Kay Jewelers xmas advertisement featuring Amber Stanton-Zion, Class of 1997 and their American Sign Language.

From original USA TODAY article. This article is related to our WPSD alumni, Harold Mowl, Class of 1965.

U.S. Army Spc. Kevin Mowl of Pittsford, N.Y., on patrol in February 2007, six months before being seriously injured. By Maya Alleruzzo, AP

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY

Harold and Mary Mowl were shocked by what they saw when they first visited their son, Kevin, in the intensive care unit at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

A 150-pound bomb had exploded under Kevin’s vehicle in Baghdad on Aug. 2, 2007. The blast broke his left arm and leg, his back, ankles and feet. His face was swollen; his eye sockets, nose and jaw were shattered. Doctors later removed some of his skull to allow his brain to swell.

“We didn’t know where to touch him,” Harold Mowl said.

Clearly, the 21-year-old son he had brought up in Upstate New York had been largely erased by the roadside blast that killed three other soldiers and wounded 11, the father said. The massive brain damage had taken so much away.

“If he recovered, he would be someone else,” Harold said. “We said to each other right away: ‘We will take care of him no matter what.’ ”

Kevin Mowl and critically wounded troops like him are symbols of a new type of war casualty on this sixth Veterans Day since the United States invaded Iraq. They are wounded troops who probably would have died on the battlefield in conflicts of previous generations, but thanks to advances in emergency medical care by the military, they come home alive. More than a dozen have lingered for months or even years before dying, usually of infection.

It’s a situation that puts families, doctors and military officials in the difficult position of balancing slim hopes of a partial recovery with the desire not to see their loved one, patient and servicemember suffer any more.

Harold Mowl addresses mourners at the funeral service for his son at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. Photo by By Will Yurman, Rochester(N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

“These families have had their hearts wrenched out of them,” Marine Lt. Col. Grant Olbrich says of the relatives of the most severely wounded troops. Until recently, Olbrich was an advocate for families of severely burned patients as part of the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment.

Families are “looking at the choices and saying, ‘What should I pray for?’ ” Olbrich says. ” ‘Should I pray that my child dies quickly and doesn’t suffer anymore? Or should I pray that they survive and have as normal a life as possible?’ ”

Kevin Mowl’s case was typical — months of desperate treatment, brief hope for his family, and then death in February.

“This is not your father’s war. The families now are involved almost literally from the point of injury,” says Philip Perdue, trauma surgeon and chief of general surgery at Bethesda naval hospital and the doctor who treated Kevin Mowl.

“They see their loved ones in the ICU with the breathing tubes, as sick as can be. … They’re at the bedside all day long. Sometimes, the patients don’t get better. And they see the person across the way get better. And they see someone else come and go. And it’s very wearing.”

The Army and Marine Corps have created programs aimed at helping relatives of severely wounded servicemembers. Patient advocates from each service’s wounded warrior program work with non-profit groups to pay for family transportation and find lodging for extended family and friends.

“When something happens (to a servicemember), it’s like a member of the family getting hurt, especially the critically injured. Because you see them suffer and you see them fight,” says Marine Col. Gregory Boyle, commander of the Wounded Warrior Regiment.

Despite such programs, family members of severely wounded servicemembers “don’t know what they’re stepping into,” Olbrich says.

For the Mowls, doctors at the Naval Hospital encouraged them to give their son a chance to get better, Harold Mowl says.

The doctors said the brain remains a mysterious organ with untapped capacity for some recovery.

“We wanted Kevin to have every opportunity to succeed,” Harold says, adding that his son’s doctors never talked about a major setback until the very end, when Kevin began to fail quickly after seven months of treatment.

“That last day,” the father says, “we agreed to just let him go.”

Harold and Mary Mowl show their son’s funeral flag and medals. Photos by Jay Capers for USA TODAY

Helping families cope

Harold Mowl, 61, is superintendent of the Rochester (N.Y.) School for the Deaf and the third generation of his family born without hearing. He and his wife were interviewed for this story through a sign-language interpreter.

Mary Mowl, 57, also is deaf, and is a volunteer executive directorof a group that advocates for abused deaf people.

Their children, Carlene and Kevin, were born with normal hearing and learned sign language before they could speak, first signaling words such as “milk,” “water” and “sleep.”

After Kevin was wounded, Bethesda Naval Hospital hired interpreters to help the Mowls every day at an overall cost of $60,000.

