[Mt-blind] More History Notes

[Jim Marks]

Kaye and Mike Malloney told me about being at the 1957 national convention
when the MAB first joined up with the NFB.  I remember the date well because
I was born in 1957.  Kaye and Mike both said it was a weird experience
because the NFB civil war was in full swing.  Leaders were battling, and it
was far from clear what the outcome would be.  They said the were stunned by
the passion and flow of ideas.  My personal observation, based on reading
lots about the civil war, is that the battle really had to do with the way
you think about blindness.  But the infighting was also influenced heavily
by personalities.  Anyhow, thanks for all the terrific information that's
been coming out on MT-Blind.  I know that many were uncomfortable with the
conflict that was creeping into our discussions.  But we sure have generated
some fascinating posts as a result.  I hope with all my heart that we can
find common ground to steward our fine state organization into the future in
progressive ways.  We need more people, and we need to be grooming
tomorrow's leaders more than we are.  This cannot be done if we keep
replaying the same old stuff, time and time again.  So here's to a better
future!  Also, please stand by for some more thought provoking posts.

 



Jim Marks
blind.grizzly at GMail.com 
-----Original Message-----
From: mt-blind-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:mt-blind-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Bernice DeHaas
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 3:45 PM
To: mt-blind
Subject: [Mt-blind] More History Notes

    I have been fascinated by the recent posts about the history of the MAB.
As an amateur historian (as well as a retired chemist), I want to thank Jim
Aldrich for sharing his experiences and memories with us.  They are
priceless.  And I'm looking forward to Jim Marks' article based on his
interviews with Ruby Huckaba.  There are so few left from that era.  I
thought you might be interested in an excerpt from the November-December
1982 Observer.  John and I were not members at that time, but a few
Observers from that era were passed on to us by a member of the family of a
person who was.  Susan Ford was the Editor.
"A Letter from MAB's President:
    My fellow members:  as most of you know, at this year's MAB convention a
motion was adopted calling for a lawyer to examine the new NFB charter and
constitution, and ordering an election by the entire membership to determine
whether or not the Association would remain an affiliate of the National
Federation of the Blind.
    The documents were turned over to a lawyer for such examination and she
completed her work on Sept. 16.  She summarized her findings as follows:
'The adoption of a new charter of affiliation by the Montana Association for
the Blind does not in itself appear to alter the relationship between the
National Federation of the Blind, Inc. and the Montana Association for the
Blind, Inc., especially since the constitution has been in effect in its
present form since 1979.'
    Those 228 members who were eligible to vote in this election received
copies of the lawyer's opinion along with their ballots.  Voting began Sept.
27 and ended Oct. 17.  A committee chaired by Robert Brassey of Lewistown,
tallied the votes.  The results found 147 in favor of our continued
affiliation with the National Federation of the Blind.  With this decision
now behind us, let us put an end to the devisiveness and rumblings of the
past and unite our efforts again in making this an organization that puts
the welfare of the blind first.  I hope that this recent unhappy experience
will make the Montana Association for the Blind a stronger and more closely
knit organization.  There is much work to be done and we must pull together
as a team if our goals are to be accomplished"
 
Virginia Sutich           

I say Amen to that.

For your information, it was my understanding that Lelia Proctor's records,
etc. were given to the Montana Historical Society library in Helena.  They
should be available for study if someone wants to dig further into this or
any other subject.

Bernice DeHaas