Lifetime In Darkness: Destiny of a Blind Man

By Johnny Powers

Blindness is a physical condition many in the sighted world do not completely comprehend. This is especially true with regard to the blind's many special and fascinating capabilities. As the son of a blind man, author Johnny Powers shares his father's unique lifetime story, which in all likelihood, will surprise and amaze you.Our story begins in the heart of Iowa's farm country. It encompasses 84 years of a totally blind man's many achievements, as he overcame every obstacle the world placed in his path. It is a true success story of one man's refusal to let what most consider a serious handicap stand in his way of reaching any goal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebel Publications
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463700662

Johnny Powers

Although his grandfather and his mother were both avid writers, author Johnny Powers never dreamed of becoming one himself. But as life often does, in the early 90’s a series of events created the necessity and a new career was launched.For the next twenty years, he created ad-copy for various companies worldwide. This included writing and designing various types of advertising for a multitude of different product lines. He expanded on those skills and soon developed an international marketing company which specialized in the promotion of private label brands.Over time, he gradually transitioned into the How-To book market, with a focus on marketing strategies, and also produced several articles which were published in various trade magazines.After retirement from the overseas marketing world, he wrote his first full length non-fiction book, Outlaw For Life, in 2014 which proved to be a big seller. Since then, he has published a second non-fiction book, Corruption Behind The Badge, and a new novel, Ebony Rose, and is currently writing another non-fiction book about his father titled: Lifetime In Darkness - Destiny of a Blind Man. There is no doubt he has several more books to write.Johnny says: “As long as I have something worthwhile to say, I’ll keep writing books. I really enjoy it.”

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Lifetime In Darkness

Destiny of a Blind Man

Author: Johnny Powers

Publisher: Rebel Publications

Smashwords E-Book Edition

© Copyright 2020 - Rebel Publications

Johnny Powers

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book can be reproduced without express written permission from the copyright holders.

Edited by: Rebel Publications AR

Paperback Edition Published 2019

Printed in the U.S.A. – UK – Europe

The print edition of this book is available at most online retailers & book stores.

If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer.

Please submit your review for this book to your favorite retailer.

Other Books by Johnny Powers

Outlaw for Life!

Secrets of the Notorious Waterloo Outlaws MC

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Corruption Behind the Badge

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Ebony Rose

Secrets of the Diary

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Shadows of Lust - Mystery of a Southern Legend

You’ll find all of these popular books at most online bookstores.

Thank you for your interest.

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ATTENTION ALL BOOK LOVERS

Authors whose books are published by small publishing companies, or perhaps are released as Self-Published works, do not have giant marketing firms backing them in the promotion their books. They don’t have connections with radio talk shows, cable news outlets, or late night television talk show hosts, which other better known authors use to introduce their latest new book. Plus all forms of national advertising costs huge amounts of money, which unfortunately many lesser known authors don’t have access to.

As a result, many new or yet to be discovered authors are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to introducing new books to the general public. This is why it is so important when you enjoy a book, that you also mention it to everyone you know. Tell folks what you liked, or didn’t like, about each book you read. We assure you, whoever the author is, he or she will greatly appreciate your efforts.

Another very effective method of supporting your favorite author is to post an online Book Review. Other readers often search out those reviews, prior to making a decision on whether to read a new book. This is especially true for books written by new or little known authors.

We at Rebel Publications urge you to support all of your favorite authors. It takes a great amount of time and effort to write a book and get it into the hands of readers. And we can assure you, each and every author you choose to support, will appreciate your help. Please take a few minutes of your time to come to the aid an often starving author. Let people know what you enjoy about all books you read!

