A Celebration of Penny Peterson's Life
Penny Peterson and I, CAPED AT CIG Chairs, have been collaborating and networking with other CCC, CSU and UCs on access technology. Penny has been mentoring me while I get familiar with the CSU system and the ATI process. I attended Penny’s funeral on Thursday, June 19, in Whittier. Her family and her Mormon community did a wonderful celebration of Penny’s life. Dave Sanfilippo gave a heartfelt dedication and tribute speech for Penny. I gave Penny’s husband, Scott, a 5x7 silver frame with a poem as my tribute to our friendship. The frame was put in the casket next to Penny for all to see. As our gift to the family, I ordered an arrangement from colleagues at CSUEB and the HTCTU.
Penny will be remembered as a dedicated person who wanted to see her students succeed. This has been hard on all of us. Penny has touched many lives in her personal and professional life. She will be remembered through the success of her students. Penny will always be in our hearts and thoughts.
Kathy Buob
CAPED AT CIG Northern Chair
CATS Honors the Memory of Penny Peterson
( http://cats.cdl.edu/ppeterson) Article used with permission.
CATS Honors the Memory of Penny Peterson
Penny Peterson, Coordinator of Disabled Student Services' High Tech Center at CSU Long Beach, passed away on June 13, 2008. Her professional life focused on providing advocacy for and adaptive technology support to students with disabilities.
Penny was a long-standing and active member of the CATS community. Since the first CATS conference in 1998, Penny presented on accessibility issues and grant-writing techniques. She also assumed leadership roles and most recently served on the CATS Executive Council. Her dedication, humor, and spirit will be greatly missed.
"Yes, sad news for us and of course, her family, friends, and co-workers. I met Penny at the CATS conference at Montery Bay. It was good to put a real person together with the helpful and knowledgeable email-er. I will miss her postings."
–Margaret Scheffelin, Sacramento State
"Penny helped me out so many times. I could call her for advice on ADA matters. She was just down the street from me. She even did a workshop at Dominguez, 2 hrs., and wouldn't let us even reimburse her for gas. We caught her on tape. She will be greatly missed."
–Roberta Ambrosino, EdD University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio(formerly of CSU Dominguez Hills)
"To all who knew and cherished Penny, who shared and benefited from her passion for her work, her colleagues, and loved ones, please accept my heartfelt condolences."
–Carol Redding, San Diego State University
"Words are difficult to express the profound sense of loss that I'm feeling right now. Although I did not know Penny well, I feel her presence was always strong in the CATS community. She had been a true leader in helping all of us understand the challenges and benefits of ensuring that we address and meet the needs of students with disabilities. She will be deeply missed beyond the CATS community, for her work and her life had touched the entire CSU."
–Corey Gin, San Jose State University
"It is really difficult to wrap the mind around Penny [having passed], since she always was so full of life and energy...I remember tightening my seat belt in her little Audi Sports Coup when she drove me to the Santa Rosa airport, weaving in and out of traffic and flooring it in the open spaces in the fast lane, occasionally tossing out an attempt at reassurance to the effect that she had taken race car lessons and passed with flying colors....She was instrumental in convincing Elluminate to up their ante in the ADA compliance game especially in the closed captioning post-production piece...hopefully they will honor that commitment soon as a lasting memorial of her dedication to her beloved disabled clients."
–Randal Cummings, CSU Northridge
"Penny Peterson was one of the first CATS I met back in 2000. I had the pleasure of working with her on a TIGERS grant for the E-TEXT initiative and appreciated her willingness to succeed when others were prepared to fail. Penny is and always will be an inspiration to me to keep dreaming big, to expect the impossible—because it just might show up, and to just be a kind person to all whom I should meet. I am fortunate to have been touched by Penny’s life intersecting with mine own and know that I am blessed to have another Guardian Angel on my team! Blessed, be, Penny!"
–Jeniffer Wellington, CSU East Bay
"I will certainly miss Penny as will many more here at CSULB. She was a force and a very loyal friend. I first met her when I discovered there was a real gap in our educational technology MA curriculum concerning assistive and accessible technology. As I talked to folks in our college, the advice was unanimous…”You need to meet Penny Peterson.” Well, I contacted her and she immediately brought me “into the fold” and unselfishly mentored and supported me through the years to a level of expertise where I could comfortably collaborate and commiserate with her as a colleague and friend. She supported me in the development an accessible technology course for our students and volunteered to stay late one night last Fall to welcome the inaugural class to the High Tech Center to give them some hands-on experience and valuable advice. She didn’t leave until all of their questions were answered and then passed out her business cards so they could follow-up with her if needed. Our conversations on a personal level typically centered around our puppies, especially Max and Ricky, and we shared stories and photos regularly. (Max was such a delight for her and I am sure he is missing her so much.) Although Penny gave so much to her students, her family was never far from her mind and she spoke of them with such love and concern as well. I will miss her –her patience, her dogged determination, her dedication, her sense of humor and her kindness."
