Stuttering: my family's story
My uncle was a genius level math student in high school. He stuttered. My grandmother knew he had high potential and, since it was during the Depression, had no money to send him to college. She wrote to her congressman asking for him to appoint her son to West Point, citing his phenomenal student record, especially math. The congressman was impressed and wrote the letter. However, my uncle could not go if he had a stutter. Through a mail order "course" to help stop stuttering he overcame his speech disability. He served honorably during the war (protecting our oil supplies in Iran, then called Persia), and in Japan during our occupation following the war.
Uncle David was a great guy, very liberal in his views and just so very nice. He sent me a pair of Japanese wooded shoes (which I could not safely wear!) and other trinkets at Christmas. I didn't get to see him much because his wife did not like my mother.
I wish I had gotten to know him better. But I hold him in high regard for his service and his honor. I am thinking of President Biden and his struggle with stuttering and I think of my honorable uncle.
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