Following is a letter to Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, on Sept. 29:
My son Randy and I are extremely indebted to many members of your staff who gave us an exceptional tour of your facility on Friday morning, Sept. 27th.
Randy is 45, blind, and has cerebral palsy. He started reading talking books when he was 8. Since there was no class in school for his multiple handicaps, he received all his education from talking books. From these books he also learned vocabulary and sentence structure so that at age 20 he memorized the shape of every number and letter and how words were spelled, and started communicating on a word board with raised letters, attached to his wheelchair.
You can understand why it has been a dream and a goal of Randy's to visit your library service. So his 45th birthday gift from his Mom and Dad was to fulfill that wish.
There were many people who made our visit complete, starting with Officer Jackson, who made the parking arrangements, and Beverly Massie, who arranged for our guide.
Freddie Peaco gave us an outstanding presentation of the activities and responsibilities of each department and arranged for further explanations from representatives of each department. She also deciphered Randy's request for a cassette of Magazines in Special Media, (magazine index) which he couldn't get at home because no one understood what he wanted.
Ruth Foss found the status and book numbers of titles that our own library said were not available. Ed Pitts explained how the books were first made, and Bob Mainhart told us how books were inspected and what happens to bad tapes. Lloyd Rasmussen and Freddie showed Randy how to use the new combination tape and disc player, and its advantages and disadvantages compared to his C-1. Linda Redmond popped into our group to meet Randy and make sure his questions, which were many, were all being answered. Michael Moodie gave Randy some souvenirs, which Randy proudly displayed when he returned to his residential facility.
Thank you very much for allowing Randy's dream to be fulfilled.
Gratefully,
Kirk Reid
