Director’s Corner - June 2024
Life is a Circle
By Jacci Gruninger, Executive Director Los Alamos Retired and Senior Organization
Although I grew up in California, I moved east to Washington DC to attend George Washington University for both my bachelor’s in Political Communication and my master's in Health Science.
I was in the first class to graduate from GW with a degree in Political Communication in 1989.
After graduation, I was offered a position with Issue Dynamics, Inc. (IDI), a company owned by Sam Simon. IDI was then a small firm but did big work. We worked with third-party stakeholders such as the American Association for the Deaf, the American Association for the Blind, and tribal nations to create better ways to communicate. We worked on a TTD/Y, getting the Baby Bells to supply phones for tribal communities, and encouraging the big three long-distance companies to lower rates. IDI helped get curb cuts installed on street corners. We also worked diligently with Al Gore to get Senate Bill 171 passed. Do you know what that was? The internet.
Anyway, I loved the job and learned so much from Sam. I stayed on the East Coast until moving to Santa Fe in 2008.
Fast forward 30 years to 2020. Like many of us, I had downtime due to COVID. During this period I reflected on who had had a strong influence on my life. Sam Simon was one of those human beings. I reached out to say hello. Sam had some major life changes (don’t we all) that brought him to a new place in his life, specifically the diagnosis of cancer that his wife received some years prior. This event created many shifts in his way of being including his return to acting. He wrote a book, The Actual Dance, and created a one-man play about the book which he took on the road.
Three years later Sam hears I have become the Executive Director of LARSO. We connect again because he has something to share. He was diagnosed just about three years ago with early stages of Alzheimer's. He sees it as an opportunity to continue to change lives.
During the three years, he wrote a play called Dementia Man: An Existential Journey to open a dialogue and normalize living with any form of dementia or life-threatening illnesses. Sam has been sharing his journey/play with audiences all over the mid-Atlantic and other parts of the country.
I am excited that on June 21st Sam will share his story not only with members of LARSO but with all of Los Alamos and our surrounding communities. This weekend of events kicks off our promotion of creating a Dementia Friendly Los Alamos. Stay tuned for updates on this initiative in the coming months. Until then, please join in the activities the weekend of June 21st. If you or someone you love is suffering from cognitive decline, consider joining our Prepare to Care Retreat, led by David Davis of the Memory Care Alliance on Saturday, June 15th from 9-4pm (childcare and adult care available).
Sam continues to influence my life and I am grateful for it. Maybe you can also take some time to reach out to those who may have influenced you to say thank you.