By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Eric Hughes, 79 , a former professor and gymnastics coach at the University of Washington, retired in 1988 - and he was relieved to get out when he did.

"I was just hoping to retire before I had to learn anything about a computer," Hughes said. But though he avoided computer technology in his professional life, Hughes soon learned that as an active community member who served on two boards and did about 20 hours of volunteer service each week for the Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club, he couldn't get away from those monitors and keyboards. His fellow board members pestered him for a year to get his own e-mail address.

Fortunately, help was on the way from the Wallingford Senior Center, which has had a computer lab for two years. Hughes enrolled in the beginning computer class which starts nervous students with "on" and "off."

That, coupled with a class Hughes took through the Seattle Public Library gave him enough knowledge for everything he wants to do: keep in contact with fellow board members as well as the Canoe and Kayak Club's 198-person e-mail list and track his finances.

It might not seem like a big change, but Hughes now realizes that tasks such as mass-mailings are much improved with the use of a little technology.

Hughes is an example of the wary seniors that computer instructors at the Wallingford Senior Center would like to reach.

One of the center's three volunteer instructors, Jim Olney, said the key to bringing many seniors in is showing them that what ever their interests are, they can pursue them with a computer.

"My idea is to offer a carrot to any an all to come to the class and learn something new," said Olney, a 54-year-old Phinney Ridge real estate agent. "My personal philosophy is to be self-empowered and that's what I'm trying to help people with in my class."

Needless to say, not all seniors are computer illiterate. Carol Ballard, 72, another instructor with the Wallingford Senior Center, started to learn programming with her first computer, a Texas Instruments machine, purchased about 20 years ago. She went on to earn an associate's degree in data processing and business from Seattle Central Community College and now teaches at the Wallingford Senior Center through a City program called Seniors Training Seniors in Computer Basics.

The Wallingford Senior Center program also offers assisted lab times, one reason Hughes says he'll continue to come back to the center to use the Internet rather than get a link from his home.

Of course, everybody's reason for learning computers is different. Anne Derome, program director for the center, said students have used the classes for everything from preparing themselves to get back out in the job market to reading newspapers from native, European countries to researching benefits and services available to seniors.

Olney said he hopes to add a program soon that will allow lab users to research their genealogy.

More improvements are on the way.The Wallingford Senior Center recently received its second Technology Matching Fund grant from the City to develop the program.

The $12,626 award will pay for upgrading the lab's computers, creating a sound barrier to minimize noise in the lab, extend the Wallingford Senior Center's network and help with outreach.

The North Seattle Family Center and the Children's Home Society also received a technology grant from the City for their computer program this last summer.

Both instructors and computer lab users at the Wallingford Senior Center are looking forward to the arrival of their new hardware.

"When these computers are set up and they're all jazzed up they're going to be a whole lot more fun," Olney said.

The Wallingford Senior Center is located in the Good Shepherd Center at 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. For information, call 461-7825.