I remember always being proud of Dad, Dean Williams, because he helped people. Maybe thatıs why I trained for a helping profession. After about 13 years of teaching and doing some tutoring on the side, I received training to work with people with dyslexia. Dad was concerned about the training, but when I told him it was the Orton-Gillingham method, he said, ³Sam Orton?² When I acknowledged this, he said that he had worked with him some at the University of Iowa. Orton was a neurologist at the hospital. Jane Frasier sends me the Stuttering Foundation newsletter each time it is published. I am so interested to see the genetic research being done concerned stuttering. The studies I have seen have indicated a "family tree" incidence of both stuttering and dyslexia and some articulation problems. I am now retired on disability from post polio syndrome. My brothers are both involved in the medical field. Gordon is the vice president for finance of the Duke medical school and hospital. Koudy is a veterinarian and full professor at Wake Forest. He does heart research (primarily for female health) on monkeys at Bowman Gray.

I have one very early memory of my father. I had been paralyzed by the polio and had to learn to walk again. I have this picture of my dad at the far end of the room, encouraging me with his arms open to walk to him. That was the longest room in my life, but I'm sure it was just a few feet! He just kept smiling and saying that I could do it. I think that philosophy has carried me all my life. That is the one great gift from him that I have tried to pass along to my three sons. There was never a problem that couldn't be solved or faced. When I ever did some dumb stuff (and I did!), he would just sit down and say, "Well, I guess we better think about this and decide what to do." I was never afraid to go to him about anything. When he did "dumb stuff", I was also never afraid to go to him and tell him! He wasn't happy, but he listened.

There are some funny memories too. We used to love to go to a lake in Indiana for our vacation. We got to have soda (pop for we Midwesterners) every night after swimming as we played poker. Yes, my father taught me to play a pretty decent game of poker. I have passed on that skill to my granddaughters. (Much to their parents' dismay) My dad invented the "screaming sideslip" at the lake. We used to have contests diving off the dock. We would run down the dock to work up a head of steam and try to flip and then hit an inner tube in the water in the sitting position. One day Dad slipped, slid, and screamed as he went off the dock. He missed the inner tube, but got points for originality.

We used to love to go on the Stuttering Foundation of America trips with my folks. A group of my dad's colleagues would write pamphlets with advice for stutterers and parents of children who stuttered. We got to meet all of his cronies and had a ball. Wendell Johnson was willing to go exploring with us. When we found a neat cave we thought sure was a new discovery in Acapulco. Sue Ainsworth and I got into a bit of trouble canoeing out to a shrine in the ocean. We got out a bit far, but made it back to shore. We were proud even though our parents weren't! Then there was the time my mother and Katie Van Riper took a walk on Key Biscayne and tried to see some pretty flowers over a wall. The problem was, it was then President Nixon's Key Biscayne compound. The Secret Service met them at the top of the wall. Dad and Van had to go get them at the police station! I think Dad thought it was funny, but shy Van scolded "K-K-K- Katie!"

By the way, did you know the song, "K-K-K- Katie" was always sung at their get-togethers?

Thank you for letting me share.

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