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[carol j coulter]

The Blind Missourian is the publication of the National Federation of the 
Blind of Missouri.

I am sending it as an attachment and in the body of the email
Carol Coulter Editor


The Blind Missourian
                                       September 2015








Table of Contents

Learning to Read by Korey Harper                      1
Cookie Cutter Christmas by Shirley Grauel             2
My First National Convention by Erin Magoon             5
BELL: Enriching Children’s Lives by Carol Coulter
          in collaboration with Debbie Wunder                    7
An Inspiring Woman by Carol Coulter
          in collaboration with Kathe Hooton                     10
Upcoming Convention by Eugene Coulter                     11
NFB Pledge 
12










Learning to Read
By Korey Harper
When I think about literacy, many things come to mind. The one thing that 
stands out to me is the process of how I learned to read and write. When I 
was a young child, I walked into Kindergarten not knowing how to read. I 
could identify some letters, but not all of them. The teacher then began 
teaching me the alphabet. After I mastered those, we went onto small words 
and then I learned how to read sentences. I would read small books to my 
teacher, and as my reading improved I went on to larger and more challenging 
books. Although this process seemed simple, it was one of the most important 
things I ever learned how to do. As I got older I read more and more, 
although it was not by choice; I was forced to read more due to school work. 
I never appreciated the fact that I was able to read until I could no longer 
do it.
I became blind at the age of seventeen and this left me without the ability 
to read or write. My injury was sudden and an unexpected event, so I was 
unprepared for it. Up until this point I never realized what a big part 
literacy played in my life. I started my senior year, just like 
Kindergarten, unable to read.  I started to learn the Braille alphabet, 
which took me several weeks. I first had to learn the dot patterns that made 
up Braille Then I had to learn how to feel the dots. This was very difficult 
for me because my fingers would go numb, and I was unable to feel the 
difference between the letters. I then started receiving Braille Instruction 
after school four hours a week. A Braille teacher would come and help me 
learn how to read. After months of hard work I was able to read small 
sentences. Then my after school training became more intense. I thought I 
was almost done with the training but soon found out it had only just begun.
I had already learned grade one Braille. I did not know there was such a 
thing as grade two Braille. This is a series of contractions that makes 
Braille easier and faster to read. There were over one hundred contractions 
I had to learn, and although I thought it was impossible, I never gave up. 
This was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was similar to learning another 
alphabet, and this was, to say the 1.
least, difficult for me. I did not think the lessons would ever end. It 
became more and more difficult as each day passed. The training increased 
from four hours a week to eight hours a week.
I was told by many people that I would not learn Braille by the end of my 
senior year. They said I should just try to learn the alphabet because 
anything else was impossible in just one year. I knew I could do better than 
that. Although I did not think Braille would be as difficult as it was, I 
mastered my alphabet in what seemed like a decade, but my teacher said I 
learned it relatively fast. Even though learning Braille was challenging for 
me, I am very proud that I did it. Braille is rarer than print, but the 
small amounts found inside buildings are very helpful to me.  I am able to 
read again, and that is an amazing feeling. I am not very fast at reading 
Braille, but my accuracy is very good. In the overall scheme of things, 
learning to read has been a very important part in my life. I started my 
school career as a little boy in Kindergarten learning to read print and 
then found myself learning to read all over again in Braille my senior year. 
I am so proud I have the ability to read again. Although learning Braille 
was difficult for me, I know it was one of the most important things I’ve 
ever learned. Even though I had to learn twice as much as most people, I 
feel like it made me appreciate literacy more than I ever would have. The 
ability to read is a gift we are given; we should not take it for granted. 
We should all appreciate that we have the ability to read.


