A woman of letters

Medical obstacles can't halt woman's quest to read

By Fred Petrucelli

Susan Board can't remember when the idea of reading became an all-consuming part of her life, but now the formerly illiterate woman can't get enough of the printed word.

She can be found these days in a classroom of the Faulkner County Literacy Council immersed in the nuances of reading, which eluded her as a child because of seizures that almost destroyed her.

Ms. Board, a 47-year-old woman of intense determination, has overcome the medical roadblocks strewn in her path virtually since birth. She paid the price of neglect, being inhibited by a brain tumor that was not discovered until adulthood.

Making the most of her limited abilities has been Ms. Board's travail though the years. She has struggled through illnesses that impaired her in many ways, causing interruptions in her education -- gaps that put her in the ranks of the illiterate.

"I'm gonna read and I'm gonna get my GED," she said while taking a listener through the anguish that has marked her life.

She is resolute in her belief that she will leave the population of the illiterate , which numbers between 300,000 and 600,000 in Arkansas. Normalcy in her life is what she looks for fervently.

"They told me I would never live alone, that I'd always need somebody. But look at me now. I live alone. I work. I pay my bills," she said. "The only thing I can't do is drive, but ILS (Independent Living Services) takes care of that, bringing me to school and work and then taking me home. I sure fooled a lot of people."

Her depiction of life as an epileptic captures the horrors of "being different," of time spent in special education, of days filled with loneliness and inactivity bereft of social contact.

At one point in her life, she married, only to have her husband die of cancer three years later. She was thrust into menial jobs, as a dishwasher in restaurants, as a custodial worker in stores or employed doing other tasks that were notable only for the pitifully low salary they offered.

Throughout her life epileptic moments and seizures enfeebled her. When a brain tumor was discovered and removed in a delicate operation in l980, Ms. Board was able pursue activities that would make life more bearable.

At the insistence of an employer, she investigated the Literacy Council and the move proved to be providential. Her meager education put her in a beginners class of reading but she was not bothered by its low estate. Her thirst for learning has carried her to a plateau that was thought to be unreachable.

"I'm reading the Bible now," she fairly shouts. "I couldn't read it before I came here."

For the past dozen years, she has worked tirelessly at acquiring reading skills. In addition, other aspects of learning such as algebra, "Gee, that's hard," have held her attention.

All this energy has led to the recognition of Ms.Board as the Literacy Council's "Student of the Year," an award that finds the woman beside herself in wonder.

If she goes on to capture a GED certificate, which is quite likely, according to Literacy Council Director Althea Baysinger O'Haver, Ms. Board's joy will know no bounds.

"And I'm gonna get it, too," she declared.

Ms. Baysinger O'Haver pictures Ms. Board as a "remarkable individual who began to learn her alphabet at 30 years of age."

The woman has proceeded through the Laubach and Voyager systems of reading and is moving toward her GED by virtue of her new found knowledge of spelling, writing and mathematics. Social studies will come later.

"She came to us several years ago without any reading ability," the director said."She has made great progress to the point where a tutor is working with her and the chances that she will get her GED are good. She improves with ever class session."

Ms. Board was trained to read in the Laubach system of teaching in a program known as "Each One Teach One." The program uses a system of phonics (the look, say method of associating letters with sounds) and visual aids, It can take a student to a sixth grade reading level.

One of Ms. Board's newly found attributes is her greater self-esteem. "Before I came here I didn't talk much. I was backward."

Now with her greater ability to read, the woman has acquired a greater opportunity to become self-supporting by obtaining a better job and earning more money. She is a parttime employee of the Kroger Company.

"I came to the Literacy Council because I wanted to read and to make me a better person," Ms.Board declared. "Now I think I am. I want to get my GED because it will mean a better job.

Individuals of Ms. Board's stripe give credence to the fact that they got along via many adaptations while searching for help to make their lives better by opening themselves to a world of learning.