Jeannie Jones-Flanagan, a family advocate from the Army Wounded Warrior Program, tapped military and charitable resources to pay for the Mowls’ lodging, travel, meals, laundry, medications and myriad other expenses as Mary moved onto the hospital campus to be with her son and Harold traveled there every weekend.

“I’m helping them take care of their business, get through the day, work through situations, make small decisions, sometimes make big decisions,” Jones-Flanagan says. “It’s a lot of networking, knowing people in certain departments so that you can cut through the red tape and get things done.”

She and other advocates are backed by staffs of soldiers, social workers, chaplains and mental health caregivers.

They work with charitable groups to cover mortgage payments, utility bills, lost income and family medical needs.

The government covers daily expenses and lodging for up to three family members attending in-patient relatives.

Advocates must arrange charitable support for extended family and friends.

“What is new for the (advocates) is that they’ve been in place long enough now to get the system down and be more effective case managers and advocates,” says Liza Biggers, whose brother, Ethan, lived for a year after he was shot in the head by a sniper in 2006. She is an appointee to a Department of Veterans Affairs committee examining the treatment of wounded.

“Being in the military medical system is incredibly complicated,” Biggers says.

“It’s absolutely essential to have someone help navigate the veterans and their families through it.”

A message from the Army

Spc. Kevin Mowl was about six weeks into an extension on a year of duty in Iraq when insurgents detonated 150 pounds of explosives inside a storm drain under the Stryker vehicle in which he was riding Aug. 2, 2007. The Stryker was ripped apart and overturned.

The next day, Harold and Mary Mowl returned from her first trip to Europe when they found a torn slip of paper in the door of their home in Pittsford, N.Y., outside Rochester. Scribbled words said to call the Army.

Using a video interpreter service provided by the phone company, Harold Mowl used sign language to speak with an operator who made the call. He learned that his son was “seriously hurt” and heading home.

He called his daughter, Carlene, 25, in Manhattan. The operator passed along the news to Carlene. Harold Mowl watched the operator sign back, drawing imaginary lines down her cheeks. She was saying his daughter was weeping into the phone.

The Army flew Harold, Mary and Carlene to Washington, put them up in the Navy Lodge, a hotel on the hospital campus and provided each $64 in expense money for every day they were there.

Harold Mowl commuted to Bethesda every weekend or whenever his son was in surgery. His son underwent 12 major operations and countless lesser procedures, Perdue says.

Carlene arrived every other weekend. Two charities, Operation Hero Miles and Air Compassion for Veterans, used donated frequent-flyer miles to buy the Mowls’ airline tickets.

The non-profit Armed Forces Foundation covered lodging for Kevin Mowl’s grandmother, Jane “Betty” Mowl, and extended family and friends who visited.

Navy doctors worked for weeks mending Kevin Mowl’s many fractures and defeating multiple infections in his body.

Like other severely wounded servicemembers, Kevin Mowl could not speak because of a tracheotomy that helped him breathe. But he could sign.

Doctors watched with amazement as he communicated, confusingly at first, but then in periods of lucidness, with his hands.

It was rare insight into a brain-damaged patient’s progress, doctors told Harold Mowl.

In a blog they began to discuss Kevin’s situation, family members seized on such reasons for hope.

An entry from Sept. 1, 2007, says, “Today was a most exciting day for us … he flashed an ‘I love you’ to Carlene.”

‘He is very quiet’

Kevin was in ICU for five months before he was moved to a ward, to the frustration and exhaustion of his family.

“Kevin continues to be a mixed bag psychosocially,” his father blogged last January. “He is very quiet, and he does not respond consistently.”

“We often asked the doctor what would be his quality of life,” Mary Mowl recalls. “They couldn’t give the answer, but they were optimistic.”

She remained with her son every day, preparing her own meals in the kitchenette in her hotel room or lunching at the hospital’s restaurant.

In January, she moved to a hotel in Richmond, Va., paid for by the Army, when Kevin entered a rehabilitation program at a VA clinic there.

The end was very fast: infection.

Kevin Mowl had been returned to Bethesda for brain surgery. A week later, he was wracked by fever and growing weaker. It was sepsis.

Doctors told the family that recovery was nearly impossible. Kevin had previously signed a do-not-resuscitate order. His father directed that life support be removed.

Kevin died Feb. 25.

“We got to see him a little bit longer,” Harold says of the anxiety the family endured during Kevin’s treatment.

