> (c) 1998 Baltimore Sun. All rights reserved.
> Kenneth Jernigan, 71, advocate for the blind
> The Baltimore Sun
> (BS)
> - Wednesday October 14, 1998
> By: Ernest F. Imhoff SUN STAFF
> Edition: F
> Section: News (Local)
> Page: 5B
> Word Count: 630
>
> MEMO:
> TYPE OF MATERIAL: OBITUARY
>
> TEXT:
> Kenneth Jernigan, a relentless fighter for blind people around the
> world
> and president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind
> (NFB)
> from 1968 to 1986, died of lung cancer Monday night at his Irvington
> home.
> He was 71.
>
> During his leadership, the federation became the nation's most
> powerful
> organization of blind people. Its affiliates increased from 32 states
> to
> 50, Puerto Rico and District of Columbia, while membership grew to
> 50,000.
>
> Euclid Herie of Toronto, president of the World Blind Union, for
> which
> Mr. Jernigan served as president of the North American-Caribbean
> Region,
> said:
>
> 'Dr. Jernigan influenced the lives of blind persons throughout the
> world
> for more than a half-century. He fought for their inclusion in
> education,
> employment and culture. His name will be remembered alongside Louis
> Braille
> as one of the most influential leaders in the blindness movement.'
>
> Braille (1809-1852) invented the system of raised dots
> representing
> letters that are read by touch. The system has been in declining use
> since
> World War II.
>
> But Mr. Jernigan said that since November, when doctors told him he
> had
> lung cancer and about a year to live, he had been eager to work on
> pet
> projects: a proposed $12 million National Research and Training
> Institute
> for the Blind at NFB headquarters planned for completion in 2002 and a
> new
> national hiring program involving United Parcel Service.
> 'I have no complaints in my life,' he said. 'I go contented.
> I've
> enjoyed my life. I love my friends and those who may have disliked me.'
>
> Mr. Jernigan's wife of 14 years, Mary Ellen Osborn Jernigan, and
> his
> daughter, Marie Cobb, also of Baltimore, were at his bedside when he
> died,
> said Mark Maurer, who succeeded Jernigan as NFB president.
>
> 'Dr. Jernigan changed our lives and gave us all hope when there
> was
> none,' said Mr. Maurer.
>
> After high school, Mr. Jernigan built furniture and managed a
> furniture
> shop in Beech Grove, Tenn. He taught English at the Tennessee School
> for
> the Blind in Nashville from 1949 to 1953.
>
> After the federation moved from Des Moines to Baltimore in 1978,
> Mr.
> Jernigan supervised the renovation of an old factory that became
> the
> National Center for the Blind at 1800 Johnson Street in South Baltimore.
>
> He developed the Braille and Technology Center there in 1990,
> containing
> what NFB says is more state-of-the art equipment for the blind
> than
> anywhere. He organized a national Braille literacy campaign in 1992
> to
> promote Braille with laws in 30 states favoring its use.
>
> Mr. Jernigan founded the National Newsline for the Blind in
> 1994,
> allowing blind people to hear daily newspapers such as The Sun read
> in
> synthesized speech over the telephone.
>
> He wrote more than 100 articles and speeches, edited the
> Braille
> Monitor, the largest-circulation journal in the blindness field, from
> 1978
> to 1993, and also edited the federation's large type Kernel Book series.
>
> One of his last times away from home was at the Canadian Embassy
> in
> Washington last month when he was given an international leadership
> honor,
> the Winston Gordon Award, for giving blind people 'measurable
> independence'
> through Newsline.
> 'The real problem of blindness is not loss of eyesight,
> but
> misunderstanding and lack of information,' Mr. Jernigan said. 'If a
> blind
> person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to
> the
> level of a physical nuisance.'
>
> He was a communicant of St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery Roman
> Catholic
> Church. A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10 a.m. tomorrow
> at
> the church on Old Frederick Road and Monastery Avenue.
>
> In addition to his wife and his daughter, he is survived by a
> brother,
> Lloyd Jernigan, of Dearborn, Mich.; three grandchildren; and
> four
> great-grandchildren.
> More obituaries next page
>
> Pub Date: 10/14/98
>
> Copyright The Baltimore Sun 1998
>
> END OF DOCUMENT
>
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