When Carolyn Parsley attended magic class at the Central Orange Senior Center on Thursday, she took notes on her skills to show them to her grandchildren later.
“(The tricks) floored me,” said Carolyn Parsley, an attendee. “I showed one to my grandchildren.”
Magician Lee Werley taught seniors the tricks of the magical trade. His tricks ranged from simple sleight of hand feats to more difficult card counting.
Werley started out as a children’s magician and clown before he began teaching tricks. A 1974 UNC graduate, Werley works in public health, but decided to go into the clown business to bring happiness to people’s lives.
“I come from a clown family,” he said.
Most of the attendees wanted to learn magic tricks to share with their grandchildren. Participants took notes throughout the class and Werley provided one-on-one assistance to ensure the tricks were mastered.
Werley cracked jokes throughout the class.
“If you put an envelope on the table, is it still stationery?” he asked.
One memorable trick involved creating secret pockets in paper bags. Werley took two separate pieces of string and placed them in the secret pocket of the bag, which the audience could not see.
