Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Advocate for deaf community Marcia Dugan dies at 78 | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle
Marcia Dugan, an international advocate for people with hearing loss, died Sunday at age 78.
Her children — Maggie, Elizabeth and Michael Dugan — were by her side at her home in Penn Yan, Yates County. She had battled leukemia for a year but refused to let it slow her down, they said.
"Last June, she went to a Nashville convention for the Hearing Loss Association of America," said Maggie, who lives in France. "She visited me in Paris a year ago. Nothing stopped her."
During her long and varied career, Mrs. Dugan directed public relations for Keuka College (1972-1980) in Penn Yan and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (1980-1995) in Henrietta. But she made her strongest impact as a spokeswoman for hard-of-hearing persons like herself.
She began losing her hearing at age 40, while teaching math in Penn Yan's public schools. It was an intensely unnerving experience that became grist for her books, Keys to Living with Hearing Loss (Barrons, 1997) and Living with Hearing Loss (Gallaudet University Press, 2003). They are considered essential coping guides for people adapting to auditory impairment.
Carolyn Gray, a close friend, recalled Mrs. Dugan's dawning crisis in 1970.
"She couldn't hear in the classroom," said Gray, now a Penfield resident. "It was a significant lifestyle change, and she began seeking information on how to deal with hearing loss. That led to the rest of her career."
Mrs. Dugan's friends were startled by her next move — becoming Keuka College's spokeswoman. How could she communicate with the public with her severe hearing loss?
In fact, she found one-on-one meetings, phone conversations and press releases easier to handle than her old classrooms, Gray said. Mrs. Dugan began to take a prominent role in local and national advocacy groups. She was president of the Hearing Loss Association of America (1996-1998) and the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (2001-2006).
"She was always encouraging us to stay involved with international issues around hearing loss," said Brenda Battat, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America in Bethesda, Md. "We're really going to miss her."
Mrs. Dugan's activism also made her a key figure in Rochester's large hard-of-hearing community. Its picnics, committee meetings and parties showcased her talents as a one-woman press bureau for the world of deafness.
Mrs. Dugan was a high-energy talker with passionately held opinions and the knowledge to back them up. She also had a fierce command of Roberts Rules of Order, which she didn't mind sharing at meetings.
But she could listen with genuine interest to old friends, especially in the comfortable elegance of her Victorian home in Penn Yan. When representing Keuka College or NTID, she showed a well-polished sense of decorum. "Her public self was impeccably groomed," Gray said of Mrs. Dugan's public relations jobs.
"She wanted to be perfect. But behind that was a very basic, warm human being. "
Not many of Mrs. Dugan's friends knew her colorful background. She was born in New Orleans and moved to Cuba when her father joined the Old Time Molasses Company. She was a championship swimmer at her Havana schools, according to a resume from NTID.
She returned to America to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There she met her future husband, Frederick, a Yates County man who became a well-known county family court and surrogate judge until his death in 1987.
Throughout her career, Mrs. Dugan was an enthusiastic sailor, skier and globetrotter. Closer to home, she was long active with local Republican organizations and was named Yates County Republican of the Year in 1979. She also helped to establish the Yates County Arts Council and served as a trustee for Keuka College, which awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in December.
She is survived her son, Michael of Wayne, Pa.; daughters Elizabeth of Washington, D.C., and Maggie of Paris, France; and four grandchildren.
Calling hours will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Weldon Funeral Home, 102 E. Main St., Penn Yan. Funeral services are private.
The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Hearing Loss Association of America's Marcia Dugan Memorial Fund, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1200, Bethesda, Md., 20814; or to Keuka College, P.O. Box 98, Keuka Park, NY 14478.
Marcia Dugan, an international advocate for people with hearing loss, died Sunday at age 78.
Her children — Maggie, Elizabeth and Michael Dugan — were by her side at her home in Penn Yan, Yates County. She had battled leukemia for a year but refused to let it slow her down, they said.
"Last June, she went to a Nashville convention for the Hearing Loss Association of America," said Maggie, who lives in France. "She visited me in Paris a year ago. Nothing stopped her."
During her long and varied career, Mrs. Dugan directed public relations for Keuka College (1972-1980) in Penn Yan and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (1980-1995) in Henrietta. But she made her strongest impact as a spokeswoman for hard-of-hearing persons like herself.
She began losing her hearing at age 40, while teaching math in Penn Yan's public schools. It was an intensely unnerving experience that became grist for her books, Keys to Living with Hearing Loss (Barrons, 1997) and Living with Hearing Loss (Gallaudet University Press, 2003). They are considered essential coping guides for people adapting to auditory impairment.
Carolyn Gray, a close friend, recalled Mrs. Dugan's dawning crisis in 1970.
"She couldn't hear in the classroom," said Gray, now a Penfield resident. "It was a significant lifestyle change, and she began seeking information on how to deal with hearing loss. That led to the rest of her career."
Mrs. Dugan's friends were startled by her next move — becoming Keuka College's spokeswoman. How could she communicate with the public with her severe hearing loss?
In fact, she found one-on-one meetings, phone conversations and press releases easier to handle than her old classrooms, Gray said. Mrs. Dugan began to take a prominent role in local and national advocacy groups. She was president of the Hearing Loss Association of America (1996-1998) and the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People (2001-2006).
"She was always encouraging us to stay involved with international issues around hearing loss," said Brenda Battat, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America in Bethesda, Md. "We're really going to miss her."
Mrs. Dugan's activism also made her a key figure in Rochester's large hard-of-hearing community. Its picnics, committee meetings and parties showcased her talents as a one-woman press bureau for the world of deafness.
Mrs. Dugan was a high-energy talker with passionately held opinions and the knowledge to back them up. She also had a fierce command of Roberts Rules of Order, which she didn't mind sharing at meetings.
But she could listen with genuine interest to old friends, especially in the comfortable elegance of her Victorian home in Penn Yan. When representing Keuka College or NTID, she showed a well-polished sense of decorum. "Her public self was impeccably groomed," Gray said of Mrs. Dugan's public relations jobs.
"She wanted to be perfect. But behind that was a very basic, warm human being. "
Not many of Mrs. Dugan's friends knew her colorful background. She was born in New Orleans and moved to Cuba when her father joined the Old Time Molasses Company. She was a championship swimmer at her Havana schools, according to a resume from NTID.
She returned to America to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. There she met her future husband, Frederick, a Yates County man who became a well-known county family court and surrogate judge until his death in 1987.
Throughout her career, Mrs. Dugan was an enthusiastic sailor, skier and globetrotter. Closer to home, she was long active with local Republican organizations and was named Yates County Republican of the Year in 1979. She also helped to establish the Yates County Arts Council and served as a trustee for Keuka College, which awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in December.
She is survived her son, Michael of Wayne, Pa.; daughters Elizabeth of Washington, D.C., and Maggie of Paris, France; and four grandchildren.
Calling hours will be from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today at the Weldon Funeral Home, 102 E. Main St., Penn Yan. Funeral services are private.
The family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Hearing Loss Association of America's Marcia Dugan Memorial Fund, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 1200, Bethesda, Md., 20814; or to Keuka College, P.O. Box 98, Keuka Park, NY 14478.