Convention Reflections
Dr. Jernigan and Steve Benson
Convention Reflections
by Stephen O. Benson
As I sit at my desk on this Sunday, October 11,
reviewing all the details of the agenda and other arrangements for the 1998 convention of
the NFB of Illinois, I reflect on Dr. Jernigan's masterly management of convention
arrangements for our increasingly complex national assemblies, our gathering of the clans.
Dr. Jernigan has referred to the Federation as a family. But he was quick to remind us
Thomas Bickford
Tom Bickford accompanies Lloyd Rasmussen on guitar as
Lloyd sings the "Technology Song" during the memorial service.
Thomas Bickford
From the Editor: The following
recollection was submitted to the Braille Monitor.
I first met Kenneth Jernigan in 1955. I was a
blind college student in California, and rehab referred me to the orientation center in
Oakland. We were young then, both in our twenties. He looked young too, though he didn't
Donald C. Capps
Don and Betty Capps stand with Dr. Jernigan aboard the Queen Elizabeth II.
Donald C. Capps
From the Editor: Don Capps has served
longer on the NFB Board of Directors than anyone else. Dr. Jernigan was a close friend and
formative influence in his life for more than forty years. Don wrote about his
recollections of Dr. Jernigan in the Winter, 1998, issue of the Palmetto Blind, the
publication of the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina. Here are excerpts
from what he said:
My Teacher, My Mentor, My Friend
Nell Carney
Dr. Kenneth Jernigan: My
Teacher, My Mentor, My Friend
by Nell Cardwell Carney
From the Editor: Dr. Nell Carney is one
of the lucky people who can remember what it was like to have Dr. Jernigan as an English
teacher at the Tennessee School for the Blind. She and he were friends for many years.
Following are first a letter she wrote to him last year and then the remarks she prepared
for presentation during the memorial service. Here they are:
Wilmington, North Carolina
Of Grammar Lessons
Marsha Dyer and Dr. Jernigan sitting
on the platform at National Convention
Of Grammar Lessons and
Gold Tie Chains
by Marsha Dyer
From the Editor: When I became Associate
Editor of the Braille Monitor, I began spending significant stretches of time in Dr.
Jernigan's office, watching him conduct business and particularly observing him write:
letters, memos, and especially articles. He dictated them, and though he often reread and
Paul and Joan Flynn
Paul Flynn reads to a group of children.
Paul and Joan Flynn
From the Editor: Paul Flynn is a
rank-and-file member of the Baltimore Chapter. He and his wife Joan recently wrote Mrs.
Jernigan the following letter:
December 18, 1998
Dear Mrs. Jernigan,
Joan and I wish to express our sympathy to you in
your great loss. We are in Dr. Jernigan's debt forever. He was an inspiring and admirable
man and leader of the blind.
I would not have secured my teaching job in the
Mary Ellen Gabias
Mary Ellen Gabias
Mary Ellen Gabias
From the Editor: I first met Mary Ellen
Reihing, now Gabias, the year after the leadership seminar which she describes at the
opening of her recollection about Dr. Jernigan. She was by then an unusually poised and
wise young woman. The fruits of Dr. Jernigan's careful tending were already beginning to
make themselves known in her actions and words. This is what she says:
When I was a young woman of twenty-one, I thought
James Gashel
James Gashel, his wife Betsy Zaborowski, and
Dr. Jernigan outside the Jernigan home
James Gashel
Baltimore, Maryland
September 14, 1998
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
I'm not sure when it was that I last wrote a
letter to you, but I think it may have been as long as thirty years ago back in Iowa. I
guess this is so because I have had the honor to work by your side each and every day for
the better part of this time. Now I must write to say good-bye.
It is an understatement to say that this is not
Deborah Kendrick
Deborah Kendrick
Deborah Kendrick
From the Editor: Deborah Kendrick is a
syndicated columnist, author, and editor. In recent years she has taken part in a number
of Federation activities, but she did not know Dr. Jernigan. She wrote the following
letter after she heard the news of Dr. Jernigan's death. She read it during the NFB of
Ohio's convention memorial service. This is what she said:
October 13, 1998
Dear Dr. Jernigan:
A collage of stories surrounded your life.
Catherine Kudlick
Catherine Kudlick
From the Editor: Dr. Kudlick is a
professor of history at the University of California at Davis. She grew up struggling with
low vision but having none of the techniques and supports to assist her to live and work
efficiently. Even though she has now regained much of her vision, she recognizes in
retrospect how much she would have benefited from participation in the National Federation
of the Blind. The Kernel Books have played a significant role in her growing understanding