SPECIAL | feature
I received a PCE grant and, with encouragement from Chapter AT, ultimately completed my master’s degree.
I continued to teach, which didn’t allow for attendance at daytime P.E.O. meetings. Then in February 1986, I was invited to be one of the charter members of Chapter GW in Orange, Texas, which was a night chapter. This gave me the opportunity to be involved in P.E.O. again. And again, I saw The Weaver’s hand. On October 6, 1989, I was recruited to teach students with visual impairments. I returned to the University of Texas one more time to complete graduate-level courses in special education and braille instruction. I applied for and received another PCE grant, which was allowed at the time—today, PCE grants are limited to one, but may be supplemented with loans from the P.E.O. Educational Loan Fund. Because of P.E.O.’s support, I had the honor of teaching braille readers. I worked in this field for 10 years before retiring. I was inspired by the resiliency of my students on a daily basis. P.E.O. touched the lives of my students, though indirectly, as I was privileged to teach them. I am still in touch with the following three:
Kimberly, a former student who is totally blind, received a Ph.D. in healthcare management and policy last year. She is a health equity researcher for Mathematica Policy Research in Houston. Amanda, another former student, graduated from The University of Texas with a degree in computer science. Amanda has been totally blind from birth. Amanda attended Austin Community College (ACC) before going to UT. Ron Bass, an ACC professor of computer studies who taught Amanda in four courses said, “She is the most amazing student I have had in a 50-year career in teaching. She is really off-of-the-scale intelligent. She mastered some of the most advanced and abstract ideas in programming. And even more amazingly, she could write the code for them.” Amanda was recently accepted into the Ph.D. program for computer science at Texas A&M University. Leah is a mother. Her six-year-old son has the same condition that Leah has and she faces life head-on daily. Leah lost all her residual vision as a young adult. She earned a degree in emergency disaster management with a certification as an ADA Coordinator. She hopes to soon begin working for American Airlines as a reservationist. I’m extremely proud of her and her spirit. Her life has been filled with hardships and heartache and yet she marches on as a single mother on her own. In 1996 I married Aline Showalter’s son, Sam, 21 years after she had presided in my P.E.O. initiation. ISN’T LIFE AND ITS TAPESTRY FASCINATING?
AMANDA
P.E.O. touched the lives of these students through Gail’s work as a teacher
In June 2011, I transferred into Chapter CC in Beaumont, Texas. I am privileged to continue service in P.E.O. as the PCE chair for my chapter. Since 2012, our chapter has awarded 16 PCE grants totaling $31,950. I have a nonprofit for single mothers—SMORE for Women, (Single Moms-Overjoyed, Rejuvenated, and Empowered). Because of this, I have contact with many women who may be candidates for a PCE grant. In 2014 Sam and I established the Aline and Gail Showalter PCE Fund. Again, I was allowed to see the hand of The Weaver in my life. Likewise, occasionally God gives us a glimpse at what He is weaving into the fabric of our lives. That momentary peek at glory gives us the courage to soldier on. NO THREAD OF EXPERIENCE—GOOD OR BAD—IS WASTED. When it appears to be that way, we just have to remind ourselves that we are simply looking at the backside of a tapestry. And the One weaving it together, knows precisely what He is doing.
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March–April 2022 | THE P.E.O. RECORD
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