DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

DJ Betsy will lay down a monster groove

Learn to do the Hustle, the Bus Stop, and the Night Fever line dance

Dynamite dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studio will burn up the dance floor

Culinary delights crafted by Emily’s Café & Catering

1970s Themed Attire: Encouraged but not required

2026 Friends Village

Community Builder Award

At Friends Village, we believe that building community means more than creating a place—it means nurturing connections, fostering belonging, and ensuring that older adults can thrive with dignity and purpose. The Community Builder Award recognizes those who embody these values, whose contributions create lasting foundations of care, friendship, and opportunity for generations to come.

Terry Christensen:

Mentor, mariner, coach, author, academic, and dedicated non-profit board leader.

Capt. Terry Christensen grew up in Warrenton, Oregon ('where the mighty Columbia meets the vast Pacific'). As one might expect, he grew up around boats and spent high school and college summers working in the commercial fishing industry. After earning a degree in physics (from Lewis & Clark College where he was also a middle linebacker), Terry discovered the sport of rugby and continued commercial fishing in the off-season. A series of knee injuries motivated him to take up fishing as a career. Shortly thereafter, Terry transitioned to the Merchant Marine, starting as an Ordinary Seaman and working his way through the ratings until he was qualified to sit for a US Merchant Marine Deck Officers License exam which he passed in 1981.
In 1985, Capt. Christensen was hired as Chief Instructor and Master of Training Vessels for the Seamanship program at the Tongue Point Job Corps Center near Astoria Oregon. Under his leadership, two additional training modules were added and the program achieved an unprecedented 96% placement matching rate for its graduates. In 1988, Terry returned to sea working for Sause Bros. Ocean Towing as a deck officer. In 1989, he signed on as First Officer of the M/V SALVAGE CHIEF. Notably, the Salvage Chief was engaged in effecting repairs to the T/S EXXON VALDEZ which made it possible for the ship to be towed to a graving dock for repairs.
In 1990, Capt. Christensen became the Chief Instructor for the Maritime Science Department at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. During his time there, Clatsop began offering a Radar Observer Certification Course (a prerequisite for hold and Deck Officer’s license). Also, during this time frame, Clatsop became the first maritime training program (other than the five traditional academies) to offer a license preparation course that was certified by the USCG and qualified as sea-service in advance of the licensing examination. In 1994, Christensen developed a degenerative disease of the optic nerve and his seafaring career came to an abrupt end.
In 1999, encouraged by advances in adaptive technology, Terry resolved to return to teaching. He began at Marylhurst University by earning a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS). This was followed with a M.S. in History from Oregon State University where he also earned a Ph.D. in the History of Science by writing about mentoring in theoretical physics. Along the way he earned numerous academic awards and fellowships.
Since moving to Bucks County in 2007, Terry has become increasingly active in the community. He has served on the Steering Committee of the Peace Center, the Board of Directors for Friends Village, and he continues to sit on the Newtown Township Planning Commission. Terry has also been active in his Quaker Meetings, Bucks Quarterly Meeting, and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
Terry recalls that the best advice he ever got was from his high school football coach, Ray Downs. In response to letters he has recieved from small colleges, Terry asked Coach Downs if he believed that Terry could play football at that level. Downs replied, “I genuinely don’t know. But I do know this: If you don’t try you’ll never know … and if you never know, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering … I’d rather know than wonder.”

Tara Grunde-McLaughlin

First woman mayor of Newtown Borough

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Ruth Samsel

Centenarian, inspirational Friends Village Resident

Ruth was born in Johnsonburg, a small paper mill town in western Pennsylvania, on January 3, 1927. Her parents owned one of the first gas stations in town and they were successful truck farmers. Ruth was the eldest of three children.
Ruth’s sees her life journey divided evenly into three distinct parts. The first part was after high school in 1944, and her travels and work in Carmel, California. She owned a bed and breakfast coffee shop, house cleaning agency, and the most fun of all, a horse and surry with a fringe on top as a tourist ride to Carmel Mission along the ocean front. Remember this was after World War II and all things seemed possible to Ruth.
During the second part of her life, she returned to the East in 1951 at the age of 24 and enrolled in a physical therapy program at New York University as a tuition remission student and secretary to the Dean of Students. There she met both Eleanor Roosevelt and President Truman. She graduated in1959 with B.S. While employed at the School for Handicapped Children in Newark as a therapist, Ruth finished both Masters and Doctorate degrees at Rutgers University in Counseling in 1976. The next 30 years were dedicated to pioneering Career Education Counseling for middle and high school students as well as at Middlesex County College in Edison, New Jersey. She was recognized with awards for her work at local, state and federal levels. In 1976, Ruth was recognized in Who’s Who of American Women. These were her very productive professional years.
The third part of her life was her years in retirement. In 1997 she and her life partner, Barbara Livingstone, became residents of Friends, Styer campus in Newtown, where she was involved with the daily life of the Village. Ruth served as president of the association, photographer, programs and activities participant, and writer. She will quickly admit that living there created opportunities that kept her life interesting, helpful to others and encouraged her own creativity in writing and enthusiasm for life.
The last 30 years reflect the first sixty in terms of her love and interest in people. She was the second woman president of the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing, New Jersey. In1980, she introduced one of her HIV/AIDS clients to the congregation. Upon his death, they made a quilt for him that was displayed on the Washington Mall that year with thousands of others.
Ruth enjoys poetry, particularly Maia Angelou. She has recently read Jason Fagone’s “The Woman Who Smashed Codes,” which is about Elizabeth Smith Friedman, the cryptoanalyst who broke codes in WWII. Her favorite song is “Blue Skies,” the name of her Blue Skies Surry in Carmel, and “Blue Boat Home,” claiming the world as her home.