Editor’s note: The following article took second prize in the adult division 
of the National Writers Division Contest. Congratulations, Shirley.
Cookie Cutter Christmas!
By Shirley Ann Grauel
I am not the best cook in the world, but I believe I am a pretty good baker! 
My specialty is my Christmas cookies.  They are a true piece of art!  After 
I lost most of my vision, it became difficult to critique my masterpiece 
cookies like I was able to do in the past.  Because of my daughters, I 
learned a lesson about creativity, imagination, and the true meaning of the 
phrase, “Beauty is in the eyes of the
beholder!”  I may have missed out on all of the fun baking and decorating 
cookies with my girls growing up due to my anal ways, but now, because of 
the important lesson I learned, I enjoy the time I spend baking with my 
grandchildren.
My Christmas cookies had to be “true” perfection!  The berries on my 
poinsettia leaves could only be made with red hot candies.  Santa’s mittens 
always had to be red with white cuffs made with coconut frosting.  My bells 
could only have a silver ball as the ringer.  Candy cane cookies could only 
be curved to the left.  My gingerbread boy and girl had a specific dress 
code.  And for heaven sakes, you would never see a blue snowman on display! 
Sprinkles had to match to the color of icing being used.  All colors and 
designs had to be to mom’s satisfaction!  What a Drill Sergeant I must have 
been.
It was past two o’clock in the morning, and I was still struggling to 
decorate my Christmas cookies like I was able to do in the past, before I 
lost my vision to Glaucoma. While holding Santa in my hand, with my nose 
only centimeters from the frosting, trying to paint his eyebrows on just 
right, I mumbled, “I might as well give up.  I can’t see to do anything 
right.”
My daughters Tammy and Audrea said, “Mom, let us finish them for you.  We 
promise to do them just the way you want them done.”  After about another 
hour of frustration I gave in and told the girls to go ahead.  Before I went 
to bed I gave them specific instructions on what colors of icing and what 
candies went with each type of cookie.  “We know!  We know!” was their 
chuckling response.
When I woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was go and examine 
the finished product.  I shrieked, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I had 
enough vision to see the orange Christmas trees, purple mittens, and blue 
poinsettias. At that moment my two darling daughters came into the kitchen 
giggling.  “You really think you’re funny don’t you!” I exclaimed. The girls 
then took off the top layer of cookies to show me they were just trying to 
humor me.  Underneath were my prize cookies!  I gave a big sigh of relief.
That entire day, as hard as I tried, I was not completely able to let go of 
the trick my daughters played on me.  After moping around the house for 
hours, I decided to call it an early night and go to bed. As I lay in bed 
that night, I tried to figure out if I was more upset because of the loss of 
vision, or was it because I realized how anal I had been all those years 
about my Christmas cookies? After hours of meditation with the Lord, I came 
to the realization that I took away some of my girls creative imagination by 
imposing my artistic desires on them.
The next morning while drinking coffee and nibbling on cookies, I told my 
girls how sorry I was for being such a perfectionist.  I told them when they 
got married and would be entertaining others, they would understand. 
Unfortunately so often women are still rated and viewed by what kind of 
wife/mother they are by their cooking/baking abilities.
Well, now I am a grandmother and great-grandmother too!  I look forward to 
bringing all of my cookie cutters to my grandchildren’s home for some baking 
fun!  The boys usually just want to eat the finished product, but the girls 
like to make all kinds of “neat” cookie designs!  My granddaughter Lain is 
my little artist. She can come up with some of the most unique ideas. Mya 
loves to sample the product as we are preparing our masterpiece. I remember 
when she was only two; she would sit on the table, with her bare little feet 
covered in flour, eating the dough!  I would not have it any other way.
It has been fifteen years since that “awakening” Christmas. Since then I 
joined the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The NFB has taught me 
that blindness does not define my character. No matter if you have been 
blind for five, ten, or even seventy five years, you can become all that you 
want to become! Most of all, by learning special techniques, you can still 
accomplish your goals, making blindness nothing more than a mere nuisance.
I still love to display my award-winning Christmas cookies; but now you will 
see one tray with Grandma’s cookies and another with my grandchildren’s 
master artwork. I will be the first one to go to their tray and taste a 
purple tree!  Better than snacking on their baked treats is the great big 
hug I get, along with the “Grandma, I love you!”


