Throwback Thursday – THE VISION TO SEE by Melissa Carrasco
In the August 2016 edition of the Knoxville Bar Association’s DICTA Publication, Melissa Carrasco tells the important story of how guide dogs came to the U.S. In the ashes of the destroyed, ancient city of Herculaneum, a mural was discovered where “the man is clearly blind, and the dog is acting as his guide.” Thousands of years later, WWI left many “veterans who lost their sight to poison gas.” Dr. Gerhard Stalling and Dorothy Leib Harrison Wood Eustis worked to train and breed guide dogs abroad in Germany and Switzerland. Morris Frank, a blind Vanderbilt University student, learned of their efforts through a newspaper article and was interested in bringing guide dogs to the U.S. Frank’s time with his guide dog Buddy made this goal a reality. The three of these individuals “added hard work to the vision, and together, their vision and efforts have brought independence to thousands.”