2023 Ageless Award Program

The The The

Ageless Ageless Ageless Award Award Award

This award was created in 2013 to honor individuals 75 years or older who demonstrate living with purpose and continue to make significant contributions in their communities.

L to R: Louise Muir, Walter Cole/Darcelle XV, Sho Dozono, Susan Sokol Blosser

Welcome

Event Program Event Program Event Program

Pre-show & lunch begin at 11:30am Program runs from 11:45am - 1:00pm

Land Acknowledgement

Stephanie Hooper, President, AGE+

Founder's Remarks

Honoree Presentations

PSU Choir Performance

AGE+ Mission Video & Invitation to Support

Age-Friendly Business Award

Closing

Keren Brown Wilson, Founder & CEO, AGE+

Kerry Tymchuk, Executive Director, Oregon Historical Society

Stephanie Hooper & Kerry Tymchuk

Margaret Neal

Kerry Tymchuk

AGE+ Native Land Acknowledgement

We recognize that AGE+ resides and provides programs and services on the ancestral homelands of the Tribes who have rights and interests in Oregon and our communities.

Given our commitment to the principles embodied in equity and inclusion, we acknowledge our resolve to actively recognize and to make visible by our programs and policies the special role and recognition of tribal and indigenous elders on whose ancestral lands we reside.

AGE+ Board

Chair: Keren Brown Wilson

Treasurer: Mark Stevenson

Secretary: Tina Castañares

Kristen Connor

Alexis Ingram

Marvin A. Kaiser

Marcus Mundy

Charles Resare

Julie Reynolds

Sarah Scott

Emeritus Board

Tony Leineweber

Gary Withers

AGE+ Board Member, Marcus Mundy, and Keren Brown Wilson

Message From Our Founder:

Today, we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Ageless Awards. Over the years, AGE+ has recognized many outstanding honorees— some still giving back to their communities and others we have lost. Individually and collectively, they demonstrate the power of purposeful aging. After a horrific pandemic where so many lives were cut short, especially older ones, we recognize the need for continued engagement now more than ever.

AGE+ welcomes those joining us here in person, at watch parties in The Dalles, Madras, Nyssa, and Medford, and those celebrating with us virtually across the state. Our honorees have impacted people of all ages, and we hope their powerful stories inspire you today.

- Keren Brown Wilson, AGE+ Founder & CEO

Past Ageless Award Honorees:

2022: Walter Cole/Darcelle XV, Sho Dozono, Louise Muir, Susan Sokol Blosser

2021: Gary Maffei, Judith Ramaley, General R. Fred Rees, Kathleen Saadat

2020: Oregon Sec. of State Bev Clarno, Terry Pancoast, LeRoy Patton

2019: Bernie & Bobbie Foster, Mrs. Antoinette Hatfield, Bob Moore

2018: Frank & Rosa Alby, Gert Boyle, Governor Ted Kulongoski, Pat Reser

2017: Sen. Margaret Carter, Rev. Dr. Rodney Page, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer

2016: Governor Barbara Roberts, Bill Schonely

2015: Worth & Barbara Caldwell, Gerry Frank, Kathryn Jones Harrison

2014: Ken & Joan Austin, Serge D’Rovencourt, Irvan & Pat Guss

2013: Ernie Bloch II, Jeannine Cowles, Tom Vaughan, Vital Volunteers

Remembering Past A l A d Honorees

November 5, 1940

August 30, 2022 -

Terry

August 7, 1942

October 25, 2022 -

June 1, 1929

January 21, 2023 -

November 16, 1930

March 23, 2023 -

AGE+ continues to honor these remarkable people who lived to serve their Oregon communities.

Their legacies and contributions will create an impact for years to come.

Pat Guss

Pancoast

Bill Schonely

Walter Cole/Darcelle XV

We are a leader in forging innovative solutions that improve the lives of older adults, their families, caregivers, and their communities.

We empower communities of all ages to organize and mobilize around proven models that can be used throughout Oregon.

We focus our work where the need is greatest. This includes rural areas, those with low income, and communities of color.

Our initiatives are rooted in a strengths-based approach focusing on what’s working well and existing resources that can be leveraged. We embrace the expertise of local community champions and work alongside those with lived experience to create immediate and long-term impact.

AGE+ Key Initiatives AGE+ Key Initiatives AGE+ Key Initiatives

Housing & Services - AGE+ has developed a new hybrid, prefabricated construction model that allows older adults to age in the communities they love. In partnership with Oregon Housing and Community Services and Meyer Memorial Trust, we will open two projects of affordable, accessible housing for older adults in Madras and Talent, Oregon. The projects are expected to open by early fall of 2023, and will serve older adults at 60% of the area median income. Essential to this model is forming partnerships with local groups to create community-based supportive care networks called Circles of Care.

Circles of Care - This successful mutual aid volunteer program in Hood River and The Dalles supports older adults with a “little help” to remain independent and engaged in their communities. Volunteers use their best attributes to assist others, and, in turn, older adults return the favor with their talents, creating a Circle. Activities vary, but may include: grocery delivery, a ride to the pharmacy, help with chores, or sharing a cup of tea.

Technical Assistance in Aging - AGE+ brings an aging lens to initiatives and partner organizations serving the lifespan through training, presentations, and program development. We publish expert content highlighting the intersectionality of aging issues among gender, race, geography, sectors, and more.

Ties That Bind - This program connects grandparents and kinship caregivers raising children with a peer support group and dedicated website of curated resources and educational materials.

Shared Future Oregon Shared Future Oregon Shared Future Oregon

A Multi-Sector Plan for Living and Aging

By 2030, the number of Oregonians 65+ will double, representing 25% of the population. Rural areas are already there. This permanent shift will affect every individual, family, workplace, community, and sector. Our future old will be living longer and be more diverse.

