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<DIV>Greetings to all!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Another pioneer that believed in persons with vision loss.</DIV>
<DIV>Had the same philosoby as the Federation!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Joe </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>From: Pamela Gaston</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri";
FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY:
inline'><B>Subject:</B>
#CBVIStrong2020 - George F. Meyer</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri";
FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR:
rgb(0,0,0)"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR:
rgb(26,26,26); LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt">CBVI’s
second Executive Director, Dr. George F. Meyer was born in the state of
Washington. After losing most of his eyesight to a childhood illness, he
attend
the state school for the blind. Shortly before entering the 9</SPAN><SUP
style="FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR: rgb(26,26,26); LETTER-SPACING:
0.1pt; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps:
inherit">th</SUP><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, sans-serif; COLOR:
rgb(26,26,26); LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt">
grade at the age of 16, he read an American Association of Instructors for
the
Blind report on the success of sending older blind students to a community
high
school. Subsequently he advocated vigorously and finally received the
reluctant
permission of the school's superintendent to attend public school.
</SPAN><BR></DIV>
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<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>Young
George memorized the long walk to the nearest city, Vancouver, Washington,
and
enrolled in the local high school. But solving the travel problem was only
the
first step. </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a'>The janitor and one
of
the partially-seeing boys read assignments to him late into the evenings in
a
furnace room, the only place in the school with light that late at night.
His
readers took turns dictating the Latin textbooks letter by letter since
neither
had studied Latin. With their help, George hand-transcribed his own Braille
books. His drive for academic excellence resulted in his being
<SPAN> </SPAN>valedictorian of the 1914 graduating class of the
Vancouver,
Washington High School and he went on to receive his Phi Beta Kappa key at
the
University of Washington where he graduated cum laude. </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>Understandably,
Dr. Meyer turned into a strong advocate of public school education for blind
children. In the early Twenties he organized the first such classes in
Minneapolis and in Seattle; returning to Minneapolis, he spent 15 years as
supervisor of classes for the blind before moving east in 1936 to become
Executive Director of the New Jersey State Commission for the Blind.
</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>He
considered New Jersey the perfect place for his ideas to flourish because it
was
one of the few populous states that had not organized a residential school
for
the blind and was therefore among the pioneers in day school education The
first
public school class opened in Newark in 1911 as an initiative of the
Commission’s first Executive Director, the energetic and imaginative Lydia
Y.
Hayes and a teacher named Janet Gilchrist Patterson. </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>Ms.
Hayes was largely responsible for shaping the state's policy towards
education
of students who were blind. She began the practice of having the state pay
for
reader service for blind students, rallied a corps of volunteers to produce
braille textbooks, and thriftily saw to it that when one student finished a
textbook, it was handed on to the next. Blind children in rural areas, where
there was not enough demand to organize classes, were sent to residential
schools in the neighboring states of New York or Pennsylvania but were
encouraged to return home for their high school work. </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>Soon
after George Meyer took over the job after Miss Hayes' *retirement as the
Commission's Executive Director, he launched a new service, the itinerant
teaching program, which made it possible for blind children to attend local
schools even in small and scattered communities. His furthered developed
educational program started in 1943 with a single traveling teacher. It was
so
soundly conceived and developed that it became known as The New Jersey Plan
and
served as a model for other states when the day school movement began its
spurt
of nationwide growth a decade later. </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>During
his leadership of the Commission, George Meyer actively served on many
committees and boards including American Association of Workers for the
Blind;
The White House Committee on the Blind and Partially Sighted and the U.S.
Advisory Board on Old Age and Survivors’ Disability Benefits. In 1959, his
innovative leadership in the field of blindness services led to his being
selected as the recipient of the prestigious Migel Medal by Helen Keller.
<SPAN> </SPAN> </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>George
Meyer, who remained in office until five years before his death in late
1969,
was steadfast in his belief that a public school education was a realistic
and
necessary introduction to adulthood. </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'>(*Lydia
Hayes voluntarily stepped down in 1937 to supervise the Home Teaching
Program)</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 12.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a;
LETTER-SPACING: 0.1pt'></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a; LETTER-SPACING:
0.1pt'><B><U>Attachments:</U></B> </SPAN></P>
<P style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
color=#1a1a1a face="Arial, sans-serif"><SPAN style="LETTER-SPACING: 0px">The
text of Helen Keller's letter to George Meyer and his
response</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a; LETTER-SPACING:
0.1pt'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #1a1a1a; LETTER-SPACING:
0.1pt'>Article
written by George Meyer and published in the October 1940; Education of the
Exceptional Child: </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>The Visually
Handicapped
</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR:
black'><B><U>Photos:</U></B> </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Photo of George Meyer
on
the right, standing next to then NJ Governor Robert Meyner in the Commission’s
Board Room at 1100 Raymond Boulevard </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Photo of the first
page of
Meyer’s “Thank You” letter to Helen Keller re: his having been selected to
receive the Migel Medal </SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'></SPAN> </P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>December 1959 Photo:
Helen
Keller Pays Tribute, with the caption: Highest award possible in work for
blind
was presented on Oct. 22<SUP>nd</SUP> to George Meyer (second from left)
Executive Director of the NJ Commission for the Blind and Miss Ruth Barrett
(second from right) Secretary, Work for the Blind, American Bible Society.
The
presentation of the Migel Medal was made simultaneously by Mrs. Robert
Meyner
(left) wife of the governor of NJ and Norman Vincent Peale (right) well
known
author at the offices of the American Foundation for the Blind, Manhattan
</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Photo of the Meyer
Center
(1960s) at 1100 Raymond Boulevard; there is a gentleman at a desk amidst
rows of
shelves that nearly reach the ceiling and are filled with braille
books</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>Photo of First NJ
Randolph-Sheppard blind vendor location opened at the Essex County
Courthouse in
1937; there is a man and woman standing by a display case filled with
cigar boxes with a sign overhead that reads "Luxury Tobacco"</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><BR></SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'>George Meyer's
headshot
portrait hanging in the CBVI Board Room; he has brown hair with grey
sideburns,
his hair is slicked back and he is wearing the ice glazed lens spectacles he
can
be seen wearing in all photos</SPAN></P>
<P
style='FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman",serif; BACKGROUND:
white; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt'><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black'></SPAN> </P><BR>
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