Jim Rechkemmer - President

I grew up in Oakville, Iowa. I am a graduate of Wapello Community High School (1966), Southeastern Iowa Area Community College (1968), and The University of Iowa (1971) with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Degree.

At the age of thirteen, I couldn’t see the baseball coming off the bat and I was having difficulty seeing in dark places such as movie theaters or restaurants. My eye doctor checked my visual acuity which was at or near 20/20. Finally, during my senior year of high school the eye doctor tested my field vision. As a result of this test, I was referred to the University of Iowa Hospital and the doctors discovered I had Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). Three to four years after my diagnosis, my older brother Kenny was also diagnosed with RP.

I attended the Iowa Department for the Blind Orientation Center in 1973. On April 1, 1974, I began my career at Interstate Assurance Company in the Actuarial Department. This was the beginning of a 28+ year career in the insurance industry. My job in the Actuarial Department allowed me to utilize my math and accounting skills. Later in my career, I was Manager of the Reinsurance Department and finally Manager of the Commission Accounting Department. In Commission Accounting, we were responsible for getting the commission rates loaded to the system, paying our agents, providing them with tax reporting information, and collecting bad debts. It was during this phase of my career that Mike Barber helped install the JAWS screen reading program on my computer. I am a recipient of the tutorials Mike helped develop. I still pull them out to see if the key strokes work with the current versions of Word and Excel.

I am an avid fan of the New York Yankees and the Iowa Hawkeyes, a member of The 600 Club in bowling, and rode on 4 RAGBRI’s including the century loop in 2003.

Don Wirth - Secretary

I am a life long resident of the Ames area having attended Gilbert High  School and Iowa State University.

I had a nearly 40 year career in financial management with the State of Iowa Department of Revenue, WOI radio and TV and Iowa Public Radio.

Since I retired in 2010, I have been involved in a number of blind organizations and activities including ICUB, NFBI, Ames Low Vision

Support Group, Iowa Library for the Blind Consumer Advisor Council and now Friends of the Library.

Cindy Ray- Vice President

 I am Cindy Ray. I have spent most of my life in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa. I was a student at the Iowa Orientation and Adjustment Center for the Blind when the library was very new—1964-1965--and Florence Grannis was the librarian. I have always been an avid reader, and I love Braille.

Music is my love, and I received an organ performance degree from the University of Kansas. Then in 2001 I went to seminary to become a Presbyterian pastor. I have done a number of things such as chaplaincy at Broadlawns, preach in pulpit supply, studied spiritual direction and Stephen Ministry. Currently I write quite a bit of the liturgy used at our church, Windsor Presbyterian.

I am studying the NLS Braille Proofreading Course and look forward to its completion.

I am very happy to be a part of Friends