The UCB Buzz
A publication of
Utah Council of the Blind
December 2021
For the latest news updates, call the Utah Connection 801-299-0670
or 1‑800-273-4569.
Check out the website at utahblind.org
Mail correspondence to:
UCB, PO Box 1415
Bountiful, UT 84011-1415.
E-mail us at utahblind@gmail.com.
For credit card payments, to make reservations, or for other
business, call the business office at 801-245-9264.
The UCB Buzz
is available in large print, Braille, audio CD, and by e-mail. If you would
prefer to receive your newsletter in a different format, please call the UCB business
office at 801-245-9264 or send an e-mail to utahblind@gmail.com and let us know.
Editor: Tom Mitchell
Utah Connection Manager: Linda Holladay
In This Issue
Disclaimer.................................................................................................. 2
Sounds of
Christmas.................................................................................. 2
Meet Our UCB
Members............................................................................ 4
Cordie Weed............................................. 5
Tom Mitchell............................................. 7
General UCB
Information......................................................................... 10
Articles and
announcements included in this publication are presented for your information
and interest. They reflect the opinions of the respective authors and are not
necessarily endorsed by the UCB.
By Sandy England
The Riverton High School Madrigal singers will be our entertainment for this year’s Sounds of Christmas party. We'll also have some Christmas caroling.
When: Saturday, December 4th, 2021
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (portraits 10:15 to 11:00 a.m., lunch at 11:15 a.m.)
Place: Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 250 N 1950 W, Salt Lake City
Deadline for Reservations: Tuesday, November 30, 2021, 5:00 p.m.
Cost: $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under.
Mail your check to: UCB, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, Utah 84011-1415 or call 801-245-9264 to pay by credit card. Please include the names of those attending and the ages of the children 12 and younger and indicate if they are a boy or girl. Also indicate your choice of a picture or a gift card. (Must be present to receive gift.) No cash value for no shows. No refunds.
We are offering craft tables for those who are visually impaired or blind. For a free table donate a door prize or pay $10 for your table. No gifting table this year. Call Sandy England at 801-634-8002 or email her at syeangel@comcast.net to reserve your table. We will have a silent auction and bake sale fund raiser during this party. For those donating baked goods, please mark the name of the item on the package before you come.
This year we will be offering a choice of Christmas pictures or gift cards. (One picture or gift card per family.) Plan to bring your family and your kids and have a wonderful Christmas picture done by Kate Schofield Balzly of Schofield Photography (Leslie’s daughter). This will be a gift from the Council to you.
The food will be provided by the Golden Corral: ham, turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, roll and green beans. We will also serve salad and dessert. We will accept credit cards for the bake sale this year.
By Anna Jeffery
We'd like to begin a regular column to introduce our readers to some of the outstanding members of the Utah Council of the Blind. We're beginning this month with two of the members of our Board of Directors who are leaving the board, but will still be active in volunteer work to help carry out the mission of the organization. Thanks to these folks for their excellent service.
Cordie was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and grew up in Kearns. She was born deaf and began losing her sight in high school. She attended public school until she turned eleven, then went to the School for the Deaf in Ogden until high school. She attended Ben Lomond High School for three years and graduated from there. Her last year of high school she had concurrent enrollment at Weber State University. She worked as a cashier/checker at Safeway while she went to school. Cordie’s sight loss was diagnosed as she was taking a driver’s education class. Although she was able to drive, her deteriorating vision meant that it was a pleasure she only enjoyed for a short time.
After she graduated, Cordie worked for Litton Guidance Systems, which is now Northrop Grumman, as a production worker and in their print shop. She eventually left there on a medical retirement. She raised two children, a daughter and a son. She also has a granddaughter and a grandson.
Cordie has long been an educator and advocate for people who are deaf blind. She is a popular and much-loved presenter for many groups and organizations. She worked with Leslie Gertsch and Representative Gerry Adair to write and pass a bill through the Utah State Legislature that created the Support Service Provider Program for deaf blind citizens of the state. She volunteers many hours sharing her skills with others, teaching them how to be independent and remain productive members of their families and communities.