My First National Convention
By Erin Magoon
Going to my first national convention was an exciting, thrilling, and 
exhausting time!  I arrived on Saturday, July 4 and spent the evening 
settling in and trying to learn the hotel.  The hotel was set out very well; 
however it was still hard to learn to navigate, even with help from my furry 
fellow companion.
I participated in as much of the convention as I could. There were so many 
meetings and activities to choose from that it was impossible to attend 
everything I would have liked to. I had to make some tough choices, and I 
was able to do most of what I really wanted to do. These activities included 
helping out in the affiliate suite, attending lots of meetings, helping at 
the affiliate table, wandering around, and buying items from the exhibit 
hall and meeting new people. Friends and I also worked out a plan to record 
some meetings for each other so that we could attend more things and share 
the information later. It wasn’t the same as being there, but it was the 
best we could do.
I found it informative to hear from the people involved with technology. It 
was good not only hearing from well-known companies such as Humanware, 
Freedom Scientific, Learning Ally, AT Guys, and Bookshare but also talking 
to new companies (for me) such as Baum, the Independence Market, and HIMS 
INC. It was nice having them all right there so you could do a hands on 
comparison and ask questions about new and old products.
The exhibit hall was not only filled with technology companies but affiliate 
and divisions selling items as well. Visiting the different affiliate tables 
and meeting and talking to new people were loads of fun as well.  Everyone 
was really friendly, outgoing, and helpful when you needed help. The only 
bad part about the exhibit  hall is that it can be hard on your feet and 
your wallet.
I also attended the craft show. I never enjoyed going to arts and craft 
fairs as a child and really did not think I would enjoy it at convention.  I 
was happily very much mistaken.  Unlike at the fairs I remember going to, 
everyone encouraged you to touch and try on their jewelry, smell their soaps 
and lotions, and I even made an origami dog which was really cool.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015, at 7:00 AM the National Federation of the Blind 
broke a Guinness World Record by having the largest umbrella mosaic. We 
spelled out Live the Life You Want in white umbrellas on a blue background. 
It also included a figure from our new logo. That was pretty awesome. My 
only regret is that I was ill and wasn’t sure I would be able to stand in 
the heat for that long. I was waiting in the lobby and outside in spirit.
The actual general session part of the convention was a lot of fun and quite 
different from any state conventions I have attended. It was very 
interesting hearing about what the other states were doing and how many 
scholarship winners they had and so on. I liked the way the resolutions were 
done. Since there were so many of them and it would have taken forever to 
read them all out loud, President Riccobono had the person just read the BE 
IT RESOLVED, and we passed most of them that way. It was also extremely 
interesting to see how it was handled in case you could not tell if the 
resolution had passed or not. There are thousands of people at the 
convention and sometimes it is hard to tell, so the delegates of each state 
poll their membership and announce that state’s official vote. I liked the 
way this was done and now understand the purpose of us sending delegates to 
the convention.
We were able to hear the presidential report given by President Mark 
Riccobono, which covered all the work we have done on a national level this 
past year. This report really lets you know why we are an organization to be 
reckoned with. A sampling of other topics covered were defending our rights 
to parent, accessibility of automatic teller machines, and advancing civil 
rights for the blind. A fun presentation that got the crowd moving was a 
history of our federation music. We sang along with a band that played songs 
that had been written about the different struggles we have had through the 
years. We were not able to hear from National Library Service (NLS), and I 
was very disappointed about that.
One of the differences between the national convention and our state 
convention that I noticed and did not like was that there was not enough 
time to take questions or comments from the floor.  The only exception was 
resolutions, where a lot of discussion took place. While I didn’t like it, I 
do understand that if everything was open for discussion with such a large 
group, we would never get through the agenda.
The banquet was great; I had a great time seeing all the scholarships given 
out and President Riccobono’s first convention speech.  I would have liked 
to have seen some entertainment or a little more fun after the banquet. I 
guess I just didn’t want the night to end.  All in all it was a fabulous 
convention, I am very glad I went, and I will definitely be going back!