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~Contents~

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE – A Rocky Start

CHAPTER TWO – Home Improvements

CHAPTER THREE – Marital Bliss

CHAPTER FOUR – Family Grows

CHAPTER FIVE – Get Serious

CHAPTER SIX – Miserable Road Trips

CHAPTER SEVEN – Creativity Emerges

CHAPTER EIGHT – Tragedies of 1965

CHAPTER NINE – City Tightens Noose

CHAPTER TEN – Natural Traits Backfire

CHAPTER ELEVEN – Bigotry Rears its Ugly Head

CHAPTER TWELVE – Crushing Notice

CHAPTER THIRTEEN – Farm Dreams

CHAPTER FOURTEEN – Life Goes On

CHAPTER FIFTEEN – Statewide Celebrity

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Remarkable Sightless Folks

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – Enhanced Senses

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN – John's World Crashes

CHAPTER NINETEEN – Suspicions Proven

CHAPTER TWENTY – A Few More Good Years

CHAPTER TWENTYONE – Daughter’s Final Legacy

CHAPTER TWENTYTWO – All Said and Done

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~Prologue~

Those of us who are fortunate enough to have good eyesight, rarely fully appreciate, or completely understand, just what it takes to live and excel without the aid of two good eyes. As the son of a blind man, who was also surrounded by many other sightless folks during my early youth, I realize there are many misconceptions about those who live their lifetime in total darkness.

It is well known, the average sighted person, whom is not directly involved with the blind, often do not realize all of a sightless person’s many capabilities. When those false assumptions are then directed toward an extraordinary blind person, such as my father, who had a stubborn streak the size of Texas, and was sarcastic clear to his toes, an embarrassing reaction becomes inevitable. He will tell you are wrong to your face, and he will do whatever it takes to prove it!

All too often, many folks tend to prejudge those they meet whom are noticeably different than themselves. Where the blind are concerned, that is a mistake one should never make.

In my experiences during my youth, I had the unique opportunity to meet a vast array of totally blind folks who possessed characteristics their sighted counterparts couldn’t even imagine. In fact, it’s safe to say each person I ever knew who lived without sight, were amazing individuals in their own right with capabilities few in the sighted world would ever fully comprehend.

Granted, my primary motivation for this book is the blind man who raised me. However, I just can not tell his story alone, without also recognizing many of his amazing sightless friends. Each one lived their life being prejudged by those with sight around them. And many of those with two good eyes incorrectly assumed the blind were incapable of doing much of anything worthwhile.

As a reader, you should be prepared to be amazed. You are about to discover a man whose individual capabilities, and awesome achievements, rival many sighted people you know. And I assure you, by the time you finish this book, you will never consider total blindness as a completely debilitating handicap again.

At this point, you may be assuming this is nothing more than a fluff piece written to glorify my father. I assure you, it is not. My Dad made his own mistakes, and he had flaws. None of us is perfect.

But remarkable people learn from their mistakes and strive to improve throughout their lifetimes. And my Dad would surely fit into the category of a remarkable person. He always strived to rise above whatever challenge the sighted world threw at him. And he always refused to let his blindness stand in his way of reaching any goal.

I can not deny, during the 53 years I knew him, our father-son relationship was very similar to that of a rollercoaster and was fraught with ups and downs. But through it all, good and bad, I always knew he was a very extraordinary man.

Please join me in this historical journey through the eighty-four years of my father’s life. Along the way you will witness his many achievements, awesome skills, and even discover some of his secrets. We’ll also take a brief look into the lives of several of his blind friends and many of his sight impaired acquaintances. Each has a story to tell, which most likely will surprise or amaze you. And some may even make a lasting impression on you!

As you travel through these many true life tales, you may find something amusing, and you may even chuckle to yourself. Or perhaps, you may shed a tear. Without a doubt, you will learn many things about those who live in total darkness, which I suspect you never knew. And I predict you will come away with a whole new perspective about the blind. This friends, is my father’s story…

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~CHAPTER ONE~

A Rocky Start

My father, John Leroy Powers came into this world on October 20, 1922 and was the eleventh child of Inez L. and Rezin H. Powers. He was born in his mother’s bed, at their rural home, near Waterloo Iowa. The couple had welcomed nine girls and one other boy into their family prior to John’s birth, but he soon became the baby of the family in the true sense of the word.

