2024 Ageless Award Program

Ageless Ageless Ageless Awards Awards Awards 2024 2024 2024

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

The The The Ageless Ageless Ageless Award Award Award

AGE+ created this award in 2013 to honor individuals 75 years or older who demonstrate living with purpose and continue to make significant contributions to their communities. 2023 Honorees L to R: Dan Steffey, Maria Rojo de Steffey, Robert Stoll, Ed Edmo

Event Program

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

Land Acknowledgement Welcome

CEO Remarks

Age-Friendly Business Awards

Honoree Presentations

Portland Gay Men’s Chorus

AGE+ Visionary Award

AGE+ Impact

Invitation to Support

Kerry Tymchuk, Executive Director, Oregon Historical Society

Stephanie Hooper, President & CEO, AGE+

Margaret Neal, Director Emerita, PSU, Institute on Aging

Kerry Tymchuk

Tony Leineweber, Emeritus Board, AGE+ Marcus Mundy, Board of Directors, AGE+

Stephanie Hooper & 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

Marvin A. Kaiser

Marcus Mundy

Charles Resare

Julie Reynolds

Emeritus Board

Tony Leineweber

Gary Withers

Tony Leineweber & 2021 Honoree, Judith Ramaley

Message From Our New CEO

Today, we celebrate the contributions of our honorees and AGE+'s founder and learn from their experiences. I will reflect on what their example means for my contribution to AGE+ and its impact on our state of well-being.

Ihavehadtheprivilegeoflearningandworkingalongsideour founder,KerenBrownWilson,formorethansevenyears.Her decades-longimpactonoptionsandopportunitiesforolderadults inspiresme,andherpathinformsandenergizesmine.

Iseeafuturewithoutageism,whereOregon'scultureismorejust andage-positive.AGE+willforgethispathtowardequitythrough innovationandbyrefusingtoacceptthestatusquo.Inthiswork, IconfidentlystandbesideallgenerationsofOregonianstobuild strongcommunitiesthatworkwellforeveryone.

- Stephanie Hooper, AGE+ President & CEO

Past Ageless Award Honorees

2023:Don Bruland, Ed Edmo, Dan Steffey, Maria Rojo de Steffey, Robert Stoll

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

Pictured Above L to R: Stephanie Hooper & Her Grandmother, Ella

InMemoriam InMemoriam InMemoriam

remarkable people their Oregon communities. Their legacies and contributions will create an impact for years to come.

Kathryn Jones Harrison 1924 - 2023

Bob Moore

1929 - 2024

Remembering Past Ageless Award Honorees

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.

Housing & Services - AGE+ has developed a new model of hybrid modular construction that allows older adults to age in the communities they love. This approach helps keep rents affordable without the need for individual subsidies. Essential to this model is forming partnerships with local groups to create community-based care networks.

Care Network Capacity - Many older adults want to age in community but lack the support needed to do so especially in rural areas. AGE+ supports communities in building and enhancing volunteer care networks to provide a “little help” like grocery shopping, social calls, and light chores. Essential to our model is providing opportunities for older adults to contribute their talents as well.

Intergenerational Programming - AGE+ works to bring community youth and older adults together in purposeful, mutually beneficial activities and initiatives by promoting a greater understanding and respect between generations. We do this through partnerships with local organizations.

Digital Literacy - Full inclusion in society today requires the ability to use digital devices and engage safely online. With guidance and navigation support, many older adults can gain the confidence to use technology and participate actively in the economy, access healthcare services, and communicate with friends and family. AGE+ is a proud member of the Oregon Broadband Equity Coalition, partnering with statewide entities supporting digital literacy for older adults.

SharedFutureOregon SharedFutureOregon SharedFutureOregon

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. We are living longer and healthier, making this longevity arc something that will affect every individual, family, workplace, community, and sector. Our future old will both live longer and be more diverse.

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

A cross-sector framework for coordinated action over ten years

It reflects input from stakeholders across all sectors

It is institutionalized by the executive and legislative branches

It is developed to create a roadmap for systems change across programs, both new and existing, geared towards everyone aging well within their community

Why is this important?

Our state needs to prepare for this new reality. Oregon’s 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, both state and federal

Over 80% of adults 50-80 experience ageism in their daily lives. Despite living longer and healthier, attitudes and assumptions about older people haven’t evolved. AGE+ aims to create an age-positive culture across Oregon in workplaces, healthcare settings, the economy, communities, and more. We offer consultation services and educational programming to address systemic and individual ageism.