BELL: Enriching Children’s Lives
By Carol Coulter in collaboration with Debbie Wunder
On July 20-31, 2015, we held our second Braille Enrichment for Literacy and 
Learning Program (BELL) in St. Louis, Missouri at the Delta Gamma Center. It 
was so exciting to see our enrollment double from the five students last 
year to ten this year. We believe another fact that speaks volumes for the 
program’s success is that four out of the five students returned this year. 
We had children from six to thirteen years old with several in the eight to 
nine year old range.
The students learned a lot of Braille this year. They used the slate and 
stylus, Braille Writers, and some of the students even used electronic 
devices. Depending on where they were with their Braille skills, some of the 
children even learned some Unified English Braille (UEB).
One of our BELL students this year was a second grade boy who had absolutely 
no Braille skills at all; by the end of the second week he had learned the 
entire alphabet and was able to write simple sentences. When the parents 
came that last Friday for a little bit of a show, he read the sentences he 
had written aloud.  He just amazed us all.
We took time out for some physical activities. There is only so long you can 
sit and read and write Braille. In the motor room the children used the 
climbing wall, played Braille games, and sang songs. They also had outdoor 
time when it was not too hot or raining.
We took the children on two field trips. The first one was to the West 
County Safety House. This was a fire house set up to let children really 
experience what it is like when there is an emergency in their home. First 
they talked about fire safety and then a simulation of a tornado. Next they 
took the children to a child’s bedroom and showed them, with a door that 
actually heated up, how to see if it was safe to open that door or not. So 
now if the door is hot how are you going to get out of the house? They 
showed the children how to climb out of the window on to this little pitched 
roof where firemen were waiting to help them. The staff then let the 
children touch several pieces of equipment and explained what it was used 
for. One of the firemen dressed in full gear and let the children hear what 
he sounded like when he talked with his respirator on. He also let them feel 
his entire uniform from his hat to his boots. We commend him for his 
patience. All of the people at the fire house were wonderful with the 
students. It was an outstanding educational experience.
The second field trip was to Soulard Market. This was a farmer’s market, 
where the children were able to feel and smell all kinds of fruits and 
vegetables. There were things familiar to the children such as bananas, 
strawberries, and watermelons, but they also were able to experience less 
familiar things like a whole coconut, a donut peach, eggplant, kumquat, and 
kiwi. We not only felt and smelled the produce, but we bought some to take 
back and have as a snack. What a delicious field trip.
We were able to add a music portion to our BELL Program this year thanks to 
the wonderful mother-daughter team of Shawnee and Halley Korff. They came to 
join us during our second week of BELL all the way from the Kansas City 
area. Shawnee is a music teacher, and she brought all kinds of fun 
percussion instruments for the children to play. The children particularly 
liked the bucket drums and learned about rhythm. Shawnee and Halley also 
taught the children how to play “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder and even 
let them keep their recorders; how generous. We would like to thank Shawnee 
and Halley again, not only for the gifts to the children, but also for 
coming to teach and letting us enjoy Halley’s beautiful violin playing. 
Having the music classes was a huge hit.
Another guest who joined us during the second week was Rosina Foster, 
President of our Parents of Blind Children Division. Rosina visited with 
parents and joined in on our daily activities. She also came baring gifts. 
Rosina brought several Braille books for the children to take home with 
them. Thank you, Rosina, for helping foster Braille literacy and sharing 
your time with us.
A big thank you goes out to the rest of our volunteers:  Debbie Wunder, 
Adnan Gutic, Chris Tisdal, Bryan Schulz, Dacia Cole, Julie McGinnity, Carol 
and Elisabeth Coulter, Rhonda Damron, and Kathy Hurley.
First, thanks to Debbie Wunder for coordinating the BELL Program again this 
year. It is a big job getting both students and staff, because both are 
needed in order to have a successful program. Adnan Gutic volunteered to be 
our Braille instructor again. He turned down a paying job at the Missouri 
School for the Blind for the summer so he could join us at BELL and work for 
free; how admirable, thank you, Adnan.

