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Whitney R. Powers Interview 10/28/10 Ben: What was your childhood like?

Whitney: Well, we were brought up during the Depression so, most of the time I worked on farms all the time. We were a big farming community. The farm across the street from us was called The Powers Farm. And all my life I worked around animals like horse and cows and things on a farm.

Ben: Do you remember any of the stories your parents used to tell you when you were a kid?

Whitney: Well, I can only tell you that my father’s mother was one of the first people to fly a bi-plane out of Beverly, Massachusetts, which is an open-cockpit, double-winged aircraft. My father also was flying planes there when they used to land on grass fields, long before Beverly Airport was in function. Other than that, most of my life was spent camping in the summers on a lake in New Hampshire where my mother would stay with us for the entire summer. If we weren’t working on a farm, we were out camping all the time.

Ben: Now you played sports throughout most of your life like baseball, right?

Whitney: I played all sports but my favorite sport was baseball. I was very successful as a baseball player. I was a pitcher and played most of the infield positions. But I always thought I would make a career out of baseball. In those days, it was a big thing to be able to sign to play baseball so I played a lot of semi-pro ball. I played in college and thought about, you know, a major league contract. In those days, major league contracts were: If you made forty- thousand dollars a year you were considered a top player. So, but as it turned out as soon as I got to higher competition, you realize you’re just another player and not the elite.

Ben: Do you have a favorite moment in your sports history?

Whitney: You have lots of favorite moments in sports history but I must say that when I went to the university and realized I was not gunna make a life out of baseball, I had a rude awakening and I had to decide well, what am I going to do with my life other than sports? So then I realized something in health would be the way to focus because they will always have a need for healthcare in the world. And I was a wrestler in college when baseball didn’t work out so… I was severely injured one day while wrestling at Cornell University and had my elbow dislocated and muscles torn off. So right then and there, I decided that was the field for me so… I started focusing on uh doing something in sports that related to athletic injuries.

Ben: Alright this is random and it doesn’t really have to relate to what we’re talking about but what was the most proudest- your proudest moment in your entire life? Your proudest moment? Pause Ben: How bout happiest then?

Whitney: Probably marrying her was one of my most happiest moments in my life. I feel I am very fortunate to have been married as long as I have. So I would say my marriage was my happiest moment.

Ben: So, how did you meet her and tell us a little about her.

Whitney: I met my wife through a mutual friend of mine um who was uh dating her at the time and… I was introduced to her and I was away at college all the time and when I came home in the summer we were always able to sort of rejoin our friendship and that’s it developed from there.

Ben: Ok. What did you learn from being in a relationship with her? Did it change you or…

Whitney: Yes because, you know, at seventeen years old, I was on my own um supporting myself through school. And so, to be able to have someone that would help support me as I’m going through school, not financially, but rather enthusiastically and that I was doing the right thing by being in school and going to school. So, to me that was one of the things that bonded us together. It was: we both appreciated the fact that education would sort of point us to the future of where we wanted to go.

Ben: How did you propose?

Whitney: That’s a pretty simple thing for me. It was Thanksgiving and we were coming home from the university and uh I was asking her if she could wait until I finished my graduate degrees before we would even think of marriage. But then, she said, ‘Yes. Of course.’

Ben: What advice do you have for young couples?

Whitney: Depends on what the young couple is interested in. I mean prior to marriage or..you know young couples? Well, you have to be a good listener and support each other but you don’t always have to agree. One of the things that we- I am very proud to say is I’ve never ever had a fight with my wife at all. Never. Because I’m sort of the quiet type and I’ll say ‘I support you this time even though I disagree with you.’ So, the idea is to be able to work things out by talking things out.

Ben: So, um have you ever-uh- tell me about being partially death uh DEAF? Sorry.

