many residents who submitted forms. ….

many residents who submitted forms. Mutual 17 remains the only Mutual in Leisure World built more than one story high, and there is no indication that will change anytime soon.

• Marge Dodero of Mutual 9 predicted that residents would use “computer chip key card entrance passes.” Dodero was prescient: the Golden Rain Foundation is currently exploring the use of computer chip keycards for the community’s pedestrian gates.

The State of the World:

• “I have a feeling that the stock market will crash! I sincerely hope that I am wrong,” wrote Kate Pedigo, Mutual 5.

Pedigo was correct: the stock market has crashed several times since 2000. The dot-com bubble burst shortly after the turn of the millennium, when a speculative bubble in technology stocks burst, leading to a sharp market downturn. The Nasdaq lost nearly 80% of its value by its bottom in October 2002. The Global Financial Crisis came next, with a downturn from 2007-2009 sparked by the collapse of the U.S. housing market. In early 2020, the COVID- 19 pandemic triggered one of the sharpest market declines in history.

• “People of 2025 will find the concept of statehood and United States very archaic. We will have a totally regional division of the world,” wrote Mary Apte, Mutual 11. The United States and the concept of statehood remain strong. The regional makeup of the United States remains exactly as it was in 2000. On the world stage, there have been new additions. Since 2000, three new countries have gained international recognition: East Timor in 2002, Montenegro in 2006, and South Sudan in 2011. Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, is also a newer state, though its status is still disputed by some nations.

• Ann Rosner of Mutual 1 predicted “peace all over the world.” World peace was a common theme among prediction forms. In 2025, several wars rage across the world, including the Russia-Ukraine War, the Israeli-Hamas conflict, the Sudanese civil war, and ongoing conflicts in Myanmar and the Sahel region in Africa, among others.

• “Clinton (Hillary) will be president,” wrote Theresa Griep, Mutual 10. Similarly, Carol Stevens of Mutual 1 predicted that the U.S. would see its first female president by 2025. Democrat Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee in 2016. She was defeated by Republican nominee and current President Donald Trump. In 2024, when incumbent president Joe Biden withdrew his bid for reelection, Democrat Kamala Harris became the second-ever female presidential nominee. She was also defeated by Trump.

• “I predict that the greatest change will be the number of people turning to religion,” wrote Katherine Wiley, Mutual 9. The world’s population expanded from 2010 to 2020, and so did most religious groups, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. During that period, Christians remained the world’s biggest religious group, but the religion’s growth did not keep pace with global population growth. Despite this, the number of Christians rose by 122 million, reaching 2.3 billion. Yet, as a share of the world’s population, Christians fell 1.8 percentage points, according to the Pew analysis. Muslims, on the other hand, were the fastest-growing religious group over that decade. Its followers increased by 347 million, more than all other religions combined. Buddhists were the only major religious group that had fewer followers in 2020 than a decade earlier. People with no religious affiliation were the only category aside from Muslims that grew as a percentage of the world’s population.

People can view time capsule contents in person at the LW Library, open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

All the other items from the time capsule can be viewed at the Leisure World Historical Society in Clubhouse 1, open every Thursday from 2-4 p.m., or by appointment.

The capsule contained 96 prediction forms—only some of which are printed here—and 150 photos of residents who wrote predictions and who attended the various Millennium New Year’s Eve parties on Dec. 31, 1999, that were held in the clubhouses.

Many of the residents who filled out the forms are still in the community.