AGE+ is launching a Leadership Exchange on Ageism—the first of its kind in Oregon designed for decision-makers, executives, policy experts, and funders. Sessions will challenge participants to examine their own implicit bias and institutional bias, see their role in ending ageism, and connect them to tools for success.

OurLeadershipExchangeonAgeismisall aboutempoweringleaderstointerruptageism.

Nominateyourselforsomeoneyouknowto participateinoneofthefirstcohortsthisfall!

Age-Friendly Age-Friendly Age-Friendly BusinessAwards BusinessAwards BusinessAwards

Congratulations to our 2024 Honorees

CAPERS CAFE AND CATERING

GAL PAL PRODUCTIONS CURVES OF CORVALLIS

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.

Do you know or represent an organization committed to creating equitable and intergenerational environments? Apply for a 2025 Age-Friendly Business Award!

Ruth “Peggy” (Fuehr) Konzack of will celebrate her 103rd birthday 2024. Born in Los Angeles, Califo Peggy and her husband Clayton Montana; she in Butte and he in They first met as high school teenagers attending a Seventh-Day Adventist youth camp in 1937. She and Clayton, who passed away in 2021 at the age of one hundred, were married on September 14, 1942, and were together for nearly seventy-nine years.

Peggy completed courses at a beauty college in Butte and was a homemaker raising their two daughters, Carol and Sharon. She sewed for the family, worked a garden with Clayton, and annually canned hundreds of jars of fruits and vegetables. Through the years, the family and their friends were active with outdoor activities such as boating and water skiing, camping, snowmobiling, and traveling. The family moved to Bend, Oregon, in 1944 and then to Prineville, where Peggy taught grades one to three in a one-room schoolhouse, and her husband served as principal and taught grades six through nine. They moved to Roseburg in 1945. She has been a lifelong active member of the Better Life Seventh Day Adventist Church in Roseburg, where she and her husband served in nearly every office.

Enjoying water sports since she swam with her high school swim club, Peggy began teaching swimming lessons in 1968 at the YMCA of Douglas County. When she asked to get formal training, she was told she was too old at forty-eight. But she didn’t let that stop her. Peggy took a lifeguard training course in Sutherlin on her own and received her certification to teach swimming at all levels and abilities.

For the past twenty-five years, her primary focus has been on young children. These days, she focuses on teaching parent-child water exploration classes with children as young as six months old. In more cases than she can count, she has taught the children of parents whom she also instructed when they were children.

Roger Tofte, born in 1930 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, moved to Oregon when he was five years old. He graduated from Silverton High School and then went on to serve in the Navy during the Korean War. After the war, he married Mavis Bjorke in 1954, and a few years later, Roger took a job with the Oregon State Highway Department as a draftsman and artist. In the 1960s, now with four children, Roger formulated the idea for a theme park where he could use his creative talents. With little time and money, he persevered in making his dream a reality. He purchased the original twenty acres of land off I-5 in 1964 and began construction one bag of cement at a time. He repaired watches in his spare time to finance his project and worked on building the park after work and on weekends. The Tofte's backyard became filled with storybook figures and small buildings.

Many didn't believe in Roger's dream, including several banks, but one bank finally took a chance. On August 8, 1971, Roger and Mavis welcomed the first visitors to the park. Seventy-five came on the first day, and one-thousand people the following Sunday.

Over the years, Roger and his family have added to the dream. From new themed sections to animatronics to rides and live shows, the family's creativity is seemingly limitless as is Oregon’s love for the Enchanted Forest. So much so that when the park was in financial distress due to the pandemic and extensive damage after ice storms, over eight thousand donors helped keep the doors open.

The Enchanted Forest has plans for the future. Roger says, "There is no shortage of ideas, just time and money. We believe in attention to artistic detail. We want to offer our visitors something unique with a lot of variety. We strive to be the hidden gem that people discover as their own special place."

With four generations of the Tofte family working at the Enchanted Forest today, the creativity will continue for many years.

Roger Tofte

Kay Toran

Raised in Portland's predominantly African American community, Kay was one of four children of Ben and Mary Rose Dean, successful entrepreneurs who moved to the Northwest during the Great Migration. Her parents founded a small business, Dean's Beauty Salon and Barber Shop, which is still owned and operated by a family member and is the oldest African-American-owned business in Oregon.

Kay graduated from the University of Portland (UP), then continued her education at Portland State University (PSU), earning an MSW from the School of Social Work. After working as an assistant professor for PSU, Kay began her career in public service, holding several positions for the state of Oregon, including six years as director of Oregon's Child Welfare Agency and seven years as director of Oregon's Affirmative Action Office under Governor Vic Atiyeh.

