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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>All,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>I am not certain if anyone knows this fellow, but I thought
because he participated in the Section 508 Coordinators job, was a skier, and happened
to be blind, it was worth forwarding this message sent to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Michelle</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>FYI</span><span
style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> Sadly,
many of us at the Department of State are devastated to learn of the passing of
Paul Schafer. The email from his supervisor says, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i>“I know that this is very unexpected news. The
week of April 7<sup>th</sup> Paul had a stroke. He came out of that
stroke with both his sense of humor and his senses all intact and quickly
recovered the strength of his left side. He was at the Virginia
outpatient center and because he had no family he was released to stay with me
and my husband. Paul was doing so well that we all guessed that by the
time we could get to his first outpatient therapy assessment they would say
that he should just get back to work.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i> </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i>Sometime during early Sunday morning Paul died peacefully in
his sleep. I can only guess that he another stroke.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i> </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i>My office will be sending out a Department notice once we
have a location to do a celebration of life. Paul will be
cremated, as no arrangements or will or advance directives were made.
Donations would be gratefully accepted toward the cost of his cremation and
then to an organization that trains guide dogs.</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i> </i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'><i>I felt privileged to get to know Paul more and I know he
will be greatly missed for his humor, his humanity and the wonderful work he
did for us.”</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Paul
has been a tremendous mentor to me and was always incredibly generous with his
time and his knowledge. I will miss him personally and professionally, as
I am sure everyone who has worked with him will. I don’t know if you were
aware that he was a black slope skier and had his own YouTube channel,
“blindskierdude” : <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/BlindSkierDude"
target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/BlindSkierDude</a>; it includes his
last trip at the end of February. I watched it – first of all, I wouldn’t
have been on the slope, but if I had been, there were about 5 or 6 spots where
I would certainly have gone into hysterics and given up. But not
Paul! As a sighted person who is terrified of skiing (my ski lessons
did not go well), I was in total awe of his strength of character, his courage,
and his <i>joie de vivre</i>. As I mentioned to colleagues who have
been working closely with me along with Paul on the video captioning project,
Paul “saw” life in ways many of us could envy and attacked it head on – his
skiing was just one expression of his amazingly positive attitude. We
will miss him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Please
share this information with anyone who you think should know. Once I have
the information about the event to celebrate of his life, I will let you know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Sadly,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Leslie<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:.5in'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><i><span
style='color:#0000CC'>Leslie Brant Teixeira</span></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><span
style='color:#0000CC'>Project Manager, Video Captioning Implementation (VCI)
Project</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><span
style='color:#0000CC'>M</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><span
style='color:#0000CC'>Department of State</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><i><span
style='color:#0000CC'><a href="tel:202-736-7150" target="_blank">202-736-7150</a>
(6-7150)</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:red'>link for improved email
etiquette and management:</span><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:blue'> <a href="http://emailcharter.org/" target="_blank">Save Our
Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter!</a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
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</blockquote>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for
the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the
use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and
subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email
immediately. <o:p></o:p></p>
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