“I wanted to see the doctors taking care of him. I wanted to see him taking every chance to succeed. It was not successful. OK. I think, for me, that was better than getting a call saying that he died.”

His wife nods in agreement.

“It’s hard,” says Carlene Mowl, “because you’re in between” a combat death and survival.

“In one sense, it’s nice to have the time to say goodbye on your own terms,” she says.

“But it’s also hard to watch somebody try so hard to get better and then just not make it.”

Serving from 1969 to 1993 as WPSD Superintendent

CRAIG Dr. William N. Craig (Bill) passed away unexpectedly Thursday, November 6, 2008 at home in Atlantic Beach, FL. He was an innovator, scholar, historian, concerned and creative educator, engaging story-teller, quick but gentle wit, a gentleman and a sailor. He was born November 21, 1933 in Washington, D.C., graduated from Edgewood H.S., and received a B.S. from Washington and Lee Univ. He spent two years in the Army as lieutenant in the Amphibious Training Command at Fort Story. In 1956, he married childhood sweetheart, Helen May Barnes. He received an M.S. in Education of the Deaf from Gallaudet College, and a Ph.D. in Audiology from the Univ. of Pittsburgh. In 1962, he moved with his family to Salem, Oregon where he directed the program for training teachers of the deaf and established a new program for training rehabilitation counselors for the deaf. Bill joined the Univ. of Pittsburgh faculty in 1965 as Director of the Graduate Program for Educators of the Deaf. While there, he designed the project which resulted in the first four Regional Vocational-Technical post-secondary programs for deaf young people in the country. In 1969, he was elected Superintendent of Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (WPSD), a post he held for 25 years. In 1985, he implemented a pioneering new Center On Deafness, providing multiple education, rehabilitation, and support services for hearing-impaired adults at regional and national levels. He also initiated a program for hearing-impaired infants and their parents. Professionally, Bill served for 24 years as Editor of the annual Programs and Services issue of the American Annals of the Deaf and as Associate Editor of the Annals literary issues. He wrote numerous professional articles and chapters and designed a frequently used Lipreading Inventory for Deaf Children. Among the national awards he received were: the Edward Allen Fay Award for outstanding literary leadership, the Howard Quigley Award for literary accomplishment and the CEASD Citation for Leadership and Services. Bill and Helen Craig retired to Sanibel Island, FL in 1994. As members of the Sanibel-Captiva Power Squadron, they edited the Soundings and wrote numerous articles for Power Squadron journals. Bill was active in the Sanibel-Captiva Lions Club, honored as a Melvin Jones fellow, volunteered at the Sanibel Library and the Congregational Church of Sanibel. In 2003, Bill and Helen moved to St. Marys, GA and became involved with the First Presbyterian Church, Kiwanis, Habitat for Humanity, and Osprey Cove Golf Club. In 2006, they celebrated 50 years of marriage surrounded by friends and family. In June 2008, they moved to Fleet Landing in Atlantic Beach, FL, meeting new friends and trying out new golf courses. Bill’s interests included reading, woodworking, golfing, sailing, and writing with humor about his adventures. He will be greatly missed by his family and his friends. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. Survivors include: his wife, Helen, his daughter, Jenny Craig Pellaux, his son, Scott Craig, his grandchildren, Alex and Briana Craig, and his brother Sam B. Craig, Jr. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 9, at 2:30 PM at First Presbyterian Church in St. Marys, GA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (300 Swissvale Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15218) or to the charity of your choice. Arrangements by Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home, 1701 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250 (904) 249-2374. Please Sign the Guestbook @ Jacksonville.com

The article is posted on Jacksonville.com article.

Results at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania on September 13, 2008.

FIRST PLACE, Score: E
Rich Blecker
Tim Harris
Don Rhoten
Mike Rhoten

SECOND PLACE, Score: E
Jeff Adams
Mark Fleischam
Carl Skalka
Doug Skalka

THIRD PLACE, Score: +1
Malaine Brantner
David Fulmer
Christine Gove
Michelle Hallern

FOURTH PLACE, Score: +1
Todd Behanna
Scott Craig
David Tasselli
Paul Wojton

FIFTH PLACE, Score: +2
Gregg Bowers
Barry Fell
Jim Salem
Bob Stewart

SIXTH PLACE, Score: +6
Jonantha Eicker
Earl Hollishead
Chris King
Wilbur Lewis

SEVENTH PLACE, Score: +7
Rich Guerin
Matt Guerin
Davy Olinerio
Scott Olinerio

EIGHTH PLACE, Score: +14
Paul Blahut
Jack Hamilton
Judy Hamilton

8th Annual WPSD Cup 2008 at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania on September 13, 2008.