Cordie loves gardening and is a talented horticulturist, although she doesn’t have much opportunity to indulge that pleasure now. Her current hobbies are crocheting, making quilts, and spending time with family and friends. She is a great cook and an expert at food preservation. She has shared her canning and dehydrating skills with many others.
When asked what her challenges are, she says she struggles with loud noises and doesn’t like bad smells like smoke. Her advice for living: She believes people should do their best and try things before they say, “I can’t do it.” She feels that blind people should learn braille, even if it is later in life. If they can learn it, at a young age, that is the best way to go. If you know you are going to lose sight, learn everything you can as early as you can. Cordie also has a sister who is deaf blind. She says her parents encouraged her and her sister to do everything. It seemed hard for them at the time, but they appreciate it now. That is why they can both speak as well as they do and are capable adults.
Tom was born and raised in Provo, Utah. He spent most of his school years at the School for the Blind in Ogden, so was only home for weekends and summers. He was mainstreamed for his last year of high school and graduated from BY High, a laboratory school of Brigham Young University. He says it was the best thing that happened to him. He went to BYU, starting out as a music major, and eventually earning his B.A. in communications with broadcasting emphasis. Tom said that changing majors was the best thing he ever did, because he learned not only about broadcasting and control of his voice and diction, but about writing. He feels that one of the best classes he ever took was news writing for broadcast. He learned to write in short declarative sentences, getting in as much information as possible without cluttering up the sentences. He learned to take a story from a newspaper, which is not written for broadcast, and rewrite it to get all the important information into a 10 to 15 second bite. His dream from early childhood was to work in radio. After graduation, he lived that dream as he worked as a disc jockey and announcer at KEYY radio.
Tom took advantage of an opportunity to get additional training at Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind, then returned to Salt Lake City. His communication and writing skills enabled him to obtain a position as a job information specialist in what is now the Office of Personnel Management for the federal government. He later became a public affairs technician for the Bureau of Reclamation where he did a good deal of writing and narration. After working for the federal government for many years, Tom worked as a help desk coordinator the Utah State Courts, taught a class for special needs clients at the Utah State Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and worked as a braille proofreader at the Utah State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind until his retirement in 2010.
Tom’s hobbies include collecting old radio shows. His favorites are mysteries, stories, and some of the shows like Gunsmoke. Although he does not enjoy comedy in general, he likes a few greats such as Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, Our Miss Brooks. He likes to listen to good music and loves to read. Used to really like science fiction, but is now enjoying romance novels. Some of his favorite authors are Debbie Macomber, Jill Shalvis, and Fern Michaels.
When asked if he had some advice for people who are blind, Tom shared this: Life isn’t easy. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Just because you lose your vision doesn’t mean that you are a second class citizen. It doesn’t mean that you are no good to the world. You can still do things, but you’ll have to do them differently. Enjoy the new ways of doing things. Enjoy learning how you can perform throughout you life. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do and still like to do. You are the same person now as you were before you went blind. You can still learn, we all can still learn.
Tom says that the things that make him most happy are a good order of French fries or popcorn and his wife.
Donni Mitchell, our vice president, volunteers in the UCB Office at DSBVI, 250 N 1950 W, Salt Lake City, UT, from 12:30 to 3:30 pm on Wednesdays. If you are making a special trip to visit the office, we recommend you call ahead at 801-520-3766 to be sure she is there when you come to make purchases or conduct other business.
We are always looking for articles, book reviews, or interesting tidbits of information from our readers or other interested persons. The deadline for submitting items for publication is the 15th of the month, e.g. the deadline for the January newsletter is December 15th. You may e-mail any articles you wish to submit to tommit60@gmail.com; send Braille, print, or audio to UCB Buzz, PO Box 1415, Bountiful, UT 84011-1415; or drop them off to Donni at the office. Please allow extra time for processing Braille, print, or audio.
Members are invited and encouraged to attend meetings of the Board of Directors. Meetings will typically be held the first Thursday of each month at 4:45 p.m. via Zoom.
If you have questions or concerns for any board member, to be placed on the agenda of a board meeting, or just to attend a meeting, e-mail ucb.board@gmail.com or call 801-245-9264.
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