UWFA Blog

Wow, Fall is definitely here and is it blustery outside! The wind whistles around my head and I wish I had a hat on, don’t you feel the same way? Of course, not about me having a hat, but about yourself.
Well now, here is a way you can do something about that and help UW students as well!

Make an appointment to come and see the wonderful hats your fellow members have knitted and get yourself covered. Not only have we got the best variety of hats, but they are all hand-made, unique and, need I say more, fabulous!
Here you will find not only that special hat for yourself, your spouse and possibly the grandkids, but also a great gift for that hard to buy for aunt or uncle, cousin or friend who just simply already has everything. I bet they don’t have one of our fabulous creations! And they are so reasonable too! Most hats are between $20 and $30 depending on labor and material. And remember, these lightweight, unbreakable gifts are easy to mail to distant friends and family. But most of all remember that they are made with love. Love for our UW community and the students who need financial help through scholarships now more than ever with all the COVID-19 restrictions.

This year we have no grand sales venues as COVID restricts us all, but we thought we would make the fruits of our summer labor available to you, our dear UWFA members and to your friends.

How? Easy as pie:
We will have three shopping opportunities for you to come to see the hats, try them on and buy. Cash or checks only, please. The hats are for sale by appointment and thus will assure the safety of one customer at a time. The hats will be displayed on our porches or in the garage to offer a safe environment for you with plenty of air circulation and of course a chance to get out of the rain. What, rain in Seattle?

When: By appointment only
Friday, November 20th, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm- Wednesday, December 2nd, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm Saturday, December 12th, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Where: Addresses are all in the Directory
Nov 20th call; at Kay  house

Dec 2nd  call; at Dagmar house
Dec 12th call; at Barbara house

We know that once you come and see the hats that you will fall in love with them and the creativity on display. So, come prepared to spread the love to our UW students and bring lots of money!
No, seriously, we would love to warm your heart and your head with our
wonderful hats.

Please make the appointments soon, we would love to welcome you at each location

Yours,
Kay, Barbara, and Dagmar and all the generous knitters, whose hats will be on display

It was a good day to be at the beach, this morning! No rain, few people and just enough trash to keep us 8 Team members busy for an hour and a half!

We received words of gratitude from several beach-goers and two crew from Seattle Parks grounds maintenance, including an enthusiastic Sean Hermes, director of the grounds crew.  He is hooking us up with the Parks Volunteer Coordinator so we can match our volunteer efforts to the actual parks crews’ needs for help.  They gave us a gajillion hefty garbage bags, so you won’t have to BYOB  (Bring Your Own Bags) for the next decade… or at least for the next several outings, anyway.

Many interesting things were found, today:  a bouquet of yellow roses, barely de-petaled from the tides; a cremation-urn tag from the cremated remains of a beloved pet; a boogie board minus its boogie; a pair of adult undies… (uh, and we’ll just let that go without further comment); a couple of nice cloth shopping bags (we threw them away, just in case...);  a broken beer bottle tangled up with a fishing line gone bad (an enormous fish must have gotten away, angering the fisherman!); some water toys; and what appeared to be a homeless encampment among the sand dune bushes.

About the encampment:  I was informed that, during this time of pandemic chaos, the parks are currently not actively removing encampments. This will change when the crisis ends. Thank you for understanding this and accepting that it is what it is. We simply moved on and silently wished the (absent) campers well.

Thank you, one and all, for a successful beach clean-up! It is a bit like an organized “treasure hunt”: you never know what you’ll find, which probably intrigues the brain, fooling you into thinking that picking up trash is a blast! I am delighted that YOU think so, too.

We will be picking a day during Thanksgiving week to go out to clean up a beach, based on the weather forecast and tides. If you feel like getting outside for a genuine treasure hunt, and giving thanks for your ability to do so–to be mobile, to be able to help the environment and people’s enjoyment of it – then please join us for our next Day At The Beach!

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Best wishes,

Claudia & Ron Green

Greeting, UWFA Members,

What a year this has been! I hope that you are doing well.
You may all have heard that the UW Club is closed for good, and we can no longer hold the Lunch Lectures and Scholarship Awards Dinners at the UW Club.  (The UWFA’s silver is stored safely for future events.)
Of course, the UWFA is an organization independent of the UW Club, and its events will continue in the future at another location. We are searching for venues that can accommodate the needs of the UWFA events.

The UW Faculty Auxiliary Board of Directors has made two important decisions related to the COVID-19 regulations that affect the UWFA organization’s activities.
1. All Lectures for 2020/2021 will be offered by Zoom by members of the UWFA.
Those lectures will be recorded for your convenience, and can be either watched

by Zoom or later online.

2. We will plan and adjust the Fall Reception according to the rules and regulations that are in place during the COVID-19 situation.

We will exercise extreme caution in reintroducing any UWFA events to keep all members safe.  You will get more       information about this later.

We are encouraging you to meet with your UWFA interest groups virtually and hope you can stay in touch with the members during this unprecedented time.

We kindly ask you to please pay your UWFA dues ( preferably by check), and please make donations for the Scholarship funds on the UWFA website. Your generous contributions will be appreciated and needed more than ever.

I am looking forward to meeting you in person or by Zoom and wish you and your families a safe and restful summer.  And, please look out for more information about the status of any UWFA events in 2020.

Best wishes and kind regards,

Christine Newcomb UWFA president.

We learned yesterday that our Past President Mahin (Mimi) Wagar passed away gently last Friday, March 13, 2020.  We are saddened at this news and remember her as the gentlest of ladies in our midst who could make anyone feel good.

Getting to know Mimi was a blessing that few could resist. We all admired the wonderful leader of this great circle of friendship, the UWFA, as she always put it.  Mimi’s way of drawing you in and making you feel like you were the most important person in the room surely had something to do with it.  Her wonderful flowery speech was like a warm blanket wrapped around you. She always made you feel so special.

In Mimi all the beauty and gentleness of the exquisite, ornate, and flowing designs of the Farsi script and calligraphy of Ancient Persia were manifest and she was a Persian gift to us, one that disarmed us with kindness and whose gentle embrace we will miss so much.  We treasure Mimi’s memory.  She led the UWFA as President in 1991, and served our group in so many ways with devotion, grace, and charm.

We will let you know when we learn about a memorial service for her.  Her long-time friend, Carol Hol, will write a more detailed article about Mimi for the next newsletter.  In the meantime, we send our heartfelt condolences to Mimi’s husband, Alan Wagar, and to her entire family.  They and we have all lost a very wonderful woman, one who will be sorely missed.

Sincerely,

Dagmar Shannon and Nancy Kenagy

UWFA Co-Presidents