Reflections

Dear Mike,

Glad you read Emil's book.  Emil was an honorable man.  Isn't it interesting the notions we get in our heads?  Today we think of piano tuning as a blind occupation.  But it was not a blind profession.  Emil's dedication and steadfastness turned it into an employment opportunity for blind people.  He turned out many tuners and technicians, creating what appeared to later generations of young blind folks as a specialized trade for the blind. 

I recall shortly after I'd gone to work for DSB, maybe around 1976 or 1977, a group of us toured the Piano Hospital.  Emil proudly gave us the grand tour. 
At some point he mentioned that piano tuning was not something women could do.  Lifting the heavy board...do they call that the action?...out of the piano was just not doable.  One of our counselors, Marybeth Williams, bristled at these comments, and she angrily challenged him.  Poor Emil.  He was taken by surprise.  Remember, Emil came from a different generation and he just plain did not think women could do a man's job.  But I'll give it to him.  Not too long after that, the first woman was enrolled in the course. 

Emil was born in 1901 and he was 90 years old when he attended what I believe was his last state convention in 1991.  WCB and the United Blind had merged in 1990 and this was a very large turnout.  I was MC and at some point I asked who was the oldest member in the room.  Emil took the prize. 

Emil was a long time active member of the Riverside Chapter in the old NFBW.  Back in 1973 I was state president.  Our state organization(NFBW) was working to bring about a commission for the blind, a separate agency for the blind.  We felt the agency was not delivering effective services.  But in 1973 the agency put on a public event, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Center at 3411 South Alaska Street, in Rainier Valley.  I called a board meeting and we decided to picket.  We had not been able to get much public attention for our commission bill.  The agency had the TV and news papers all lined up to cover the event, so we saw this as a golden opportunity for us. 

That was quite an eventful day, but the short story is that Emil became very upset.  After all, many of his referrals came from the agency, and he did not want to cut that source off.  So Riverside left the state organization for a period of time.  I think that at some point in time they joined the newly organized WCB, but someone else will have to fill in that piece. 

Anyway, I had, and continue to have great respect for Emil Fries.  When you think of how difficult it is today for blind people in our depressed economy, imagine what a young blind man was up against back in the height of the Great Depression.  Not only the economy, but the old world attitudes about blindness.  Emil was a success story under any conditions, but especially then. 

 

Curious Carl

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Mike Edwards

To: Wcb-l@wcbinfo.org

Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 10:34 PM

Subject: [Wcb-l] Reflections

Having grown up 3 blocks from the piano hospital, I never paied much attention to the idea of piano tuning. I wrote it off as a "typical" blind profession. But, just having finished emil fries's autobiography, I've gained a new respect for the profession. The man went through a lot to get where he ended up, and it sounds like he was an insightful, interesting person to know.

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