Previous Talks & Events

Rosanne Foust, President and CEO of the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, spoke on San Mateo County's economic future.

Branch President Scott Stillman and Branch Vice President John Farcich led a Membership Roundtable on upcoming changes in SIR.

Our own Bob Rogers and Sara Polgar, COO of the Coastside Land Trust, spoke about their conservation efforts.

Ed Montague, retired Major League Baseball umpire.

Tom Smegal, Chief Executive Officer / General Manager of the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA), spoke on maintaining and improving the Hetch-Hetchy system — past, present, and future.

Anna Aleksayeva, Director of the Accessory Dwelling Unit Resource Center of San Mateo County.

Larry Goldzband, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), spoke on protection from rising sea levels.

Mary Abler, Deputy Director of San Mateo County Libraries, and Stephanie Saba, Manager of the Foster City Library, spoke on the many programs serving our diverse community. View a .pdf of their presentation.

Daniel Bowermaster, Director of Electric Vehicle Research at the Electric Power Research Institute, spoke on "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Electric Vehicle Market." View a .pdf of his presentation.

Richard Holmboe spoke on U.S. Navy submarine life. View a .pdf of his presentation. He also wrote a book giving even more details of his time on the USS Bugara and her history, which you can get here.

Heather Boshears of Hoge Fenton spoke on basic estate planning. View a .pdf of her presentation.

Big Sir Nick Feimer led a Membership Roundtable on changes proposed by State SIR. View a .pdf of the presentation.

Alice Dang spoke on promoting awareness and knowledge of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. View a .pdf of her presentation.

Francine Magno, Senior Civil Engineer of Foster City, told the story of the Foster City levee.

Jon Welte, President and CEO of the Hiller Aviation Museum.

Tim Robinson, Senior Docent at the Computer History Museum.

Gregg Castro, Culture Director of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (Indigenous People of San Mateo County).

Colleen Crowley, Communications Manager of the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA.

Anne Ferguson, Founder, Executive Director, and Chairperson of the Board of "Bay Area Older Adults."

Big Sir Bill Brown and Little Sir Nick Feimer gave a discussion regarding the initiatives that have been enacted by State SIR and their effect on our branch. (The originally scheduled speaker cancelled.)

Nán Sū, reporter with The Epoch Times, spoke on "UPDATE: Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (Mainland)."

Lenny Siegel of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight spoke on "Is the AI Race Worth the Environmental Costs?"

Timothy Clements, Ph.D., of the Earthquake Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey spoke on "Earthquakes in the Bay Area and Beyond."

Allan Zhao of the Electric Power Research Institute spoke on electric vehicle research.

Rico Medina, Mayor of San Bruno, spoke on the 101 Express Lanes.

Our own Jim Crampton spoke on the early days of Silicon Valley. Of the many untold stories of those days, he told one about Atari.

Margaret Baggerly, who coordinates the Senior & Veterans Mobility Program at SamTrans, spoke on public transportation services available to seniors, assistance for new riders, Paratransit Services (Redi-Wheels / Redi-Coast), updates on SamTrans and Caltrain, and other transportation options. A .pdf of her presentation is here.

Scott Lohmann spoke about Adaptive Physical Education — a fitness and wellness program for seniors and boomers with physical disabilities or health limitations.

Tad Bogdan, author of "How to Master the Universe."

Terry Nagel spoke on "Sustainable San Mateo County."

Sū Nán, reporter with The Epoch Times, spoke on "Wisdom and Humanity from 5,000 Years of Ancient Chinese Culture."

Sherry Plambeck, Director of Marketing at The Magnolia of Millbrae, spoke on "The Ins and Outs of Senior Living," covering everything from senior day care facilities and in-home caregivers to board and care homes, retirement communities, skilled nursing, and hospice care.

Melissa King of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine spoke on stem cell research for stem cell therapy.

Kara Rosenberg, President of the San Mateo County Genealogical Society, spoke on Myths and Realities of Genealogical Research.

Sue Eldredge, Executive Director for Villages of San Mateo County, which was the subject of her talk.

James Eggers of the Sierra Club spoke on grassroots conservation opportunities.

Mark Marymee (MemoryMan.com) spoke on salvaging, sorting, digitizing, backing up, and archiving prints, slides, negatives, and movies, and using photo management software.

Michael Claire, Chancellor of the San Mateo Community College District (SMCCD), spoke on educational trends and learning opportunities for older adults.

Margaret Baggerly, Community Liaison for Supple Senior Care, LLC, a passionate advocate and resource for seniors in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, spoke on Beware of Senior Frauds and Scams.

Don Spradlin of the California Historical Society presented an overview of some of its major activities.

Chuck Myers and Bert Carlson, docents at the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum in Alameda, CA.

Davena Gentry of the Sequoia Audubon Society, along with Doug Brown, spoke on birds of San Mateo County.

Joe Hurley, Director of Administration and Product Delivery, San Mateo County Transit Authority, spoke on the San Mateo 101 Express Lane project and other improvement projects on the 101 corridor.

Richard Ferman, President of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Thomas Bastis, PGA Tour Competition Agronomist.

Ron Freund spoke about electric vehicles. You may access the video of the meeting, the slides, or the slides with notes.

At our luncheon, our own Tony Brown spoke of "The Adventures of a Modern-Day Alchemist." Recording of the Zoom meeting.

Jim Weil, President and Host of the MPSF Speaker Series, spoke of his duties and experiences.

Mitch Postel spoke of the San Mateo County Historical Association.

Gordon Deeg, Director of the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt, gave an introduction to bonsai.

Dick Haiduck spoke on "Shifting Gears — Journeys in Retirement." Here are the slides of his talk (which were elaborated during his presentation and the discussion at the end). If you have additional questions, please e-mail him at dhaiduck@gmail.com.

Michael and Judy Yublosky presented "1968 — Those Were the Days! An Interactive Trip Down Memory Lane." Recording of the Zoom meeting.

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, visit www.USSJoe.org. Tom's Joe Rosenthal Chapter is always looking for new members and volunteers. Tom's email is tom@tomgraves.com.

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.

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.

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.

Our own 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.

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.

Carol Jensen and Tracy Clark of the League of Women Voters spoke on "The 19th Amendment" and the history of the women's suffrage movement.

Our own Steve Wallace spoke on interesting stories of his family in the history of the Old West.

Our own Dwight Sale spoke on "The Crisis at Glen Canyon Dam," recounting how the Guy F. Atkinson company assisted the Bureau of Reclamation in dealing with record run-off that threatened the dam's existence.

Michelle Carter spoke on her experiences as the United States Information Agency's Journalist-in-Residence in Moscow, where she traveled across Russia's eleven time zones to work with newspaper editors adapting to new concepts of press freedom and a market economy during Russia's "bubble of freedom" in the pre-Putin era. Her experiences are the subject of her memoir, From Under the Russian Snow.

Kevin Moran, chair of our branch's Genealogy activity group, spoke on using internet resources and in-person searches of county records to confirm the identity of one of his mother's grandfathers. This was our branch's first use of Zoom teleconferencing to conduct a General Meeting.