by Catherine Skivers

[Editor’s Note: It tells you all you need to know about Cathie Skivers, former CCB president, that when we approached her about doing a biographical piece
about her for her upcoming 90th birthday (May 2) she elected instead to submit a piece about the Ellen Murphy Fund. She told me the following story several
months ago; I insisted at that time that we had to have that piece for the issue nearest her birthday. Thanks to Susan for her assistance.]

Although it's been a very long time, I still have a couple of outstanding memories from my early childhood. Two things I always wanted were a brother or
sister, and to go to school. My father came from Austria and so I am first generation. His mother thought that people who were blind should be taken care
of and felt that I should be kept at home. My mother was very young and had almost no education. She taught me how to take care of myself, and by the time
I was 5 years old, I was able to dress myself, and I tried to help with household chores. That didn't go over well. When Mom found me using a pot scratcher
on a good dish that had raised flowers on it, and found me washing the rug in my room with soap and water, I was discouraged from that kind of participation.

There was a long battle going on about my starting school. My mom took the position that she had taught me all she could, and that she, my grandmother
or father wouldn't always be with me. So it was essential that I learn to take care of myself. She finally went to the Missouri State School for the Blind
(MSB) and told them about our situation. Someone from the state came to visit our home and told my dad that either he must enroll me in the school, or
the state would do it for him.

All my cousins and all of my friends had pencil boxes. So I happily had someone take me to Woolworths Five-and-Dime, and secured a pencil box. I was delighted
to be going to school. I was surprised to learn that I would live there Monday through Friday and come home only on weekends. When the big day arrived,
my suitcase, my pencilbox and I headed for MSB. I settled into my dormitory with other kids my age. A couple of them came to show me my way to class,
and I asked them to wait till I got my pencilbox. They found this quite surprising and asked what I was going to do with it. I said "I'm going to learn
to read and write. What do you think I'm going to do?" Regardless of what they said, I met my first grade teacher with pencil box in hand. She was just
like those kids! She told me that I was going to learn to read and write, but in a different way. Those of you who know me can imagine what she got when
I decided to explain why I had to use the same methods my cousins and friends used.

I slid into my desk, and before long she brought me a board! It had a bunch of holes in it, and they were in groups of six. The next thing that happened
really amazed me! She brought me a box of nails, which she called pegs. This was the pegboard. For two days, I sat there putting pegs into roes of six
until the board was full. My objection to this finally brought results. I was given a slate and stylus. And guess what! The same six dots again. Page after
page of paper.

I finally graduated to be able to use dot 1, which I was told was A. I was totally thrilled with learning my alphabet in braille. I marvel today at people
who say that braille is hard to learn. If a kid can sit down and learn it in a week as I did, what in the world is the big deal? Not only did I learn braille,
but I learned other things, such as learning to knit in the kindergarten class in the afternoon. I didn't need paper on which to do times tables, because
we memorized those.

I've been fortunate to be able to do a lot of things during my life. I credit any kind of success I may have had to my mom, who knew I had to go to school,
and to MSB. Not only did I learn braille, but I learned that I would have to be independent. So many opportunities were given to me at MSB that I would
not have had if I had gone to a regular school. There were music lessons, music appreciation, speech classes, acting. As we grew older, we attended symphonies
and plays. In my life, braille has allowed me to read music, make grocery lists, mark canned goods, make and keep doctors’ appointments for my family and
myself, and oh yes, track and pay my bills. We must all work as hard as we can to see that blind children today have a chance to learn braille.
Not only did I get to use my little six dots, but about that other thing I always wanted. The day I entered school, I got 110 brothers and sisters. Believe
it or not, we've all kept in touch through all the years. Even though I moved to California, and even though many of them have passed on, the love we shared
and the experiences we had will be with me as long as I live.