Dedicated to giving children who cannot hear the ability to listen.

Three months before I turned 66 and four months before I retired, my colleague Patty invited me to her apartment to make a vision board. Patty planned to retire one year later, so she figured we both needed to get focused. What a novel idea, I thought. Planning retirement. With a table full of magazines, glue, scissors, and champagne, the process began. What I chose, or perhaps, what chose me opened up possibilities that I never considered.

For more than four decades I taught children who are deaf and hard of hearing (dhh) to listen and talk. And for seven years I was the Principal and ED of a Hearing and Speech Clinic in Canada. All those years of learning and treasured relationships were such an integral part of me that when we moved to Portland, I stayed involved by volunteering to read with dhh kids, and soon was the President of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of AG Bell Assn, providing advocacy, financial aid, family support and professional development to families and hearing health professionals.

When my husband and I moved to Medellin, Colombia two years later, I continued my presidency from a distance, but I also saw in front of me the opportunity to bring my knowledge and experience to families and professionals here. I worked in the bubble of non-public, stellar programs my entire career. Medellin has no classes for children with special needs. Nor is there critical, early intervention. The lucky few children that have any support are seen infrequently, with very little follow-up at home to help them achieve language and literacy. I found an opportunity to work with speech therapists; to listen to their concerns, and to help them with therapy and teaching strategies. While I hope it will make a difference for them, there is no doubt that they are a gift for me who has cared about possibilities for children who are dhh, for a lifetime.