ADRIAN — A new set of Lenawee Lifelong Learning classes on topics ranging from poetry to the Supreme Court begins in October at the Weber Retreat & Conference Center, located on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ campus, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian.

Lenawee Lifelong Learning’s Don Taylor said that the idea of LLL came from the late Bob Freligh back in 2010. “Bob was a true Renaissance man, well read and well traveled and just a prince of a man,” Taylor said.

Freligh gathered a group of community people together to develop the concept, and the program launched with five classes in fall 2012. Since then, there have been more than 230 different courses on subjects ranging from films, art, and poetry to political science, psychology, and history. The classes are taught by volunteers such as retired educators or professionals in their fields.

For a $35 fee, participants can take as many courses as they like per semester.

Classes meet once a week on Tuesdays or Wednesdays over four weeks in October and April. Each class is 90 minutes long. Tours of sites around the area are occasionally part of the offerings as well.

Most of the sessions are held at Weber Center, but a few take place at other locations. 

Classes planned for the upcoming October session include, among others, Latinos in Lenawee, Trees and People, The Story of Anne Frank, The Reformation, Supreme Court Cases, and several courses about local nonprofits such as Associated Charities and the Boys & Girls Club of Lenawee.

Many LLL participants, such as Denise Rock of Palmyra, have been taking classes for a number of years. Starting in 2016, Rock, who’s also on the program’s board, has signed up for most of the classes offered, learning about everything from Chinese writing to Shakespeare to Vietnam.

Besides expanding her range of knowledge, she enjoys the LLL atmosphere. She admits that when she came to her very first class, Supreme Court Cases, she felt a little uncomfortable because history was not her strong suit. But “everybody’s welcoming and friendly,” she said, and friendships often form that extend outside the classroom.

And there isn’t the pressure, like papers and tests, that people remember from their school days. “It’s easy learning,” she said.

Anne Jameson of Adrian has taken LLL classes for about six years. “They’re all fun,” she said. “It’s such a delight to be able to learn.”

A class on poetry, which has been led for years by retired teacher Charmaine Stangl and which returns this October, was among the courses both Rock and Jameson took this past April. Also in that particular class were Addison’s Mark Busha and Tecumseh’s Gerry Donaldson.

Busha, who was also signed up for a course on the Manhattan Project, was actually taking the poetry class for a second time even though he had never been much of a poetry guy. Now, though, “I have a greater understanding of it,” he said.

Donaldson only recently learned about LLL from someone he knew, after he’d been retired for a while and decided he wanted to do something to stimulate his mind. He ended up signing up for all the classes being offered.

“I’ve not found any of them disappointing,” he said.

Don and Becky Fry of Adrian have both taken many of LLL’s classes over the years and look forward every year to participating. They’ve also taken part in tours of places such as the Lenawee County Courthouse, the Adrian Armory, Michigan International Speedway, and the Blissfield Model Railroad Club.

“The tours have been fascinating,” Becky said as the couple checked out the elaborate setups at the model railroad club one day during the April semester. “They’re places I would never have gone to.”

Among the more-unique classes the Frys have taken over the years are ones on humor and baseball. “These are topics that there’s no way I’d ever have read a book about,” Don said.

And in addition to the learning itself, “we’ve met interesting people” in the classes, Becky said. “It forms a little community.”

Cathy Thielan, a retired teacher who has served as LLL’s curriculum chair for about 10 years now, has been taking classes right from the program’s start. She had retired and her husband had died, “and I needed something to do,” she said. “I took a class and I was hooked. … The classes are interesting and I’ve made great friends. There’s something for everyone.”

Thielan said she would love to see even more people participating in the classes, and that there is always a need for more instructors.

People who volunteer to teach LLL classes enjoy the classes as much as their students do. For Stangl, it’s a chance to share her passion for poetry with others. 

“I love teaching people about something that brings so much joy and is so beautiful,” she said. “I just think poetry is a gift to the world.”

Mark Schersten, a professor emeritus at Siena Heights University, has taught LLL classes for several years. To him, it’s exciting to be able to teach people about topics that especially interest him, and “I like getting people to think a little bit deeper,” he said.

And, he joked, unlike teaching on the college level, “there are no papers to grade, no tests to give.” But on the other hand, “if the students don’t do the reading, it’s just like college!”

October classes

ADRIAN — The fall semester of Lenawee Lifelong Learning is coming up in October.

Lenawee Lifelong Learning offers classes on a variety of topics for adults twice a year, with a spring session in April and a fall session in October. Most classes run for four weeks.

The registration deadline for the fall session is Sept. 29. There is a flat fee of $35 to take as many classes as you like.

Most classes take place at the Weber Retreat and Conference Center on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive.

Eight classes are being offered this fall:

Trees, Forests and People — Tuesdays at 9 a.m., taught by Michael McGrath.

Serving Lenawee — Tuesdays at 11 a.m. Each session will consist of a presentation on a different organization. The featured organizations will be the Boys & Girls Club, the Lenawee Community Foundation, the HOPE Community Center, and Goodwill Industries of Southeast Michigan. 

School Sports Officiating/4-H and FFA Explained/Anne Frank: Life Before and After the Annex — Tuesdays at 1 p.m. This session is three topics in one, and the instructors are Don Fry, Janelle Stewart, and Bob Behnke.

The Protestant Reformation — Wednesdays at 9 a.m., taught by Mark Schersten. 

Poetry — Wednesdays at 11 a.m., taught by Charmaine Stangl.

Supreme Court Decisions/Psychological Aspects of Perception — Wednesdays at 1 p.m. Two topics in one class, taught by Robert Gordon and Gordon Hammerle. 

A Brief Overview of Latinos in Lenawee County — Dates and times to be determined. This class will focus on education and civil rights, and will be taught by Idalí Feliciano and Ben Negron. It will take place at the Align Center for Workforce Development,
440 E. Church St., Adrian.

Tour of the Adrian Training School campus — Friday, October 17 at  9 a.m., at 1375 N. Main St., Adrian. 

For more information on upcoming classes and signing up, go to lenaweelifelonglearning.org or follow the organization on Facebook.