The Powers family were farmers originally from the Ozarks in southern Missouri. They had migrated to Iowa, prior to John’s birth, primarily in search of better farm land, because they were fed up trying to scratch out a living by farming rock infested fields. The move was also no doubt motivated by Inez, because she had a sister living in Zearing Iowa.

Farming was a tough occupation in those days, and it wasn’t uncommon for couples to produce large families for additional help around the farm. Under normal circumstances, their farming way of life would have been perfect for their youngest son. Throughout his lifetime, he was truly a farmer at heart.

It had become especially difficult to operate the farm in Iowa for Rezin, as he had only one son old enough to handle a team and a plow, and he also had a weak heart. This undoubtedly placed an additional burden on the girls of the family, which were required to help out with various other tasks around their place. It was a daily team effort just to support and feed the large family.

All indications are John was quite normal during his early youth. Rural child rearing was quite different during the 20’s than it is today, however strong family values, such as hard work, persistence to complete all tasks, and the value of a dollar was instilled in him at an early age. Through his youth, insecurity about his abilities was not a trait he possessed. He would eagerly tackle any project without fear.

John was a shy boy around strangers or in public. He chose to keep quiet and listen when intermingling with those outside his family. It would remain a strong trait until he was seven years old.

The family had more than their share of tragedies prior to John’s birth, with the loss of three of their little girls before they reached the age of adolescence. So when tragedy struck once more in 1927, although they were completely unprepared, the strong couple met the challenge hand in hand together, and did the very best they could for their youngest son.

It all began with a normally joyous occasion. On a bright sunny afternoon, the entire family left the farm for a trip to town for a day of shopping. With all of the kids crammed into their 1921 Buick, the youngest child, who was just five years old, sat on his mother’s lap in the front seat of the car as they bounced down the rutted dirt road toward the big city of Waterloo.

Everyone was excited to go to the city that day. It was a rare occasion to get away from their ho-hum life and the hard work on the farm. The older children were especially happy as they slowly inched closer to town. They each were supposed to get a new pair of shoes.

In downtown Waterloo, Rezin was negotiating a left-hand turn toward the local men’s clothing store Ben & Dick’s. Suddenly without warning, a newer model Ford crashed into them head-on.

The Ford was driven by a well known local alcoholic. He was completely inebriated and shouldn’t have been behind the wheel. The only words the five year old remembered on that day, was what the police officer had told his father. He’s drunker than a skunk! It was a phrase John would repeat often throughout his lifetime.

Several of the older children in the car received minor non-life threatening injuries, and the two adults emerged basically unscathed. Inez did later discover a minor bruise on her right knee, which she apparently received when her leg banged into the dashboard. But in the commotion and aftermath of the crash, the injury went unnoticed. She was far more concerned with her family in the car.

Unfortunately their youngest son was not so fortunate. Although, they didn’t realize the extent of his injuries at the time, the yet unknown damage to his young body would haunt them all, especially his parents, for the rest of their days.

During the 20’s, many models of cars did not have glass side or rear windows. Most only had side-curtains which were only used during inclement weather. However all vehicles did have glass windshields, which because of their inadequate design, always shattered on impact sending small slivers of flying glass through the air. Without knowing it at the time, at least one such piece of glass had lodged in their youngest son’s right eye. This was not the only injury young John sustained in the wreck. He also had his nose broken, which was assumed because the lunge forward had sent his little face into the dashboard too. John would be out of High-School before the formally broken nose bone would be discovered.

Due in part to the swelling of John’s face surrounding his nose and eyes, it would be several days before the piece of glass was discovered and removed from his right eye. By then, the damage had already been done, and neither the Doctors, nor his parents, had any idea of the severe extent of the damage.

