Early on, Barbara was destined for a life in Education. In 1967 she began her first year working
towards her Education Degree at the University of Alberta. During her "spare" time, she worked for
Edmonton Public School Board assisting with the creation of their Professional Library.
After graduating, Barbara was hired by Edmonton Public School Board and worked as a half-time
"Home Bound teacher" and half-time as an Itinerant Teacher for the Visually Impaired through
Institutional Services.
In 1973 she became one of two full time Itinerant Teachers for the Visually Impaired, situated at
Queen Mary Park School (QMP). In her first year, Barbara made history in this position as she was
the first and only Itinerant Teacher who did not have a driver's license. Barbara went from school to school on her bicycle, Braille and large print books precariously balanced in her basket! During the winter months, she travelled by cab - Driving Ms. Barbara.
The year 1974 was a pivotal year - not only did Barbara begin her Masters Degree in Visual
Impairment at San Fransisco State University, but she also learned how to drive. Neil remembers the
campus looking like Ft. Knox - uninviting and hard to get into. Maybe it was in preparation for what was to become the summer-place for all of the hooligans from Edmonton who would descend on its
hallowed halls in search of their Masters degrees!
Historically, the first Special Education Program in Edmonton Public Schools was the "Sight Saving
Class" established in 1931. Fast forward to 1974, there were two Low Vision classrooms situated at
Queen Mary Park School and all other students who were Braille-users and those with vision and
multiple disabilities were sent away from their parents at a young age and schooled in Brantford,
Ontario or Jericho Hill School in Vancouver.
In the fall of 1974 Barbara's colleague left and the school board was now in dire need of yet another Itinerant Teacher. Barbara asked me if I would be interested in taking the job, I said yes, and voila! Barbara and I became not only a force to be reckoned with, but dear friends from that time on. Obviously Edmonton Public was in a panic or they would never have hired me into this position, without an interview and knowing I had no experience in the area of Visual Impairment.
Barbara and I were highly motivated to bring students from distant residential schools back home to
live with their families and to have them educated in neighborhood schools. We worked closely with
ASVI (Alberta Society for the Visually Impaired) a parent run organization which was and continues
to be actively involved in advocacy efforts with various levels of government, providing education
and social opportunities for families and service providers. The goal of ASVI is to maximize the
opportunities for the success of children with vision loss by supporting the education of teachers in the area of visual impairment. During the summer months of 1973 and 1974, Barbara was supported
at San Fransisco State University by funding through the ASVI.
When Barbara and I started planning our own families we could not imagine what it would be like to
have to send one's child away to be schooled elsewhere. The Alberta Heritage Trust Fund was
bursting at the seams and it seemed the only right thing to do was to take responsibility to educate Alberta children at home.
There was one causal moment where Barbara and I knew we were fighting the good fight to bring the
kids home. After a couple of years of escorting Edmonton students back and forth from Brantford, a
student in Edmonton Public by the name of Billy (now known as Bill), was in a tragic car accident in which his uncle was killed and Billy was left totally blind. Barbara was the Itinerant Teacher who first met Billy in the hospital before his bandages were removed. It was through meeting and getting to know Billy and his family that Barbara and I knew the best place for him was at home, with his family and friends to support him.
Rosemarie Elaschuk, a colleague and friend of Barbara's and mine who was teaching the Low Vision
Class at Queen Mary Park, was open and willing to have Billy become part of her class. Like Barbara and I, she had to learn on the spot, keeping just ahead of Billy with her Braille and Orientation and Mobility Skills.
In the summer of 1974 Barbara (better known as Barbara the Bandit) and Rosemarie (fondly known as
Rosie the Robber by her students) went to San Fransisco to pave the way for the rest of the "vision
gang" who eventually took courses every summer. Rosemarie then went on to teach the Low Vision
class at Waverly School and Barbara and I continued our crusade as Itinerant Teachers.
As always, money was an issue in terms of supporting the students with whom Barbara and I
worked. So, being creative and conniving women, we knew that the way to people's pocketbooks
was through their heartstrings. Barbara and I took a plethora of pictures of our students in a variety of activities, from Brailling, using the now extinct Opticon, to walking the school hallways using a white cane. We had the pictures blown up to life-size and off we went to present our 'cause' to Woodward's Employees Charities and IODE (International Order of the Daughters of the Empire). We scored! And that is how some of the equipment was purchased for the students with visual impairments in Edmonton Public Schools.
Barbara and I set up a small office in Victoria Composite High School, accessed a teacher assistant
(and as many volunteers as we could find) and supported the many students who were attending Vic
by providing Braille, large print, books on tape and tutoring. This was not necessarily sanctioned but it was a necessary and successful undertaking.
Resources were slim and the Materials Resource Centre (MRC), now known as Specialized Services
for Students with Visual Impairments (SSVI), was just starting to produce alternate formats for ECS - Grade 12 students with visual impairments. Those were the days of reel-to-reel tape recorders and
no sound booths. Barbara and I asked our own mothers to volunteer to read books and exams on
tape for our students. In those days the closest we could get to a sound booth was a microphone
stuck inside a roll of toilet paper! Many a novel was produced under those circumstances.
Another memorable student came to Barbara's and my attention in 1975. He came from a northern
community and was both blind and hearing impaired. He was being placed from one foster home to
another, obviously a challenging young man. Barbara and I decided he needed some "mothering" so
we took him to Celebrity Hair to get him a fresh "do" and then off to the Army and Navy to outfit him. He would forever be emblazoned in our memories. When reviewing one of the English literature
tapes that he returned, no longer was the novel on tape but a slow and mournful rendition of "You
Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog"!
As life would have it, Barbara and I were ready to start our families. In September 1976 our first two children, Bryce and Rachel were born six days apart. Two years later, our second two children, Malcolm and Josh were born 33 hours apart. Now that's a partnership! (Barbara was on her own with
Matthew in 1982!)
Much to the dismay of the Special Education Department and the parents of the students who
Barbara and I supported in school, we both returned to work on a part time basis - not enough
support for the many students who we had served in the past.
So, in 1978 Rosemarie Elaschuk joined Barbara and me as an Itinerant Teacher for the Visually
Impaired. Now there were three. There was no stopping these three musketeers! Not only did we work
well together, during our maternity leaves (1979) we were asked to write curriculum in the area of
Vision for Special Education department at Edmonton Public Schools. Ten years later, we were
contracted by Alberta Education to write curriculum entitled Programming for Students with Visual
Impairments for Alberta Education.
Around 1980 the Itinerant office moved from the portable at Queen Mary Park to Strathearn School
where the bank of Itinerants grew. Barbara left Edmonton Public after having Matthew and began to
work tirelessly with the Autism Society. In 1983 a new service was created - CAPE (today known as
ERECS) - made up of an interdisciplinary team of "specialists" charged with the responsibility to
support Northern Alberta teachers teaching students with sensory impairments. Rosemarie and I
joined this small but mighty group of 10 consultants. It was a challenge to learn how to be a
consultant rather than an Itinerant Teacher.
It would be close to eight years later when Barbara realized how much she missed (and was missed)
working with students with visual impairments within the school setting. To the delight of everyone
who had ever worked with Barbara, she joined what was then called Belvedere Consulting Services
as a Consultant for Students with Visual Impairments. Barbara and I were together again.
Barbara was devoted to her students and their teachers. For the consultants who had the great
benefit of working with her, she was an advocate, a mentor, a coach and above all, a friend. She was as passionate about her work as she was about the people with whom she came into contact.
Barbara touched many lives and will never be forgotten.
