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When Janet and Bill Deutsch arrived in Auburn in August 1985, they thought it would be a three-year stop while Bill completed his PhD. “We brought four little girls with us,” Janet recalled. “Forty years and 14 grandchildren later, we’re still here.” Janet went on to a 27-year career in nursing at East Alabama Medical Center, while Bill built a long career as a teacher and researcher in Auburn’s Department of Fisheries.
Retirement brought them to OLLI at Auburn, where they joined around 2012 or 2013. “We wanted to continue to be engaged in what was going on in the world,” Janet said. “My very first class was yoga, I think. I had always been moving at work—and staying active was important.”
Both quickly became more involved. Bill recalled their first class as instructors, when they co-taught a course based on Brian McLaren’s book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World. “The room got too crowded, and a lot of people had crashed the class when they couldn’t register. We had to turn half the people away. We taught it again that spring and filled it up again.”
Since then, they have taught separately—Janet continuing with her interest in promoting civil discourse and community building, and Bill focusing on the natural sciences. Since retirement, he has written two books: Alabama Rivers: A Celebration and Challenge (2020) and Ancient Life in Alabama: The Fossils, the Finders, & Why It Matters (2022). Bill said, “In both books, I acknowledge OLLI because I developed the material and taught it for two years before the books came out. The classes helped me set a tone and understand an audience for the books. The OLLI audience, you know, it’s our MO. It’s curious, non-specialist.”
For the Deutsches, OLLI also offered something beyond academics. “While I was a nurse, I felt part of a community on my hospital floor,” Janet said. “Since moving to the South, I hadn’t felt that community elsewhere until I got involved with OLLI. People had similar life experiences and brought a lot to discussions. Being part of a community where you solve problems together and always learn from others felt comfortable to me.”
That sense of belonging is what inspired their decision to support the OLLI Building Fund. “Building a single, purpose-designed space would help that sense of community: more together time, less travel, a kitchen, foyer, and social area designed intentionally for us,” Bill explained. “Being together under one roof is unbeatable.”
For Janet, the building also represents identity: “Place is important. A building gives us a home in this part of town, still part of Auburn University but on the edge of campus. One building will reduce travel and provide intentional spaces where we can be together enjoying our learning community.”
As Bill put it, “We’ve had rewarding careers and good opportunities and occupations that give us a comfortable retirement not everybody has. Together we thought it would be meaningful to support something we really believe in. It is special to be able to do it now while we are still here to pay it forward.”
Through their generous gift, Janet and Bill are creating a legacy by helping ensure OLLI has a permanent home—one that will foster learning, connection, and community for decades to come.