Kay is currently the president and CEO of Volunteers of America Oregon, where she has been at the helm for over twenty years. This Oregon VOA affiliate provides impactful, outcomes-based programs designed to help improve the lives of children, families, and seniors. Kay has received numerous awards, such as an honorary doctorate from UP, Urban Pioneer Award from PSU, CEO of the Year for NonProfits from the Portland Business Journal, Ecumenist of the Year Award from Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Award for Excellence from the State Management Association of the State of Oregon, Vic Atiyeh Award for Excellence in Education from Concordia University, and the Sandra McDonough Leadership Award from the Portland Business Alliance. Mayor Sam Adams named a "Kay Toran Appreciation Day" to acknowledge her contributions. Kay has served on several non-profit boards of directors, including the Board of Regents of UP.

Kay is the proud mother of two adult children and delights in being a grandmother of four.

Julie is well-known throughout the state of Oregon and nationwide for more than fifty years of civic involvement, especially her advocacy and passion for the arts.

Julie is a past president and active board member emeritus at Portland Center Stage, The Multnomah Athletic Foundation, and the Portland Parks Foundation. She recently served as vice chair of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), based in Washington, D.C., and currently heads their nominating committee. Before NASAA, Julie was appointed by two governors to terms on the Oregon Arts Commission, where she served as chair for three years.

Julie is currently serving as the co-development chair for the Willamette Falls Trust. Additionally, she continues her thirty-plusyear position as a trustee for the Jackson Foundation and is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum. She is a past recipient of the Marylhurst University Women of Distinction Award, the March of Dimes' White Rose Award - Oregon Women of Achievement, Oregon College of Art and Craft’s Jo Groves Award for Service to the College, Model of Success Award by Dress for Success, and Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser for the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Over the years, Julie has served on numerous boards, including the following for which she served as chair: Women's Care Foundation, Portland Civic Theatre, Grantmakers of Oregon and SW Washington, and the Portland 5 Foundation (previously Friends of the Performing Arts Center).

Julie taught high school English after graduating from Portland State University. She is an avid synchronized swimmer and competes for the Multnomah Athletic Club's champion synchro-masters team. She married her high school sweetheart, Ted, and has two adult children and six grandchildren.

Honoring the contributions of Dr. Keren Brown Wilson

Keren’s pioneering career, legacy, an work as a visionary have shaped opt and opportunities for older adults a Oregon and globally for over four de Some of her achievements include h role in the development of assisted over two decades adapting asset-ba community development strategies benefit indigent elders in Central Am and, more recently, advancing the u modular construction to respond to demand for affordable housing for o adults in rural Oregon.

She is a tireless advocate for older adults and has always sought innovative ways to respond or “do something” to improve their lives. Currently, Keren serves as board chair of the Jessie F. Richardson Foundation, named for her mother, and AGE+, both of which she founded. These organizations focus on underserved older adults in resource-constrained communities.

She has published professionally and received numerous awards for her work in the field of aging, including the Maxwell Pollack Award of the Gerontological Society of America in 2005, Purpose Prize Fellow in 2012, Simon Benson Award for Philanthropy in 2016 and election as a gerontological fellow of the Gerontological Society in 2016. She is past board chair of the PSU Foundation and sits on the boards of numerous other non-profit groups.

Pictured Above L to R: Nicaraguan Elder, Rosa, & Keren Brown Wilson

Founder'sCircle Founder'sCircle Founder'sCircle

KEREN BROWN WILSON & MICHAEL DESHANE

ProudSupporter ProudSupporter ProudSupporter

Blazer Industries, Inc.

Coalition of Communities of Color

Heritage Bank

Marvin & Betsy Kaiser

Kaiser Permanente

Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA)

Margaret Neal & David Leckey

Perkins & Co.

The Skanner Foundation

University of Portland

Christine & Dave Vernier

VirtualSupporter VirtualSupporter

Legacy Health

Morgan Stanley

NW Natural

Partners in Care & Central Oregon Council on Aging

RBC Wealth Management

In-KindSupporter In-KindSupporter

NominateTodayFor NominateTodayFor NominateTodayFor NextYear! NextYear! NextYear!

Do you know an inspiring older Oregonian dedicated to serving their community?

Nominate them for a 2025 Ageless Award! Past Honorees Pictured Above L to R: Bobbie Doré Foster & Senator Margaret Carter