QUE PASA
Newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico
September 2015
Francis D. Opdyke
by Peggy Chong
Francis "Fannie" Opdyke was reported blind just a few hours after birth in 1886. She was born in Seneca County, New York. There is no indication of the names of her parents, and there were several Opdyke families in Seneca County in the 1900's, making it hard to track her early life.
As a blind child, she was enrolled at the school for the blind in Batavia, New York for the school year beginning in 1894. Fannie learned all the techniques of blindness that were taught at that time: Braille, Braille shorthand music, piano, and typewriting. As a student, she would play the piano for school performances and graduations.
While at the school for the blind in New York, she was presented with several career options for which she could be trained prior to her graduation. Blind women had been accepted as music teachers in most parts of the country. As a music teacher, she could most likely make a decent living, not needing to rely on the charity of others. But a new profession had also opened up to blind people because of the typewriter. Some blind women were finding success as typists in businesses. This is the profession Fannie chose to prepare for while still at school. As she told a news reporter, a blind music teacher could teach many children and adults how to play the piano, but as a blind teacher, if the student did not succeed, many were quick to blame the blind teacher rather than the lack of talent of the sighted pupil. A blind secretary, on the other hand, should be judged on her skills in the office.
Fannie graduated in 1908 from the New York State School for the Blind. At the commencement ceremonies, she played a piano piece from Chopin. After graduation, she joined the Blind Women's Club that met in New York City, and she participated in their fundraisers. This was a group of blind women supporting each other. Many of them were employed in a variety of professions around New York City. Fannie would often read in Braille to the members and guests at their events. The group devoted much of their time and effort toward supporting and raising money for a camp for blind girls.
When moving to New York City, Fannie took rooms at 136 East 47th St. in New York City. On October 1, 1909, Fannie became a secretary at the law offices of attorney Catherine V. Curry. Her duties included writing letters from a graphophone in the offices. Her employer commended Fannie on how quickly she learned the graphophone and the accuracy of her work, noting that she was just as good as, if not better than, the other secretaries in the office. Fannie could type accurately at the rate of 70 words a minute. Through mapping out the forms, understanding how far to roll a form into the typewriter and how far to space over, Fannie was able to fill out the necessary legal forms without sighted assistance.
Her next job was as a typist/Dictaphone operator in New York City at the Condemnation Department in the city's court system. She again excelled at her work. She was also quite adept at the six-key, a shorthand machine used at that time by many secretaries in New York to take notes.
In 1916, Fannie and another blind girlfriend, Clara Barnum, about 10 years older, decided to take a huge risk and take the train to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they both got typing jobs. There is no indication as to why two blind women would leave the bustling city for a small, western town with no supporting clubs of the blind or former teachers to call for advice. Fannie took a job with the law offices of W.C. Reid, the attorney for the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe Railroads. To her credit, her employer told the New York School for the Blind that because of her skill, Fannie had a higher rate of pay than many of the secretaries in the office. By 1917, she was the lead secretary in the office, earning a salary of $90 a month.
Fannie would walk from her home to her offices by herself each day. She and her friend Clara took rooms at 513 Marquette. Later, they bought the house and took in lodgers. Many times, the women lodgers were of their own age. They had a nice garden of flowers and vegetables that they enjoyed nurturing. Clara may not have been employed as long as Fannie, but she continued to live with Fannie for several decades in Albuquerque. Fannie retired from the law offices in 1936.
Back home in New York, in 1924, Fannie was honored by the Business and Professional Women's League of New York City. She and eight other blind women in New York City received awards for their achievements. Fannie had achieved much in her life, and to many blind and sighted women, she was seen as courageous for moving to the Wild West. Fannie's name was foremost in articles that covered the award ceremony, noting Fannie as a pioneer in the field of blind secretaries. The BPWL worked with The New York League of Blind Women, where Fannie had once been a member, to assist blind women to find jobs and get the necessary training for work in the secretarial field.
Back in Albuquerque, Fannie joined the Friendship League for the Blind as a consultant. This was a charity that operated a sheltered shop from time to time. Fannie supported the use of white canes when they were purchased by the Friendship League in 1939. She said that many blind people were afraid to walk alone with just a cane, because many drivers did not know what the cane was or what it symbolized. Her efforts working with the Friendship League involved educating the public about the blind and how they traveled. There is no indication that Fannie used a cane, but as she talked to many people about how to use a cane, she may have been one of the first blind persons in New Mexico to use a cane for traveling.
By 1939, Fannie was very ill and unable to work or participate in her community service projects. However, this did not stop her from being active in her church, working on the calling committee for the Apostolic Cathedral in downtown Albuquerque. Fannie passed away on April 22, 1944. She died from burns suffered in a fire in her home. Her bathrobe and nightgown caught fire from the gas heater in her room.