Community Corner
The Best of 'The Better Part'
Cupertino Senior TV Productions wins this year's CREST Award for the group's production of 'The Better Part,' a half-hour TV show cablecast to cities in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.
While retirement generally means the end of one's career, it's the beginning of a new pursuit to members of Cupertino Senior TV Productions, a volunteer group of senior citizens who work together at the studio of KMVT15 in Mountain View to produce a cable TV show, called The Better Part.
Episodes of the show have won local and national awards, including many from the WAVE (Western Alliance fro Video Excellence). Just those produced by one of the members, Val Jeffery, won seven WAVE awards and were on the list of finalists six times.
The Better Part also helped the group win a CREST (Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken) award, which will be presented at an awards ceremony June 1.
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The Better Part covers a wide range of subjects, including consumer protection, music, art, financial and legal advice, medical breakthroughs, taxes and housing.
"Their programs are enlightening and entertaining," said Linda Yelavich, volunteer coordinator of the , who nominated Cupertino Senior TV Productions for the Crest Award. "They are a wonderful group of seniors who care deeply about our community."
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The group meets at the senior center every Tuesday to plan new episodes of The Better Part, which airs on Comcast Cable Channel 15 in Santa Clara County, as well as AT&T U-verse Channel 99 in Cupertino and Mountain View.
Volunteer members of the group all perform professional duties such as camera, directing, audio, recording, producing, video editing and scripting. None had experience with TV production prior to joining the group, according to Phil Lenihan, who has been a member since Dececmber 2008.
"We all learned after we joined the group," said Lenihan. "I learned to produce, direct, host and edit shows at age 78."
Lenihan is one of the oldest members. So is Billie Atwood, who has the longest membership of the group.
The Better Part started in 1983, and Atwood came on board in July 1988, after her husband passed away, leaving her exhausted from years of looking after the man 11 years her senior, who had Alzheimer's disease.
"My friend, Dorothy Schmidt, talked me into this (The Better Part)," said Atwood. "Dorothy is no longer here. Everybody else I met in the group in 1988 is gone. They moved or died. I'm the only one still here."
Atwood graduated from Perdue University but was a stay-at-home mom most of her life for her four sons. The Better Part brought her a late-life career to which she gets to apply her knowledge and wisdom.
The oldest member of Cupertino Senior TV Productions is Ernie Piini, 82, who has been with the group for 16 years. Piinni has traveled all over the world.
"I've witnessed 27 eclipses," he said.
Besides those 80-something-year-youngs, Cupertino Senior TV productions also has new retirees. Dox Doxiadis was a full-time engineer at the studio where The Better Part is produced until 2009, and still works there part-time after retirement.
Doxiadis said he joined the group, because he wanted to get into video production. In the meantime, he turned his wife, Sarah, on to the group. She is now a member while still working in camping equipment sales.
An even newer member, Jerry Oliver, has been on board for only about a year, but he has already produced a show about Santa Clara's Harris-Lass House Museum, which is yet to air.
is also a new member. She moved to Cupertino just a few months ago. She said she joined the group to make friends and learn something new. (Man is also a Cupertino Patch Local Voices Blogger.)
Some of the members don't go to weekly meetings as regularly as others, because they have other interests. For instance, John Heather sings in the Peninsulairs Mens' Barbershop Chorus, and Vesta Walden still works as a professional clown on an on-call basis.
It definitely requires leadership to manage such a diverse group. Myrna Gelphman, president of Cupertino Senior TV Productions, has exactly what it takes.
Gelphman and a few other members talked to Cupertino Patch on camera about their experiences with The Better Part. The video clips of their speeches are attached to this article.
For more information about Cupertino Senior TV Productions, visit thebetterpart.com.
