Board and Committees

Born in NYC, moved to Oregon in 2003 to work as a registered nurse case manager for Regence BCBS. Now retired here in Portland to stay. Has a grown son living and working in Oregon. Continues to enjoy learning, walking/exercising, watercolor painting, volunteering, travel and other activities.

The President-elect automatically becomes President when the President has served a full term. The President-elect acts as President when the President is absent and keeps the Constitution and Bylaws current and available.

Lois, originally from the Seattle area, moved to Portland in 2015. She's a CPA with over 25 years of audit experience. Lois loves taking classes at PSU, cooking, and doing volunteer work.

Shortly after Mark Landa returned from teaching overseas in 2011 and settled into retirement in Portland, he enrolled in PSU’s Senior Adult Learning Center (SALC) and attended some LL-PSU presentations. He soon realized he had chosen an age-friendly city and campus. PSU also offered him the opportunity to continue teaching as an adjunct in the Applied Linguistics Department and in International Programs. He now serves as the coordinator of SALC. For most of his career, Mark has been involved in administration, teaching, and teacher education in the field of English as a second language at the University of Minnesota, Eastern Washington University, and in Japan, the Netherlands, and China. Mark and his wife Mary have two sons, two daughters, and five grandchildren.

Laraine was born in NYC and grew up there, but then began to scratch her itch to see new places when she went off to college - first in the Southeast, then in the Midwest and then in the glorious Pacific Northwest where she finally found her home. She has spent decades taking courses and getting degrees of all sorts. She did take some time out to travel internationally, get married, have and raise two daughters and work at a few jobs. Now her six grandchildren keep her delighted and amazed. Reading and learning are two of her guilty pleasures so being involved with Lifelong Learners is a dream gig.

Larry Cross volunteered to become RAPSU’s (now Lifelong Learners-PSU) program chair for the 2014-2015 RAPSU Program Year. He enjoys organizing things, e.g., earning a Master’s Degree in Librarianship from the University of Oregon in 1971. For 30 years (1971-2001), he loved living in the San Francisco Bay Area (Berkeley specifically), with its exceptional Mediterranean climate (not too hot, not too cool, just right). Larry moved to Portland in 2001. He greatly appreciates the quieter ambiance of Portland and Portland’s excellent food. In 2019, he was selected to become a member of the Portland Art Museum’s newly-created Accessibility Advisory Committee.

A native of Huntington, Long Island, New York, Martha moved to Oregon by way of Chicago in 1978 due to her husband’s transfers with IBM. She is here to stay. Martha has two grown children, both in the Portland area, and a four year old granddaughter who keeps the family hopping. After many years as Office Manager at St. Cecilia School in Beaverton, Martha is retired. She is enjoying this chapter, continuing her love of the Oregon Symphony and Chamber Music NW concerts, various speaker-based series, and volunteering.

Originally a Washington state native, Linda has lived in Portland for the past 16 years. In addition to working most recently in public school communications, Linda has had careers in a variety of areas - medical assistant in a trauma hospital, secretary in various businesses, co-owner and business manager of a pizza restaurant, studio manager of an art gallery and desk clerk manager at a destination resort. Linda’s family consists of two grown daughters, two son-in-laws and two grandchildren, age 11 and 16, and husband, Art (newsletter assistant!). Learning, art, music, and nature appreciation are highlights in her life.