented on our campus last year under the auspices of the Duke Institute For Learning in Retirement (DILR). That series was about the five “Stan” republics in Asia, which became separate nations after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Cotter had been ambassador to Turkmenistan and also served in Viet Nam, Zaire, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Turkey. His topic for our October session was certainly relevant He chose to speak about “How American Policy is Formed.”

   Our second speaker was Curtis Jones, a 30-year veteran of the Foreign Service and now a resident of the Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill. Curtis speaks Arabic and has served in Lebanon, Ethiopia, Libya, Syria, South Yemen, Muscat and Oman. The topic he selected was certainly appropriate too - “American Policy in Iraq”.

   We went slightly further afield for our third speaker, Jack Perry, who, in addition to his thirty years of Foreign Service, was also director of the Dean Rusk Program in International Studies at Davidson College. Jack still lives at Davidson, and we were pleased to offer him overnight accommodations in our guest facility.

   Our program was scheduled from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Murray had explained to us earlier that a full-day program like this had to be very carefully paced and sequenced for a senior audience, many of whose members are personally acquainted with analgesics, statins, and beta-blockers. In particular, he stressed that no single segment should last longer than 40 to 45 minutes. Anything longer is too much sitting time!

   So, we began at 9:00 a.m. with coffee and cookies, which remained available throughout the day. Starting at 9:30 a.m. each of the three speakers was allotted 40 to 45 minutes for his prepared remarks, followed by a 30-minute question and answer period. We had a 15-minute break between the first and second speakers and an hour for lunch after the second speaker. We had another fifteen minute break after the third speaker, and finally wound up with a one-hour question-and-answer session in which the entire panel participated. There was no “down-time” during the entire day; With Murray as the moderator, the three speakers from the stage filled all of their allotted presentation times, and then engaged in a lively and incisive dialog with their questioners from the audience.

   The day was a great success in the opinion of all concerned. “We certainly hope we can make this an annual affair,” noted Dick Ballard. Myles Walburn, a Carolina Meadows resident and Board member, who is also incoming president of the CCCR of NC, the statewide organization of continuing care residents, said “We learned so much about our foreign policy from the very people who run it on a day to day basis.” Myles added that he would encourage other CCRC communities to follow our example and develop similar daylong programs for their residents calling on nearby AFSA members as speakers.

   Murray Bovarnick was particularly pleased at the day’s success. “When I first approached the three diplomats,” he said, “I guaranteed a minimum audience of at least 50. At one point in the morning, we actually counted 137 people. And there were about 60 to 70 people still present and awake when we finally called it quits at 4:00 p.m. I think that least 40 residents have spoken or written to me, asking if we could have a repeat program next year. -- Des Reilly, Resident

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