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http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050818/deaf.shtml
Fay Camp, a retired first-grade teacher, has known a lot of newspaper carriers since she first subscribed to THE DECATUR DAILY after moving to Hartselle from Arab 53 years ago. But she has not met the woman who has quietly delivered her paper for the past six weeks.
"She is seemingly efficient," said Camp. "I always get my paper, and I'm pleased."
She was surprised to learn Tuesday that her carrier, 44-year-old Teresa "Terry" Boger of Danville, is deaf.
Boger moves with ease through a soundless barrier that might have stymied some. She delivers THE DAILY to 270 customers in Hartselle weekly. She arrives at the newspaper's loading dock to collect her papers at 2 a.m. and has them delivered in about two hours.
Now for the rest of the week.
Five days she works 9 to 5 p.m. at Redstone Arsenal. For the past 15 years, she has worked as a contractor for Morgan Research, an analyst supporting the Data Maintenance Group.
She was born at Fort Walton Beach, Fla., to Charles and Virginia Ball. Her doctors didn't give the family any hope that Boger would lead a productive life.
Her mom had German measles when she was pregnant. Virginia Ball said when her daughter was 18 months old, the Air Force flew them to a medical center in Texas. Her husband, Charles, stayed behind with their oldest daughter, Dusty.
Virgina Ball said doctors diagnosed her daughter as profoundly deaf.
"They said, 'She will never talk, go to regular school, play games
or ride a bike. She will have to be institutionalized when she is older.' I sat down and cried and wished I had someone with me. And I thought, 'What are we going to do?' "
The Balls didn't realize their youngest daughter's inner strength. The family transferred to an Air Force base at Minot, N.D., and when she was 2, she got hearing aids at a special school at the University of North Dakota, which enabled her to detect some sounds and vibrations. The next year, she entered nursery school and learned to read lips.
"The teachers there stressed speech rather than sign language," Virginia Ball said. "Terry attended school year round, including summers."
The next transfer took the family to Chanute Air Force Base at Ranoul, Ill. They settled into a home at nearby Thomasboro, where the Balls saw how much drive Boger had.
"At 5, she was a tiny thing and she had a small bike with training wheels," Virginia Ball recalls. "She rode into the neighborhood and came home and told us about our neighbors."
Boger accompanied her brother, Danny, on his newspaper route and later took over it.
"It became a family affair," her mother said, "especially when the ice and snow came. But Terry stayed with it for about a year and felt good that she was making money at such a young age."
After Charles Ball's retirement from the Air Force, he moved the family to Decatur in 1976. Boger spent one semester at Decatur High School before enrolling at the Alabama School for the Deaf in Talladega, where she spent two years. The family then relocated to Hartselle, where Boger enrolled at Hartselle High School.
"The teachers there saw Terry through those last two years," Virginia Ball said. "They let her have a tape recorder on her desk. She'd come home and we'd begin studying, sometimes for five hours. I would take notes off the tape and give them to her to study. Sometimes she would become so angry with me. For example, I might stress a lot of history dates, and not a single date would be on the test. She'd come home with a low grade and say, 'You didn't tell me that!' "
She graduated in May 1981 at age 20. A month later, she married Eddie Boger, whom she met in Talladega. He is deaf and unable to speak. A Talladega minister who was hard of hearing married the couple at her parents' home. The minister signed and spoke the ceremonial vows.
Teresa Boger took a course in computer information systems at Calhoun Community College and her son, Tommy, now, 22, helped her job search.
She and Tommy went all over the place," Virginia Ball said. "He would interpret for her. She had no qualms about walking into any office, regardless of how large the company was."
In addition to sign language, Boger talks during one-on-one conversations by reading the lips of those who speak clearly and concisely. She has a computer for e-mails, a Sidekick 2 handheld phone, which is a wireless two-way pager with accessories that fulfill the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and a VP-100.
"The VP-100 is the Video Relay Service for chatting with deaf people without the relay," she said. "It is a free service that enables callers to conduct video relay calls through a qualified ASL interpreter. The Sidekick 2 cell phone is a wireless two-way pager with accessories that fulfill the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals."
In addition to wearing two hearing aids most of her life, surgeons performed a cochlear implant in her right ear in 2000.
Training at THE DAILY
When she began training for her carrier job at THE DAILY, "the lady had a recorder and was taping the route. My friend told her I was deaf. The lady then began writing the names of the roads and the house numbers, marking them to the left or the right. She also wrote on the form whether I would throw the paper or tube it."
Boger, who doesn't know what self-pity is, said, "I wish I wasn't deaf, but I can't change that. I'm proud that I can do things for myself. I am a normal person except for my deafness."
Those closest to her have learned to never doubt her commitment or passion for life.
Boger said she likes staying busy and that "working all the time has always been a habit."
She gives three reasons for wanting a second job: Pay off debts, remodel the house and save extra money for Christmas.
