Cheryl Heppner, executive director of the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People once again adds her comments.
Thanks to Motorola Foundation for sponsoring this Convention 2008 blog.
I will report in one last time when I get some photos from the banquet. I hope all of you out there have enjoyed the reports and want to come next year in Nashville.
– Barbara Kelley, HLAA deputy executive director and editor, Hearing Loss Magazine
People, and the Banquet
By Cheryl Heppner 6/14/08 and 6/16/08
People
On Friday night Galaxy and I went to Sparks Marina with two other graduate teams from Canine Companions for Independence — Cara Miller and Maya, Don Detrick and Cali. We were joined by two puppy raisers, one soon-to-be puppy raiser and three pups. All of us trekked around the lake to a dog park, where the Galaxy spent a blissful 90 minutes tearing across the sand and churning through the sand and water to retrieve tennis balls. Then we trekked around the other side of the lake to a restaurant, where the dogs slept in a heap under the terrace table as we ate in the fading light.
Oh how I love spending time with people at the HLAA conventions! I always come home with so many great stories and so many reasons to return the next year. Go now and mark your calendar for June 18-21, 2009 for Convention 2009 at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
HLAA convention goers are so stimulating to be around. There’s the lovely grace of Ahme Stone, Rocky’s widow and the dynamic Tina Childress who keeps adding new talents.
There’s Roy Kulick, MD., brilliant, insightful, and a certain future HLAA leader who grows constantly as an advocate and resource person. I could talk to him all day. Or Dana Mulvany, who I often refer to as a tech goddess, and the only person I know who comes to conferences pushing a shiny green catmobile. When she’s in any audience you can always count on penetrating questions.
And there are the stories. Did you know Flo Innes teaches gambling? She came to the aid of a certain prominent female politician from one of our northern states and initiated her in the art of playing slots at the resort’s casino.
A local man talked to me for almost an hour on Saturday. He had learned about HLAA through a local news article during the week and came to the convention to find out more. He was so impressed and thrilled to see all the information and support that he’s told me he’s starting now to save money and plan for next year’s convention.
The Banquet Program
The Saturday evening reception and the banquet in the Reno Ballroom were very well attended. Following dinner and dessert, the program began with the passing of the presidential gavel. Anne T. Pope, President of the HLAA Board of Trustees, handed off to new president Michael Stone, the son of founder Rocky Stone.
Next was the presentation of the Howard E. “Rocky” Stone Humanitarian Award, presented by Ahme, who has also been a recipient of the award. This award is given to a past trustee “for extraordinary contribution to the furtherance of the objective and personal exemplification of the philosophy envisioned by Howard E. Stone, founder of HLAA.”
Previous honorees are Dorothy Allen, Clyde Black, Marjorie A. Boone, John M. Centa, William B. Cutler, Marcia Dugan, Marcia Finisdore, Jerry Honbaum, Paul Hopler, Joan C. Kleinrock, George Kosovich, Mina “Sis” Lelewer, Suan L. Miller, Julie Olson, and Mark Ross, Ph.D.
The 2008 recipient, Daniel R. Simmons of Lowell, Massachusetts, told a touching story about Rocky’s visit to his home and how his hard of hearing daughter, Danielle, took an immediate liking to Rocky. Danielle now has two degrees from Boston University as well as a law degree from Suffolk Univeristy. She works for a top firm in Boston.
Danielle is the reason he first became active in HLAA. Mr. Simmons said he always believed that not providing the needs of hard of hearing children in education is tantamount to child abuse. He also believes that HLAA members are natural role models and that no one deserves HLAA’s help more than hard of hearing children.
He quoted one of Rocky’s famous sayings, “people helping people help themselves.” Years ago, Mr. Simmons set up a support group for parents with hard of hearing children, and eventually hard of hearing adults joined the group as well. This, he said, strengthened the group as they learned from the experiences and wisdom of hard of hearing adults.
Mr. Simmons believes that people in the HLAA chapters are having an important impact, and HLAA must think nationally but act locally. Without HLAA, he said, Danielle would not be where she is today, and thousands of other Danielles need HLAA’s help.
Entertainment by Dean and Frank
At Saturday evening’s banquet, I had the pleasure of sitting at Barbara Kelley’s table. Barbara, the Deputy Director of HLAA and editor of Hearing Loss magazine is not only relentlessly cheerful but the hostest with the mostest. You can imagine her stealing into your room at night to fluff your pillow. But who knew that she was a comedian and a showgirl?
Following the program, mistress of ceremonies Barbara went to the podium and announced that she’d just had a phone call with the distressing news that the entertainers hadn’t yet arrived. But wait! Our friend Colin from Canada was going to save the day by singing for us! To the stage came our hero, who burst into the first verse of “I’ll Be Seeing You”…except that the words were “I’ll be sueing you, in all those favorite courtrooms.” At this point we began to suspect our collective legs were being pulled. Sure enough, Barbara’s cell phone rang and wouldn’t you know the entertainers had arrived?
Those in the audience who can hear say that Chris Gardner’s voice was exactly like Dean Martin’s, and that Rick Ellis was a dead-on Frank Sinatra. They soared through a hit parade of Rat Pack songs, solo and as a duo. It was quite a sight to see Dean leave the stage and take an impromptu spin around the dance floor with Ahme Stone. Unable to resist, Barbara and Colin joined them. A few songs later, quite a few of us joined in the silliness and went to the front of the stage to do some extremely poor “high stepping”. We were sad to see these talented reps of the Rat Pack go, but they remained outside the banquet room for a few minutes to give those with cameras lots of photo ops.
Nashville, Here We Come!
Once again, get those calendars out! HLAA Convention 2009 is in Nashville, Tennessee from June 18-21, 2009. At the close of the evening, Jennifer Thorpe and Debbie Devone came onstage to give a personal invitation. The Country Music Festival will be taking place in Nashville the week prior to the convention, so it’s a great family vacation opportunity.
The site of the conference is the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. I googled it at http://www.gaylordhotels.com/gaylord-opryland/. It boasts of nine acres of indoor gardens, cascading waterfalls and an indoor river with its own Delta flatboat, a 20,000 square foot resort spa and fitness center, Fuse Nightclub. Restaurants include Old Hickory Steakhouse Restaurant, Ristorante Volare, Cascades Seafood Restaurant, Water’s Edge Marketplace Buffet, Jack Daniels’ Saloon.
I can picture it now. I’ll be on the flatboat holding my plastic-protected laptop and heading for the spa, with Galaxy swimming alongside.
©2008 by Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030; www.nvrc.org. 703-352-9055 V, 703-352-9056 TTY, 703-352-9058 Fax. Items in this newsletter are provided for information purposes only; NVRC does not endorse products or services. You do not need permission to share this information, but please be sure to credit NVRC. This news service is free of charge, but donations are greatly appreciated. To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your email address, or report problems, contact cheppner@nvrc.org