–Jennifer Lamkins, CSU Long Beach
"I'm struggling with words that don't adequately express what Penny has done for me. Her diligent and generous work on behalf of her 'kids' who came to the High Tech Center of the CSULB Disabled Students Services was nothing less than astonishing. I will be forever grateful for the gift she gave me in the form of years of patient teaching by example and with copious tutorials. I am proud to carry on as one of the legion of Penny's disciples, incorporating accessibility into the documents and media I produce here on the Long Beach campus.
Penny's influence now includes the whole State of CA and continues to spread across the country. I'm reminded of that bumper sticker we've all seen that reads, If you can read this, thank a teacher. From now on, the unspoken addition to that slogan is If you can see this, feel this, hear this or in any way you are aware of what is written here, in spite of some disability you might have, thank Penny Peterson."
–Walter Gajewski, CSU Long Beach
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In Memory of Penny Peterson
By Dave Sanfilippo, July 26, 2008
Last Thursday, Penny had an appointment with a student.
She was late for her appointment, it was not like her to be late- especially for a student who needed her help. Her time with students was too important, too significant, and too crucial for her to miss – she wanted this student to succeed!
She also had another appointment; one that she or anyone in this room would not have expected or cared to know about….
My name is Dave Sanfilippo; I am the Director of Disabled Student Services at CSU, Long Beach. I have had the privilege of being Penny’s supervisor for the past 22 years. For those of you who know Penny, the words “supervise Penny” maybe an oxymoron. NO ONE “supervised” Penny. She was a free thinker and a “maverick” in every good sense of those words. She always had the student’s “best” interest at the heart of her actions.
Penny had a great sense of fairness and justice, particularly when it came to “her” students or as she would sometimes call them – her “kids”. You see Penny believed that a blind student could learn Chinese. She had faith that learning disabled students could become doctors, lawyers, teachers and CEOs. She saw how she could help a blind student become a school psychologist despite the many who doubted.
Penny knew that students with disabilities could pretty much do anything, given the right opportunity and with the provision of a ‘level playing field’. Students were often faced with the questions: “Why are you taking this course? or “Why are you choosing this major?” She would respond -- “Why NOT”! She was committed to helping students realize their dreams and would LOVE proving the doubters to be “misinformed”. Her sense of doing what was best for the students was unparalleled.
Penny would not just go the “extra mile,” she often would go the “extra hundred miles” to insure a student’s success. Whether it was making adjustable tables for the lab, widening a doorway for a colleague in a wheelchair at her home, caring about your kids (as she did with my son, giving him his first job), or spending the majority of her first few paychecks on the High Tech Center to buy those few things that the state budget couldn’t provide. Penny would go the distance and then some.
She was a pioneer starting one of the first High Tech Centers in the CSU’s. When we started the High Tech Center, we had nothing. Penny helped raise over $300,000 for our lab to acquire the necessary equipment and personnel.
Her opinion was sought by many; from the CSU Chancellor’s office, to her peers in the field and as far away as Taiwan. People wanted to know what Penny thought.
It was evident what Penny thought. Underneath her fiery personality, above all, she wanted what was best for her program and her students.
Penny did not care much for awards or plaques, although she had many. She was concerned and wanted the best for her students for they were her PRIDE and her Product. Her trophies were pictures of all the students she helped to graduate. If you go into the High Tech Center her walls are lined with them – hundreds upon hundreds!
Last Friday, I said to the HTC Staff that we could NEVER replace Penny. We can only honor her by continuing to do what she believed in and worked for each day – doing the best to help our students succeed. We at Long Beach State have already honored Penny by establishing a permanent scholarship in her name for students with disabilities. We will also honor her in mid-September with an on-campus memorial service for those who loved her the most - her colleagues, friends, family and, of course, students.
If we measure a person’s value by the difference that they make in the lives of others, then Penny is one of the most valuable and precious gems of a person I have ever known.
Although she missed that appointment with that student last Thursday, I believe her final appointment today was to tell us all: What really matters is making a difference in the lives of others. Now get out there and do it!
Thank you, Penny. We always appreciated your kick in the butt. We will miss that!
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Note: The Penny Peterson Scholarship has been established at Long Beach State. If anyone would like to contribute to the fund please send your checks to:
Disabled Student Services
CSU, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach , CA 90840
Checks can be made payable to Disabled Student Services
An on-campus Memorial Service will be held for Penny at CSU, Long Beach on September 18, 2008, at the Pointe in the Pyramid (next to our event center, just off Atherton) at 2:00 pm. All are welcomed to attend. For additional information call (562) 985-5401.
Submitted by Carolyn Fiori, July 30, 2008
(A Celebration of Penny Peterson's Life [word.doc])
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