A presentation on the history of funeral parlors in our area and in particular about the history of Grandle Funeral Home in Broadway, VA.

C. W. Grandle is a former funeral director (retired) and co-owner of Grandle Funeral Home. C.W.’s father and his brother built the funeral home. C.W.’s son and nephew continue the family business.

What does leaving a legacy look like? Let’s explore what it means to leave a legacy, extending beyond wealth to discover the various ways to share your legacy through life stories and memories.

Teresa Townsend believes in the value of sharing one’s life story. Often, the most important reason lies within the storytellers themselves. Through her experiences and work, she understands the power of stories on the person and how they can connect generations. Teresa has been a personal historian and owner of Tapestry Life Stories for ten years. She is a certified legacy facilitator and Guided Autobiography Instructor, a member of the Life Story Specialists, and holds Reminiscence and Life Story Work certification through the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She is also a certified member and a Master Class graduate of the Photo Managers and a privacy advocate. In 2003, Teresa received the first Sharon Wunder Impact Award.

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered by most experts to be one of the world’s greatest architects and certainly one of the top ten alongside of Antoni Gaudi, Louis Sullivan, Ludwig Meis van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, and Eero Saariven, just to name a few. Born in 1867 at the height of the Beaux- Arts Movement (1830-1900) and designing and creating during the Arts and Crafts Movement (1875-1920) his driving ethos in design and theory as to embrace harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called “Organic Architecture.” That spaces we inhabit should have an inherent relationship with both its time and site; thus, harmony of form and function. We will briefly explore his revolutionary architectural ideas, his life and legacy, and his impact on how we use and view the spaces we live, play and work in.

A refresher pop-up of “How to Stop Lugging the Luggage” will be offered the last 15 minutes of the presentation.

Sandy Conrad is a frequent contributor to LLI’s programs. She has a BA in Decorative Design, and she studied at Chicago’s Art Institute and the University of Chicago. She is a retired ASID.

Older adults are consistently some of the most at-risk demographics when it comes to falling victim to scams, from fake vacations and time share investments to imposter fraud. BBB Serving Western VA has advice and resources for older Americans to recognize and combats scams.

Sloan Champney was born in Roanoke Virginia and has not strayed far from the Star City. Sloan went to Ferrum College and double-majored in Media Communications and Art, and then jumped right into the news industry as a lead producer for WFXR News. This year Sloan decided to take a next step forward as Public Relations and Commu- nications Specialist at the BBB serving Western Virginia, where she can continue her love of reporting important topics and making sure the public is aware of dangers in our community by spreading timely information, so they do not fall victim to scams.

Cigar box instruments have a history dating back to the Civil War. Chuck McCarty will bring some of his favorites and play them. All his guitars have a cigar box body.

Chuck McCarty was a heavy equipment instructor in the Air Force for 23 years. He is the owner of Busted Knuckles Guitars, appropriately named for the injuries he had during his time in the military. He donates 10% of his profits toward putting musi- cal instruments in the hands of disabled veterans.

Created in 1924, the Rockingham County Baseball League organized the sport into a community-based alliance that scheduled regular games, players, and locations. Celebrating one hundred years as a league, today the RCBL is the second-oldest continuous baseball league in the United States. Rocktown History commemorated the league’s century of successful competition, with an exhibi- tion that demonstrated that baseball in Rocking- ham County has served as a marker of community spirit by showcasing the connections between residents, businesses, and towns. A brief history of Black baseball in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County explores the integration of the RCBL in 1970.

Scott Hamilton Suter, Professor of English & American Studies at Bridgewater College, received his Ph.D. in American Civilization from The George Washington University in 1994, where his research focused on American folklife and Material Culture Studies. In addition to his twenty-three years at Bridgewater College he has also worked in the museum world and as a public sector folklorist. He is currently part-time curator at Rocktown History. In 1999, the University Press of Mississippi published his Shenandoah Valley Folklife, an introduction to the traditions of the region. The University of Tennessee Press published his most recent book, A Potter’s Progress: Emanuel Suter and the Business of Craft, in 2020.

We have been programming computers to assist human decision making for decades. But artificial intelligence (AI) is not simply computers helping humans make decisions. AI involves computers learning from the data that have been programmed in, so that computers can then reason, draw inferences, come to conclusions, and make decisions on their own in ways that have not been programmed in. AI implies that computers can “think” like humans and to analyze in ways that are novel and innovative. Of course, AI can have many benefits for humanity. But AI can also present many dangers and avenues for misuse. This talk will include an example of how AI works and will discuss some of the benefits of AI in science, medicine, transportation, music, and finance. We will also discuss some of the dangers of AI in the hands of the wrong people, and current attempts by good actors in the world to prevent the unlawful use of AI.

Anne Henriksen is Faculty Emerita at JMU, where she was a professor in the Integrated Science and Technology Department for 19 years. Dr. Henriksen came to JMU from the Los Alamos National Labo- ratory, where she was a staff scientist for ten years. She received a PhD in chemical physics from UVA and an MBA in management science from the University of New Mexico. She has spent the last fifteen years studying neuroscience, neuropharmacology, neuroendocrinology, genetics, and bio- informatics. In her spare time, Dr. Henriksen enjoys playing the piano and bass guitar; composing classical music for piano; studying music theory; and teaching at LLI, including courses in neuro- science, genetics, and music theory for the uke and guitar.