[CT-NFB] {Spam?} National Federation of the Blind of CT 1971-2021

Fri Mar 12 04:52:27 UTC 2021

This was really well written. Gary, good job in finding this. Have you found anything else?

Edward

From: CT-NFB <ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Phillip Magalnick via CT-NFB
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2021 11:33 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Phillip Magalnick <philmag at optonline.net>; ctabs at nfbnet.org
Subject: [CT-NFB] {Spam?} Re: National Federation of the Blind of CT 1971-2021

Thank you for sharing. I learned of this history during leadership seminar and from national leaders. If we are not careful, history will always repeat itself.

On Mar 11, 2021, at 11:20 PM, Lucia Lee via CT-NFB <ct-nfb at nfbnet.org <mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org> > wrote:

Thanks to Gary Allen for finding the below article which was in the Braille Monitor in February, 1972

CONNECTICUT REORGANIZES

by Kenneth Jernigan

Saturday, December 5, was a great day for the blind of Connecticut. On that date the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut completely reorganized, and what an organization it is going to be! This group gives promise of becoming one of our best, most active, and strongest affiliates.

As most Federationists know, the National Office of the Federation and the blind of Connecticut have been carrying on a rather intensive organizing campaign in that state during the past few months. In October NFB Secretary Lawrence Marcelino headed a team which spent over a week in the state. This effort culminated in a convention on October 30--a convention characterized by the attempt of an employee of the Connecticut agency to take control of the organization (at which, incidentally, he failed completely). It was decided at that time to hold the meeting for the reorganization of the affiliate on Saturday, December 4. This was done, and I had the pleasure of attending and chairing the proceedings.

I arrived late Friday afternoon, December 3, and was met by Franklin and Gertrude VanVliet at the Hartford airport. We joined a number of the leading blind persons of the area for dinner and made our plans for the next day.

Unfortunately we were denied the help of Gil Haddon, whom many of you met and came to like so well at Houston. After a mild heart attack and pursuant to doctor's orders, Gil sent me a letter of resignation as state president. He had worked extremely hard to bring about the reorganization and strengthening of the affiliate, and it was cause for real regret that he could not be present.

On Saturday morning we met at the Oak Hill School for the Blind, where delegates gathered from throughout the state. It was an alert, enthusiastic group--one with a clear determination that the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut should be a truly independent organization, not dominated by the agencies and not limited to coffee and cake and to social activities. I began by outlining the steps which had led up to the meeting and followed this with a report on Federation activities throughout the country, attempting to place in perspective the day's proceedings.

Then questions and comments came from the floor. It was at this stage that we had a bit of excitement. Everyone had wondered, of course, if the same agency official who had tried to take control of the October meeting would come for a second attempt. He didn't, but we had something very nearly as good.

A man in the back of the room launched an attack on the October organizing effort. When I tried to reason with him, he undertook to shout me down--a moderately hard task since my vocal cords are in good condition, and I had the advantage of having the microphone. I told him he would get equal time but that he would have to listen as well as talk. He got his equal time, but this didn't seem to be what he wanted since he didn't stay for the afternoon session.

The rest of the meeting was not nearly so boisterous but much more productive. It is always exciting to see a new or reorganized affiliate come into being, and Connecticut was certainly no exception. As the afternoon advanced, we adopted a constitution, elected officers, and made plans for the coming year.

The new president of the National Federation of the Blind of Connecticut is Reverend Howard E. May, Jr., RFD 1, West Willington, Connecticut 06279. Reverend May has been pastor of the Federated Church of Willington for fourteen years and blind for the past ten. He holds degrees from the University of Toledo and Colgate. He is married and has four children, three of them adopted. Reverend May is a member of the Board of Managers of the Connecticut Baptist Convention and a founding member of the Open Door Society of Connecticut, which is an interracial adoption society. Besides all of these things, Reverend May is enthusiastic, personable, and a forceful speaker. He will make an excellent state leader.

The rest of the Board is also of high caliber. The first vice-president is Ben Snow of Hartford. Mr. Snow holds an AA and BA from the University of Bridgeport and an MA in Education and in Special Vocational Rehabilitation from New York University. He is active in Scouting, serving as an assistant district commissioner and editing a district newsletter.

The second vice-president is Mrs. Shirley Lebowitz of West Hartford, who is one of the most active members of the Federation in the state. Blind for the past ten years, Mrs. Lebowitz is a registered nurse. She has taught communicable disease and precaution technique. She is married and has two daughters. In addition to her Federation activities she runs a medical transcribing service in her home. She is a member of the Order of the Golden Chain of Beth Israel Synagogue and is active in community affairs. Mrs. Lebowitz was one of the principal organizers and planners of the December 4 meeting, and I think she will make great contributions to the movement in the years ahead--both at the state and national levels.

The secretary is Mrs. Dorothy N. Campbell of Newtown. Mrs. Campbell is chaplain of her local Grange and is a long time member of the Eastern Star, having held office in that organization. She has been a teacher and the operator of a store. She is currently the Assistant to the Medical Librarian at the Fairfield Hills Hospital in Fairfield, Connecticut. She holds a degree from Columbia University. Monitor readers will remember her letter to Mr. Barnett in the December issue concerning the "Step by Step Guide" published by the American Foundation for the Blind. She is a thoroughly dedicated Federationist.

The treasurer is Mrs. Theresa Calusine of Bloomfield. Sighted herself, she has a blind daughter and an abiding interest in the movement. She is a bonded employee of the J. M. Ney Company.

In addition to the officers four Board members were elected: H. Kevin Harkins of Danbury, John Wellman of Hamden, Francis Meunier of Berlin, and Sonia Rotko of Danbury. Mr. Harkins is a junior at Wooster School, a private prep school, and he does volunteer work in drug abuse. John Wellman is a promising young lawyer, holding an LLB from Drake University and an LLM from Yale. He works for the Bridgeport Legal Services, an agency funded by OEO. Again, we should hear a great deal from John Wellman in the years ahead. Francis Meunier is a teacher of history at the St. James Boys' School. He holds a BA from Bard College at Annandale on the Hudson, New York, and an MA from Ohio University in Athens. Sonia Rotko works at the Southbury Training School and has a degree from West Connecticut State College.

As you will see, this is quite a Board, and as I have already said, the Connecticut affiliate is quite an organization. After the meeting I got together with the Board for planning purposes, and then the VanVliets and I went off to eat lobster and clams. The next morning Franklin and Gertrude drove me to New York City for the NAC Board meeting.

I left Connecticut feeling much encouraged about the future of the Federation in that state. The organization is solidly based and is sure to make progress.

_______________________________________________
CT-NFB mailing list
CT-NFB at nfbnet.org <mailto:CT-NFB at nfbnet.org> 
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for CT-NFB:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/philmag%40optonline.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20210311/f0cfbf10/attachment.html>