This membership entitles anyone 50 years or older to enroll in any class or activity during the Spring term only. 

There are 3 GLI terms: Summer (June-October), Fall/Winter (October-February), and Spring (February-June).

Membership in GLI or another Maine Senior College is required for registration in any Gold LEAF program offering. 

If you are 90 years old or older, you are entitled to free membership, although you are still responsible for any class fees. To take advantage of this benefit, do NOT register for membership through this online catalog; let the office know that you're entitled to free membership at goldleaf@maine.edu

Hybrid 

This is a discussion group usually held on the first and third Fridays of each month, covering local, national, and world news. The discussion provides an opportunity to share your observations and opinions on the news and to learn from other participants.

Articles of interest are distributed among the group by email in the week before each meeting, and topics to discuss are selected by the group at the beginning of each meeting.

March 6, 20, 2026

April 3, 17, 2026

May 1, 15, 2026

June 5, 2026

10 am - 11:30 am

Paul Mullin is the facilitator for this discussion group.

In-person

Participants will meet once a month for lunch at various restaurants in the Farmington area. Reservations must be firm one week before the date. Participants will order from the standard menu and receive separate checks.

First Thursday of the month

February 5, 2026

March 5, 2026

April 2, 2026

May 7, 2026

June 4, 2026

11:30 am.

Location: TBD

Patricia Overall has been a long-time member of GLI.  She is a retired high school mathematics teacher who later worked in hotel management and other occupations, including NACA, now NASA, and as a bartender. She has lived in 18 states and obviously enjoys eating out.

Online

Please join us for a monthly Zoom get-together for coffee, conversation, and crafts.  Settle in with your favorite craft, bring your coffee, tea, or beverage, and visit with Gold LEAF friends.  Crafts are not essential, and guys are welcome! The goal is to get together and spend an hour or more talking with friends.

2nd Monday of the month

February 9

March 9

April 13

May 11

June 8

10 am-11:30 am

Online

In this 6-week course, we will look at what happened during the Nazi era to see what might happen here now. How did the various religions rally? What could isolated individuals do? What did preventing infection from fascist ideology involve? How was non-fascist culture preserved? What tricks did the Scandinavians have? What heritage was left to us by Americans in that era?   

Defiance/disobedience/resistance—all the same activity—involves many very different methods. 

February 17, 24, March 3, 10, 17, 24

10:00 am, EXCEPT March 10, which will be at 1:00 pm 

Sandy Garson was working as a journalist in the early 1980s when she discovered the hidden history of Germans who fought Hitler. She went to Germany, met resistance survivors, and found those who had emigrated to the US.

She also researched resistance movements outside Germany. The book she began was never published in 1986 because nobody wanted to hear about “good Germans". But now we know they existed and their stories loudly resonate, so she has been sharing them as inspiration.

Online 

The Book Discussion Group continues a long Gold LEAF tradition and will meet four times during the Spring Term to discuss works of fiction and non-fiction. Our sessions are open, casual, yet stimulating and informative, allowing us to learn from one another. There is a possibility that an occasional meeting will be in-person.

The group meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month.

March 10: How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

April 14: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

May 12: My Friends by Fredrick Backman

June 9: Murder at Holly House by Denzil Meyrick

Cathy Wimett and Nadine Marchand organize the book discussion. Any group member is welcome to facilitate a session. Both newcomers and past participants are encouraged to join us for this Spring Term.

In-Person

Dr. Barton will explore how wildfires work, the history of wildfires in Maine, and whether fire risk is likely to increase in the state as temperatures warm.

March 11, 2026 (Snow Date: March 27 at 10:30)

10:30 - 11:30 AM

Education Center, Room 107

Andrew (Drew) Barton is a forest and fire ecologist, science writer, and professor of biology at the University of Maine at Farmington.

His research focuses on how forests are responding to changing climate and wildfire in the Southwest USA, northern Mexico, and Maine. Drew is an author of The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods and co-editor of Ecology and Recovery of Old-growth Forests in Eastern North America.

He’s worked for many years with Maine science and environmental groups, including the Science Subcommittee and Emergency Management Working Group of the Maine Climate Council, the science advisory board for Maine’s Ecological Reserve System, the Mt. Blue-Tumbledown Conservation Alliance, and the UMF Sustainable Campus Coalition.

After nearly three decades at UMF, Drew continues to greatly enjoy teaching courses in ecology, conservation, and forests.

In-Person

County government in Maine is our oldest form of governance. Counties were created even before towns, intended to deliver essential services that individual communities could not provide on their own.

Today, that framework is both rooted in history and unexpectedly forward-looking, as smaller towns face new pressures in education, fire and police protection, and the demands of a changing economy.

Date: March 19, 2026

1 PM - 2:30 PM

Location:  Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, 140 Main Street, Suite 1, Farmington, ME

Amy Bernard, MPA, is Franklin County's Administrator, and Fenwick Fowler is a County Commissioner representing Farmington.