Tufts’ Osher Lifelong Learning Institute creates opportunities for seniors to keep gaining knowledge while finding common interests and forming new bonds
Merrill Hudson (left) and Robert Pride might not have been friends if they had met during their time as Tufts undergraduates in the turbulent 1960s. But by the time they met in OLLI, their differences weren't important any longer. According to Hudson, "there were so many other things to talk about."
Photo: Alonso Nichols
In the early days of the pandemic, classes offered by Tufts' Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), like classes everywhere, went online.
One such class, focused on memoir writing, was a lifeline for participants who were isolating at home. With students ranging in age from their early 70s through their 90s, the four-week session created a tight bond among participants, who, through their writing, got to know each other quickly—and deeply. The course was offered multiple times between Spring 2020 and Spring 2021, and the same students signed up for it again and again, continuing their work together.
It’s not unusual for students to form bonds through OLLI experiences. In fact, part of OLLI’s mission is to help foster such connections.
As part of Tufts' University College, which focuses on providing quality learning experiences to students at all life stages, OLLI aims to create connections among intellectually curious adult learners who want to pursue educational experiences in or near retirement. (Other University College offerings are designed for high-school students and working professionals, among other audiences.)
In the course of their pursuits, OLLI members (in order to take classes, individuals must obtain membership) often form close relationships with one another.
“Research has shown that part of healthy aging is maintaining social connection,” said Callan Moody, OLLI’s associate director. “Our program offers many opportunities for members to find others at similar stages of life who share common interests and life experiences. In that way, while we are engaging the minds of adult learners, we’re striving to also enhance their well-being.”
That’s exactly what the institute did for the memoir writers. As the class sessions wound down, participants realized they didn’t want their connection—or the work they were doing—to come to an end.
Participants in the Writing and Reading Memoirs group
So, in April 2021, Chris Farrow-Noble and Joyce Callaghan, the two OLLI members who had been facilitating the writing sessions, formed a monthly writing group called Writing and Reading Memoirs (WARM). And the 24 students who had been regularly signing up for the sessions joined that group.
“Our connections were firm and heartfelt,” wrote Callaghan in the introduction to Pages from Our Lives, an anthology of writing self-published by the group. “The friendships forged have grown and flourished.”
From Opposite Poles to Close Pals
Another friendship nurtured through OLLI is one that might have been unthinkable 60 years ago.
In 1963, when Robert Pride matriculated as a Tufts undergraduate, he was a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps preparing for a future in the Navy—and a very conservative young person. (“I was to the right of Attila the Hun,” recalls Pride, “though I’ve mellowed out some now.”)
Meanwhile, Merrill Hudson, a liberal student who started as a freshman at Tufts in the same year, was navigating the social upheavals of the day, eventually dropping out amid the turmoil (returning to the Hill in 1970 to complete his degree). Their divergent experiences meant their paths never crossed on campus.
Fast-forward several decades, and Pride and Hudson found themselves brought together by OLLI. One feature of the institute is that members not only take courses—they, alongside others in the Tufts community, also teach them. The two met when Pride led a class on American history for which Hudson had signed up. They recognized that they had different political views, but they enjoyed each other’s company. As Hudson puts it, “By the time we met, our differences just weren’t important. There were so many other things to talk about.”
“We were working together toward the same goals,” Pride adds. Those objectives included collaborating on the curriculum committee to design a slate of courses for each upcoming semester and service on the OLLI executive board.
In addition, the two were learning from one another: Hudson took not only Pride’s American history course but several others as well, and Pride signed up for a film course and a handful of others that Hudson taught. The pair also took other courses together.
These days, it’s harder for Hudson to participate than it used to be. Before the pandemic, he frequently drove to campus to attend OLLI classes and events. Now he’s not able to drive, and mobility issues make it difficult for him to access public transportation. But his preference is to attend sessions in-person.
Luckily for him, Pride steps in as a true friend would: each month, he picks Hudson up and gives him a ride to campus for meetings of OLLI’s History Club. Afterward, the two friends go out to lunch together.
From Classmates to Supporters
Another way in which OLLI affords members the opportunity to form meaningful relationships is by showing them what their shared interests are. This has become clear through the experiences of students in a popular course on autism.
Offered by Simone Dufresne, an expert on autism who received her Ph.D. through the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts’ School of Arts and Sciences, the course has run for three years. It attracts a diverse group of students, Dufresne said, who are united in their desire to learn more about autism and interact more effectively with autistic individuals in their lives.
Dufresne’s goal is to provide students with the information they’re looking for, but, after teaching the course for three years, she has found that students also seek the chance to learn from others in similar situations. The class that formed this past spring had a particularly tight bond, she said.
“A number of participants have neurodivergent family members,” Dufresne explains, “It was great to see how they connected over their shared experiences. They offered one another tips and brought each other ideas for troubleshooting. A real sense of community formed among the group.”
Joyce Callaghan, one of the facilitators of the memoir-writing course who also took Dufresne’s class and who has an autistic grandchild, noted that students in the group wanted to continue their connection beyond the end of the four-week course.
The participants from OLLI's memoir-writing group continue to meet monthly to discuss members’ writing, check in about each other’s lives, offer each other support through the challenges of aging, and, as shown here, celebrate milestone birthdays (like the one of a member who recently turned 90).
“We shared a lot of our frustrations and worries during the last two sessions in particular,” says Callaghan, “The group really gelled around discussions of the challenges that come up for caregivers. We wanted to continue supporting one another.”
Participants have decided to form an ongoing support group. While the logistics are still in the works, Callaghan and Dufresne are both hopeful that the conversation—and friendship—will extend beyond the classroom.
Lasting Connections
The memoir-writing group Callaghan runs with Chris Farrow-Noble exemplifies how OLLI fosters beyond-the-classroom conversations. In addition to solidifying their own friendship through their work together, the two are grateful for the social support that has grown from the course they co-facilitated.
“The group is still going strong,” Farrow-Noble notes. Made up of 15 core members and others who join in occasionally, it meets monthly to discuss members’ writing, check in about each other’s lives, celebrate milestone birthdays (like the one of a member who recently turned 90), and offer each other support through the challenges of aging.
“Life is a part of our writing,” says Farrow-Noble. “We get to know each other through the content of our writing and feel very connected. It’s a real community.”
