QUE PASA
Newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico
June 2013
Kay boyd, a federationist through and through!
By Veronica Smith
I met Kay Boyd in September of 1989 when she and I attended the NM Orientation Center for the Blind in Alamogordo. It’s funny how the choices we make and the paths we take lead to meeting that very special person. She was a lot like me, a little bit of this and that, which added up to nothing to write home about. At the Orientation Center, we were both a long, long way from home: she came from Los Alamos, and I came from Albuquerque. Both our husbands brought us, made sure we got checked in, and left us there to begin our new lives!
It was difficult for both of us. Kay began a week before me, so when I arrived, she was used to the idea. That was a bonus for me. She quickly took me under her wing, and we became fast friends! Though she and I were not roommates, we were suite mates: she roomed with Tawana, and I with Kellie. The four of us had to make a schedule, 4 women sharing one bathroom. Kay used to tell everyone, it took us exactly a day and a half to use up a roll of toilet paper! That was true and much too funny!
We laughed and we cried, but what we did was never give up. She had cane travel in the morning, very early--you know, before the stores came to life--which made it very difficult to find anything. Well, there weren’t many peeps out to ask where this or that was, and most restaurants weren’t open, so she couldn’t follow her nose. Heck, one time while she was looking for Pizza Hut, she had the bright idea to reach her cane up, hoping that she could feel the tiles on the roof. She was much too short, so couldn’t get the cane high enough. Can you imagine her doing just that!
The first time we took a field trip with the Orientation Center, we headed to Santa Fe for something, and she and I shared a hotel room. Well, it was very cold out, and neither of us knew how to turn on the heater, and there weren’t any extra blankets in the room. You ask, “Why didn’t you call the front desk and ask for help?” For years and years after that very chilly night, we wondered the same thing!
When I arrived back at the Orientation Center after our winter break, Kay was not there waiting for me. In fact, Linda Frazier the nurse came to let me know that Kay would not be returning. She told me that while Kay and her husband were driving back to Alamogordo, they hit some black ice, and their Bronco rolled down the mountainside. Both were alive, but Kay had been hurt: she had slammed her hand and arm through the window. I can’t remember just how many stitches she had, but there were a lot. Her ligaments and tendons had been damaged, and holding onto anything, much less a cane, was almost impossible.
I talked to her almost every day, telling her she had to come back! She insisted that she could not, would not. I talked to Linda, and the two of us found out a way she could continue her physical therapy at the Center. Somehow, we did convince her that the Center is where she had to be. So she did her therapy, and little by little, she did more and more cane travel.
After that, there was no stopping her. She became the secretary of our state affiliate. But she did it the hard way: she recorded each meeting and then went home and Brailled it. She said she learned more that way.
Kay has been a faithful servant to the NFB. She was a board member, a president, a vice president, and just a member. She and I attended many, many national conventions together, always flying together, and almost always sharing a room or at least a door that led to each other’s room. She went to Detroit without me, and when she told the story of how busy the elevators were, I could sympathize. She told me she waited and waited, but still it didn’t come, so she had this bright idea to take the stairs to the banquet floor. She began on the 20th floor, and when she finally stopped, she had made it to the first floor, passing the place to exit by 2 floors. She said she was exhausted and didn’t care if she ever got up from the seat she found. Silly girl! She has always been my roommate at state convention, and except for one or two that one of us missed, we’ve been to all of them.
Kay loved to read. And boy let me tell you, she could finish a book in a day, whereas it took me several days. She loved the Dallas Cowboys and listened to them on the radio. She also loved George Jones and was very sad when he passed recently. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and a very, very good friend! She will always be my nearest and dearest friend.