Springfield Reporter Article - Austine Alumni

06-23-2010

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - Springfield Reporter - Page 20

Deaf Friends Meet Again Via Vermont Associates
by Bill Newman


I met Norman Harris and robert Lapine at the monthly meeting of Vermont Associates. If you're over 55 and want to work, Vermont Associates is the great group to contact. Pam Seegraber is their Sprinfield Training & Employment Coordinator. With the help of interpreters, Norm, bob and I had an informative interview.

Norm and Bob, many years ago, were both students at the Austine School for the Deaf in Brattleboro. Here are their replies to my questions about that experience and further travel on the life road.

"How old are you now?"
Bob: "I am 74." Norm: "I am 73."

"When were you a student at the Austine School?"
Norm: "I was at the Austine School from 1941 to 1952."
Bob: " I was there from 1947 to 1952."
Both Norm and Bob said they went to the 8th grade at the Austine School. Bob said he went to Windsor High School from 1952 to 1955.

"What was the curriculum at the Austine School at that time?"
Norm: "I took Geography, History, Woodshop, Printing and Math."
Bob: "I took English, Geography and Woodshop.
Norm said he and Bob were in the same classes of 11 students.

"What would you do when not in class?"
Bob: "We went often to movies and played in a number of sports like basketball, baseball and sledding."
Norm: " We went dancing and to parties."

Norm said, "In 1965, when I was married, I invited Bob to be an usher at my wedding and then he asked me twice to be the best man at both his weddings. In the 70's, we went three times to Boston Red Sox games. I had a car and Bob didn't so he drove down with me."

"What do you remember most about the Austine School?"
Norm: "In the old days they were old fashioned. Boys and girls had separate dorms and we had lasting friendships."
Bob: "I remember most a good friend of mine Martha Libby." Bob said, "Boys and girls were in the same class but in separate sections."

I asked via the interpreters if they are informed of activities at the Austine School like social events that could effect their life now?
Norm replied, "There is an Alumni Organization that tells us about sporting events, barbecues and social gatherings, and they send out fliers to keep us informed on what is happening."

My last question was, "What did you do for work?"
Norm said, "I was a Printer and Linotype Operator for 21 years for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Worchester, Massachusetts. When I retired from my printing job, I went to work as a part-time Janitor which I am still doing now."
Bob was all over the map job-wise having had quite a few positions where he stayed for years and many where he was employed for weeks or months. At the Springfield Family Center, where he is now a Vermont Associates trainee, he helps to prepare food, wash dishes, serve food and drinks inthe eating area. he also collects dishes to be taken back to the kitchen. At the Springfield Recycling Center, he helped to sort out materials with his wife Bertha. At Sturm Ruger Company in Newport, New Hampshire, from 1990 to 1996, he was a Stock Handler. At the Windsor Recreation Center, he was employed from 1996 to 2002 as a Janitor. At Barton Steel in Lebanon, NH, he worked for three years at their warehouse helping to take steel products on and off trucks. From 1974 to 1983 at the Cone Blanchard Company in Windsor, he worked in their cam tool and carpentry shop. Bob had many other jobs for short periods of time. There were two common elements in Bob's short term jobs: working either as a carpenter or custodian.

Summing up, I have learned to have respect for Norm and Bob who truly are can-do men. They have overcome what others would call a disability and made it an opportunity to be in the mainstream within their communities.