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Dollar's Worth Stretched By Teen's Triumphs, Achievements

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By STEVE OTTO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 25, 2008

It was the weekly meeting of the Brandon '86 Rotary, which meets at some ungodly hour around sunrise in Buckhorn Springs. Maybe there's something in the water out there, but everyone seemed awfully chipper.

Even Ted Wilson, who had hauled me out to the other side of Brandon and hadn't tried to sell me any bricks on the way out, which is what he does for a living.

The club, which modestly claims to be "the best Rotary club in the world," sure seemed like a lot of other Rotary clubs I've been to. They did the pledge, said a prayer, sang a song and recited the "Four Way Test" (Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendship? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?).

They went through some announcements, and the sergeant at arms, who was wearing one of those communications devices in his ear, told some jokes, and we all sang happy birthday to one of the members.

Then they have this thing where you raise your hand and say you want to donate a dollar because of something that someone did during the week. Someone gave out two bucks for two members who had stayed awake at a nightly board meeting.

I was only half-listening, busy with condensing my 30-minute talk in my mind down to five minutes in order to get out at the scheduled time.

A Dollar

It was about then that one of the members - and I recognized it was Circuit Court Judge Martha Cook - held her dollar bill up in the air.

"I want to recognize my daughter, who is going to be a junior at Tampa Prep," she said.

Well that was nice thing to say, I thought, still concentrating on cutting material from my upcoming talk. For a buck, it was a decent gesture. But she went on.

"Hilary is an honors student. She has been elected to the homecoming committee, and she was once a cheerleader."

I began to pay closer attention because there was an emotion in her voice that suggested there was a little more to what she was saying.

"I am so proud because she has overcome her deafness to live a normal and productive life," the judge continued. "I'd better stop now because it gets to me when I talk about her."

I talked to the judge again after the meeting was over. Cook and her husband, banker Bill Sedgeman, adopted Hilary as a baby. They had arranged for her adoption before she was born, and when Hilary was born two months prematurely, the couple not only had a baby more than 70 percent deaf but some enormous medical bills.

Too Many Experts

"The experts wanted us to put her in the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and then keep her close to home. There are no easy choices, and there were plenty of strong opinions one way and the other. We took her to the Bolesta School in Tampa, and she worked with a wonderful woman who encouraged us to get some new powerful hearing aids and teach her sounds and to speak.

"It was a long and difficult process for Hilary and for us. Gradually, though, she began to recognize sounds. She is such an amazing girl. Today she can speak normally, even if it gets a little mushed up now and then.

"And she has also become more social. Early on, we enrolled her in Bell Shoals Baptist out here because it was smaller, as well as its spirituality. She flourished.

"Her grades were so good we enrolled her in Tampa Prep, and she has been on the honor roll ever since."

"I didn't know it, but when she was in the ninth grade she decided to run for student council, which meant she would have to give a speech. I never said a word to her, but in my heart I knew it was going to be a disaster. I have to tell you that was one of the longest days of my life waiting for her to come home.

"But when she did, and when I saw that smile, I knew she had won, and not just an election."

It's impossible to put a real value on that $1 bill Marge Cook held up in the air. I know it has represented thousands of dollars, untold hours of frustration and treatment and, in the end, a beautiful and productive member of the family and our community. Not such a bad investment and worth a dollar for the Rotarians and for you to know about.

For more Steve Otto, go to TBO and hit keyword "Otto Graphs."

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