[Ct-nfb] [FWD: newspaper story]

[Deb Reed]

What a wonderful memory you have, Esther. Very special for a special lady.
I was in first grade at the time and even at that young age I cried as
well. I can only imagine what America would have accomplished under his
presidency. Deb Reed


On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 12:07 PM, <llee at nfbct.org> wrote:

>  Hi all,
>
> Our very own Esther Levegnale made the front page of the Waterbury
> Republican today!
>
> Lucia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  Waterbury woman's life changed after meeting JFK during his visit
>
> Like many in her generation, Esther Levegnale remembers exactly where she
> was 50 years ago today, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
>
> But she also remembers where she was three years before: Whispering in the
> president's ear.
>
> Shortly before his election, Kennedy visited Waterbury, and then
> 15-year-old Levegnale, blind since birth, had something important to say to
> him.
>
> "I said, 'America needs you; even I can see that,'" the 68-year-old woman
> remembered this week. "I started to cry, and he said, 'Don't cry, dear.' I
> was in a trance. It was unreal."
>
> That little meeting of a minute or so, she said, inspired her for the next
> half century.
>
> Kennedy was expected in Waterbury sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight on
> Nov. 6, 1960. His campaign motorcade, however, spent more time than
> anticipated traveling through the Naugatuck Valley. Thousands of residents
> lined the streets as the procession moved through Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour
> and other towns, and it didn't arrive at the Waterbury Green until about 3
> a.m.
>
> It was a last-minute campaign stop in a city known at the time to be both
> heavily Democratic and heavily Catholic. It certainly seemed to pay off,
> because there, despite the bitter cold, Kennedy found some 30,000 cheering
> supporters.
>
> "Waterbury is either the easiest city in the United States to get a crowd
> in," Kennedy quipped during his speech from the balcony at the Elton Hotel,
> "or it has the best Democrats in the United States."
>
> Among the Massachusetts senator's fans were Levegnale's parents, who
> appealed to a family friend who worked with then-mayor Edward D. Bergin
> Sr., to get their daughter an audience with Kennedy.
>
> "Everybody else could see him," she said. "But I wanted to touch him."
>
> And that touch? "Effervescent," she recalled.
>
> "It was like touching God," she said. "That's the only way I can describe
> it."
>
> LEVEGNALE WEIGHED LITTLE MORE than two pounds when she was born
> prematurely. She was placed in an incubator and flooded with oxygen — a
> common practice in the 1940s, she said, that led to blindness in many
> babies.
>
> At 15, she said, she had heard the adults around her talking about Kennedy
> and had listened to his speeches on TV and the radio.
>
> She liked what he had to say about the space program. But more important
> to her, she said, was his stand on civil rights, especially as they related
> to those with disabilities. She decided that if she were old enough to
> vote, she would cast her ballot for him.
>
> Kennedy, of course, went on to win the presidency. Levegnale went on to
> the University of Bridgeport, where she studied to become a medical
> transcriptionist.
>
> It was there, three years later, that she received the sad news.
>
> "It was a beautiful day. I had just gotten out of French class and I was
> on my way to phys-ed when I saw everybody crowding outside, saying Kennedy
> was shot," she said.
>
> The news that he had died was broadcast while she was in her bowling class.
>
> "The ball was in my hand when I heard Walter Cronkite say President
> Kennedy passed away," she said. "I couldn't move."
>
> The shock, sadness and anger took its toll on her, she said.
>
> "I remember taking my coat off and throwing myself on the bed, and I
> cried."
>
> LEVEGNALE'S QUAINT TOWN PLOT HOME is impeccably kept. Glass figurines
> adorn a curio cabinet. Royal Dalton mugs in the likenesses of George
> Washington and other historical figures sit high on a shelf.
>
> She keeps a collection of Kennedy mementos in a shirt box — stitched
> fabric banners, campaign buttons, a Life magazine commemorative issue
> autographed by a Kennedy aide.
>
> In one room, Kennedy's presence is everywhere. His photos adorn the walls,
> including one of Levegnale whispering her words of support in his ear.
>
> Perhaps more impressive are nearby photos of Levegnale swimming with
> dolphins. An avid outdoors person, she skis, golfs and bicycles. She often
> participates in tournaments benefiting places like the Hartford-based
> Connecticut Institute for the Blind.
>
> "I felt like Kennedy kind of got me on the path to do this for people,"
> she said. "He was so altruistic. I just sort of wanted to be the same way."
>
> She said she's in "all sorts of organizations" advocating for the blind
> and the handicapped.
>
> "I think he had such charisma that it just affected me," she said. "I
> said, I want to be some kind of role model for people, too."
>
> Contact Mike Patrick at mpatrick at rep-am.com, on Twitter @RA_MikePatrick
> or on Facebook at RA.Mike.Patrick.
>
>
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