Chris Tisdal is forever sort of an angel there at Bell, doing anything and 
everything that he can, from carrying heavy stuff for us to working on the 
slate and stylus with the children. He has even cooked a meal or two. Chris 
does it all. Bryan Schulz also returned to help this year. He helped our 
children climb the rock wall, worked on the slate and stylus with some of 
them, and he was just a huge help.
Dacia Cole and Julie McGinnity did a wonderful job working with the children 
on their Braille, whether it be on slate and stylus, Braille Writer, or some 
electronic device. Dacia said that some of these children knew more about 
technology than she did. Julie also let some of the children experience what 
it was like to walk with a guide dog. Carol Coulter tried to keep everything 
organized, helped supervise children, grocery shopped, and did whatever else 
Debbie needed her to do. Of course those of us from Columbia couldn’t have 
gotten there if it wasn’t for Elisabeth Coulter. Thank you, Elisabeth, for 
safely getting a very packed van to and from St. Louis. She also made a 
special trip to St. Louis to drive for our first field trip.
A special thank you also goes out to Rhonda Damron and Kathy Hurley. Even 
though they had brought their children, they both helped with driving for 
field trips, running errands, and helping out in any way we needed.  Kathy 
also did a craft project with the students. Once again, thank you to all who 
helped make this year’s BELL a success and we hope we did not leave anyone 
out.
If anyone ever wondered if the BELL Program was worth doing, then you should 
know that one of the parents was so excited that she called the Louisiana 
Center for the Blind and talked to Pam Allen. She said I want someone who is 
definitely in authority to know what kind of an experience we had with the 
BELL Program. I told all these other people but they may not realize how 
wonderful it was so I want to make sure that the national people understand 
that this was just really super. The mother was a mobility instructor so it 
wasn’t like this was her first contact with the blindness field, and so she 
was blown away to get any kind of service at all. This was a person who 
knows what good service should be and still believed that it was so far 
above the rest that it was worthy of comment.
The students learned a lot but so did we. We had a great time and thank you 
all for making it happen this year. We hope we can offer the BELL Program 
again next year but it takes funding so if you believe that this is a 
worthwhile program please help by pledging your support both financially and 
by volunteering. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do BELL in two locations!


An Inspiring Woman
By Carol Coulter in collaboration with Kathe Hooton
Helen Parker was born on April 15, 1921, in Ft. Scott, Kansas. She has one 
brother and three sisters, one of which was her twin. They lived in the 
country until she was in junior high when they moved to town.  Her father 
was a steam engineer for a flour milling company in Kansas, where they grew 
lots of wheat.

Helen worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at the hospital in 
Neosho, Missouri after graduating from high school, and that sparked her 
interest in nursing.  She really wanted to go to school to become a 
Registered Nurse, but because of the cost her parents were not able to send 
her.  During WWII she worked as a CNA at the Army hospital in Ft. Crowder, 
which was located south of Neosho, Missouri.

In 1940 Helen met her husband at a restaurant which had a dance hall 
attached to it.  Someone was playing the juke box and her husband asked her 
to dance.  That’s when their romance began.  They were married in 1941. They 
had seven children, nine grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.

Helen said she began to lose her sight gradually, and she thinks by around 
1960 she had completely lost her vision due to retinitis pigmentosa.  Helen 
said her husband was a great deal of help during this time, and the children 
learned to help out as well. Her husband passed away in 1987.

Helen loves reading and has also done a bit of traveling.  She has traveled 
to London, England; Rome, and Hawaii with her son and daughter-in-law and 
has made several trips to the west coast to see family.  She said European 
people seem much friendlier to sight-impaired people than those in the 
United States.

