WALKING FREE: THE NELLIE ZIMMERMAN STORY

Prologue
Author Rosezelle Boggs-Qualls attends Nellie Zimmerman's funeral.
She is fascinated by Nellie's life story and is introduced to her
companion Emily Street Hensel. Two years pass before Emily asks
Rosezelle to write Nellie's biography.


1.       Nellie
Born in Braddock Pennsylvania in 1906 with normal hearing and
vision, motherless Nellie is the light in her father's eye. At
the age of nine she becomes totally deaf. Rejected from
enrollment in the public school at the beginning of third grade,
Nellie's father hires a governess to home school his daughter.
She teaches Nellie how to communicate by finger spelling.  The
family moves to Massillon Ohio. Nellie also begins to lose vision
in her late teens. She learns how to read Braille before she
becomes totally blind at the age of 22, and continues to live a
full life and enjoys frequent excursions with her father and her
caretaker.


2.       Into the Abyss
Nellie's father dies when she is 45 years old. Her caretaker is
summarily fired. Nellie's sister takes her in, but no one in the
family knows how to communicate with her by finger spelling.
Eventually Nellie expresses her frustration by throwing violent,
ear-splitting tantrums. Shuffled from one relative to another,
Nellie is finally admitted to a nursing home and six years later
committed to the Massillon State Mental Hospital at the age of
52.


3    The Silence Is Broken
With no one on the staff trained in how to communicate with the
deaf-blind, Nellie lives in silence for 18 years until Carrie
Dixon, a deaf hospital volunteer, discovers her living in a ward
with 60 mentally disturbed and senile women. Nellie is sitting in
a high backed arm chair, hiding under a bed sheet, and finger
spelling to herself the Lord's Prayer. Carrie befriends Nellie
and introduces her friend Jim Schneck.


4        Rescued
After Carrie's untimely death, Jim continues to visit Nellie and
fights for her release from the State Hospital.  After a year
long struggle Nellie is released in April of 1976, at the age of
71. Nellie's first breath of freedom is like no other.


5    The Rude Woman
Nellie moves into a boarding house, but returns to throwing
tantrums when no one stops by to talk with her for three days.
Jim begins to take her to the deaf church in Canton. She meets
Emily Street. They become best friends and take weekly
excursions. When Nellie is evicted from the boarding house, Emily
agrees to become her live in companion. 


6    Oil and Water

Nellie and Emily move into a two bedroom apartment. In order to
help meet their living expenses, Emily decides to take in another
roommate. Nancy, a young blind woman applies. Nancy is put in
charge of Nellie when Emily is at work. Animosity erupts between
Nellie and Nancy. 


7    A Cat Called Kitten
The Pilot Club donates a tiny tiger cat kitten to Nellie. After
losing three of its nine lives, the kitten becomes Nellie's
shoulder-riding best friend.


8        The Fight
The tension between Nellie and Nancy escalates. Nellie teases
Nancy. The 160 pound Nancy decides to take Nellie on in a fist
fight. 71 year old, 95 pound Nellie wins. Peace returns to the
apartment, but Emily decides that she will have to stop working.


9    College Woman
Nellie explains how she survived life at the State Hospital by
studying her Braille Bible and playing "mind games". Realizing
that Nellie is a true mental genius, Emily suggests that Nellie
should go to college. She agrees to assist Nellie with her
studies by finger spelling the lectures. Nellie has the time of
her life as a student at Malone College in Canton. She blossoms
under the intellectual stimulation of studying  history,
literature, philosophy and the Old and New Testaments. She also
enjoys hanging out with her youthful college friends. 


10   To Tell The World
An article about Nellie's becoming a college student appears in
the Canton Repository. This leads to invitations to speak to
college classes and to church groups. Nellie and Emily soon
realize that they could make a good living presenting programs
about Nellie's life and the challenges she faces as a deaf and
blind person. 


11   Lecture Circuit
Nellie and Emily soon become popular speakers and present over
200 programs to churches, civic clubs, and schools. They
encounter both positive and negative experiences as they tell
Nellie's story to the world.


12   Life At Home
Nellie's apartment becomes a popular hangout for Jim and her new
college friends. She enjoys being the center of attention during
their all night discussions. She also enjoys going out with her
young friends to dance at the Pickle Barrel. Emily wraps Jim up
as a Christmas present for Nellie.


13   Working Woman
Nancy moves out of the apartment. To make ends meet both Nellie
and Emily take jobs at the New Life Group Home for deaf and deaf-
blind boys. As a life skills instructor, Nellie teaches the boys
how to cook, do crafts, and handle their own money. 


14   Honors
Nellie is named the 1979 Handicapped Professional of the Year by
the Pilot Club International of Canton, is recognized as an
Outstanding Ohioan by the Ohio House of Representatives and
receives many other well deserved honors for her work at the New
Life Group Home. She enjoys being interviewed by newspaper
reporters and appears on television.


15   Love and Disaster
Emily meets, falls in love with, and marries Lloyd Hensel twice.
Nellie becomes jealous of their relationship and makes life
difficult for Lloyd.


16   Battle Royale
Nellie decides that those "dirty" wedding presents should not be
under the Christmas tree. She hides the presents under her bed.
When Lloyd tries to sneak them back, Nellie blocks his way, takes
a swing and knocks him to the floor. Nellie refuses to be
reconciled to Emily's marriage and pregnancy.


17   Freedom, Independence, And Love
Emily and Lloyd move to an upstairs apartment and begin a search
for a new home for Nellie. Jim takes Nellie to the Columbus
Colony for the Deaf. Nellie enjoys new freedom, makes new friends
and, at the age of 75, falls in love for the first time.


Epilogue

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