When Garlands Member Peggy Clough retired after a 33-year career as an acute-care physical therapist (University of Michigan) and teacher (University of Wisconsin – Madison), she couldn’t wait to chase after all the intellectual topics she’d never had time to fully explore: The U.S. Constitution! Getting to the bottom of the question of women priests in the Catholic church! American History! Women’s roles in early Christianity!
For Peggy, every question begets two more, in fact, she chose to live at The Garlands in part because of its robust Lifelong Learning program and her desire to continue to learn new things.
When pandemic restrictions went into effect, Peggy almost felt guilty at how much she began enjoying her “mandated” education: not only did hundreds of colleges offer online content free to the public, but the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute offered every single lecture and program they had free of charge to the world!
Rather than a place she “had” to stay, Peggy’s Garlands home became an exciting, vibrant cultural and intellectual hub. Every day, every week, there were new topics.
Always interested in women’s stories and women’s equality issues, Peggy dove in deeply enough to write and present a two and a half-hour, two-part presentation to fellow Garlands members on “Heroes of the U.S. Suffrage Movement,” just in time to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
If Peggy’s brain ever needs a respite, she pops in a video from her extensive old- and classic-movie collection. She feels deeply for all whose quality of life has deteriorated during this time, and she does miss the swimming pool and getting together in person with friends and family. But, long ago she decided to focus on what’s possible, not lament what isn’t – which has served her beautifully in 2020.
