Waltham Open Letter: On The Fernald, Mayor And Lions Club

WALTHAM, MA — The following Open Letter was submitted in response to Patch articles about the light show coming to the Fernald property.

Read more: Disability Advocates Push Back On Fernald Light Show

"We hope it will offer part of the story of the reform of Fernald Center in Waltham," wrote Diane Booher of Westborough. "We are grateful for the last 40 years at Fernald during which reforms and intense advocacy lifted the care and opportunities for those who lived there. We are grateful for staff and friends who formed a circle of care and protection around our Fernald family members; many loved them as their own."

An open letter of thanks to the Waltham community and mayor, Jeanette McCarthy, the Waltham Lions Club and president, Liz Pulice-Tracy.

Please! Bring on the Waltham Lions Club Holiday Light Show at Fernald Center! We are family members, guardians and friends of the residents of “the Fernald Center that cared!” We will celebrate with you!

Let’s shine light on the “system of care and habilitation that is probably second to none anywhere in the world.” Chief Federal Judge Joseph L. Tauro wrote these words at the conclusion of some twenty years of his transformative Court oversight (May 25, 1993). “…Working together, we have created an environment for persons with mental retardation that is now characterized by human dignity and opportunity for growth.” That is the Fernald worthy of celebration as we remember Judge Tauro’s compassion and his death on November 30, 2018.

Let’s shine light on our Attorney, Beryl W. Cohen, who used the then-novel “class action lawsuit” in federal court to defend the constitutional right to equal treatment for thousands of blind, deaf, developmentally-delayed, and intellectually-challenged Massachusetts citizens. That legal work exposed countless problems with the care at Fernald; it also enabled sweeping reforms. Families, along with many staff and advocates, worked vigilantly to maintain those hard-fought improvements until the day in 2014 when the last resident was forced to leave “the Fernald that cared.“

Let’s shine light on the Lions Club, and president, Liz Pulice, starting with their longstanding help to blind people. For thirty years, Fernald was blessed to have a blind man who tuned all the pianos on the campus. He came on short notice in November 2013 when a long-time staff person asked him to tune the piano in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents just days before our Living Nativity presentation. In his hands, this damaged piano with the warped sounding board and missing frame was made to sing again. This man can now see thanks to new surgery in his adult years developed, in part, through the work of the Lions Club. There was joy in the Fernald community!

Let’s shine the light on the staff who cared, and on Mayor McCarthy and many citizens of Waltham who were good neighbors and friends. Let’s open the Fernald grounds once again and remember those who chose to remain in this congregate care community, even as newer residential choices became available. Caring relationships are what make a home and community.

Let’s shine the light on those who want to silence our voices (and the voices of those we must speak for): our stories do not fit their business models and funding agendas. The Association for Retarded Citizens (now whitewashed into the “ARC”) supported Fernald’s closure for the purpose of diverting residents’ funding to profit their programs. They stand ready again, using their well-financed connections and staff, to oppose a Holiday Light Show that offers joy amid a pandemic. The ARC helped rob us of the community we had labored to build out of a dark Fernald past. Let’s celebrate at Fernald Center to honor people everywhere who, by their caring, help us survive the inevitable dark times and walk with us into the joy of light!

Fernald Forever families and friends,

Dr. Mark and Diane Booher Jill Lepore
Westborough, MA Moody, ME and Waltham, MA

Susan Surette Paul Baker
Pelham, NH Acton, MA

Dorothy Rouleau Linda Fahey
Leominster, MA Arlington, MA

(Elizabeth) Kay Schodek Regina Davidson
Malden, MA Arlington, MA

Diane Walsh McDonald Linda and Bob Martin
Hyde Park, MA Melrose, MA

Mary Galvin Julie Leahy
Needham, MA Westwood, MA

Alexandra Turner Frances Silveira
John Bowman Waltham, MA
Lancaster, MA