[NFBofSC] Positive Note 1735

[David Houck]

November 13, 2019

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

From:  Frank Coppel, President

Positive Note 1735

Greetings Fellow Federationists:

 

              I am certain by now Board members of RBRCCB and the NFB of SC
as well as Chapter and Division Presidents have received their letter
regarding the Rocky Bottom Christmas Board Retreat on December 6-8.  If you
have not done so already, please notify the State Office as soon as possible
of your intentions for attending this Retreat, in order that we may have an
accurate head count to purchase food for the four meals being served
(Saturday breakfast, lunch, dinner, and Sunday breakfast) as well as making
the necessary sleeping accommodations.  We will celebrate the Christmas
season together on Saturday evening.  If you would like to participate in
the gift exchange, please bring a gift with a value of at least $10 to be
placed under the Christmas tree.  Men should bring a man's gift, and women
should bring a woman's gift.  Additionally, it would be wonderful if people
would bring baked items for the Christmas party such as cookies, cakes and
pies.  As stated in the letter written to board members and chapter and
division presidents a week or so ago, I am asking each of you who are
planning to attend the Christmas Board Retreat to contribute $20 which will
greatly help to defray much of the cost for the food and travel for the
weekend.  Your support regarding this matter is greatly appreciated.  

              I am confident we will have near 100 percent of our board
members in attendance and we will have a wonderful time Saturday evening as
we celebrate the Christmas season together.  

              I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for not
reporting in last week's Positive Note the death of Leon Hines Sr., who was
a longtime member of the Columbia chapter.  Mr. Hines was a hard worker in
the chapter especially during the chapter's annual chicken BBQ fundraiser
where he always finished in the top three in ticket sales.  All of us in the
NFB of SC need to keep the Hines' family in our thoughts and prayers.  

              I am sure many of you know my now Donald Capps, our longtime
leader in the NFB of SC, passed away Wednesday night, November 6.  On
Monday, November 11, the funeral was held for Dr. Capps.  I was very honored
to be one of the pallbearers and also to make remarks during the funeral
service.  I have asked Parnell Diggs, the immediate past President of the
NFB of SC, to share with us in this week's Positive Note his thoughts
regarding Dr. Capps.  

              This week's spotlight falls on perhaps the most distinguished
Federation leader South Carolina has ever produced, Dr. Donald C. Capps.
But this is not to tell the story of his long life of 91 years in sequence
of events from start to finish.  Instead, I will use this opportunity to
convey a few thoughts about Dr. Capps, the man in retrospect in 2019.

              Dr. Capps absolutely, dearly loved the National Federation of
the Blind.  It was so connected with his life that it could not be separated
from his being.  He first came to the Federation in the mid 1950'swhen he
was but in his 20's.  He attended his first chapter meeting at about the age
of 25and his first national convention at the age of 27.

              He attended his last meeting in October of 2019.  In recent
years, it had been increasingly difficult for Dr. Capps to attend Federation
meetings due to a number of health issues.  For him to get out of the house
and get to the Federation Center, in October 2019 for example, required
tremendous exertional effort on his part.  We now know that the October
meeting was to be his last, as he passed away some 27 days later.  

              It was not always physically difficult for Dr. Capps to attend
meetings.  At the age of 27, he and Mrs. Capps traveled cross country by car
to attend the San Francisco convention in 1956.  There he met Dr. tenBroek
(then President and Founder of the NFB) and Kenneth Jernigan who would
become one of Dr. Capp's best friends until Dr. Jernigan's death in 1998.
Within ten years of attending his first national convention, Dr. Capps had
begun working on initiatives that many of us now take for granted.  For
example, the Federation Center was dedicated in 1961, when Dr. Capps was 33
years old.  Dr. Capps saw the need to improve programs for the blind in
South Carolina.  The person who was running the Division for the Blind which
was in the South Carolina Department of Public Welfare said that, "That
young Don Capps had better watch his step."  But Dr. Capps was not to be
deterred.  Along with his brother-in-law Gene Rogers, Dr. Capps wrote the
legislation creating the SC Commission for the Blind, which was established
in May of 1966.  At that time Dr. Capps was 37 years old.  Over the next
five decades, Dr. Capps continued to work tirelessly on initiatives that
would improve the quality of life for blind people across the nation and
around the world.  You do not have to be a longtime member of the Federation
to know of the dozens of bills enacted in South Carolina in which Dr. Capps
played an essential part.

              Dr. Capps was about 50 years of age when we established what
was then Rocky Bottom Camp of the Blind (later Rocky Bottom Retreat and
Conference Center of the Blind).  Dr. Capps was about 55 when , in his
wisdom, he was responsible for hiring a young aspiring professional, David
Houck, and these two gentlemen worked closely together for the next 36
years.

              I could easily work this into a book, but there will be other
opportunities to talk about the life of Dr. Capps, so I will end my remarks
by telling you one more thing that you should know about Dr. Capps.  He
believed in young people and the importance of bringing youth into the
Federation.  At his funeral, Dan Frye articulately shared memories of his
childhood, having met Dr. Capps when Dan was about 13. Dr. Capps while
attending a Columbia Chapter membership banquet in April of 1989 was the
first person to approach me, shake my hand, and welcome me to the Federation
Center on that fateful evening.  I was a 20 year old student at the
University of South Carolina, and Dr. Capps (at the age of 60) had already
enjoyed a successful career of nearly four decades at Colonial Life and
Accident Insurance Company.  Dr. Capps had retired from Colonial Life just a
few years before.  He was involved in the work of the Federation on a
full-time basis, spending many hours each day working to improve the quality
of life of his blind brothers and sisters.  He never missed an opportunity
to lead a blind person to the Federation, but this was especially true when
it came to young blind people.  There are Federation leaders in South
Carolina and across the nation who came to be part of the Federation after
being recruited by Dr. Capps.  He will be known as one of the greatest
chapter organizers and membership recruiters that the Federation has ever
known.  

              From the age of 25 to the age of 91, Dr. Capps gave every
ounce of energy he could muster to the work of the National Federation of
the Blind.  I hope that others will follow the example set by Donald Capps
on giving of our time, energy and talent to this big program of work with
the blind.  But the bar set by Dr. Capps is very high, as 66 years of
dedicated service is a long time to spend in the furtherance of any cause.
But from what I have learned from Dr. Capps in my 30 years of working with
him, I think it would be safe to make the following estimation.  Dr. Capps
would be pleased with those who commit to work with the National Federation
of the Blind if they would simply do their fair share and then some.

              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.  

 

Final Thought:   Transforming our dreams into reality:  A unique leader in
the federation, Dr. Donald C. Capps touched the lives of thousands of blind
people in Columbia, South Carolina, the nation and the world.  He will be
remembered as a builder of local chapters, state affiliates, Founder of the
Federation Center of the Blind in 1961 and Rocky Bottom Retreat and
Conference Center of the Blind in 1979 as well as a master recruiter of
blind people into the Federation.

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