Because of their obvious lack of knowledge for the treatment of eye injuries in children during the 20’s, several errors were made during the following two years. Had those same injuries occurred even ten years later, the outcome would have probably been much more favorable.

The Doctor’s first mistake in the treatment of the boy was to focus all attention on the eye which had been damaged by the sliver of glass. This error caused what is known today as a sympathetic reaction, which is a slow and irreversible deterioration of the sight in the good undamaged eye. In other words, because of the injury to just one eye, John was now losing his sight in both eyes.

The medical profession discovered, in the mid 1930’s, the simple step of placing an eye patch over the undamaged eye of a child, would actually stop the sympathetic reaction. Unfortunately this simple miracle step was not taken in young John’s case.

Early on, when his right eye was determined to be damaged beyond repair, a decision was made to surgically remove the eyeball in a desperate attempt to save the sight in his left eye.

The surgery was followed up by numerous injections being administered into his back, also in an attempt to save his sight in the one remaining eye. The poor lad had to endure those painful shots on a weekly basis for most of the next two years. It was a trauma he never forgot.

The surgeon who had removed young John’s eyeball had tied off his optic nerve. He informed his parents, it was his belief at some point in the future, whole eye transplants would be possible and he wanted to give the boy every opportunity to see again. Unfortunately by the time transplants were feasible, it was determined John’s optic nerve had deteriorated to the point where a transplant wouldn’t be successful.

All treatments to save the boy’s eyesight failed. By the time John had reached the age of seven, he was totally blind. His last memory of sight was the fall afternoon he was walking with his father and his sister Helen in the pasture behind their home. He had just turned seven years old. He heard a strange noise overhead, and asked his Dad what it was. It was an airplane flying low over their farm. He could see some light in the sky from the sun, but he could not see the airplane overhead. It wasn’t long after that day, he couldn’t even decipher light. He was in total darkness from then on.

The final loss of his sight was not the last traumatic experience the seven year old would have to endure. Blind children were not permitted to attend public schools. And the only blind school in the state of Iowa was in Vinton. This meant young John would have to leave home and live fulltime at school. It would prove to be a situation he detested and fought his entire school years.

Other than during the Christmas holiday, and the summer-time break each year, John lived and studied in Vinton School for the Blind. Separate dorms were established for the girls and the boys; however each student of all ages shared the dining room and most of the classrooms. After being enrolled in the school, young John’s first hurtle was to learn how to navigate the massive halls all on his own. He recalled getting lost on his way to various classes during his first few months, which always resulted being counted as tardy in the teacher’s ledger.

John hated being away from home for most of each year. This hatred was then directed toward the school itself. His poor attitude at school caused many disciplinary problems, especially during his early years. He proved to be a problem child in nearly every class he attended.

Although the academic curriculum was nearly the same as the state’s public school system, Vinton also provided their students with additional skills they would need throughout their lifetime. These included navigation skills with a cane, learning to read and write Braille, and various trades such as tuning pianos and how to cane chairs. Although all of these things were mandatory for all students, John proved to favor and excel in woodworking.

Young John was actually introduced to the art of woodworking by his grandfather on his mother’s side. After his wife had come to Iowa from Indiana to help her daughter Inez during a typhoid epidemic, which had hit their household, and later succumbed to the illness herself, grandpa moved north and lived part time with each of his three married daughters.

The old man was an avid woodworker and inventor. And as he aged, his eyesight too was failing. When the family realized young John was also destined to lose his sight, the old man took him under his wing and taught him the woodworking trade, blind man’s style. Grandpa had designed several special tools and measuring devices to aid him in working wood as his sight began to fail. He taught young John how to use those various tools too. So long before he was permitted to take woodshop at school, he already had learned several aspects of working with wood.

