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Coulee Region White Cone Club Honors Founder At FarewellWants Blinddirectors are Mrs. Rob - / A1, Henry Stinson and Ray MllSt ChCMqe Schools V6nTU1*0 tn!n.tiooi* forme- Mre » . II.She Calls Iti A program long overdue in La'board of directors are Mrs. Rob-Crosse and everywhere is in mo- ert Hatch tion now because one woman had P]amad0re. twovear terms; MrsChi d n Home ,he visioi’10 launcL''isMrrWd-Paseandd0 sheila-R°yDonand^en■'* • 1 a contradictory word for her. how- th i Stanhope must changen I \ r* ever, as she is blind, and it was . y’ , 'L ■ j j Jj: j schools, like any other chil-School Center hfr„J™HC,rn !°L0t*r\.in ^ ^^on lhe board. dren whose families are mov-In founding the Coulee Region P Mrs. Chester ''stanhope'8 1423 . °(ff'cf? a™ nr^vi^nresidem'-White Cane Club Mrs. Chester Travis St.. founded the Coulee df ’ i, P*estderit.Stanhope was aiming for some-Region White Cane Club last J' ' ®/j*0,.’ **11..Tl, r,vthing that would serve the blind spring, bringing into membership'?!60 ,a*- ’ , T.and visually handieapped. and ail the are! blind she knew o“ Pla”adm0r6; .something with whieh they could heard of. as well as the visually E!6?? , hraHlr class thatserve and help themselves and handicapped, their families and , ... , vocationalothers. Each of the club mem.!friends. It was her idea thatfcd ‘h'rsJf, ®‘. bers furnishes a chapter in the'about half the club members must b ff jd d ^ Crosse stalc story of encouragement and be sighted men and women, in or-. ,P de„; and some evcn| from a common idea that there.der that.the groups business may . * ( , idcas for furtheris nothing for the blind person to be carried on. assisting the blind and visuallydo but wait for death, the notion Welcomed by the blind and their j. . b n ,jfhas changed so much that each families alike, the club got off to ppmember can become a well-ad- a good start and its monthly meet-justed, happy, eager and active ings have been growing in attend- Mrs stanhope has carried onparticipant in club affairs. ance, but the October meeting aIJ this work despite her daily pre- she learn braille. An accident member that the blind are people,But Mrs. Stanhope is not satis- took a sorrowful note. It was a occupation at home with the robbed her of her remaining eye- each with his own individual per-fied, because she is convinced P3^ for^Mrs. Stanhope, housekeeping for a family of five .sight. Mr. Stanhope, also former-; sonality. likes, dislikes, hopes.All blind per-treated as indivi-ing away, but they also leave hobbies. Sheila, a freshman at Aquinas High School, was one of 12 in the city selected to attend the Great Books reading course of Viterbo College the past summer.Roy Don is a new but very enthusiastic member of COROS. ‘ Collectors of Religion on Stamps” which meets monthly at Viterbo College, and Karen Sue was enrolled this fall in the children’s art course for weekly lessons at Viterbo.Blindness is not the end, but; only the beginning of a whole new! adventure in life.” That sums up Mrs. Chester Stanhope’s philoso-l !phy. “Within our restrictions, we: | blind people can and must live happy, normal and productive; ; lives. We still can do—but wej | must find a different way to do. | I The person newly blind needs! I love, understanding and encour-l agement, as the club founder re-! |minds. “Do not always be at the; !blind person’s elbow—ready to! hand him everything—let him ex-iplore and discover what he can do for himself and for others. Re-there are so many other things who must leave for Arizona be- Unlll the arthritic condition pre-j ly of Cedar Rapids, is one of sev- fears ^ dreamsthat might be done for the blind. cause of increasing trouble with vented jt, she did all her own eral Wisconsin veterans totally lt;5^ must be tre“I would most sincerely like to arthritis. The family plans to lo- housework — cooking, b a k i n g.(blinded in World War II. duals, not grouped and treated assec blind children attending cate in Phoenix. washing, ironing, mending, clean-! Their children are Sheila Hay. jf tbey were all alike.”school with their brothers and sis- ing and caring for the children—j 14, Roy Don, 11, and Karen Sue. It was from ber thinking onters in their own neighborhood Succeeding Mrs. Stanhope as and despite the fact that Mr. Stan- eight. Mrs. Stanhope and the girls problems of the blind that Mrs.schools. I firmly believe that when club secretary is Mrs. Lillian hope also is blind. will leave early Monday for Phoe- stanhope evolved the idea of gath-we take little children away from Obriecht. Summer meetings of the Neither parent was born blind, nix, but Mr. Stanhope and Roy erjng them into an organizationhome surroundings and send them dub were held in Myrick Park, Mrs. Stanhope, the former Donna Don will remain until it is known ..j discovered that the blind peo-to an institution we are cruelly but durtng the cold weather they Tang of Cedar Rapids. Iowa, had if the Arizona climate will be of ^ tbis area were not living—and unjustly robbing them of are being held in the Mary E poor eyesight as a child and her any benefit, and until they can.they were mereiy existing. I desomething that never can be re-1 Sawyer Auditorium. Six on the father thought it advisable that dispose of their home stored.