Holiday Greetings!
Last time we wound up sending greetings for 2013 in January 2014 and never did get around to bringing you up to date.
We will try to share with you what has been happening in our lives for the past couple of years.
Of course we have added years – Janet is now 79 and Charley 82 – but we are both hanging in there.
Charley has had successful back surgery and a bout with a blood thinner that had him in the hospital for a week. He is doing fine. Janet still is dealing with the degenerative scoliosis that began a few years ago….curves where no girl wants them…! Apparently, the L4, L5 and L6 laminectomy from the early 1990s failed. Her spine decided to curve itself to keep her head erect. She has gone on a diet, managing to lose 30 pounds and bringing her blood sugar under control.
The diet was suggested by our trainers at the Perfect Workout where we go twice a week for strength exercises. They are designed for us older folks and operate as a type of physical therapy. Janet is receiving therapy with the Feldenkrais method, learning how to change her habits in body movements.
Charley is keeping active with the Experimental Sounding Rocket Assn. group of student rocket engineers at Cal State Long Beach. We meet with them weekly. He guides them through the designing, building and testing processes before we head for Utah in June for the Intercollegiate Engineering Rocket Competition. It has truly become international with teams from Canada, Brazil, India, Egypt and Turkey. In 2015, our CSULB ESRA team launched the first ever sounding rocket with 6-fin technology to preclude roll lock-in. The launch was successful attaining the planned apogee of 23,000 feet, but the recovery parachute failed to deploy.
Charley has been working with former students, helping them to research and write papers for publication. Last year Hien Tran and Charley presented “Sounding Rocket Fin Design to Mitigate Roll Lock-in” at the 2015 IEEE Aerospace Conference. This year, Charley, Hien and Armando Fuentes had a paper accepted for the 2016 IEEE conference. Charley will have “Sounding Rocket Wind Response Correction” published in an upcoming issue of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. .
We have had sadness to deal with….Charley’s stepson, Bob Rosengard, passed away last month after a heart attack. Charley’s son, Howard, is suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He is working with the Veterans Administration and UCLA with the goal of having a lung transplant. He is taking rehabilitation therapy and getting himself in the best condition possible so that he can be considered a candidate for one.
We are both continuing to judge in the Cal State L.A. Research Symposium each year and meet with “The Lunch Bunch” from The Aerospace Corporation once a month for lunch. The grandkids and great- grandkids are doing well. It’s hard to believe that great grandson Jonathan is now in the first grade…!
Janet has published a third poetry book – “Body Language,” the second in the trilogy. The first was “Body Parts,” and the third will be “Body Works.” The proceeds from the BODY books go to the David Cameron Fisher Scholarship endowment which, through the Cal State L.A. Emeriti Assn., awards a scholarship (for undergraduate students) or a fellowship (for graduate students) in marine biology. “Where Did the Sun Go?” still is selling well. Proceeds go to the Griffith Observatory. All the books are available on Amazon.com.
Janet is teaching a poetry class — Word Painting — once a week at the Culver City Senior Center, and she will be setting up a website – www.wordpainting.net – when she comes up for air….hopefully this.
She was appointed Culver City’s first Artist Laureate for Poetry – a position she will hold until December 2017. During the next two years she will be developing the criteria and procedures for appointing Artists Laureate in all the creative arts in the future as well as planning poetry contests as part of the 2017 Centennial Celebration for Culver City. She also serves on the city’s Disability Advisory Committee.
Janet has continued to provide training sessions at Pacific States University to assist them in maintaining their accreditation. The latest training seminars in 2015 covered Sexual Harassment and Ethics in the University.
As a final note, in November, the Cal State L.A. Charter College of Education presented Janet with a Distinguished Service Award – a crystal eagle – the mascot of Cal State LA. He is proudly occupying a place of honor on the wet bar and reminding us to behave ourselves..!
We wish you a Happy Healthy Holiday Season and a year filled with good things …maybe even a bit of indulging in some wine and goodies…!
Best wishes,
Janet and Charley Hoult
The Hoults may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