About the time John was about ten years old, he stumbled on an amazing discovery. Buses ran daily from Vinton to Waterloo. And for anyone under twelve years of age, the one-way ticket only cost 15 cents. Unfortunately though, John’s parents never provided him with any pocket money while he was in Vinton. They rightfully assumed the school would provide everything he would need, so sending extra money with their son wasn’t necessary. However with the new found knowledge about the bus schedules, John decided he too needed coins jingling in his pockets.

He put his plan into action during the Christmas break. And not knowing what their son was really up to, both of his parents gave him a quarter each when he returned to school after the first of the year. With 50 cents burning a hole in his pocket, young John couldn’t wait to test out his new plan.

After the Christmas break, when his brother in-law dropped him off at school, John never even entered the door of the school. He trudged straight down to the bus station and boarded a bus back to Waterloo. Upon arrival in Waterloo, he had the clerk in the bus depot contact his family. He had actually gotten back home before the brother in-law who had dropped him off in Vinton had returned to his house! It took his parents, who no longer owned a car, a whole week before they could arrange transportation back to Vinton for him. Although he had gotten his butt chewed out good, and his mother made sure his pockets were empty when he returned to Vinton, John was still quite pleased with his plan’s outcome. He would repeat his unexpected bus trips home at least twice a year from then on.

Over the years while he was still in school, John developed another talent which would aid him long after his school days were over. He would deliberately start an argument with friends he knew had money. Then, once they were hooked, he’d make a bet to prove his point. And of course, he used his winnings to take the bus right back home!

Now young John’s greatest passion was food. However, just like all kids, he didn’t like every meal the dining room served at school. So by his fourteenth year, he mysteriously acquired the key to the school’s kitchen. He and his friends in the dorm would wait until everyone else was in bed for the night, and then quietly sneak down to the kitchen to pilfer whatever they desired. The scheme worked quite well for that entire school year.

Unfortunately when they returned to school the next fall, the locks on the kitchen doors had been changed. John promptly sold the kitchen key to an unsuspecting student for 50 cents, which of course he spent on candy and a bus ticket back home. That time, because of bad weather, he managed to stay at home for over two weeks before the family could haul him back to Vinton.

He spent his remaining years in school trying to learn how to pick the kitchen door’s lock. And at least three times during subsequent years, he got caught in the act of attempting to break into the kitchen by school personnel, and was disciplined. Picking a lock became one the few things he tackled in life which he could not master.

John was able to use his under-twelve bus ride scheme until he was sixteen, before Gray Hound officials finally told him he’d have to pay the adult fare of 35 cents to go to Waterloo. This forced him to seek out new guys at school to bet with, so he could earn the additional funds he needed to get home.

I fondly remember during my own childhood, my Dad deliberately starting an argument with my Grandmother. It happened every Sunday during our weekly drive through the country in the afternoon. In the end, he always demanded a bet, and he always lost. His deliberate loss to his elderly mother, always guaranteed we were going to the ice-cream store, Potter’s Polar Pantry, and he had to pay. Grandma always made him buy her a Strawberry malt to payoff the bet. And she always made sure I got a large ice-cream cone.

The head of the Powers clan had begun a Thanksgiving Day tradition while they lived in Missouri. And naturally after moving to rural Iowa, they continued with the enjoyable custom. While the women and girls worked in the kitchen preparing the family’s feast, all the men and boys would go hunting. Rabbits and Pheasants were plentiful in Iowa fields, so their hunt was always successful.

Obviously young John couldn’t hunt. But he always enjoyed trekking through the fields with the other guys, while they would seek out their prey. By then his other senses had begun to develop beyond those with sight, and he claimed he could often hear a Pheasant running ahead of the group before any of the other guys could see it.

On one particular Thanksgiving Day hunt, it was colder than normal and there was an abundance of new snow. This caused the Pheasants to sit tight, so the hunters only managed to kick-up two birds for the day. However the Rabbits were much more active and the group bagged several large fat hares during the hunt.

