by Donna M. Rorie and Lou Ann Lozano Williams
Martha Kay Butler was born in Pine Bluff, Ark. on October 13, 1953 to Herbert and Mary Glen Butler. Her struggle along life’s unpredictable journey began at age 10 months when she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. She was treated for the cancer in Pine Bluff but lost one of her beautiful blue eyes. Her family then moved to Baton Rouge, La. At age two, the retinoblastoma recurred. Kay’s father took her to the best doctors available in New York City. She survived the recurrence and became the first person to live with a recurrence of retinoblastoma. However, she lost the second eye. The orbital area of the first eye was also removed, forcing her to wear a patch to hide the damage.
Kay began kindergarten at the Louisiana School for the Blind and quickly adapted to reading and writing braille. Then her family returned to Arkansas, and she began the second grade at the Arkansas School for the Blind in Little Rock. At ASB, Kay developed friendships that lasted throughout her life. She was involved in numerous school activities, including choir, Girl Scouts, Y Teens, the Student Senate, the Library Club, and the Drama Club. She learned to play the piano, sang in numerous choir events, and performed in several plays. She loved to write and excelled in English composition and poetry and won creative writing awards. She was the secretary of her class and of several clubs, and graduated in June 1972 as valedictorian. During her years at ASB she also experienced the loss of her beloved mother to pancreatic cancer and the loss of a brother to Hodgkin’s.
Following high school, Kay attended the summer college preparatory program at the Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind (now Lions World Services). During this summer she met Thomas L. Huckaby Jr. That fall, she began classes at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway seeking degrees in English and psychology. Then on May 12, 1973, she married Tom and moved to Austin, Texas, where he was employed as a taxpayers’ service representative. Kay supplemented their income by working in the Austin Lighthouse workshop. Then on December 13, 1974 her life’s journey took another drastic turn when she lost Tom to diabetic complications. She was widowed at age 21.
In the fall of 1975, she began studying English and psychology again at the University of Central Arkansas. In 1977, she left U.C.A. and began attending classes at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She also attended classes at the Arkansas Enterprises for the Blind and quickly became a pioneer in the usage of computers by blind people. She was the first blind person to read a computer screen using an Optacon. In 1978, she was employed by Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District in Harrison as a secretary and consultant for the development of computerized braille transcription. She also composed nationwide news releases regarding technical material produced in computer braille.
She was one of the first blind people to use computerized word processing and synthetic speech units and was the first blind person in Arkansas to be employed as a Mag-Card operator with the audio typing unit. She used these innovative devices to transcribe a variety of documents, including highly sensitive ones for the Department of the Air Force in Little Rock for nine years. While employed at the base, she underwent surgical procedures for colon cancer and precancerous uterine fibroids. She also continued to use her creative talents by writing numerous articles for a local church newsletter.
In 1988, Kay moved to Stuart, Fla., and was employed as a braille proofreader for Triformation Transcribing. In 1992, she returned to Little Rock and was employed as a braille instructor at Lions World Services in Little Rock. She became a certified member of Toastmasters International. She then married after 18 years of widowhood and moved to North Carolina where she was employed as a schedule coordinator for Harmony Health Care. This marriage failed, and she lived in Tulsa, Okla. briefly before moving to Austin, Texas and later to San Antonio.
At the San Antonio Lighthouse she met Wayne C. Kuhn. While this romance was blossoming, she taught herself medical transcription and transcribed medical reports for numerous area physicians by using a computer with Vocal-Eyes and WordPerfect. She married Wayne on April 17, 1999 in the First Assembly of God Church. Later she joined Wayne’s church and became a prayer group leader for her Sunday school class.
Kay was an active member of the American Council of the Blind of Texas and diligently served the San Antonio chapter for four and a half years as president. She used her organizational and communication skills to form the struggling chapter into a group filled with creativity and confidence. She attended three ACB national conventions in Louisville, Des Moines, and Houston. In the fall of 2002, she co-edited the Alamo Cookbook for her ACB chapter.
In 1999, she became employed at Anderson Transcribing Services in San Antonio. She enjoyed e-mailing and was on numerous lists, but her favorite was the retinoblastoma group. She enjoyed hosting gatherings of friends and ACB members with her husband in their home.
Kay’s life was a difficult journey that wound through some rather dark valleys. She knew the harsh judgment and discrimination that blind people sometimes experience from the sighted world. She knew the heartbreak of failed relationships. Despite life’s agonies, she managed to live independently and support herself, and never lost her desire to love people and to help her fellow man. On August 16, 2003, the cancer that had tried so many times to take her life finally did so. She left this world for a much better one, and if she could speak to us today she would say: “Do the best you can with what you have, don’t stop loving people, and treat others the way you would want to be treated.”
Kay once said that butterflies are colorful in spirit, and doves bring gentle and peaceful feelings. Her greatest desire in this life was to bring beauty and warmth to the people she loved; her greatest accomplishment was surviving each day as it was set before her.
Memorials may be made to the Alamo Chapter of the American Council of the Blind, 13703 Cedar Canyon, San Antonio, TX 78231.