Race and Lorene Drake have lived for 35 years in the same house, just two blocks from the Arkansas School for the Deaf from which they graduated.

Lorene is everybody's grandma. Pleasantly plump, busy in her kitchen, she likes to talk about the old days and brag about her children and grandchildren.

Race has somehow managed to stay thin in the face of temptation. Calm and easy going, he is optimistic about the future and young deaf people and has something good to say about everyone.

Race: My name? Race was my mother's maiden name and our son, Race F. Drake Jr., is carrying on the family tradition.

I graduated from the Arkansas School for the Deaf in 1933 and entered Gallaudet that fall. I graduated from Gallaudet in '38, then looked for work as a printer. It was a very hard time because of the depression and there were no jobs, so I decided to look for work in a school. I found a job as assistant dean of boys at the Cave Spring, Georgia, School for the Deaf and worked there for three years. But I still wanted to work as a printer and found a job here in Little Rock at The Arkansas Gazette. I worked there for 34 years. From 1966 until I retired, I worked as desk man. I worked with the salesmen who sold advertising. They brought me the written orders and I'd then give the copy to the printers. I was the go-between the salesmen and the printers. I liked the work and being in a management position in the composing room.

Lorene: I knew Race when we were in school. He graduated from Gallaudet in 1938, the same year I graduated from the Arkansas School for the Deaf. We got married a year later. We've been married 47 years; three more to go until we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. I hope we can make it.

I was a counselor for the intermediate and older students at the deaf school. I did that for 27 years until I retired for health reasons, disability reasons. My job was a challenge and I loved the students. I know that many of my girls have had great success in life and that makes me proud. I lived my work, but I guess the pressures got too great. Since retiring, my health has improved and I now enjoy having time with my husband and catching up on my reading. Really, I'm a book worm. When I worked with the children I didn't have much time so I lost the habit of reading but it's coming back and I feel like I'm catching up. I also enjoy cooking. Cooking is one of my hobbies and no doubt I'll get fat again (sighs).

Race: Lorene certainly is a good cook. I'm lucky because I can eat all I want and never gain weight (laughs). I get a pension from the ITU (International Typographical Union). It's quite good. There have been a few changes. It used to be the ITU pension, but it folded. Just before that, the ITU started a negotiated pension plan from which I now draw. Now I get money from three sources: I have the ITU negotiated pension, my pension from The Gazette and Social Security. We live quite comfortably. Very much so. We may go to Virginia to visit our son one or two times a year, plus we go to Florida to visit with our daughter once or twice. And we may go to Las Vegas, Nevada, every two years or so to visit my brothers. I have two brothers in Las Vegas; one is hearing, the other deaf. So we travel quite a bit.

Lorene: Oh, yes, we have always liked to travel. I used to help drive but now I let Race do most of that. I would like to tell you how we educated our children. We believed in taking trips. It was hard to travel during the depression and World War II, when our first son was a baby. He was a war baby. When he grew up in the '50s--it seems like the '50s--we got our first car. By that time, the two children were old enough to travel. They were both interested in history, so we took trips to California. There were many things to see along the way to help us educate them. Our daughter graduated from Gallaudet with a major in history. Our son majored in economics, also at Gallaudet. Donna is now supervising teacher in the high school department at the Florida School for the Deaf and Race Jr. is vocational career counselor at the Virginia School for the Deaf.

Race: My hearing brother in Las Vegas, a retired Army officer, now keeps busy with the Telephone Pioneers Club, a service club for retired telephone workers. They look for old TTY machines to repair and donate to deaf people. They will go out of town, maybe as far as Dallas, to get 30 to 35 old TTYs and bring them back to Las Vegas to fix up and give to the deaf people who live in that area and not charge them a cent. He really enjoys doing that. It's his hobby. When he first became interested in TTYs for the deaf, he didn't have much experience so he went to the Air Force Base nearby and found two people who were very experienced with TTY machines. The soldiers taught him how to repair the old TTYs and sold him some equipment which he brought to his own home. He enjoys helping deaf people so much.

Lorene: I remember well when Race brought home our first TTY. It was a model 19. I wondered what we would do with it. Only two other families in Little Rock had TTYs and I didn't think it would be worthwhile to have a telephone. And it jumped, rattled and banged; I was half afraid to use it. That was in 1965. Now I can't imagine not having a TTY. Oh, it's a blessing.

Race: And I can't imagine Lorene living without a TTY. She's on the phone for hours. She calls our children almost every week and keeps in touch with our friends in Little Rock. She spends more time talking on the TTY than talking to me (laughs). We now have a model 28 with a tape deck. It's so big, almost an antique, but we like it better than the new TDDs that use LED displays. We like to be able to read what our children and friends said after we finish the call.

Lorene: As Race said, we travel a lot, but we have much to do at home. We've been helping with the Little Rock deaf senior citizens' group and have also been a part of the AAD (Arkansas Association of the Deaf) conventions every two years. We help with the Arkansas School for the Deaf alumni group and like to play bridge. Our bridge group has dwindled quite a bit through the years because some of our friends have died or moved away. Since the group has dwindled, we really don't play much any more; we have switched to other games. We go to the Little Rock Association of the Deaf Club to associate with friends. We do believe in keeping in touch with the deaf and associating with them, to be around the younger ones and not just sit until we die. And we're interested in the NAD (National Association of the Deaf) and support it strongly. It is needed to speak for the deaf nationally. We subscribe to The Deaf American and other deaf publications; we couldn't live without them.

