by Kathy Megivern
Unsung heroes. It's a term we've heard a lot, especially in the months since September 11. And while it probably gets overused, it is true that every organization, especially during its formative years, owes a great debt to those who work behind the scenes, giving tirelessly of their time, their energy and their talent but never wanting to be in the spotlight.
One such person for ACB was Aileen McDaniel, who died on May 15, 2002 at the age of 89. Yes, Aileen was married to ACB founding father Durward McDaniel. And while she had a career of her own, she also was a tireless volunteer, giving much of that effort to ACB and, even before then, to the work of the "reformers" in those years leading up to the formation of ACB. M.J. Schmitt remembered those days in a tribute that she wrote to Aileen for the "Vendorscope" after Durward's death: "During the days of the Free Press Association and the formation of the American Council of the Blind she [Aileen] worked tirelessly. There was no 'preferred medium' in those days -- whether 12 p.m. or 12 a.m., 4 p.m. or 4 a.m., Aileen's calm, usually cheerful voice could be heard reading us anything and everything we needed to hear, to keep the troops updated and the wheels turning."
Aileen was a bundle of contradictions. Married all those years to a blind man and yet she never learned Braille and never had a driver's license. But in so many ways, they were a perfect match. Those who knew Durward know that there was no distinction between "work life" and "personal life." He lived and breathed ACB. And Aileen lived and breathed it with him. But she had her own life and her own interests; she was always absorbed in a good book and she seemed never to complain about or resent Durward's many travels, especially during those early years of organizing and recruiting new members into the newly formed ACB. During one of ACB's financially leaner periods, she even retired from her second career and volunteered full-time as office manager in the ACB Washington office.
Aileen and Durward were as unsentimental a pair as you would ever meet. There were never any public displays of affection and neither one was much for "romance," but their devotion to each other came through loud and clear. And their devotion to ACB is a legacy for which we all can be most grateful.