Content area
Full text
Stephen Barrett, who recently retired from his position as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died on April 17, 2010. Mr. Barrett found his way to working in the rehabilitation of people who are blind or visually impaired in an unusual way. He met the love of his life at a Dairy Queen shortly after obtaining an undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas. Motivated by the need for money to buy an engagement ring and pay for a wedding, Mr. Dentón went to a state employment office, which referred him to the Texas Commission for the Blind. He was hired to teach blind people daily living skills, such as cooking, in their homes. In 1975, he was hired as a regional representative for the Helen Keller National Center. He rose through its ranks to become executive director. In 1990, Mr. Barrett left the center to become executive director of the Pinellas Center for the Visually Impaired in Largo, Florida. After a decade in Florida, he took a two-year sabbatical to work on child abuse prevention in Anchorage, Alaska. He continued that work for another two years in Texas, but missed working with blind people. That's when he was recruited to work for the Pittsburgh agency by its outgoing CEO, Richard Welsh. In 2009, the agency made a pitch to Pennsylvania to use federal stimulus money for an employment training program for deaf-blind people that would offer coaching on everything from how to dress for success to how to travel safely to and from work - a lifelong dream of Mr. Barrett' s. His illness forced him to retire in February 2010, but his co- workers were able to tell him that the funding had been approved before his death. For more information, contact: Blind & Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh, 1800 West Street, Homestead, PA 15120; web site: <www.pghvis.org>.