Photo by Robert Saunders One of the "Chicken Soup" series of books was the first book Gail Agee of Nitro (right) read under the tutelage of Becky Raynes of Eleanor (left). Tutor and student were matched up by the Putnam County branch of the Literacy Volunteers of America, which works with about 50 to 60 adults a year. |
For everybody who can read this, and especially those who can’t, Lilly Gail Agee, at the age of 53, can read.
She can read the obituaries in the newspaper. She can read her husband’s letters from the Veterans Administration. She can read stories to her grandchildren, and she can read the book "Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul," a gift from her reading tutor. And now that she has mastered the skill that eluded her for so long, she begins every morning by reading.
"I read my Bible every morning, after my cigarette and coffee. There’s a lot of history in the Bible. You can learn a lot from the Bible," said Agee of Nitro.
For whatever reason, Agee never learned to read. When she was a second-grader struggling to read aloud in front of her class, her teacher had a first-grader effortlessly read the same passage. Humiliated, Agee didn’t care whether she learned to read or not.
She struggled until she was a 16-year-old eighth-grader and then dropped out of school. She could write her name but couldn’t read and needed help to fill out employment applications.
She never picked up where she left off, but she told her preacher’s wife about her lifelong problem and asked her to pray about it. Her friend contacted the Putnam County branch of the Literacy Volunteers of America, and Agee received a phone call asking if she wanted to continue her education.
She did, so last June she went to the Putnam County Library, where she was introduced to Becky Raynes of Eleanor, who had completed the training for literacy volunteers and was ready for her first student.
The two began meeting one hour a week, and soon Agee was making rapid progress.
"I was having trouble spelling three-letter words, and now I’m spelling three- or four-syllable words," said Agee, who never doubted she could learn. "I knew I could learn. Like my husband says, I’m a smart woman. I just needed to have it brought out. I have my husband backing me now and a great teacher. She’s very patient. All of the literacy volunteers are sweet people. They don’t make you feel below them. They make you feel like you’re somebody."
Her biggest boosters are her husband of five years, James Robert Agee, and her 12-year-old granddaughter, Joanna, who lives with her.
"My husband is a big influence in my life, and he teaches me when Rebecca’s not. My granddaughter and I like to study together. My husband will give me a spelling word, and then he’ll give her one. She loves to read."
She&3146;s also earned the admiration of Jan Hargate, the director of the literacy program.
"As you might imagine, some students are a little embarrassed about their problem, and they don’t want people to know they’re working on it, but Lilly is the great exception. It’s refreshing the way Lilly is ready to tell the world she had a problem and is conquering it," said Hargate.
With its cadre of 40 volunteers, the literacy volunteers work with 50 to 60 adults each year, resulting in many quiet success stories. In fact, the program promises discretion.
"There are many success stories, but one of the things we promise is if students don’t want us to tell about them, we won’t. We’ve actually had students who have hidden their inability to read from thier children, and therefore didn&3146;t want us to call them at home or to send mail because they had kept it a secret, even from the family. And oftentimes, our students who are parents don’t want their children to feel that they’re stupid. And that’s a natural reaction, but there are all kinds of reasons people can’t read. A lot of students aren’t just intelligent -- they’re brilliant but never learned to read properly."
Raynes praises her pupil’s fierce determination to learn.
"She has goals she’s set. She hasn’t let anything intimidate her. She just jumps right in and learns."
Agee’s next goal is to get her GED and go on to beauty college so she can be a beautician and do what she loves to do, cut hair. And she wants to learn to read music and to play her new piano
"Anything anybody wants to throw at me, I’ll try to learn. There’s no such thing as too old to learn."
For everybody who can read this, and especially those who can’t, Lilly Gail Agee is a testament to that philosophy.
For more information about the Putnam County branch of the Literacy Volunteers of America, call Jan Hargate at the LVA office at 757-1550 or drop by the Putnam County Library from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.