Home| LifeLong Learning-San Marcos TX

Marianne is the Senior Citizen Volunteer of the Year!

Dr. Marianne Reese, Founder and Director of LifeLong Learning - San Marcos, has been selected to receive the 2026 San Marcos Community Senior Citizen Volunteer Award.

Marianne's nomination notes that she exemplifies the Award’s stated purpose to "recognize and honor a senior citizen whose volunteer efforts have made San Marcos a better place in which to live."

Since retiring from Texas State, Marianne helped create and lead the Retired Faculty & Staff Association (RFSA) and served as Chair of the City's Senior Citizen Advisory Board and the Price Center. Marianne began LifeLong Learning in 2014 as part of her work with RFSA and in 2017 created and financially supported LifeLong Learning as a stand-alone nonprofit.

For 12 years, Marianne has used her immense talents and skills -- and her love of learning -- to build an organization that has touched thousands of lives through stimulating and engaging courses, lectures, and other learning opportunities.

Marianne is a San Marcos treasure... and so deserving of this honor and recognition. Please join us in congratulating her!

...what we “think we see” is inherently a construction of our brains?

Our eyes collect only limited, incomplete data and our brain basically completes the picture. Our brain asks, “Given what I’ve seen before, what am I most likely seeing now?”

This explains optical illusions, two people “seeing” things differently, and our ability to “see” things that aren’t fully present... like a familiar face in shadow.

There is so much to know and to better understand ourselves, others, and our world!