50th Anniversary of CTEBVI

50th Anniversary of CTEBVI

E-mail from Sue Reilly to Sue Douglass:

A few years ago the California School for the Blind was the recipient of some materials that had originally belonged to the Berkeley Red Cross Braille Project. I borrowed a typewritten manuscript that had been written as a memoir/history of the project in 1978. I had it scanned and created an electronic document. There is a lot of history here—going back to 1929. Descriptions of the binding processes, the formation and classes for braillists, new technologies. It’s amazing how much has changed...how much has stayed the same.

I enjoyed reading this and I hope you do, too! Maybe we’d like to incorporate this into the 50th anniversary.

Sue
--
Sue Reilly
Operations Specialist
Special Education Programs Division
Eugene Brucker Education Center Annex 2

Response from Sue Douglass:

Thank you, Sue!

What a treasure!
Lots of connections here for me:

I went to SF State with Bruce Breslauer and watched films of him in 4th grade in Phil Hatlen's SpEd 752 class. Phil was his TVI at Emerson School in Berkeley.

I went to UC Davis with Dave DeGarmo, who is Mary DeGarmo's son. I don't know if she is still with us, but I know how to find Dave. The last time I saw him was at Santa Rita prison. He was a parole officer, and I was waiting to give a deposition for the mother of one of my students. That was in 1989.

And here's the final kicker:
MY MOTHER was a Gray Lady and took the transcribing class at the Berkeley Red Cross! She told me she did part of Huckleberry Finn on a slate. The advent of Yours Truly may be the reason she did not continue. It was during World War II, when my dad was stationed at Alameda Naval Air Station. Maybe those tales about prenatal influence have something to them.

Sue

Sue Douglass, TVI/VIS
Blind Babies' Foundation

P.S., I think Mrs. Lloyd Hawkinson is Irene Hawkinson - a CTEVH president at one time who is, unfortunately, no longer with us.

50 Years of CTEVH

American Red Cross: 50 Years of Braille in Berkeley