“The chance to live a normal life and enjoy the security of a home and family, and of normal education and religious training, are all stolen from the blind child when he is born. No one ever can repair the damage, even when the child becomes an adult. By then he is so used to institutional life that he cannot adjust to normal home life.”Tire system of keeping blind children in home or area centers for their education is w’orking out very well in the coast states, and Mrs. Stanhope believes it is way past time for the Midwest to put this plan into action. “I know it is easier to take the blind child away for nine months of the school year in a state center, but is this the right thing to do to any child—moreover a blind child? And is it fair to the parents, who are heartbroken to part with the child?”Tireless in her determination to improve the lot of the blind, Mrs. Stanhope has carried on a correspondence that would stump a full-time secretary. With her portable typewriter she has reached out to contact every agency or interested person she ever heard about, and she has kept two files in her desk—one for correspond, ence conducted in braille and the other for correspondence written on her typewriter.It is because of her many contacts in the field that she was able to bring outstanding speakers for the monthly programs of the Coulee Region White Cane Club—Paul Knowles, field representative for Leader Dogs for the Blind, Rochester, Mich., himself blind, and Dr Gregor Ziemer. director of public education for the American Foundation for the Blind, whose headquarters are in New York. After she leaves, there will be another outstanding speaker, Arthur Eisenberg, regional representative of the American Foundation for the Blind He is expected here sometime in November.cided to all I possibly could myself to give them education, enjoyment and something to live for. I spent many, many long hours trying to establish a course in reading and writing braille here I learned from talking to the blind over the phone that all of them were interested.”So she spoke to Senator Raymond C. Bice, who thought shehad a wonderful idea, and urged;Mrs. Chester Stanhope, right, was paid high tribute at the October meeting of the Coulee Region White Cane Club, Mrs. Robert Hatch, president, making presentation of a “towel cake” and companion statues of Christ and Mary. —Tribune Photo.her to continue and see what she! could make of it. “He advised me to contact John B. Coleman, director of La Crosse Vocational, School. Mr. Coleman also thought I had a workable idea and promised his? support, stating that if I could find 12 sincerely interested _ people, the Vocational school-would set up a class in braille this fall, furnishing a room and I paying the teacher. The class was * overcrowded at the very start, and several surrounding towms are represented.”Mrs. Stanhope herself secured the teacher—Emmet Walsh, Pine City, Minn., graduate of La Crosse State College, who lost his sight a short time ago. Mr. and Mrs. Walsh came the past summer and p will make their home here. Mrs. Stanhope believes it is the first ^ braille course to be taught pub-licly anywhere in the state, and ^ even in the nation. |bBut, with her big work of pro-t] motion over. Mrs. Stanhope musti(-leave the city where she has so j, many friends and go to a new home. “I must face a new ‘Adventure in the Dark.’ I have worked so hard for all those people and for our family. Now I am weak and sick and full of pain, and our family must be separated for awhile, until I see if I can regain my health.“I have not given up by any means. This is merely another s round, and I am determined to n see it through. I feel that I have done my best, and that maybe God has another job for me. I j L w ill go and see, and, if so, I will jc do my best for Him again. IjK thank all those who worked so flt; hard to make the White Cane Club!n a success, and to get the braillejC class started.”
Newspaper Details
La Crosse Sunday Tribune
La Crosse, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Nov 04, 1962
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
La C.
WI, USA 21 Aug 2024
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