Photos by Paul Blahut, Paul Wojton and David Fulmer

Photos by Michele Halleran. Thanks to Michele for sharing the pictures with us!

Join us on Friday October 17 for an Open House followed by a pep rally in the big gym. The 2008-09 Homecoming Court will be presented at the pep rally. Followed by the crowning of the King and Queen.

But that’s not all. Michigan School for the Deaf, Rochester School for the Deaf and Virginia School for the Deaf will join the Lions for some friendly competition on the soccer field and the volleyball court. The games begin at 1:30 pm and go through 6:00 pm on Friday and then again on Saturday from 9:00 am to approximately 4:00 pm.

Open to Parents, Alumni and friends of WPSD. Located at WPSD Campus: 300 Swissvale Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15218.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17TH
8:00 a.m Open House
11:00 a.m. Pep Rally

SOCCER
2:00 p.m. - Virginia SD vs Michigan SD

VOLLEYBALL (play best of 3)
1:30 p.m. - Virginia SD vs WPSD
2:15 p.m. - Rochester SD vs MSD
3:00 p.m. - Virginia SD vs Michigan SD
3:45 p.m. - WPSD vs Rochester SD
4:30 p.m. - WPSD vs Michigan SD
5:15 p.m. - Rochester SD vs Virginia SD

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH

SOCCER
9:00 a.m. - WPSD vs Michigan SD
2:00 p.m. - WPSD vs Virginia SD

VOLLEYBALL (play best of 3)
9:00 a.m. - Virginia SD
9:45 a.m. - Rochester SD vs Michigan SD
10:30 a.m. - Virginia SD vs Michigan SD
1:00 p.m. - WPSD vs Rochester SD
1:45 p.m. - WPSD vs Michigan SD
2:30 p.m. - Rochester SD vs Virginia SD

Iva L. Kopich, 80, of 919 Douglas Drive, passed away on Saturday at the Fairview Manor, following a brief illness. She was born in Tionesta, Pa. on July 1, 1928, the daughter of the late Ota and Lydia Rate Kinnear. She was a Graduate of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and had been employed as an Assembler at Erie Resistor Corp. for 38 years. She was an avid Traveler and visited many countries in Europe Africa and Asia. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three brothers, Art, Kenneth and Clarence “Skeets” Kinnear, and by two sisters, Isabella Johnson and Ruth Thompson. Her husband, John Kopich passed away in 1986. Survivors include her long time companion, Gulio Ferrante, and several nieces and nephews. Friends are invited to call at the Brugger Home For Funerals, LLP, 1595 West 38th St. on Tuesday from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. and on Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 Noon, at which time a Funeral Service will be conducted. Private interment will be in Brandon Cemetery in Cranberry Township. Memorial Contributions are suggested to the Regional Cancer Center, 2500 West 12th. St. Erie, Pa.

   

Henry David Walls, 85, passed away peacefully at his home in Charlottesville, VA, with his wife and children at his side, on Friday, July 18, 2008.

Henry was born August 13, 1922 in Wilmington, DE, to the late Robert James Walls and Vera May Ford Walls, and was preceded in death by his beloved first wife of 44 years, Anna Joy Bauerle Walls. Survivors include his cherished wife of the past thirteen years, Marjorie Forehand Walls; his adopted daughters, Dorene Stanley of Scottsville, VA; and Joyce Allan and her husband, Richard Freeman Allan, of Crozet, VA; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; his nieces, Nancy B. Rarus of Herndon, VA; Dolores Campbell of Wyndmoor, PA; a nephew, Alan Bloom of Mountainside, NJ.; one grand-niece and two grand-nephews; and nine great-grand nieces and nephews.

Henry resided from 1929 to 1941 at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Philadelphia and considered the years of his education as some of the happiest in his life. He worked for many years as a skilled machinist in Wilmington, DE and Pittsburg, PA and retired from a thirteen year career as Boys’ Dormitory Counselor at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh. He was a member of Jefferson Park Baptist Church, Charlottesville, VA; the National Association of the Deaf, Blue Ridge Deaf Senior Citizens and the Pennsylvania Society for the Advancement of the Deaf

Henry loved golf, antiquing, road trips, travel abroad, and attending Deaf conventions. He was active in the Scottsville Museum and took pride in his father’s role as its first curator. His greatest pleasures were his two marriages and his extended family.

