[Ohio-talk] Looking back as we March forward toward Independence!

[Cheryl Fields]

Hello Fello Federationist!

The excitement is building as convention draws near.
History will be made this weekend at the DoubleTree South!
 As we March toward Independence, I thought it would be good to take a
look back as we celebrate 70 years of the nfb Ohio affiliate. Reflect
and enjoy what Barbara Pierce wrote in last years Buckeye Bulletin...
Thank you Barbara!

Whispers from the Past
 by Barbara Pierce

         Several years ago Eric Duffy asked me to take on the project of
 dredging up what I could of the affiliate's history. It seemed a huge
 job, but I recognized that it was less difficult for me than for
 almost anyone else because I had lived through a good bit of that
 history and therefore could presumably remember a lot of it. That has
 proven to be an unreliable assumption, but in any case I took on the
 assignment.
         I knew that we had remarkably few documents here in Ohio, so I
 decided to begin my search by looking at what the tenBroek Library at
 the Jernigan Institute had in its files. We all know that Ohio was one
 of the original seven states (California, Illinois, Minnesota,
 Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) that came together to
 form the National Federation of the Blind on November 16, 1940. Glenn
 Hoffman of the Mutual Federation of the Blind of Cleveland represented
 Ohio at that meeting. Efforts were clearly made after that meeting to
 unite various organizations of the blind across the state into a
 single organization, which seems to have been called the Ohio
 Federation of the Blind, according to a letter from Glenn Hoffman to
 Dr. tenBroek in 1947. Harry Stiller was apparently the president from
 1940 to 1947. A constitution was adopted on January 12, 1947, forming
 the Ohio Council of the Blind, which was incorporated and listed with
 the Secretary of State's office in February of 1947. Paul Clark of
 Canton was  elected as president and Emma Warrent as secretary of the
 new organization.
         Nothing more is said about officers until Clyde Ross of Akron was
 elected president in 1949 or perhaps 1950. We have a 1962 profile of
 Ross from the Akron Beacon Journal that says he was president of the
 OCB for thirteen years, and we know that George Bonsky was elected
 president of the OCB in 1963. Ross was elected second vice president
 of the National Federation of the Blind in 1956 and served on the NFB
 executive committee for ten years. He tried to make peace between the
 two sides during the civil war—he was good friends with George Card,
 who early on sided with the states fighting for more power for state
 organizations. Ross was dropped from national leadership and won the
 OCB presidency by a shrinking margin in 1962. At that time officers
 were elected by the executive board, which consisted of one member
 from each chapter. Ross had been winning seventeen votes to five
 (twenty-two chapters). In 1962 the OCB was down to twenty chapters.
 That year his margin of victory was twelve to eight, and the next year
 he lost, apparently to George Bonsky.
         George Bonsky apparently served as president from 1963 to 1968, when
 Alfonso Smith was elected.  Smith was also a member of the NFB
 executive committee, but I have no idea for how long. He died suddenly
 in March of 1970. Clyde Ross had died in January of that year. Helen
 Johnson of Toledo was first vice president in 1970, so she took over
 as president after Smith's death and served until October. However,
 leadership of the affiliate was not her strength. The officers elected
 in October were president, Raymond Creech; first vice president,
 Robert Steyer; second vice president, Thomas Matthews; secretary, John
 Knall, and treasurer, Ivan Garwood. But          Creech also proved not to be
 a popular president. His wife controlled the affiliate's books, and
 she chose to work with a bank in Florida. Members were frustrated
 because  reimbursement checks took a long time to arrive in people's
 eager hands.
         It seems as though Creech should have had a two-year term as
 president, but elected without explanation in October of 1971 were
 president, Edna Fillinger; first vice president, Tom Matthews; second
 vice president, Ray Creech; secretary, Shirley Stowe; and treasurer,
 Ivan Garwood. Rita  Bressler was appointed executive secretary by the
 executive board.  On October 25 the Convention approved an amendment
 to the OCB constitution indicating that henceforth the organization
 would do business as the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio. The
 amendment passed enthusiastically. Edna Fillinger was a difficult
