TRAVEL
LEADING THE WAY Meet Asbury's Trip Leader and Designated ‘Mother’ Vivian Otto Vivian Otto met a new friend while on a trip to Sedona, Ariz.
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BY JIM MAHAFFIE
he Travel Committee is one of more than 100 resident-led groups at Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, and with it, Vivian Otto has been leading trips for more than t 15 years. Otto, 88, has been at Asbury for 22 years. “After we put oour girls through college, my husband and I started to travel in Europe, and that’s when I really caught the bug,” she said. After h he passed away, and Otto reChev Chase United Methodist tired from Chevy s was director of Christian Church where she 1 years, she went to places education for 18 like India, China and Korea.Then she began leading travel experiences e for others; as of December she had led more than 100 December, trips fro from Asbury. Eu European adventures have includ a trip to Ireland and a river cluded cru cruise on the Danube. She’s ta taken groups to Canada, California, Hawaii, many national parks, and on 10 cruises of various destinations, including the coast of Maine and other points in New England. This April, she and 18 fellow Asbury residents plan to take a cruise from
Charleston, S.C., to Jacksonville, Fla. “Every day, we [will] stop at a place to explore, like Beaufort, S.C.; Hilton Head Island, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.; St. Simons Island, Ga.; Jekyll Island, Ga.; and Amelia Island, Fla.,” said Otto, who will once again be leading the trip. The Asbury Travel Committee organizes a lot of day and overnight trips, too, taking residents to Mid-Atlantic destinations such as Annapolis; Gettysburg, Pa.; andWilliamsburg,Va. Asbury travel leaders work through professionals, such as American Cruise Lines, a small-ship cruise line headquartered in Connecticut. Travel professionals there handle reservations and planning, and when appropriate, expert guides lead the trips. “I do the organizing here at Asbury,” said Otto. “And I don’t tell them about the cathedral or statue. I’m the one that tells them where to be for the bus pickup, or what time the tour begins … I’m the mother,” she said with a laugh. When she’s not keeping the group organized on various trips, or on outings to dinner theaters, Arena Stage or The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Otto works as a substitute driver for Meals on Wheels. She also volunteers atWashington Grove Elementary School in Gaithersburg two days a week, working with first- and second-grade classes on reading and spelling. Besides these activities, she helps neighbors and friends downsize and declutter.
PHOTO BY JOHN VILLFORTH
PHOTO BY BARBARA WOODWARD
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Gazette SENIORS | January 2014
Otto, right, has led more than 100 trips from Asbury Methodist Village since she moved there 22 years ago. Gazette.Net