Helen was and still is very active. For thirty plus years she swam twice a 
week at the university with friends but finally gave it up.  Helen plays 
violin at her church fund raisers and is a popular feature for them.  She is 
also very committed to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and does 
all she can to get new members to come to her local chapter.  She travels 
around the area, speaking at schools and talking on the radio about 
blindness when she can.

A good friend helped Helen write her memoirs, which was meant mostly for her 
family, but I am told it is a very interesting book.  She said she had a 
hundred
copies printed; they are all gone, and she has been asked for more. Helen, 
if you have more printed please save one for me; I would love to read it. 
Helen is a very humble person and says she doesn't know why anyone would 
want to read about her, but how she managed to navigate having a big family 
and raising them as a blind woman does make interesting reading.

Helen is ninety-four years old and lives alone in her house in Rolla. She 
states that she is not afraid to live alone even though she is totally 
blind. Helen said God has taken care of her all her life, and He is not 
going to quit now.  She is a very good cook and enjoys having people over to 
eat with her. Helen has so many friends who take her wherever she wants to 
go; she says she is too busy to get lonely. The South Central Chapter is 
very lucky to have such a go-getter as their leader. Kathe Hooton, a fellow 
chapter member said, “Anyone who is feeling down only has to visit with 
Helen for a little while and they will feel so much better.  She is so 
cheerful and positive.” What a beautiful thing to say, and I would like to 
thank Kathe for her help with this article. I couldn’t have done it without 
her help.



Upcoming Convention
By Gene Coulter
Our Springfield Chapter is delighted to invite you to the fifty-fourth 
annual convention of the National Federation of the Blind of Missouri from 
April 1–3, 2016, to help us celebrate the fourtieth birthday of the NFB 
Springfield Chapter. The chapter continues to work hard to spread our motto 
to the Springfield area...live the life you want!
In 1838 the town of Springfield was established. National attention was 
given to Springfield in 1858 when the city became a stop on the Butterfield 
Overland Mail, a stagecoach line from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco.
Springfield is recognized as the birthplace of Route 66. In 1938 Route 66 
became the first US numbered road in America — the “Mother Road” — 
stretching from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Coast.

Our convention will be at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 2431 North 
Glenstone, with room rates of $84.00 per night plus 12.6% tax for one to 
four people in a room. To make reservations call 417-831-3131. The costs for 
the planned meals are unchanged. In fact our lunches and prayer breakfast in 
many cases will be less expensive than the hotel’s own restaurant. The 
registration forms will be posted on the NFBMO.org website in mid-October.


PLEDGE OF THE
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
I pledge to participate actively in the effort of the National Federation of 
the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for the blind: to 
support the policies and programs of the Federation and to abide by its 
Constitution.


Members and friends of the National Federation of the Blind raising 
umbrellas to spell,
"Live the life you want”


Board of Directors
National Federation of the Blind of Missouri

Officers:
Gary Wunder, President                                 Shelia Wright, First 
Vice President
Julie McGinnity, Second Vice President         Dacia Cole, Recording 
Secretary
Erin Magoon, Corresponding Secretary        Carol Coulter, Treasurer

Board Members:
Eugene Coulter                                   Gene Fleeman
Gary Horchem                                     Dan Flasar
Chris Tisdal                                         Melissa Smith
Daniel Garcia

Chapter Presidents
Debbie Wunder, Columbia                            Helen Parker, South 
Central
Rita Lynch, Jefferson City                               Erin Magoon, 
Springfield
Ruby Polk, Kansas City                                   Bryan Schulz, St. 
Louis
Chris Tisdal, Lewis and Clark                         Dan Keller, Show-Me 
State Chapter
Roger Crome, Mineral Area Chapter

Blind Missourian Editor Carol Coulter
Proof Readers Helen Stevens, Shelia Wright, and Gary Wunder
Read by Elisabeth Coulter





NFB of Missouri
1504 Furlong Dr.
Columbia, MO  65202





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