[Nfbofsc] Positive Note 1618

[David Houck]

August 14, 2017 

Memo To:  Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents &
Others

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1618

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              On Thursday and Friday of this week many of us will be
traveling to Greenville to attend the sixty-first annual State Convention of
the NFB of SC.  The State Office has been extremely busy during the past few
weeks producing print and Braille agendas, Braille menus, name tags, and
handling many other details for the convention.  As many of you know, David
and Darleen Houck will not be with us at the convention this year as they
will be taking a much needed and deserved Alaska cruise from August 12-24.
Catherine Williams of the Columbia Chapter will be responsible for
registration and although we will miss the Houcks presence at the
convention, I know Ms. Williams will do an outstanding job.  If you want a
sneak preview of the agenda, it has been posted on the NFB of SC list serve,
web site, and Newsline.  I would encourage you to please check out the
exhibits this year after you register and pick up your convention packets.
A few of the exhibitors we will have this year are VFO (formally Freedom
Scientific), 3D Photo Works, AIRA, an assistive technology company, and
Vision Accessibility.  The theme for the convention this year is "you can
live the life you want". As we have done in past years, we will be
conducting our annual banquet fundraiser Saturday evening, August 19, to
help fund the NFB of SC.  We need individuals as well as chapters to step up
and contribute during the banquet which will greatly help to fund our state
organization.  We will have door prize drawings throughout the convention as
usual. Of course, Lenora Robertson of Rock Hill is the Chairperson of the
Door Prize Committee.  All door prizes should be given to Lenora soon after
you arrive to the State Convention.  As we have done for many years, we will
be conducting a memorial service and devotion on Sunday Morning of the
Convention.   Please give Dorothy Barksdale names of individuals in your
chapter who have passed away since last year's state convention.  The 2017
NFB of SC convention promises to be one of the best ever and I am looking
forward to seeing many of you this weekend.  

              The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is
not the characteristic that defines you or your future.  Every day, we raise
the expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams.  You can live the life you want:
blindness is not what holds you back.  Joining me for comments in this
Positive Note is the President Emeritus of the NFB of SC.  Here is Dr.
Capps.  

              With the state convention being held in Greenville, our
thoughts turn to the Greenville Chapter and its President, JW Smith.  I'm
sure the Greenville Chapter will be an excellent host under the direction of
JW Smith.  We are honored to spotlight JW who is a very loyal federationist.
We also appreciate the fact that his wife, Ora Bell is very much involved in
federation activities.  JW Smith is President of the Greenville Chapter of
the NFB of SC.  He has served in this position since 2004 and he has also
served on the NFB of SC Board of Directors for about five years.  Born and
raised in Greenville County, he was brought up in Fountain Inn.  He went to
the public schools, graduating from Dryson High School.  While in high
school he played trombone in the school band.  After graduation JW attended
Greenville Tech studying meat cutting.  He spent ten years as a licensed
blind vending stand operator in the DHEC building.  JW and Ora Bell have
been married for 27 years and have eight children, 32 grandchildren and
twice as many great-grandchildren.  JW Smith first learned of the NFB of SC
when he and Louise Watson, a member of the Rock hill Chapter, were in
training at the Commission for the Blind and Louise invited him to attend a
Columbia Chapter meeting.  JW then joined the Greenville Chapter in 2003 and
the rest is history.  JW has attended five national conventions and has not
missed one state convention since he became a member.  Vary active even
outside the Greenville Chapter, JA and Ora Bell use the chapter's van,
transporting the blind for fishing trips, senior camps, and children's
camps.  They are active in various projects at Rocky Bottom including
hauling off trash from the property, working on Fun Day and attending the
Christmas Board Retreats at RBRCCB.  JW's hobbies included riding a
motorcycle in his younger days when he had sight and fishing.  JW and Ora
Bell Smith are members of the Old Shady Oak Baptist Church in Simpsonville
where JW is a Trustee Emeritus as he assists with a number of church and
youth activities.  As you can see, JW is quite prolific in a number of areas
but especially in his work with the state's blind.

 

Final Thought:  There are people who make things happen, there are people
who watch things happen, and there are people who say, "What happened?"
Which are you?

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