Whitney: Yeah well I’m what you call hearing impaired. I have a 70% loss in one ear and almost a complete loss in the other ear. But that was both a blessing and a handicap, although I don’t consider it a handicap. I had to take special training for lip reading when I was younger and all the way through university. I was required to take it in order to get some fields. But, it really wasn’t a handicap that held me back anyways. Just in those days, they didn’t have hearing aids and all the health that they have today. I have adjusted very well by not letting it be a handicap and what I would like to do in my life so I went beyond that. And so far, it has rewarded me very well.

Ben: How has being hearing impaired changed your life?

Whitney: Well, I think what it did…My handicap itself, which I call a deficit not so much a handicap, made me more visually aware of things around me. Rather than listening to things I have to be my eyes and my vision probably are more focused than most of the average person. But it also gave me a sensitivity to people who are dealing with different physical limitations that they have. But how fascinating it is that the human body and especially the brain can substitute for what you’ve lost.

Ben: So, did you have any really close friends when you were growing up that, you know, you really spent a lot of time with?

Whitney: I had lots and lots of friends growing up. I was a very uh sociable person because of athletics, I think. And being in my sort of a smaller community, people get to know each other much better. As a matter of fact, I am still in touch with one of my grammar school friends. And we had our meeting this past summer for the first time in 60 years since we had seen each other. We met up at Lake Sunapee up in New Hampshire. He’s- He is living in um Eugene, Oregon now and I’m living in east coast so we really don’t get see much of each other. But, we write at least one or two letters a month to each other and reminisce about old times.

Ben: Do you have any anecdotes or, you know, little stories from when you were growing up?

Whitney: Probably the best one I can tell you, which is a real laugh: I have two older brothers and one of the things that…to have older brothers and be the little one always behind... I had one advantage in that they used to chase me around the house but I could run under the dining room table without ducking. So finally, when I grew up a little bit I would go under the table (‘course I hit the corner of the table). So that’s one of the things I remember that I could run under the dining room table and leave them in the dust…They couldn’t. They had to go around the table.

Ben: So now, you are old. You are aged in life and what-what has age taught you about life itself?

Whitney: Well, that’s a…I think you look at life differently as you get older. I’m approaching my uh eighth decade and I look back on life and I realize that…how blessed we are to have the people that are around us. And that’s what makes life what it is: not what you have but rather who’s beside you as you get older and especially at the end of your life. It’s those people around you that make life not what those materialistic things are.

Ben: Do you have any regrets for your life?

Whitney: No I don’t have any regrets in my life at all. I think I’ve been very blessed in having a wonderful family and not only my children but my grandchildren and a wonderful wife and a brother, an older brother who’s still alive and we still see each other once a week. So, I think I’ve been very blessed to still be healthy.

Ben: Is there anything you’ve never really told anybody that you wanna tell people now?

Whitney: I can’t think of really anything to tell anybody that I would like…My dream all my life was, surprisingly: I always wanted to live on a boat and sail. And I realized that when you marry, you have to make adjustments. My wife is not a swimmer (chuckles) who doesn’t enjoy the ocean like I did. So those things were put on hold. I also always wanted to fly my own plane. I’ve been able to fly planes but not my own plane. So, I’ve still got a long way to go to fulfill that side of things. There’s no regrets. There’s just things I wish I could have done.

Ben: Now, do you have any feelings about death? Are you scared?

Whitney: I don’t have any feelings about death but I worry about other people dying that are much younger than me in my family so…But death, no. Death is a very natural thing to do and hopefully when that time comes it’s not what I would call a painful death but rather a soothing death.

Ben: What do you think happens after you die?

Whitney: I can tell you I know what happens after you die because your cells die. So, I never experienced it so I can’t tell you the outcome. I’m looking forward to it.

Ben: What do you want people to remember you? How do you want them to- when they say Whitney Powers, what want them to remember you by?

Whitney: I don’t know. Just another guy, that’s all. Just passed through life and contributed something to other people.

Ben: Do you have any words of wisdom for young people like me?

Whitney: Don’t be afraid to do your dreams.

Ben: Any last thoughts on life, death, anything you’ve accomplished?

Whitney: My thing is always to, you know, live your life to the fullest. And there’s no limitation to how high you can go. You just have to push forward and keep trying your best.