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http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2005/06/09/villages/villages01.txt
THE VILLAGES - Born into silence, Warner St. John never heard his mother's voice or the sound of children laughing. But his impairment didn't keep him from having a long and fulfilling career offering deaf children opportunities he never had as a child.
"He has not let his deafness get in his way," said Janet Farrow, secretary of the Sertoma Club at The Villages, of which St. John is a longtime member.
Today, the club is wrapping up its fourth annual Sertoma Fantasy Baseball Camp for hearing-impaired Central Florida children at Saddlebrook Recreation Center.
For 36 years, St. John served as an educator at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he went on to become the school's physical education director. Established in 1885, the boarding school seeks to provide free public education to hard-of-hearing and visually impaired children.
In The Villages, St. John reunites each year with former students as a volunteer coach. This year's event brought in a record 45 children to learn the fundamentals of baseball from experienced coaches who are also Villages residents.
"They're so happy. They come and give me hugs," St. John said through interpreter Margie Tyner of his former students. "It's wonderful for deaf kids to be involved in a different environment. They don't feel like they're isolated. They have the skills, they improve and they can play with the hearing kids."
St. John said sports in general are beneficial to deaf children.
"They're more physically fit," he said. "They're very active. They're very healthy and strong."
According to Bob Farrow, president of the Sertoma Club at The Villages, St. John doesn't allow deaf children to use their disability as an excuse.
"He is probably tougher on the kids," Farrow said.
"Because he's deaf, he doesn't let them get away with things we might tend to let them get away with," Janet Farrow added.
While St. John is a role model for many deaf children whose lives he has touched, his own life was not without struggle.
It took three years for doctors to realize he had been born deaf. Once diagnosed, his parents sent him to live at the Missouri School for the Deaf in St. Louis, which focused on teaching hearing-impaired children to communicate orally.
A natural athlete, St. John went on to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he played football.
"But I was lost," he said. "It was very hard to lip-read all that."
By age 22, St. John finally learned to communicate through sign language at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where he studied to become a teacher.
After his more than three decade-long career, St. John moved to The Village of Mira Mesa with his wife, Diane, who is also hearing-impaired. And while St. John's son, an auto body mechanic, and daughter, a stay-at-home mother, are both deaf, his seven grandchildren all have the ability to hear normally.
THE VILLAGES - Born into silence, Warner St. John never heard his mother's voice or the sound of children laughing. But his impairment didn't keep him from having a long and fulfilling career offering deaf children opportunities he never had as a child.
"He has not let his deafness get in his way," said Janet Farrow, secretary of the Sertoma Club at The Villages, of which St. John is a longtime member.
Today, the club is wrapping up its fourth annual Sertoma Fantasy Baseball Camp for hearing-impaired Central Florida children at Saddlebrook Recreation Center.
For 36 years, St. John served as an educator at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he went on to become the school's physical education director. Established in 1885, the boarding school seeks to provide free public education to hard-of-hearing and visually impaired children.
In The Villages, St. John reunites each year with former students as a volunteer coach. This year's event brought in a record 45 children to learn the fundamentals of baseball from experienced coaches who are also Villages residents.
"They're so happy. They come and give me hugs," St. John said through interpreter Margie Tyner of his former students. "It's wonderful for deaf kids to be involved in a different environment. They don't feel like they're isolated. They have the skills, they improve and they can play with the hearing kids."
St. John said sports in general are beneficial to deaf children.
"They're more physically fit," he said. "They're very active. They're very healthy and strong."
According to Bob Farrow, president of the Sertoma Club at The Villages, St. John doesn't allow deaf children to use their disability as an excuse.
"He is probably tougher on the kids," Farrow said.
"Because he's deaf, he doesn't let them get away with things we might tend to let them get away with," Janet Farrow added.
While St. John is a role model for many deaf children whose lives he has touched, his own life was not without struggle.
It took three years for doctors to realize he had been born deaf. Once diagnosed, his parents sent him to live at the Missouri School for the Deaf in St. Louis, which focused on teaching hearing-impaired children to communicate orally.
A natural athlete, St. John went on to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he played football.
"But I was lost," he said. "It was very hard to lip-read all that."
By age 22, St. John finally learned to communicate through sign language at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., where he studied to become a teacher.
After his more than three decade-long career, St. John moved to The Village of Mira Mesa with his wife, Diane, who is also hearing-impaired. And while St. John's son, an auto body mechanic, and daughter, a stay-at-home mother, are both deaf, his seven grandchildren all have the ability to hear normally.
