Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Daisy Russellmind. “A friend of mine was a student in the readingprogram,” she recalls. “In 1989, he was graduatingfrom Book 1 to Book 2. His tutor had a littleget-together to celebrate, and she invited me.” Atthe party, Daisy got into conversation with VernaCooper, the head of the company’s education program.Verna seemed kind and sympathetic, andDaisy found the courage to confide in her. “I toldher that I wanted to finish my education, but that Ididn’t read and write well enough to do that,”Daisy says. “She said, ‘Let’s fix you up with atutor.’”Daisy was paired with Earl Riggs, an engineertrained as a Laubach reading tutor. For the nexteighteen months, the two met for an hour, twice aweek, on company time. Together, they worked togive Daisy the tools she had not been able to developon her own.“The key to my learning to read was phonics.That was something I had no idea of,” she says.47