Published November 2001

EdCC cooks up learning opportunities for seniors

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

For 25 years, Marcel Forster concocted mouthwatering goodies as owner of Marcel’s Pastry Shop on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Next month, the 75-year-old retiree will divulge the secrets of his art to a group of fellow seniors, courtesy of the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds Community College.

“Due to the tremendous response, (the class) has been filled up in no time,” said Forster, a native of Switzerland who came to the Puget Sound area in 1956 after spending time in the kitchens of ocean liners and “top notch” English hotels.

Forster’s seminar, set for Dec. 7, is just one of 31 fall classes or field trips offered through the 11-year-old institute, which is a self-supporting program funded through CRI membership fees, class enrollment and donations.

“It’s like a college for seniors, and what makes it unique is it’s managed by volunteers, and they help with the selection of the classes and the teachers and the administration of the program,” said Pam LeMay, CRI Executive Director. “There are about 70 volunteers on a variety of committees.”

Along with an active Advisory Board, which recommends program, finance and policy matters to EdCC, the CRI has a resource in its affiliate, the Elderhostel Institute Network, a nonprofit organization that gathers and disperses curriculum information to Institutes for Learning in Retirement across North America.

Each quarter about 400 people take classes through the CRI, LeMay said, adding that the program has garnered national attention since its inception, having been named the Best New Program in the United States and Canada by the Association for Continuing Higher Education.

For Forster, the opportunity to teach some of those seniors how to make traditional holiday desserts in the commercial-style kitchen in his Bothell home is one he is looking forward to.

“It’s a great experience, because I love to deal with people from all walks of life,” said Forster, who, when not in the kitchen, keeps busy tending to the peacocks, chickens and goats on his 5-1/2 acres of land and working out at the YMCA with other members of the Silver Sneakers fitness group.

“I always say teaching is almost like a fire — you’ve got to stoke it every so often to get the fire going,” he said.

And he’ll get another chance to stoke that fire, as the CRI already has lined up another pastry seminar for Feb. 8.

CRI classes and activities “are open to everyone who has a love of learning and is 50 years and older,” LeMay said, adding that while it is not necessary to be a member, there are significant membership perks.

For more information, see the CRI Web site, www.cri.edcc.edu, or call 425-640-1243.

Back to the top/November 2001 Main Menu