 president. The NFB's archives reveal that she exchanged extremely
 frank letters wih President Jernigan on the subject of dual
 membership. Her language was salty, to say the least. Several of these
 have found their way into the materials used in national leadership
 seminars.
         Bob Eschbach was elected president at the 1973 state convention. He
 was elected to the national board in July of 1974. He served until the
 1984 convention, when he announced that he would not run again, and
 Barbara Pierce was elected. Bob was named assistant director of the
 Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired in February of 1985.
         Barbara served as president for twenty-four years, until the fall of
 2008, when Dr. J. Webster Smith was elected and served for four years.
 In 2012 Eric Duffy was elected president and continues to serve in
 that office.
         It is hard to gather impressions of the organization  from the spotty
 documents in the national archive. In 1969 four regional seminars were
 held across the spring with substantive programs. John Nagle, NFB's
 Washington representative at the time, attended several of these
 meetings. They took place in Cleveland, Dover, Dayton, and Fostoria.
 Dayton would be organized or reorganized that summer as the Dayton
 Federation of the Blind with Ray Creech as president. Clearly this
 seminar was used as a tool to attract members. I read letters between
 the organizers and John Nagle, and I was struck by the presumption on
 the part of the Ohioans that John would jump to do their bidding,
 including taking buses to get to the meetings.
         One of the most interesting things I came across was a list of the
 chapters in the affiliate in April of 1960. Remember that at this time
 we had Black chapters and White chapters in some cities, but even so,
 I find that thirty-two chapters is an astonishingly high number. Here
 they are with their presidents:
 Amaurotic Society of the Blind, Richard Hollinger, Dover
 Barlow Memorial Club, William Brown, Cincinnati
 Brotherhood of the Blind, Hiram Cooksey, Akron
 Fingertip Club, Jack Mackey, Ashtabula
 Hancock Association of the Blind, Ivan Garwood, North Baltimore
 Helping Hand League of the Blind, Dr. James Sweeney, Springfield
 Mansfield Council of the Blind, Beatrice (Bea) Baker, Mansfield
 Lorain Council of the Blind, Joseph Kozdon, Elyria
 Mahoning Valley Association of the Blind, Pete Waback, Youngstown
 Mutual Federation of the Blind, Glenn Hoffman, Cleveland
 Philomatheon Society of the Blind, George Bonsky, Canton
 Progressive Association of the Blind, James Pool, Columbus
 Progressive Sightless Club of Licking County, William Davis, Newark
 Queen City League of the Sightless, Thomas Allen, Cincinnati
 Rosina Club of Sightless Women, Betty Albert, Columbus
 Starlight Club, Eva Fair, Spenceville
 Summit County of the Blind, Clyde Ross, Akron
 Sunshine Club, Lillian Williams, Canton
 Arthur (Art) Tatum Council of the Blind, Homer Jackson, Norwood
 Toledo Council of the Blind, James Thompson, Toledo
 White Cane Club, Rev. Woodford S. Smith, Springfield
 Youngstown Council of the Blind, Alfonso Smith, Youngstown
 Members at Large United, Ernest Schaefer, Dayton
         I have tried to indicate when I am certain of the facts in this
 article and when I have made my best guesses. Some of you may have
 memories that conflict with these facts. I know that I have talked
 with some of you and have come away convinced of how faulty our
 memories can be. I want to pay tribute to John Knall, who wrote
 detailed and accurate reports of conventions in the Braille Monitor
 all the time that he served as secretary of the NFB of Ohio. One day
 we will be able to do much more careful and thorough research in the
 archived Braille Monitors. They are still being corrected and coded
 for placement on our website.
         I do hope that anyone who has documents or clear memories that
 conflict with this article will contact me with your information. Only
 if you do will we have a chance of clarifying our history.

         If you or a friend would like to remember the National Federation of
 the Blind of Ohio in your will, you can do so by employing the
 following language:

    “I give, devise, and bequeath unto the Ohio Council of the Blind
 dba National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, P.O. Box 82055,
 Columbus, Ohio 43202, an Ohio nonprofit corporation, the sum of $
                                        (or “                  percent
 of my net estate” or “The following stocks and bonds:
                       )  to be used for its worthy purposes on behalf
 of blind persons.”