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A MAN OF EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER, PART SEVEN

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A MAN OF EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER PART SEVEN By Fred Wickert Another story, full of related information to the story by Howard Reidy is the following article printed earlier this year in Medhunters Magazine: A WOMAN HEAVEN SENT By Frederick W. Wickert To be unable to talk or walk correctly, or to take care of oneself with the most simple and rudimentary skills is the everyday life of those who are developmentally disabled. Some were afflicted by polio. Others with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and on down the list. The difficulties of taking care of people so afflicted can be overwhelming, and some families, unable or unwilling to take care of them, opt to put them in the care of the state. In the New York State Family Care program, people take persons with developmental disabilities into their homes and care for them in a family setting, as members of the family. Kay Abbott in New York’s Schoharie County is one of these Family Care Providers. Kay Abbott became a Family Care Provider about 26 years ago. She quickly learned that there were no social opportunities for the disabled in the community. To develop such opportunities, she organized what became known as the Friendship Club. The club consisted of a large number of developmentally disabled persons in the county, together with some volunteers who worked with them. When the members of the Friendship Club wanted to have their very own Christmas Pageant, Kay approached the staff of the Developmental Disabilities Services Office (DDSO) for permission to have one. She was told that it could not be done because of the limitations of the people she was working with, but permission to try was granted. The show was an outstanding success. The cast consisted of 41 disabled persons, ranging in age from their teens all the way up into their nineties. The show had an audience of more than one hundred people and was good enough to rate a story in the Cobleskill Times Journal newspaper. Later, the members of the Friendship Club wanted to participate in a parade in the village of Schoharie. They had only watched parades before. This time they wanted to be a part of it. Once again, DDSO staff said it couldn’t be done, but granted permission to try. Under Kay Abbott’s direction, Friendship Club members designed and built their own float using a wagon borrowed from a local farmer, and pulled the float in the parade with a borrowed tractor. The float won first prize. Currently, the official title given the developmentally disabled person by the state is “Consumer.” Every year for many years, Kay Abbott, assisted by her husband Frank, went around to the community residences run by the state and run by the ARC (Association for Retarded Children) and picked up idle consumers. They brought them to their home, usually in groups of about 20 at a time, and gave them a record hop and a dinner. For nine years, Kay brought a group of eight to her home every week. She taught them to act out stories for church. They also made gifts and took them to nursing homes for the patients. From this, they learned there were others whose lives and circumstances were not as fortunate as their own. It took six months to get this program started, but Kay Abbott doesn’t give up or go away. Kay has taken a number of Consumers to places they lived after they were born, to answer their questions, “Where did I come from, and what is it like there?” On many holidays, she has transported Consumers from community residences to her home for dinner. For years, on a weekly basis, as literacy volunteer, she has taught Consumers how to read and write their names. She also taught a group of female Consumers how to use cosmetics. The list goes on and on. Kay Abbott never tires of helping and doing things for others, and she never turns down a person in need. In a breakfast ceremony in Albany, New York, on May 7, 2004, co-hosted by Don Weeks of radio station WGY, and Jack Arnecke of television station WRGB, Kay Abbott was presented with the annual Hometown Hero Award given jointly by the two stations, and the North Eastern Chapter of the American Red Cross. When Howard lived with the Wayman family, it was only a short distance from the home of Kay Abbott. Howard being a baseball fan, Kay and her husband Frank took Howard to a number of baseball games. On more than one occasion they took him to Montreal where they camped overnight, and then went to see a baseball game before returning home. Howard was one of those in the group that made gifts for, and visited repeatedly, people in nursing homes. Howard was a giving kind of man and it fit his nature. Howard was also one of those taken by the Abbott’s back to their home of origin. Howard expressed a desire to go back to the old neighborhood where he lived as a child and see what changes had been made. Frank Abbott drove him there one day and they looked over all of Howard’s old haunts as a child. Howard enjoyed the trip and enjoyed reminiscing. The only unpleasant part of the trip is that on the day they went, it happened to be raining. Howard Reidy will be remembered in Schoharie County for some time to come, not only by those in the DDSO and ARC, but also in his church community and in the Knights of Columbus. He was highly respected by all who knew him. He was always friendly and respectful to everyone he encountered, and always tried to be helpful. He was one really nice guy. He always made the best of every situation he found himself in and often brought good cheer to those around him. Howard Reidy was indeed, a man of extraordinary character. First photo of Howard Reidy sitting in a boat at Lake george, New York. Second photo of Kay Abbott when intervied for the award by Jack Arnecke of WRGB TV News.