Blog archive
June 2023
Bridget Brewster Discovers Village Benefits
06/04/2023
Rumor of Humor #16
06/04/2023
Communications Project with Cal State LA
06/02/2023
Creative Aging
06/01/2023
May 2023
One Villager's Story
05/31/2023
Pasadena Area Liberal Arts Center
05/31/2023
Pasadena Village Responds to Rainbow Flag Burning at Pasadena Buddhist Temple
05/31/2023
Plan Ahead - And Be Prepared
05/31/2023
Tuesday, May 23 Pasadena Celebrated Older Americans
05/31/2023
Reparations, Social Justice Activity
05/24/2023
Rumor of Humor #14
05/19/2023
Rumor of Humor #13
05/12/2023
Issue #12
05/09/2023
Science Monday - Review of Meeting on April 10, 2023
05/09/2023
Conversations Re African American Artists Before 1920
05/08/2023
Beyond the Village – Suzi and Phil Hoge
05/01/2023
Congratulations Wayne April! Honored at UNH
05/01/2023
Table Topics
05/01/2023
Volunteer Appreciation at the Village
05/01/2023
“ACCIDENTAL HOST—The Story of Rat Lungworm Disease”
05/01/2023
April 2023
Jumbo Joy
04/24/2023
Pasadenans Recent Experience With Racism
04/23/2023
Recent Events Reflecting Racism
04/23/2023
Fig and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
04/18/2023
Photography for Social Justice
04/11/2023
Issue #8
04/07/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Catherine Deely
04/06/2023
Creative Writing in Older Adults
04/06/2023
Gifts of Love
04/06/2023
March 2023
Issue #7
03/31/2023
Issue #6
03/26/2023
Great Decisions update
03/14/2023
Dominion Lawsuit, South Africa and 710 Stub
03/08/2023
February 2023
2023 DEI Progress
02/27/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - Doug Colliflower
02/26/2023
CONVERSATIONS WITH ART
02/26/2023
GREAT DECISIONS
02/26/2023
OLDER ADULTS RESOURCE FAIR
02/26/2023
The Important, Influential Books in our Lives - Revisited
02/26/2023
History, Resolution of the 710 Freeway
02/19/2023
Eminent Domain, 710 Highway
02/13/2023
Bernard Garrett, 710 Freeway
02/06/2023
Men's Times Gatherings
02/03/2023
January 2023
Pasadena's Senior Commission
01/30/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - JIM HENDRICK
01/27/2023
GRATITUDE - IT'S GOOD FOR YOU!
01/27/2023
JEFF GUTSTADT - FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST
01/27/2023
Bernard Garrett, Incredible Black Entrepreneur
01/17/2023
What is the "Spirit Talk" Group About?
01/16/2023
Same Ol’ New Year, Brand New Me
01/12/2023
Review of 2022, Consideration of 2023
01/06/2023
BEYOND THE VILLAGE - PATTI LA MARR
01/03/2023
FROM THE CHAIR
01/03/2023
WALK WITH EASE
01/03/2023
Gifts of Love
By Susan KujawaPosted: 04/06/2023
Gifts of Love – by Karen Bagnard and Susan Kujawa
On the south wall of the Village office hangs a gift of love… a quilt handcrafted by Lois Stelzer. It looks like a great stained glass window. With rich fabrics, meticulous stitches and powerful colors, this gift from Lois is a labor of love.
Lois was a member of our Village for too short a time. She was quiet and somewhat shy, but she expressed herself beautifully in her art – the art of creating quilts. She was so skilled that several of her quilts are owned by the Autry Museum. Karen Bagnard, a long-time Village member, is also an artist and she and Lois soon made a deep connection.
Not long after joining the Village, Lois learned that she had terminal liver cancer. As a very private person, she was reluctant to share this bad news. “I don’t want a bunch of strangers calling me”, she insisted. However, with Karen’s encouragement, Lois did share her news with a few others in the Village.
Later, Karen and a few other Villagers, arranged for an art show of Lois’s quilts. They displayed them on the walls of the Village conference room. At the opening reception, Lois spoke about her quilting and what it meant to her. Many of her quilting friends attended the reception, and Lois was delighted to see them. She enjoyed answering their many questions about various pieces.
Lois lived only a few more months. She had no family, but the Village had become her family. Several members of the Village attended her memorial service in her home. They got to see her amazing studio and many more of her works of art displayed there. Later we learned she had left a generous donation to the Village in addition to the beautiful quilt now hanging in our office.
Lois’s quilt reminds us of the many gifts made to us by other Village members, both living and deceased. Tangible gifts such as donations. Gifts of help where needed, such as rides or phone calls. And the gift of memories left behind by those who have passed away. Each gift is an expression of a core value of Pasadena Village – that we all have something we need, and we all have something to give.