Come join us in  April for our ever-popular “Joy of Learning” series! We have offered Joy of Learning classes for many years, in April and October. They are taught by educators and other experts on a volunteer basis, for adults and for teens at a high school/college learning level.  

Come learn something new and have fun!  This program is free, sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library.

This April, we have four classes:

Estate Planning Essentials with Jeff Oppenheim and Geoff Nickerson, 2 Mondays, 4/1 and 4/8, 3-4:30 pm

The Pathway for New Drug Approval in the U.S.  with Mary Taylor Burtis 3 Wednesdays, 4/4, 4/11 and 4/18, 4-5 pm (lectures will be recorded for later viewing)

Aspects of Ocean Biography with Charles Lea, 4 Thursdays 4/4, 4/11, 4/18 and 4/25, 11 am – noon

Poetry of Robert Frost with Jack Easterling, 1 Wednesday and 3 Tuesdays, 4/10, 4/16, 4/23 and 4/30, 2 – 3 PM (class size limited to 15) THIS IS NOW FULL WITH A WAITLIST.

Scroll down for description and registration for each class!

Estate Planning Essentials with Jeff Oppenheim and Geoff Nickerson, 2 Mondays, 4/1 and 4/8, 3-4:30 pm, click here to register!

The first week will focus on estate planning. Participants will learn why an estate plan is important, elements of a good plan. Topics covered will include Health Care Proxies/ MOLST elections/Living Wills, Durable Power of Attorney for Estate Planning Purposes, Health care proxies/MOLST elections,/living wills and Mass Homestead Exemption (basic or statutory, elderly or disabled homestead and homestead for property held in trust).

The second week will focus on trusts. What a Trust is, and is not, including necessary elements for the creation of trusts. We will explain how trusts can be useful, and their limitations – specifically in terms of liability protection, asset protection, and, as how trusts relate to MassHealth considerations.  We will differentiate between some different types of trusts- irrevocable trusts, revocable trusts, family trusts, marital trusts, and real estate trusts.  The presentation will include a brief review of some of the highlights of the 2023 Massachusetts Estate Tax law changes and what the changes mean for families and individuals as they consider their estates and the best avenues for passing their estates on to the next generations. 

Jeff Oppenheim has been an attorney in Falmouth since 1979. He is a graduate of Bowdoin College and Suffolk University Law School.  In 2010 Oppenheim and Nickerson LLP was formed with his partner Geoff Nickerson. Their law practice focuses on Estate Planning and Administration, Real Estate and Business Law.  The firm also represents a number of local non-profits. Attorney Oppenheim has been appointed by the Barnstable Probate Court to act as an Estate Administrator, Trustee, Guardian, Conservator and Conciliator. Geoff Nickerson is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Villanova University School of Law.  His primary areas of practice include transactional real estate, business advising, and estate planning and administration. Geoff is active in the Falmouth community, having served as past Chair of the Board of the Falmouth Chamber of Commerce, past President of the Falmouth Road Race.   Geoff presently serves as the Vice President of the Falmouth Scholarship Association. 

The Pathway for New Drug Approval in the U.S.  with Mary Taylor Burtis 3 Wednesdays, 4/4, 4/11 and 4/18, 4-5 pm (lectures will be recorded for later viewing), click here to register!

Mary Taylor Burtis, who has over 40 years of experience in this industry, will teach about how a drug is approved in the US and what information is publicly available regarding the FDA approval process. You will learn about the general clinical and nonclinical testing a drug must undergo before approval, what is on a drug label and how to get access to the label information. Other topics will be the length of time it takes (on average) to develop and get FDA approval of a new drug, the average cost of developing a new drug and how a company determines the price of a new drug. You will learn publicly available resources for learning about a drug’s safety profile.

Mary has over 40 years of experience, and is also an educator. She is an ex-US FDA Consumer Safety Officer with a long history of success providing regulatory and quality strategy for development of biotherapeutics. She has worked with US and international regulatory authorities, obtaining drug approvals with a focus on practical regulatory, quality, and compliance solutions. She is eager to teach interested people in the community about this topic!

Aspects of Ocean Biology with Chuck Lea, 4 Thursdays 4/4, 4/11, 4/18 and 4/25, 11 am – noon, click here to register!

This is a Falmouth Reads Together event for our 2024 book pick, The Finest Hours!

 Week 1) Changes with Depth. How do the bodies of fish and squid change as they live deeper in the ocean, what drives these changes? 

 Week 2) Growing the Ocean’s Gardens. What kind of plants grow in the open ocean, what processes shape the creation of the start of the food chains and how does productivity vary across the wide ocean realm?

Week 3) Oceanic Ecosystems. As humans, we can spot big differences in terrestrial biota (forest, plains deserts etc.) but where are the big differences in the ocean world and what maintains these patterns?

Week 4) Changes in the Ocean Realm- There are likely to be changes on the way for ocean ecosystems as we press forward into the future. Increased ocean temperature and acidification as well as pollution and fishing may shape the future ocean. Do we know what’s going on or are humans just blundering on?

Chuck has a master’s degree and PhD in Oceanography from Texas A&M University, and studied the distribution of deep-sea squid for those degrees. He taught Oceanography at the Sea Education Association for 34 years. Chuck lives in Falmouth with his wife, two sons, a dog and a cat.

Poetry of Robert Frost with Jack Easterling, 1 Wednesday and 3 Tuesdays, 4/10, 4/16, 4/23 and 4/30, 2 – 3 PM (class size limited to 15), click here to register! THIS IS NOW FULL WITH A WAITLIST.

Robert Frost has probably been the most widely read poet of the last century-by both scholarly and common readers. In this course we shall read, read aloud, examine and discuss the wide range of Frost’s poems-some well-known, some not, but all thoughtful and moving. These will mostly be chosen by the teacher, but some by individuals in the class. Collections of Robert Frost’s poetry will be available for pickup at the Reference Desk. Class size is limited to 15, so please only register if you are able to attend all four classes. THIS IS NOW FULL WITH A WAITLIST.

Jack Easterling was a veteran English teacher for more than 40 years, and an academic director at the Emma Willard School. He also co-wrote a book on writing.