A sculpture honouring Sadie Bending can be seen on Wellington Road at Queen’s Avenue. Who was she and why was she honoured? (Chapter 10… Sadie Bending)
……………In 1912, the high school sweethearts married. Sadie settled into domestic life and soon the family grew to include two daughters. But, in 1925, at the age of 34, Sadie noticed her eyesight slowly diminishing. Devastating news for most people, Sadie, with her tremendously optimistic attitude, faced it head on saying, “I made up my mind that I was not going to stop doing anything I could possibly do. We didn’t stop going to dances.” However, her life did take a new direction and she dedicated the next four decades to improving conditions for the blind. In 1925, according to Sadie, blind people were kept out of the way and ignored. They had limited choices when it came to careers and often worked in the areas of piano tuning, basketry or leather-work. Sadie changed this, and more than 40 years later stated with delight that “Today, they can do just about anything...the abilities and skills of blind persons are more generally recognized now. People used to think we were useless.” |