| PURA Campus and Community Committee Tour of SIA |
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A tour of the Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant (SIA) in Lafayette was attended by 19 PURA members on April 26. During the 2-hour tour, attendees traveled over 1.25 miles and navigated 250 steps on a catwalk for a very complete and quite fascinating tour of the assembly plant. All aspects of assembling an automobile were seen including the original stamping of metal parts by giant stamp machines, welding by 1,671 robots, paint shop, and final assembly of the over 2,000 parts in each car by many of the 6,000 factory associates.
Statistics are mind-boggling with the building footprint of 4,659,132 sq. ft., 16.85 miles of conveyors, and over 1,500 vehicles produced per day. Additionally, every car that is produced is already sold so is customized accordingly. Thus, a typical line of cars under assembly will have randomly placed cars of different models, colors, and trim details.
There are tours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but only upon advanced reservation. They are often booked weeks in advance, but do think about taking visitors there as it is really an interesting tour. Minimum age is 10 so not appropriate for those very young grandkids, but the older ones will find it fascinating.
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Some of the PURA members in the SIA lobby prior to the tour.
Kayla Cunningham, our tour guide, handing out personal listening devices.
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Purdue Extension Retirees Host January/February 2024 Cruise
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Purdue Extension Retirees are hosting an 11-day cruise on the Norwegian Jade, January 27 to February 7, 2024. Departure and return from Tampa, Florida. Ports include Key West; Puerta Plata, Dominican Republic; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Orangestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and George Town, Grand Cayman.
Who is invited on this cruise? Purdue Retirees, families, and friends.
Check this website for cruise details and total costs. Registration must be done via the website: https://www.travelwithsuzanne.com/purdueextensionsoutherncaribbean2024
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We have chosen Suzanne Upton, Travel with Suzanne, as our travel agent. Contact Suzanne at suzanne@travelwithsuzanne.com or 248.224.6244. Suzanne has created a Facebook group, “Purdue Extension Retirees” and everyone is invited to join. Suzanne will use this page to communicate with those cruising.
Special Notes:
- A $250 per person deposit is due within 7 days of booking. All bookings must be completed by August 1, 2023.
- Final payments are due September 1, 2023.
- You will need a valid passport for this cruise which does not expire prior to August 8, 2024.
If you need/want a paper copy of the cruise itinerary, please contact any of the committee members. Call, text or email with questions.
Your cruise committee,
Cindy Barnett, cbarnett@purdue.edu, 260.610.1456
Roger Sherer, rsherer@puprdue.edu, 260.273.8188
Barb Thuma, bthuma@purdue.edu, 260.348.7057
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Growing Up In The ‘50’s
By Sara Jane Coffman
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This is the story about the class I took recently on how to have difficult conversations. My friend Linda wanted to take it; I didn’t. I didn’t need it – I already had a system that worked. Whenever I’m in a difficult conversation, I just hang up.
But Linda convinced me it would be good for us to try something new, so we signed up.
There were 12 of us in the class and each time we met we had lively discussions based on the book we were reading. I found myself rather enjoying the class and things were going along fine until we got to the topic of feelings. Bam -- it hit me between the eyes. Apparently, if you’re having a difficult conversation with someone, it’s because one -- or both of you -- have feelings that haven’t been expressed
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Say what? Express my feelings? Who does that? I grew up in the ‘50’s. In those days, we weren’t encouraged to voice our feelings. The rule at our house was: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” How was I supposed to learn anything if I wasn’t allowed to talk?
I certainly wasn’t going to learn anything from my mother. Her answer to everything was: “Go outside and play.”
“It’s raining.”
“Take your umbrella.”
Or, if it was snowing. . .
“It’s snowing!”
“Wear a coat.” (She didn’t specify whose coat. She didn’t care whose coat. Just get out.)
If I actually spent that much time in the rain and snow, that might account for how I turned out.
There was only one time in my childhood when I had the courage to express a personal thought or feeling. It was the hottest summer on record and I was upstairs in my bedroom trying to sleep. There was a fan at the top of the stairs, but it just blew the hot air around and made things worse.
I tried my best to fall asleep. I tried lying on top of my sheets, fanning myself with my sheets, and levitating above the sheets. Finally, drenched in sweat, I got up and went downstairs.
“It’s too hot to sleep up there,” I said, stating a fact, not an opinion.
My parents spoke at the same time. One said: “No it’s not” and the other said: “Go back to bed.”
To this day, I’ve been confused about the temperature. I can be sweating like crazy, but I’ll still turn to the person next to me and ask: “Is it hot in here?”
Then there was my mother’s advice about crises. When I was having a bad day, no matter WHAT had happened my mother would say: “You’re going to look back on this and laugh.” What I wanted her to do was stop doing her ironing and give me confirmation that I existed. I’ll admit, it was great advice and it’s gotten me through life, but surely there had to have been SOMETHING we could have talked about.
In any case, I’m sure being taught to stifle my emotions did not, in any way, damage me.
Although it might explain why I’m only five feet tall.
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| In Memoriam: Betty Suddarth, 1928-2023 |
With sadness, PURA shares that long-time member and former PURA president, Dr. Betty Suddarth, 94, passed away on May 13, 2023.
In 1947, Betty began her education at Purdue as a chemistry major and worked as a statistician for Purdue following graduation. She married and had three children, and in 1969, completed a Ph.D. in education at Purdue. She led efforts to predict enrollments across all state universities in Indiana—including all Purdue campuses—that were used to predict student body sizes and composition into the 1990’s. These studies were instrumental in planning expansions, reallocations, recruitment, and student services.
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In 1980 she was appointed Registrar of Purdue, serving until 1994, when she stepped down. She was enticed to stay on for two more years, officially retiring in 1996. During her work life Betty also served as the President of IACRO, the association of collegiate registrars.
After retiring, she actively contributed to many community organizations, including Rotary, and PEO, and serving as PURA President in 2007-08. She was a role model and mentor to many, and will be greatly missed.
(Sources: Lafayette Journal & Courier, Purdue Archives.)
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
PURA Retirees Kickoff Luncheon
Monday, September 11, 2023 Noon, ET
Courtyard Lafayette Marriott
150 Fairington Avenue, Lafayette IN
Registration, menu, and more information will be included in the
August 2023 PURA Newsletter Speaker: Anthony P. Cawdron, MIH, Westwood Event Coordinator
Westwood Manor, West Lafayette, Indiana
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Looking forward to sharing this day with you!
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Zoom Connection Information for PURA Meetings
The Zoom connection information for PURA monthly meetings is shown below. The link, Meeting ID, and password will be the SAME for all future normal monthly meetings.
Members who wish to join via phone call audio only will need the separate Passcode shown below. (The password/passcode for that method is different from the normal “computer connection” to Zoom.)
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Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97285398989?pwd=MlB4U0FudEplMFRoWm1GTkZzNmYrZz09 Meeting ID: 972 8539 8989
Passcode: BoilerUp
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,97285398989#,,,,,,0#,,41051096# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,97285398989#,,,,,,0#,,41051096# US (New York)
Dial by your location
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 972 8539 8989
Passcode: 41051096
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/acvQQKVcnE
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