By Laura Hipshire
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

It’s 10 p.m., and while most people are settling in to the evening news or a snack before bed, Gloria Whan is on her way to the computer room at Fox Run. “I’m a night person,” Whan says.

Before she moved from Bloomfield Hills to Fox Run almost five years ago, Whan admits she was a bit intimidated by the idea of computers. “I was afraid to have anything to do with electronics,” she says. “I never touched a computer before I moved here.”

Beginners welcome
Thanks to an informal, resident-driven computer class held on Wednesday evenings in the community computer room, Whan is now much more of a pro on the computer than she had ever dreamed of becoming. In the class, more experienced computer users help people get started and answer any questions they may have.

“I’ve learned how to use the computer and how to e-mail,” she says. Whan says it was a bit awkward when she first sat down at the computer. “It took a number of weeks for me to get a handle on how to move the mouse,” she recalls.

Newfound skills come in handy
Learning computer skills became a necessity for Whan, better known as “Glo” to her Fox Run neighbors, when her daughter fell ill several years ago.

“She lives in California, and I really needed to keep in touch with her caregivers (and close friends) every day,” she says. “They reported back to me every day,” she says. Happily, the illness passed. “She survived and is fine now.” Whan says  being able to communicate with her daughter’s friends via e-mail was a lifesaver.

“It was very important to me,” she says.

Computer connection
These days, Whan helps others who need a little direction when they visit the computer room, which is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Whan can be found in the computer room just about every day, e-mailing people in California, Florida, and Australia.

“I even get on Google and explore on the Internet,” she says. “I’m a good  typist so that helps too.”