History of SPIN

This is a very basic history of the group and how it has evolved. If you have information or details to make this overview more accurate or complete, please contact Mike Brunt.

1980’s

SPIN started in the early 80’s. It was formed by a group of Service Coordinators from the Senior Centers. The original goal of SPIN was to educate and inform the coordinators and to assist in identifying seniors who were eligible for services. SPIN continued in this mode until the early 90’s.

Early 1990’s

Gayle Raymond coordinated the meetings which were held at Creekside Retirement Living in Beaverton. The focus was still educational. Assisted Living and Retirement Facilities were beginning to crop up and this was a great place to network and learn as much as possible about new and innovative ways to serve the seniors in our community.

Mid 1990’s

Many of the meetings were held at Marquis Autumn Hills. Sue Magnuson kept the meetings interesting and we continued to keep abreast of the current issues in senior care.

Late 1990’s

Gayle Rich-Boxman took over the SPIN meetings in the late 90’s. They were held at Crestview. Gayle always had great meetings that had people really interacting with one another. Towards the end of 1999 Gayle passed the baton to Margaret Horn.

2000’s

Margaret Horn decided that it would be fun to move meetings to a different location each month. This offered us the ability to tour facilities. She felt it was important to see the buildings and people to whom we refer. Up until this time SPIN had been seen as a Westside Group. There were so many requests to host meetings on the East side of town and downtown that it took on a broader audience. As always the focus of the organization was education as it relates to senior care.

Darlene Rominger offered to help establish a steering committee for SPIN. Margaret and Darlene began recruiting individuals to participate on the committee.