[Nfbf-l] The History of 'Good Cheer" Magazine

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GOOD  CHEER MAGAZINE:  OVER 70 YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG 
What  began as a pen pal newsletter between a few friends before World War 
II,  eventually evolved into a thriving magazine for and by people who are  
deaf-blind. 
In  1933 or 1935, Breta Cornelius, of Topeka, Kansas, was the founder and 
first  editor of Good CHEER.   GOOD CHEER did not have a formal  beginning.   
It seems that sometime before World War II, Breta and a  few braille letter 
pals began sending a braille letter from one to another as a  pass-on. 
In  the 1940's, Breta married at an early age (around 16), and her husband 
was  sighted.   She had a hard time bearing her only child, Ruth, and  
suffered severe ailments after that.   She was gravely paralyzed for a  while, 
and also suffered from serious eye and ear trouble.   It seems  that she 
recovered from the paralysis before long, but her hearing was lost  either 
entirely or very largely.   However, she retained some  sight--just a little; not 
enough to be really useful. 
Breta  eventually took instructions in braille from a blind home teacher 
named  Mrs.  Hilty, and they were lifelong friends. 
One  person who was there in the beginning to help Breta start the Good 
Cheer was  Aunt Myrtle Pond, who served as editor of "Chimes from the Heart" 
for many  years.  She was loved by all who knew her, but there’s not very much 
known  about her life. 
Breta  arranged to have the magazine printed at the American Printing House 
for the  Blind (APH).  The director, Miss Marjorie Hooper, agreed to let 
Breta send  in the manuscript in braille.  Thanks to that splendid concession, 
we  deaf-blind people were able to prepare the manuscript for each issue 
without  secretarial help.  Thus it was easy for Breta to appoint a number of  
assistant editors, each of whom was responsible for preparing a section of 
the  magazine.  They would then mail the braille manuscript to her home in  
Topeka, where she assembled each issue and added a very brief message before 
 sending the material to the APH for printing and mailing. 
The  APH sent its quarterly bills to Breta's sister, Mrs.  Martha Mason, 
who  also lived in Topeka.  She was listed as GOOD CHEER's treasurer.   Those 
officers continued to serve CHEER voluntarily. 
Breta  was not widowed until just a few years before her own death.  Her 
own  health was quite poor.   
Until  circumstances obliged Jack Murphey to assume the entire job of 
editing and  managing the magazine--a very complicated task, Jack, of St.  Louis, 
 Missouri, was the second editor.   He held this position from October  of 
1963 until 1980, when he had to retire because of ill health.  Jack  
Murphey, who was the second deaf-blind person to graduate from college, was  blind 
and severely hard-of-hearing back then. 
Jack's  wife, Alma was blind and the Treasurer of CHEER.  They were a 
wonderful  couple, much loved by the readers, who enjoyed all the stories of 
their large  and lively family as the children grew up. 
Jack  passed away in July of 1983, and we are so lucky that he was able to 
write his  history of GOOD CHEER earlier that year.  Alma remained the 
treasurer of  CHEER until her death in 1995. 
Breta's  sweet daughter, Ruth Cornelius Parrish, was CHEER's secretary. 
Esther  Williams Condon originated the "Birthday Bank" as a means of 
raising a little  money for CHEER through voluntary contributions from grateful 
readers who wished  to have their birthdays mentioned in the magazine.  True, 
not many people  sent Esther such gifts for CHEER, yet her work did bring an 
appreciable sum each  quarter.  For example, she raised a total of $22 for 
CHEER in Sept.   1969, and $80 the following December.   No earlier records 
along this  line are available, but it is clear that Esther's so-called 
"Birthday Bank" was  a real help during her time.  Bless her.  She was a kind, 
humorous,  very charitable older lady.  She died in her late  70's. 
It’s  not known when Rev.  Siberson entered the picture, but he was truly a 
great  friend of the deaf-blind.  He invented the "alphabet glove", which 
Breta  found most helpful, and which many others learned to use.  Rev.   
Siberson was also helpful in raising funds for GOOD CHEER. 
Miss  Annette Dinsmore, who was employed by the American Foundation for the 
Blind, was  another valuable and faithful friend of GOOD CHEER and the 
deaf-blind in  general.  With only her guide dog as a companion, she traveled 
throughout  the country, visiting deaf-blind clients and instructing agency 
workers in ways  of serving their deaf-blind clients.  Annette was 
instrumental in getting  free Perkins braillers and Tellatouch machines for some 
deaf-blind people, and  she may have been directly responsible for persuading the 
Foundation to give  GOOD CHEER $250 annually for many years.  That big check 
once paid for  about a fourth of CHEER's annual printing bill.  No more, of 
 course.   The cost of printing braille reading matter has at least  
tripled during recent years.   
Betty  Bristol was the third editor of Good Cheer from 1980 until 1990.   
She  knew Breta Cornelius, and was involved with CHEER prior to Jack 
Murphey's  becoming editor.  Betty, who was sighted and hearing, was married to Bob  
Bristol (her second marriage) who was deaf-blind.  Betty was fluent in  
braille and often put materials in braille for deaf-blind folks.  She lived  in 
Idaho Falls, Idaho, back then.