When the men returned to the house, it was also customary for everyone who had hunted, to also pitch in to dress out their haul. Young John had made the hunt too, so he always helped with cleaning the birds and Rabbits. On this day, he held the back legs of each Rabbit while his sighted relatives skinned their catch.

During the hunt, John had scratched the palm of his right hand when the group crossed a barbed-wire field fence. The injury was slight and the boy paid little attention to it. He had completely forgotten about the injury by the time the group returned to the house. However once they began dressing out their Rabbits, that minor un-bandaged wound became critically important.

Unknown to any of the hunters at the time, some wild Rabbits carried a disease which could affect humans. This virus is destroyed through proper cooking of the animal, however in its raw form it can be deadly. It was called Rabbit Fever at the time, but today is known as Tularemia. Because of the scratch on John’s hand, and because he handled an infected Rabbit during the dressing-out process, he caught Rabbit Fever.

Within just a few days, his whole right hand had swollen to three times its normal size. Within less than a week, his right arm was just as swollen clear up to his elbow. If something wasn’t done, and done fast, the disease would spread throughout his body and he would most likely lose the arm, or worse die. Naturally his parents tried everything they knew to treat John at home. When nothing worked, they contacted the local doctor. The doctor’s early treatments also failed, and he soon feared the boy may not live.

Inez, John’s mother, wasn’t about to lose another child without a fight. So under the doctor’s direction she made one last-ditch effort to save her son’s life. Without the aid of anything to numb the pain, she cut a large ‘Y’ shaped incision on the back of his hand.

Immediately the hand and arm began to drain. For most of the next two days and nights, the hand drained into an old wooden water bucket. And miraculously, the fever broke and he began to feel better. By the end of the third day, he was able to eat his first full meal since he had gotten sick.

Full recovery took well into the month of February though, however young John didn’t mind. He got to stay at home and didn’t have to return to school that year until the first of March.

He proudly showed his ‘Y’ shaped scar and shared the story with all who asked for the rest of his life. And, John never touched, or ate, a Rabbit again.

During John’s time in Vinton School for the Blind, he learned several other skills too. The blind children learned to play baseball using a ball which emitted a whistling sound. The bases had a raised rope leading to each one, so as long as another player wasn’t standing in the baseline, the blind runner could get around the bases with ease.

The students also were encouraged to learn to ride a two-wheeled bicycle. The school had a round-banked concrete track, which the kids dubbed the oval, specifically designed for the blind to ride their bikes on. And if some unknown rider didn’t stop without the knowledge of the others, there were actually few crashes.

John spoke about his bike riding days at Vinton often. It was one of his favorite school stories. He especially loved the freedom he felt as he pedaled as fast as he could around the oval track. Soon, because of his known recklessness on a bicycle, no girl would ride the track while John was there. And only a few boys were brave enough to be on the track with him too. He seemed to always overtake the other riders and cause a crash.

Years later, during an annual convention at Vinton School for the Blind, I witnessed my dad’s bike riding skills. He borrowed a couple of bikes and conned my mother into riding the oval with him. He of course went full speed, while she had intended to have a slow leisurely ride for a couple of laps around the track. As soon as he over took her, laughing his ass off, she swung her bike safely off the track. Dad continued to pedal as fast as he could, round and round and he was laughing the whole time. He made several laps before he tired. And he complained the entire next day about his sore legs.

During John’s time in Vinton, the school also had their own small farming operation at the back end of the property. The staff took care of the animals, and collected fresh milk and eggs for use at the school. Although students weren’t allowed in the barns, this rule didn’t stop John and his friends from sneaking in from time to time. John claimed he snuck into the barns because he missed the sounds of livestock and the barn smells at home. However the underlying truth was he was an animal lover at heart. Caring for animals of all sorts was his passion. When he was at home, he spent far more time in the barn with the livestock than he did around his family in the house.

At the high-school level, Vinton offered another opportunity to the male students, which was of particular interest to John. Since he had started school, a fight between other students was strictly prohibited, and anyone who got involved in a physical