50 Years of Building Bridges

1954

Western Gerontological Society founded. First president is Louis Kuplan of San Francisco, second president is Oscar Kaplan of San Diego.

1960

WGS publishes first conference proceedings of one-day annual meeting. Sessions include "What's New in the Social Sciences in the Field of Gerontology" by James Fox and "Community Mental Health Programs for the Aging" by Maurice Linden.

"May I take this opportunity to draw your attention to the need to widen the membership of the Society, which is a major objective of the Executive Committee during the current year. In particular, it is hoped that we can become truly 'Western' with much greater participation from all the 13 Western states."

- John Beeston (president, 1961-62),
introduction to 1960 conference proceedings

1961

The first official White House Conference on Aging is opened by President Eisenhower and presided over by the newly inaugurated President Kennedy.

1964

Robert Ball, visionary founder of Medicare and Social Security, speaks at the ASA Annual Meeting.

1965

Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act (OAA) are enacted as part of the new War on Poverty.

"The passage of the OAA brought all these people into the new network of aging services, and they needed training opportunities. By the early 1970s, WGS conference attendance jumped from several hundred to more than a thousand- with no staff."

- Gloria Cavanaugh

"In the early days of WGS, we alternated meetings between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and mostly local people attended them. Very few people traveled to the meetings. In the 1960s, the conferences . . . tried to mix disciplines: We'd have a medical person speaking and then a person from social work. It ranged across the board. Gerontology was just getting started, so the word focus didn't easily apply."

- James Birren (president, 1968-69)

1971

President Nixon holds the second White House Conference on Aging. Although he intends to ask Congress to reduce spending on programs for older Americans, he reverses field after meeting with people at the conference and being deeply moved by their stories.

1972

18th Annual Conference held in Portland, Oregon- first conference held outside California.

"When I became involved in WGS in the early 1970s, what struck me most was the commitment of participants to make a difference in the field, particularly in the areas of education and training. The core group consisted of dedicated educators who were trying to influence what was evolving in the West and the field as a whole."

- E. Percil Stanford (president, 1975-76)

1974

Congress creates the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to protect employee pension funds in the wake of scandals surrounding a number of corporate defaults on pensions.

1975

Gloria Haerther-Cavanaugh joins WGS as first paid staff member and executive director.

"I inherited $3,000 in savings and a shoebox filled with 3"x 5" index cards, otherwise known as the membership database."

- Gloria Cavanaugh

1976

The National Institute on Aging becomes part the National Institutes of Health.

First issue of Generations published as WGS's quarterly newsletter. One of its first single-issue themes is "Minorities and Aging."

1977

Attendance at annual conference reaches 2,500, with only three paid staff. WGS presents its first awards: the Special Al Feldman Award to Anthony Lenzer and the WGS Award to Percil Stanford.

"As I read the names of other past presidents and board members and remember their collective contributions to the field and to my professional development, I am in awe. They gave insight, wisdom, and long-range direction to my thinking and to my dedication in trying to add quality to the lives of others. I really miss leaders like Al Feldman, Ted Koff, Paul Kerschner, George Telisman, Ruth Weg, and Leon PoVey."

- Roy Van Orman (president, 1976-77)

"WGS/ASA is responsible for helping me develop a larger perspective than my own community. It showed me how important national organizations that provide training and act as a bridge between academic research, applied research and program development can be in improving services for the local community."

- Marian Lupu (president, 1977-78)

1979

WGS Connection, bimonthly newsletter, first published.

"I remember being at the birth of Aging Connection (later Aging Today), sitting on the floor of Gloria's house. It's been satisfying to see the publications whose creation I witnessed become very respected in the field."

- Martha Holstein (deputy director, 1978-90)

"[My presidency] was a stimulating time- there was a lot going on in the field of aging. It was beginning to move ahead, and we were trying to create a discipline and get the country to recognize the tremendous issues surrounding aging in the U.S. We started out as a voice in the wilderness, and now everybody has discovered gerontology. WGS grew up and became part of the national scene."

- Carl Eisdorfer (president, 1980-82)

1981

Third White House Conference on Aging. President Reagan's attempt to manipulate the conference into supporting his efforts to reduce entitlement spending results in protests, anger throughout the field of aging.

1982

Medicare begins reining in costs by switching to a prospective payment system. Some practitioners criticize the new system for pushing patients out of hospitals "sicker and quicker."

1985

WGS changes name to American Society on Aging.