Fay Camp, a retired first-grade teacher, has known a lot of newspaper carriers since she first subscribed to THE DECATUR DAILY after moving to Hartselle from Arab 53 years ago. But she has not met the woman who has quietly delivered her paper for the past six weeks.
"She is seemingly efficient," said Camp. "I always get my paper, and I'm pleased."
She was surprised to learn Tuesday that her carrier, 44-year-old Teresa "Terry" Boger of Danville, is deaf.
Boger moves with ease through a soundless barrier that might have stymied some. She delivers THE DAILY to 270 customers in Hartselle weekly. She arrives at the newspaper's loading dock to collect her papers at 2 a.m. and has them delivered in about two hours.
Now for the rest of the week.
Five days she works 9 to 5 p.m. at Redstone Arsenal. For the past 15 years, she has worked as a contractor for Morgan Research, an analyst supporting the Data Maintenance Group.
She was born at Fort Walton Beach, Fla., to Charles and Virginia Ball. Her doctors didn't give the family any hope that Boger would lead a productive life.
Her mom had German measles when she was pregnant. Virginia Ball said when her daughter was 18 months old, the Air Force flew them to a medical center in Texas. Her husband, Charles, stayed behind with their oldest daughter, Dusty.
Virgina Ball said doctors diagnosed her daughter as profoundly deaf.
"They said, 'She will never talk, go to regular school, play games
or ride a bike. She will have to be institutionalized when she is older.' I sat down and cried and wished I had someone with me. And I thought, 'What are we going to do?' "
The Balls didn't realize their youngest daughter's inner strength. The family transferred to an Air Force base at Minot, N.D., and when she was 2, she got hearing aids at a special school at the University of North Dakota, which enabled her to detect some sounds and vibrations. The next year, she entered nursery school and learned to read lips.
"The teachers there stressed speech rather than sign language," Virginia Ball said. "Terry attended school year round, including summers."
The next transfer took the family to Chanute Air Force Base at Ranoul, Ill. They settled into a home at nearby Thomasboro, where the Balls saw how much drive Boger had.
"At 5, she was a tiny thing and she had a small bike with training wheels," Virginia Ball recalls. "She rode into the neighborhood and came home and told us about our neighbors."
Boger accompanied her brother, Danny, on his newspaper route and later took over it.
"It became a family affair," her mother said, "especially when the ice and snow came. But Terry stayed with it for about a year and felt good that she was making money at such a young age."
After Charles Ball's retirement from the Air Force, he moved the family to Decatur in 1976. Boger spent one semester at Decatur High School before enrolling at the Alabama School for the Deaf in Talladega, where she spent two years. The family then relocated to Hartselle, where Boger enrolled at Hartselle High School.
"The teachers there saw Terry through those last two years," Virginia Ball said. "They let her have a tape recorder on her desk. She'd come home and we'd begin studying, sometimes for five hours. I would take notes off the tape and give them to her to study. Sometimes she would become so angry with me. For example, I might stress a lot of history dates, and not a single date would be on the test. She'd come home with a low grade and say, 'You didn't tell me that!' "
She graduated in May 1981 at age 20. A month later, she married Eddie Boger, whom she met in Talladega. He is deaf and unable to speak. A Talladega minister who was hard of hearing married the couple at her parents' home. The minister signed and spoke the ceremonial vows.
Teresa Boger took a course in computer information systems at Calhoun Community College and her son, Tommy, now, 22, helped her job search.
She and Tommy went all over the place," Virginia Ball said. "He would interpret for her. She had no qualms about walking into any office, regardless of how large the company was."
In addition to sign language, Boger talks during one-on-one conversations by reading the lips of those who speak clearly and concisely. She has a computer for e-mails, a Sidekick 2 handheld phone, which is a wireless two-way pager with accessories that fulfill the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and a VP-100.
"The VP-100 is the Video Relay Service for chatting with deaf people without the relay," she said. "It is a free service that enables callers to conduct video relay calls through a qualified ASL interpreter. The Sidekick 2 cell phone is a wireless two-way pager with accessories that fulfill the unique needs of deaf and hard of hearing individuals."
In addition to wearing two hearing aids most of her life, surgeons performed a cochlear implant in her right ear in 2000.
Training at THE DAILY
When she began training for her carrier job at THE DAILY, "the lady had a recorder and was taping the route. My friend told her I was deaf. The lady then began writing the names of the roads and the house numbers, marking them to the left or the right. She also wrote on the form whether I would throw the paper or tube it."
Boger, who doesn't know what self-pity is, said, "I wish I wasn't deaf, but I can't change that. I'm proud that I can do things for myself. I am a normal person except for my deafness."
Those closest to her have learned to never doubt her commitment or passion for life.
Boger said she likes staying busy and that "working all the time has always been a habit."
She gives three reasons for wanting a second job: Pay off debts, remodel the house and save extra money for Christmas.