Race: Lorene likes bridge and a chance to talk with friends. I do, too, and I like golf. The Little Rock Association of the Deaf has many good activities, such as softball, basketball, bowling. There is great fishing competition. They have drama and various other games. They also have an annual All Sports Banquet. We'll invite well-known speakers in the field of sports. For example, we heard about one great football player who also happened to be deaf so we asked him to come and give a talk. Boy, it was great! Deaf people enjoy the All Sports Banquet; it always draws a big crowd. We have a very active membership. You'll find some fine leaders in the association. One is David King, who graduated from Gallaudet. He works as a chemist at a factory nearby. And there are several young ones, too. Our city now has a fine black community. We get along very well. There are many blacks here and they do associate with the white deaf people. You don't see it as much with the older black and white people but the young people integrate quite well. Through Deaf Access, they have several black people who are very good at teaching adult classes.

I was president of the association a long time ago and also for Division No. 5 of the NFSD (National Fraternal Society of the Deaf). We worked together and I was treasurer of the Little Rock Division and held that position from 1952 to 1981--a total of 29 years as treasurer. I enjoyed that work very much. The Frat has lost maybe a bit, but it seems that it's coming back. One very active Frater is Dewey Nation. He took my place and he has done quite well. He's also an agent for the NFSD.

I'm on the Board of Trustees for the Arkansas School for the Deaf and Blind. Been on for six years. My first term was for five years and the governor asked me to stay on so now I'm starting my second term. I'm the only deaf person on the board. I've been the only deaf person to serve. They're required to have a blind person on the board, also. The governor picks the remaining three. I enjoy the work very much. Being on the board really has been good for me. We have good relations. They always ask what my opinion is about deafness and once I explain, they seem to understand and agree. There's not much quarreling, but I don't mean that they agree with me all the time. In some instances, they do say that you can't do that but we work very well; we have a good working relationship.

I have a private interpreter when we have a board meeting. Boy, I just love her. She interprets so clearly. But I really feel sorry for her when she has to interpret on and on when we get into really deep debate and it goes on too long. I have to ask them to stop and let my interpreter rest every once in a while. Our meetings go on from ten till two or three and we have just one interpreter.

Lorene: Race always seems to have been involved in decision making with the leaders and administrators while I liked working close to the children. I'm very proud of my former students at the Arkansas School. I helped raise them and encouraged them to go to Gallaudet. Now most of them are married and often come over to our house to show off their families and that makes me feel good. I realize now that my job was a responsible one and that I can be proud of my work of 27 years in all. I must admit that over the years, when I compare the schools of the past with now, there's been so many changes. There's a lot of mainstreaming now with mentally retarded students and slow learners; they're all put together. It seems that the school isn't as good as it used to be with the cuts in the Federal budget and all.

I had to leave my work because of a nervous breakdown. The doctor suspected that I just couldn't accept what was happening with the students these days. The doctor asked me," Can you teach an old dog new tricks?" Well, it's just like that with these students nowadays. It's harder to manage them. You know the way the children live now is much more different than during the war times from the 60s on. I can really see so many changes. I put a lot of the blame on World War II because so many parents had to go off to work and left their children without enough supervision and that's how the children grew up wild. They don't know what love really means. They seem so lost. It's very sad, but that's life. I remember in the past it seemed that students were much better. They used to like to read and play and learn but now I have to admit that all they think about is sex, getting high, smoking. In my time, we didn't have those problems. Anyway, it was time for me to retire. Oh, I missed my work quite a lot at first, but then I began to enjoy better health and now I enjoy retirement.

Race: As Lorene said, there have been many changes at the school and there's a lot of mainstreaming. When I was first appointed to the Board of Trustees, there were 275 deaf students enrolled in the school and about 123 blind students. Enrollment of blind students has stayed about the same, but the deaf students are really dwindling. Last year there were 210, this year in the fall, when I asked them, they said there'd be 203, perhaps 200. So you can see the great decrease. But we now have a wonderful woman named Jerri Finch. Her main interest is setting up a parent-infant program. She travels around the state and when she finds out that some hearing parents have a deaf child, she'll go meet them and explain about the program and bring the parents to the school. If the father works, then she'll bring the mother with her. They'll go into a room and the parents stay with the baby while Mrs. Finch and her aides observe what the parents and child do. Then they get together in groups and she'll explain the do's and don'ts of working with a deaf baby. For example, don't pity your child because he's deaf and then treat your child different than you would your hearing children. Just this year, she was asked to be the field agent to look for deaf students. We have gotten 15 students since she started this project so I think that the enrollment will increase with time.

Lorene: What's happening in the adult deaf community? Well, there have been some changes. I don't really keep up with it as much as my husband does. Maybe he could say more.

Race: Well, this is kind of touchy and I don't want to sound negative so maybe I shouldn't mention it, but I think SSI and SSDI are becoming a problem. Really, I don't like the whole idea about SSI and SSDI. I think it's really spread around Little Rock too much.

It's so easy to get SSDI now. They say, "Well, I'm deaf. I can't do anything," and before you know it, they are drawing SSDI. And that's really on the increase. Also, deaf people in Little Rock are starting to feel a little disgruntled. The Federal government has been giving out quite a lot of money but where is it going? They've been giving money to the interpreters but what about the deaf people. Very little. When the Federal government gives money out, they give it in like a block grant and they'll give some to the interpreting programs and some to the other programs but the deaf people, themselves, don't get that much. The money that's supposed to go to serve the deaf doesn't end up being there. I know interpreters have to be paid so some of this money benefits deaf people indirectly, but there are too many hearing middlemen taking a cut of this money. I guess what I'm trying to say is deaf people would prefer to take care of their own problems rather than having so much of the money go to hearing people who take it on themselves to decide what we need.

Gail Hyde
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