Maurer: Raising the Family and the Bar for the Blind

by Dianna Marie and David Patrick Maurer

From the Editor: One of the pleasures in working on this issue has been compiling articles. All are wonderful tributes, but the one I feel special about is the interview I was granted with David Patrick and Dianna Marie Maurer, the children of Marc and Patricia. Dianna is thirty-three and works at Advanced Micro Devices as a program manager in new product instruction. David is thirty-six and works at Expedia as a concierge and tours salesman. We agreed that I would take their interviews, combine what they said, and write from their perspective. This was not a question-and-answer interview; I offered just enough prompting to get them started and then took notes. Here is what they want to say about their parents:

We are delighted to know that the National Federation of the Blind has decided to honor our parents with special mention in the Braille Monitor. We are also proud to be able to tell its readers about the two most special people in our lives.

Many people ask us if it was hard to be the children of Marc and Patricia Maurer given their strong commitment to the Federation. For us the answer is easy: It was not hard. The idea that we suffered for their commitment and hard work is just wrong: we were a part of it, and it was our lives as much as theirs.

We consider ourselves very lucky for many reasons. First and foremost, our house was filled with love. As part of that love, we learned the value of commitment, hard work, and that these never got in the way of us getting what we needed as children. We were the beneficiaries of that commitment and hard work both for the opportunities it gave us and for how good we felt when we realized there was always time for us.

There is no denying that one or both of our parents were sometimes traveling. When they went to state conventions, something special was always planned for us, and sometimes that meant going. The same was true of other trips. How many children can say they've been to Australia or Thailand. We got to accompany them because of the Federation's work in the World Blind Union. How many kids can say their parents routinely worked with world leaders to influence the direction of world governments, including our own? How many children got the training we did in learning to talk with adults about adult subjects because dinner with important visitors was our normal? Then there were the times when it felt good because Dad would end a meeting with important people at the center and say it was time to go home and have dinner with his family. We were never second place.

David remembers that when he was younger, his father was busier at the Center but still made time to become his scout leader in the Webelo’s. “It was clear from the first day that the other dad who was there didn't have a plan. He had us there reading a book. Dad realized quickly that if he didn't take the reins, we were going to be bored, so before you know it, we were flying airplanes in the parking lot, cooking hotdogs using a car battery, and building a track to take to the group for little racecars to run in the Pinewood Derby. That little track took up most of our living room because Dad was afraid if we built it in the basement, we’d never get it up the stairs in one piece. Dad didn't just come: he led, he bought supplies not just for me but for the rest of the troop. He made me feel proud.”

Both of us agree that Dad is the person who took the most abuse in our family, and he did it with good nature, usually remarking, "I believe I'm being criticized." As for Mom, she ran things. We call her Big Mom because there's no question she is in charge—in charge 100 percent. She taught us how to talk with other people, especially if we met blind people who had needs. We got good training because of her work in community relations. Dianna says, "I remember Mom hearing me playing with a keyboard in the basement. She signed me up for piano lessons and made sure I got there every week. It was so cool to have a recital and always having our Federation buds there. We always had about ten people—pretty good when the normal crowd was usually thirty.”

We both remember that it was cool to go up to people, find they were in the National Federation of the Blind, introduce ourselves, and then hear how our father had changed their lives. The fact that some of these people really had a fire built underneath them and that they could be independent made us sure that what all of us did really was important and made a life-changing difference.

Our only problem in having a mom and dad in such life-changing work they feel passionate about has been in finding jobs ourselves that let us experience the same passion and satisfaction as our parents. They say that perhaps it is normal for most people to think they have the best parents in the world, but for us we couldn’t have imagined having better people to call Mom and Dad. They are our roots, and we are proud to be Maurer.