What is a Multi-Sector Plan for Living and Aging?

A cross-sector blueprint for coordinated action over ten years

It reflects input from stakeholders of all ages and abilities

It is institutionalized by the executive and legislative branches

It is developed to guide the restructuring of state and local policy, programs, and funding geared toward everyone aging well in their community

Why is this important?

Our state is not ready for this new reality. Our population shift means we will experience a greater demand for comprehensive services—but that’s not all. This shift also creates a profound opportunity to leverage the strengths of older adults, often overlooked for their contributions. By creating a framework for cross-sector support, we will improve our readiness and capacity to care for Oregonians at every stage of life.

Shared Future Oregon benefits communities by:

Facilitating collaboration among diverse groups, families, businesses, and many more public and private stakeholders

Promoting equity and inclusion to combat bias and discrimination

Raising awareness and responding to the impact of aging policy across the lifespan

Building partnerships among government agencies and departments

Don Bruland graduated fro State College in 1967 and a Theological Seminary in Ne After leaving the seminary South West Indian Founda program development. Do Master of Social Work from Following his MSW program State University training Se practical gerontology and became director of the Are Council of Governments (RVCOG). He evolved to director of Senior and Disability Services for RVCOG, with overall responsibility for serving seniors and persons with disabilities in Jackson and Josephine counties.

Don retired in 2012. His current activities are: AllCare and Jackson Care Connect Citizen Advisory Committees, Jefferson Regional Health Alliance, AARP Community Action Team, Continuum of Care Board, Rebuilding Together Rogue Valley board member, Hope Village Steering Committee, Ascension Lutheran Church Administration Committee, Southern Oregon Center for Community Partnerships board member, Deaf Issues Workgroup of RVCOG’s Disability Services Advisory Council.

Don has been married to Margaret for over 50 years. They have two children, Jeannie and Peter, who live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ed Edmo

Ed Edmo is a Shoshone-Bannock poet, playwright, performer, traditional storyteller, tour guide, and lecturer on Northwest tribal culture. He was born in Nevada; when he was a baby, his family moved to his father’s ancestral home of Celilo Village along the Columbia River. Ed is enrolled in the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and also has Yakama and Nez Perce ancestry.

His grandparents taught him many tribal customs and traditions. Ed offers guided tours to the She Who Watches petroglyphs on the Columbia Gorge, as well as to the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon’s high desert country. He conducts workshops, traditional storytelling performances, dramatic monologues, and lectures on issues such as cultural understanding and awareness, drug and alcohol abuse, and mental health. Ed is a published short story writer, poet, and playwright, and serves as a consultant to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian.

Ed currently lives with his extended family in Gresham.

Dan’s multi-decade career in and special needs housing has resulted in homes for people afflicted with chemical dependency, foster children, seniors, and families and individuals seeking to grab the first rungs on the

ladder to self-sufficiency. His work earned him the honor of directing a development team twice named one of the nation’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers and consulting with another developer that made this list multiple times. Dan was the Wisdom Officer for Community Development Partners from 2016-2022.

A member of a large Hispanic family, Maria was the first of ten siblings to earn a college degree. Her career is marked by significant accomplishments in community service and public affairs, among the more notable; Co-founder of Hacienda Community Development Corporation, two terms as Multnomah County Commissioner, creator and co-chair of the Vital Aging Task Force (a precursor to Portland’s designation as the first Age-Friendly City in the U.S.), a fierce advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, and member of numerous nonprofit boards. In her third post-retirement career, she serves as Executive Director of EngAGE Northwest.

Currently, Dan and Maria bring decades of experience in social equity and racial justice to an affordable housing model called Community for All Ages. This intentionally intergenerational housing development model embraces interdependence and engages all residents regardless of age, financial status, cultural heritage, racial and gender identity, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. Projects are currently in construction in La Grande, St. Helens, and Salem, providing highly affordable housing and programming to over 630 households.

y Maria Rojo de Steffey

As the son of “New Dealers,” Robert grew up believing in public service. Born in Washington, D.C., he and his family moved to the NW in 1948. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, then Harvard Law School, he was drawn to political, social justice, consumer protection, and economic development endeavors. These often intersected with his successful legal career as a founder of the Law Firm, Stoll Berne.

Robert has a long history of dedicated community service, including serving at-risk children, social justice, and civil rights issues. His board service includes the Portland Urban League, Oregon ACLU, National Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Budget Committee of Riverdale School Board, Oregon Center For Public Policy, Portland Art Museum, Portland Center for Visual Arts, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and St. Mary’s Home For Boys. He founded the nonprofit fund, Albina Opportunities Corp, which provides capital for minority and women entrepreneurs in Portland (now MESO). Robert also served on the original Advisory Board to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in the Dodd-Frank Act, in response to the national financial crisis.

Post “retirement,” Robert founded the Center for Homeless Research (now Here Together) and led the successful Metro Supportive Housing Bond Measure Campaign an effort to provide a consistent revenue stream to end chronic homelessness.

Robert is married to Barre McFarlane Stoll. They have four children.

Age-Friendly Age-Friendly Age-Friendly Business Award Business Award Business Award

Congratulations to Our 2023 Recipient

Thank you for recognizing how important older adults are to our communities and in the workplace.

This award is provided in partnership with the Age-Friendly Portland and Multnomah County Employment and the Economy Committee to honor businesses and organizations committed to creating equitable, intergenerational work environments and providing appropriate, accessible services for people of all ages.

Third Age Leaders Third Age Third Age Leaders

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