Henry’s glowing face always conveyed his spirit of authenticity, generosity and compassion. By his example he taught everyone around him the true meaning of unconditional love.

The family extends sincerest thanks to the remarkably loving staff of Rosewood Village who became part of Henry’s extended family in his final years, and to the generous hearts of staff and volunteers of Hospice of the Piedmont.

A funeral service will be held 11 A.M., Monday, July 21, 2008, at the chapel of Thacker Brothers Funeral Home, Scottsville, VA. Interment will follow at the Scottsville Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home one hour prior to the service.

In lieu of flowers, Henry asked that donations be made to the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Heritage Museum Center, and ATTN: Development Office, 100 W. School House Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19144.

Sandra Jean Hannold Sandra Jean Hannold, age 61, was found deceased on Saturday morning, July 19, 2008, in her apartment, 257 South Main Street, Cambridge Springs, Pa. Born on March 23, 1947 in Erie, Pa., she was a daughter of the late Joseph Stewart and Mildred Foglebach Stewart. On November 27, 1965 she married Lonnie Blair Hannold, Sr. and he died in August of 1996. Mrs. Hannold received all 12 years of education from the Western PA School for the Deaf. Upon her marriage in 1965 she became a home maker although she worked for about ten years at Wintronics in Meadville. She was affiliated with the First Church of God in Meadville and was active there in a Bible Study for the deaf. Her faith was very important to her as was her family. Past time interests included crocheting, crafts, bingo, and usually having a pet cat. She was a member of American Legion Post # 381 Ladies Auxilary of Cambridge Springs. A very caring person, Sandra enjoyed giving help to anyone in need. Family surviving members include a son - Lonnie Hannold and his wife, Judith and a daughter - Kathy Thompson and her husband, Terry all of Cambridge Springs; four grandchildren - Justin Kebort of Huntington, Pa.; Joshua Kebort of Saegertown; Ashley Hannold and Amber Hannold both at home in Cambridge Springs; and a sister - Delores Marmino and her husband, Pete of Erie. A sister - Bonnie Bridges and a brother - Melton Stewart preceded her in death. Friends may call at the Van Matre Family Funeral Home in Cambridge Springs on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Funeral services will be held there on Tuesday morning at 11:00 with Rev. Harold Ferraro, pastor of First Church of God and Rev. Jack Lazzarine, associate pastor of First Church of God officiating. Memorials may be given to the family. Sign the guestbook at www.GoErie.com/obits

Published in the Erie Times-News on 7/20/2008.

Sent: 7/6/2008 4:45:44 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Henry update

Hello, family and friends -
This past few days has been a noticeable change in Henry’s condition. He talked with Dorene and me and his Hospice chaplain about being ready to stop living. He says he’s “tired of living” and it’s “too much work to keep going.”

On Friday afternoon, he asked if he could not go to the dining room anymore. “I just want to stay in bed and wear my bathrobe. I”m in Hospice, so I can do that - right?”

We assured him that he can do whatver he wants, and so the dining room has been delivering meals to him and Mom in their apartment. Mom says she doesn’t want to go downto eat alone - “I want to stay with Henry.”

Also, Mom has said that she thinks Henry is “going down” and that he “might die soon.” She told me this afternoon that she has been “shedding tears” about losing Henry. But, she also says, “I’ll be all right alone, because I know my faily will help me.”

On Saturday, Henry said it was hard to breathe and he felt like he was “suffocating.” His Hospice nurse came over and began oxygen with a nose tube. This seems to be making him more comfortable.

I stayed with them until they went to bed Sat evening and went back this morning. But, in the afternoon, while I went to pick up some things they need from the store, Henry tried to walk to the bathroom by himself and fell in the bathroom. He didn’t break any bones, but his shoulder is very sore. We have been asking him to wait until an aide comes to help him, but it is so hard for him to give up his independence. Tonight Freeman and I were there and begged him not to walk alone, so he wouldn’t have to go to a hospital. He seems to understand better and we are praying that he will stay in bed and sleep peacefully through the night.

The Hospice nurse told us that it might be 2 weeks or a month longer, but there is no way to predict for sure. Henry was looking at the 85th birthday photo collage that we have in his bedroom and had tears in his eyes about all of you coming to celebrate with him. He knows he is loved by many people.

Please keep Henry and Mom in your prayers and know that we will keep you informed as he continues his journey to his final Home.

With love,
Joyce