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

Fri Nov 11 10:45:42 UTC 2016

Very cool lesson in history. Thanks 

Warmly,
Rachel Kuntz
Board Member
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937.245.0547 cell
Rachelrkuntz at gmail.com
www.nfbohio.org

Live the life you want. Blindness is not what holds you back. 

> On Nov 9, 2016, at 5:30 PM, Cheryl Fields via Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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.”
> 
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