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Along Life’s Way
The Gift Not
Given
By Lois E. Wilson
I was married and living in Greenville, Ohio, when my parents purchased
their “dream home” in Dayton View. It was an older house in an
integrated neighborhood. A bonus—it was a short distance from the
central city.
That was when we first met Ernie. He never lived in the house they
purchased, but he definitely came with it. He did all the outside work;
and after my Mother was older and widowed, Ernie drove her wherever she
needed to go. Her car was a used 1950’s Cadillac and, yes, it was aqua
and had fins. You might say it was a case of “driving Miss Daisy.”
My Mother was an accomplished woman. She taught first grade many years.
Her students excelled in reading, math, and manuscript writing. (That’s
what they called printing.) A phonics advocate, she developed two
books: “Reading and Arithmetic Readiness” and “Sound, Write, Read,
Spell” for Hayes School Publishing Company. The University of Dayton
placed student teachers with her.
We all loved Ernie and looked forward to seeing him when we visited.
Our two sons liked talking with him and would follow him around when he
worked in the yard. They hoped he’d give them some chances to help.
After Mother’s death in 1991, I wanted Ernie to have her Cadillac. He
had always loved driving it, and he was the perfect person to treasure
it. He and I went to the DMV to transfer the car title. Ernie signed
his name, but during the transaction I discovered that he could not
read—at least not enough to function well.
I had questions. Over the years, were there no situations that occurred
from which Mother could have recognized the extent of Ernie’s lack of
reading ability? Did Ernie successfully hide it from her? Because of
embarrassment, many who cannot read try to conceal it from others.
Ernie had asked Mother to help him manage his money so he could save
some. Was that all she knew?
Recognizing the need, after we retired, my husband and I took a course
in literacy tutoring. We volunteered for five years at Wayne Industries
in Greenville and taught reading skills to adult clients. It was a
challenging and rewarding experience.
I’m not sure if Ernie, at his advanced age, would have been receptive
to help from my Mother, or anyone else, to improve his reading skills.
I often wonder. I do know the best gift we could have given him wasn’t
the Cadillac—it was literacy.
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