Paul

Greetings Fellow Beebe Alumni and Friends,

It was almost a quarter of a century ago when I had my first lesson with Beebe in her makeshift garage/office - the very same place where my parents gained their first glimmer of hope in my being able to thrive independently in the mainstream. I am now indebted to the Beebe Center for giving me the opportunity to thrive in the mainstream. I am sure many, if not all, of you feel the same way. 
 

Parents, children, and professionals want to hear what you are up to now and what your memories are of the Beebe Center. Anecdotes like the following can prove to be extremely motivational for children, their parents, and professionals.

Many of us grow up dreaming of becoming professional baseball players, engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. Although I didn't make it as a professional baseball player, I couldn't ask for more as I played all four years on my college varsity baseball team as the catcher. What meant most to me about playing behind the plate was the fact that I was the team's quarterback. I was responsible for verbally communicating with my team where the ball should be thrown after it is hit. Had it not been for my verbal skills, which Beebe played a vital role in developing, I would have been riding the bench all four years or not even made the team in the first place. Playing catcher at such a high level gave me all the confidence that I could achieve anything.

Fellow alumni, I urge you to share your stories with us and serve as role models for our Beebe kids and parents. And as for the parents, Beebe kids, professionals, and friends - stay tuned for some fine reading! In the meantime, enjoy David Davis' tales! 

Best regards, Paul Sommer

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David

When my deafness was diagnosed in April 1965, Dr. James Quiney, our kindly family doctor in my native Easton, Pennsylvania, referred us to Beebe. My mother had protested, "But she’s a quack. She’s not a doctor." Dr. Quiney insisted we meet her. So we went to the small building on Monroe Street that my mother had passed by so many times as a girl walking home from March Elementary School (how many times had she peered through the picture window out of curiosity?: what does a speech pathologist do?).

Our first meeting with Beebe coincided with the filming of a documentary. You can see my mother holding me in her lap (and holding back tears) while Beebe inserted various tubes into my ear. At one point, I cock my head to the side, looking quizzically at Beebe. It may well have been the first sound I actually heard. Thus my world opened, and Beebe held the door with an encouraging smile.

Thirty-six years have passed, and so has Beebe, but every day I reap the rewards of our work together. Still, those early years were not without tears. My mother tells me I used to protest, holding my forehead while shaking my head: "Beebe give me headache. Beebe give me headache." She was asking the impossible. There was simply no way I could master the lessons and meet her expectations. So imagine my surprise in junior high when I was inducted into the honor society and I overhead a beaming Beebe asking my Latin teacher, "How’s my David?"  Beebe, your David is just fine, and thanks you for opening all those doors for all of us. I can hear you still, and always will.

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Mount Princeton's chalk cliffs stood before me. I already had crossed the 12,000 feet elevation line, a five-hour trek. Although I only had 2,000 more feet to go, I would have to tread carefully over the white rocks through which no sturdy path could be blasted. As I began to step along an incline where rocks bounced down to the valley, I felt jelly-legged. I suddenly had the balance of a toddler, due to altitude sickness. On my hands and knees, I lifted one arm, one foot. One step at a time.

Where had I heard those words before? Beebe. "One word at a time!" I rested, then lifted another arm and foot forward. Many steps and hours later, I reached the top.

Just as I mastered speech with Beebe's encouragement so long ago, I mastered this 14,197 foot mountain. Beebe's demands that I try again and again drove me through speech therapy, college and graduate school. Her words also inspired me to write and teach. And I hope my words, lent to you through Beebe, will encourage you to keep working with your children. Your children, too, will climb great heights.

Pauline Newton, a Hollins University graduate is a Ph.D. student at the University of Tulsa and the author of Around San Antonio.

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