TBI-Houston E-News May 10, 2001 No. 05-01

Editor’s note: The following story was received in response to my request
for items of interest from our volunteers. I think you will agree that it
is extraordinary in what it says and very appropriate. Happy Mother’s Day!
RLB

Mother starts a tradition at Taping For The Blind by Dena Marks

They say "the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree," and that's
definitely true in my case. I'm a second-generation Taping For The Blind
volunteer, because I have followed in the footsteps, or you might say, voice
tones of my dear mother, Jo Marks.
I started my volunteering with Taping For The Blind over 20 years ago,
when Taping was putting together a radio station but by that time, I was long
familiar with Taping For The Blind, because my mother already had been a
reader for years, and off-and-on, I had accompanied her to 3935 Essex. While
she read, I'd watch Taping's founder, Bob Levy, putter around, or be
entertained by his all-around Gal Friday, Jeanne. I remember how much my
mother loved to read for Taping, and how she would pick the books that nobody
else would pick... like a history of the Ottoman Empires that always had her
calling an expert on Turkey for pronunciations that the average reader would
run from, screaming.
When Carl Hess decided to start the radio station, I decided to get
involved, and so I was at Taping much more frequently, learning to be a radio
reader, and learning to run the board for radio. My Mother, as always, was
instrumental in helping. She devised a ruler that measured copy and could
literally time articles for radio producers, and to this day, I'm amazed by
it, not only because you might say she is mathematically-challenged, but
because it worked!
My Mom got other members of the family into the act. My brother, Dale,
became an engineer for HTBR, and he ran the board from time-to-time. That
prompted Carl to accuse our family of nepotism, only he pronounced it
"NEE-PO-TISM." with a very long "e."
Some of my fondest memories of Taping involve reading with various
partners, such as Dan Parsons, who still reads today, or monitoring my mother
and the partners with whom she read, Betty Rizley and Ellin Royds.
One particular day sticks in my mind. Mom and Joyce were reading some
article and the word "schlemiel" was part of the copy. I don't even remember
who was reading now, but when she got to the word "schlemiel," she found it
so funny, she couldn't even get the word out of her mouth. This started her
partner laughing, and I think there must have been at least 10 minutes of
just laughing on the air. They just couldn't compose themselves.... tissues
had to be brought to the booth!
Over the years, our involvement in Taping has waxed and waned. I left
town to pursue my journalism career in other cities, volunteering for
Taping-type services whenever possible, and Mom got involved in other
pursuits and after a while, quit reading for Taping entirely. But when I
moved back to town in 1984, I started reading for radio again, read some
books, and eventually, Mom came back to Taping For The Blind, too. She even
learned to be a describer.
What an inspiration she has been, and how I owe her for getting me
involved in something I love so much! Thanks, Mom, for introducing me to
Taping For The Blind, and for setting such a great example. It's Mom's like
you who make Mother's Day have meaning!