Rod Macdonald, who is  deaf-blind,   joined the "family" about 1979.  At 
that time Daisy  Fleming was the "Chimes" editor, Jerrie Lawhorn was editor of 
“Information Desk"  and there were several others who were 
assistant/contributing editors.

In  the spring of 1990 Betty needed to step down and asked Rod to try to 
find  another editor.  He said he would take it on for awhile.  Betty agreed  
to take the Chimes column and Barb Carson took the "News of General Interest 
 “column.  Several other people took various columns for various periods of 
 time.  Florine Davis was the Birthday lady.

Rod did a grand job for  15 years and decided to retire as editor to work 
on other projects.    Since the summer of 2005, CHEER has been in the hands 
of Rita  Kersh. 
Rita  is blind and hard of hearing from Usher Syndrome Type 2.   She became 
 a part of the Good Cheer family in 2003 when she submitted an article 
after  suddenly going totally deaf in one ear.   She is a former  rehabilitation 
teacher for the blind and was a Deaf-blind Specialist in  Mississippi. 
Susan  Lascek, former Helen Keller National Center representative, was 
treasurer for  several years while Rod was editor.   She resigned due to new job 
 duties with HKNC and the treasurer’s job was turned over to B.  J.   
LeJeune.   B. J. is coordinator of the older deaf-blind services  through 
Mississippi State University.   She has worked in the  blindness and deaf-blindness 
fields all of her career. 
Ron  Ocken has been a long time reader and became the editor of the Good 
Cheer Post  Office about two years ago.   Ron lives in Omaha,  Nebraska.   He 
is retired after 29 consecutive years as a  programmer/analyst with the 
State of Iowa, 3M in St.  Paul, Thermo King in  Bloomington, MN and First Data 
Resources in Omaha.   He has congenital  optic atrophy and auditory 
neuropathy  
Betty  Bristol continued to be editor of “Chimes from the Heart” until her 
death in  November 2008. 
Dona  Sauerburger, a well known professional in teaching orientation and 
mobility to  people who are deaf-blind, has recently joined the Good Cheer 
team as assistant  editor.   We look forward to reading about her experiences 
working  with people in the deaf-blind community. 
Good  CHEER, for a few years, included material that represented the AADB 
magazine  before they started their own (The Voice, now the Deaf-Blind 
American) in  1962.  The organization that is now AADB also had a magazine of 
sorts in  the 1940's called the Braille bulletin Board.

Good CHEER was never a  definite project with a beginning, a plan of 
development, a reasoned  operation.  Things just came and went in a kind of 
haphazard way, with  nobody keeping score.   Isn’t it amazing how this informal 
little  magazine, with all volunteer help from too many people to list, has 
been going  for over sixty years?  Breta insisted that it always be free to 
the  readers, and it always has been. 
The  Good Cheer Magazine is currently mailed to the following countries: 
USA, Canada,  Egypt, Romania, Bangladesh, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Ireland, 
Singapore,  Central Africa, East Africa, Israel, Australia, China, England, 
and South  Africa. 
For  more information about subscribing to the Good Cheer Magazine can 
contact the  editor at _hoosierrita at gmail.com_ (mailto:hoosierrita at gmail.com) . 

'Good Cheer' magazine
Editor  Rita Kersh
Email.  _hoosierrita at gmail.com_ (mailto:hoosierrita at gmail.com) 

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{Rod  MacDonald assisted with the facts contained in this  article}