Edna Adler at the NVRC (Northern Virginia Resource Center) 10th Anniversary Gala in 1998. Brenda Talley is on the left, and Edna Adler on the right.

In her letter containing this photograph, the photograph on her original life story, and her epilogue (below), Mrs. Adler says, "The reemergence of the Gene and Inez Petersen Collection seems just too incredible to believe."

[What follows is] a self-composed continuation of my life story originating from a videotaped interview conducted by Gene Petersen in the early 1980s.

A family tragedy at the time of the interview greatly altered my personal life. My husband, Gerald Adler, professor of mathematics at Gallaudet University, was shot to death by a robber as he parked his car in our supposedly secure cooperative residence which has housed at various times, a Vice President of the United States, Supreme Court Justices, and scores of Congressmen.

My work at the Deafness and Communicative Disorders Branch, Rehabilitation Services Administration, people-oriented and service-based as it was, became my salvation. On the home front, there were income taxes and investment matters to tend to in my new aloneness, not to mention care of the car. I acquired a new appreciation for automotive literature.

Friends were wonderful in helping me over the hump, and I continued my membership in a bridge and a movie-dinner club. With my children and their families, I went sailing in the British Virgin Islands and camped in the Switzerland Alps. With good fortune, I hope to return to BVI [British Virgin Islands] in 2005 when I am 90. In the meantime, I am preserving joint limberness by walking up and down six floors daily, plus a variety of exercises and stretch-outs in stolen moments.

I retired from Federal employment early in 1989 and immediately set about transforming one room of my home to an office. I applied for and was awarded a Rehabilitation Research Fellowship issued by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research [part of the U.S. Department of Education]. The report of my research, Research Trends in Deafness, State of the Art, 1970-1990, was published by The University of Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Currently, I am writing a biography based on the life of Boyce R. Williams, who used opportunities available to him as Chief, Deafness and Communicative Disorders Branch, to establish programs and services that have upgraded the social and economic status of deaf and hard of hearing people.

Armed with an iMac, a printer, and a trusty old word processor, I continue to be the same ever-busy, 'til dawn worker that Gene Petersen interviewed. At 84, I continue to find life challenging and sweet.

To any young deaf person who should see my videotaped life story, I say, "Do Not Ever Give Up."

Gail Hyde
Project Coordinator, Web Design