"I can honestly say that my connection with WGS and ASA has been one of the most fulfilling and worthwhile experiences in my professional career. I will always be grateful to the organization- but more importantly, to the people."

- Paul Nathanson (president, 1984-86)

ASA presents first Summer Series on Aging.

1988

Minority Concerns Committee becomes a standing committee of the ASA Board of Directors.

1989

Recognizing its mission as a multidisciplinary form for a diversity of viewpoints, the ASA Board of Directors passes a resolution stating that the organization will no longer lobby for specific legislation.

"WGS/ASA gave me an opportunity to learn about the many worlds that come together in the field of aging. I learned a great deal about life on the front lines of gerontology that I would not have known otherwise, and this knowledge balanced my academic experience and forever changed how I see gerontology."

- Robert Atchley (president, 1988-1990)

Business Forum on Aging and Forum on Religion, Spirituality, and Aging, ASA's first constituent groups, form.

1990

WGS Connection changes its name to Aging Today.

"I have my memorable moments but the top one is my time as president of ASA. What an honor- AND Gloria kept me most busy! My most challenging moments in the ASA leadership were always staying abreast of ASA's myriad activities and growing the membership . . . Being part of this illustrious group is a great source of joy and fulfillment. Here's to the next 50 years!"

- Fernando Torres-Gil
(president, 1990-92)

1991

First ASA trip to China

"What an amazing experience to see aging in China through a group experience with so many American colleagues in the field! We laughed a lot on that trip, especially when some restaurant officials stopped our tour bus from leaving because the post-meal inventory was short by two chopsticks. Gloria (Cavanaugh, who led the tour) had to use international diplomacy to wiggle out of that one."

- Joanne Handy (president, 2000-02)

1992

ASA organizes the Journalists Exchange on Aging, the first-ever professional network of journalists on the "age beat."

ASA holds the world's first national conference on lesbian and gay aging issues, out of which eventually grows its Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network.

1993

New Ventures in Leadership, ASA's leadership program for aging-services professionals of color, is founded.

1994

Creation of five new Constituent Groups: Mental Health and Aging Network; Managed Care and Aging Network (now Healthcare and Aging Network); Aging, Disability, and Rehabilitation Network (now Network on Environments, Services and Technologies for Maximizing Independence) and the Older Adult Education Network (now Lifetime Education and Renewal Network); and the Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network.

"No other organization moved with minority aging, nor lesbian and gay aging, in the dedicated and consistent fashion that ASA has. A number have played at it, or have more recently recognized the importance of diversity. But ASA took on this topic early on. It's ASA's sense of inclusiveness as an organization that has been part of the heartfelt warmth that ASA presents."

- Jennie Chin Hansen (president, 1994-96)

1995

President Bill Clinton presides over the fourth WHCoA. More than 2,200 delegates attend.

ASA releases first distance-learning program, a CD-ROM titled When Depression Turns Deadly.

1996

Creation of the Multicultural Aging Network (now Network on Multicultural Aging).

1997

ASA launches its website, www.asaging.org, which now attracts 60,000 unique visitors a month.

"I can honestly say that ASA has been the vehicle for much of my intellectual growth as a professional in the field of aging, because it has taught me, and re-teaches me at every meeting, that the issues affecting the lives of older people are truly as diverse as life in this country. ASA has been my professional community."

- Richard Browdie (president, 1998-2000)

1999

United Nations declares 1999 the International Year of Older Persons; the year brings professionals together for many conferences and programs.

Former President Jimmy Carter speaks on "The Virtues of Aging" at the 45th ASA Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

2000

ASA launches first Web conference.

2001

First Joint Conference of ASA and NCOA held in New Orleans.

Some of the celebrity speakers who have appeared at ASA conferences: 1984 Ray Bradbury 1985 John Houseman 1987 Joyce Brothers 1988 Shirley Chisholm 1989 Viktor Frankl 1990 Benjamin Spock 1993 Studs Terkel 1994 Paul Tsongas 1995 Betty Friedan 1998 C. Everett Koop 1998 Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon 1999 Jimmy Carter 2002 Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee

"One of the distinguishing things about ASA is that everyone participates in building a sense of community. The leaders are not only the people who are the highest paid or best known in the field. Most of the best work in ASA comes about through people working together because they're most interested in contributing to their learning rather than getting public credit."

- Donna Yee (president, 2002-2004)

2003

Grantmakers in Aging presents the its inaugural John Feather Diversity Award to ASA's National Ventures in Leadership program.

Passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.