Judy Hoit: One door closes, four more open
Judy Hoit retired in December. Or so she says. One
look at her calendar shows she’s busier than
ever.
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Judy Hoit.
Photos by Tom Jorgensen. |
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After 24 years of service to the University, the
Guthrie Center, Iowa, native said goodbye to her
job as a main lobby receptionist at the Center for
Disabilities and Development. And she said hello
to other roles—businesswoman, author, pageant
coordinator, and inventor.
Hoit owns her own consulting business, Access Now,
through which she visits schools and businesses to
advise them about how to meet handicapped-accessibility
standards.
She started her business on a part-time basis in
1992, the same year she self-published her autobiography,
My World Has Access Now.
Hoit, who contracted polio at age 4 and has been
in a wheelchair ever since, is passionate about accessibility
and acceptance.
“One of the best things about working at the
University was the Cambus Bionic Bus system. I could
always rely on it to get me where I needed to be,” says
Hoit, who also has worked in administrative services,
personnel, staff benefits, staff development, and
at the IMU since she started at the University in
1978. “I don’t know if I could have worked
without it.”
Thanks to her persistence and passion, Hoit competed
in the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant in 1996. Although
she didn’t win, the experience inspired her
to help launch the Ms. Wheelchair Iowa program.
Now, she’s the state coordinator for the Ms.
Wheelchair Iowa program and on the board of directors
for the national program. In fact, Iowa hosted the
national competition in Des Moines in July.
In 1998, Hoit took her story halfway around the
world, speaking in South Africa to doctors, nurses,
and organizers of a school for children with disabilities.
Traveling around the world, she discovered the difficulties
of maneuvering in and out of various modes of transportation.
So she created and patented the Pakkie, which is
a South African slang term for “small package.” It
is a unique, lightweight, durable harness/sling designed
as a personal mobility product to transfer those
with disabilities.
She plans to use her newfound retirement time to
help with its marketing and distribution.
If that isn’t enough to keep her busy, she’s
again dabbling as an author, writing a Civil War
romance. Plus, she enjoys visits from her two children
and their families—which include four rambunctious
grandchildren.
“One of these days I’ll have enough
time to clear out all this pageant paperwork and
get it out of my living room. Maybe that’ll
be my first priority,” she says with the tickled,
high-pitched giggle familiar to those who know her.
“I’m trying to be the same free-spirited,
friendly, go-with-the-flow me I’ve always been.”
Bill Scott: Traveling, tending the garden
Even though Bill Scott has been retired from the
University for about a year and can squeeze in a
few more rounds of golf than he used to, he certainly
has not abandoned his long, fulfilling career in
pediatric ophthalmology.
The professor emeritus of ophthalmology still sees
patients one day a month. He continues to teach and
lecture on and off campus. And he will be the guest
of honor at the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s
annual meeting in November in Anaheim, Calif.
Also, he continues as medical director of Coming
to Your Senses, a vision screening program he started
four years ago in cooperation with the Lions Club.
The statewide program examines the eyesight of 10,000
to 12,000 children each year to detect disorders
early.
He volunteers his time and helps with fund-raising,
in hopes that the program will grow and prosper to
help even more youngsters.
“Other people go to foreign countries to help.
I like to say I do my mission work right here in
Iowa,” says Scott, who retired in July 2002
after 31 years as a faculty member.
Scott isn’t one to stray far from home. He
grew up in Iowa City, attended The University of
Iowa on a Nile Kinnick Scholarship and played football,
then went to medical school here and graduated in
1964.
Except for his time spent in Detroit on a medical
internship and the two years he sailed the world
after being drafted into the U.S. Navy, he has lived
his life in Iowa City.
He and his wife Winnie raised two sons here and
still live in the same house they’ve had since
he joined the faculty in 1971.
The couple likes traveling, especially if Scott
has a hunting or fishing expedition planned. For
example, last year Scott went salmon fishing in Alaska.
And they plan to spend some time with the snowbird
crowd in Florida in the winters.
Something always draws him back home. Maybe it’s
the house painting project he insists on tackling
himself because he likes to be outdoors—even
in the steamy Iowa summer. Perhaps it’s the
vegetable garden he tends to in his manicured backyard.
Or the patients he cares for each month. Or the friendships
he has fostered through the years.
“I’ve only lived outside of Iowa for
three or four years. I’ve had opportunities
to move, but I never really wanted to. I have deep
roots here,” he says. “One of the biggest
reasons people move is because they think the grass
is greener somewhere else.
“But I always thought the grass was nice and
green right here.”
Gary Pierce: It’s finally his turn to begin
a life of leisure
For 18 years, Gary Pierce has helped other people
retire. Now it’s his turn.
Pierce, who has worked in Human Resources since
1984 doing new orientations for merit employees and
counseling employees about their retirement planning,
officially retired July 1.
He decided it was the perfect way to celebrate his
25th wedding anniversary to wife Linda, whom he married
July 1, 1978. She, incidentally, didn’t celebrate
in quite the same way. She’s still working
away as a counselor in the Office of Student Financial
Aid.
Pierce says he loved his job and could have worked
longer, but his battle with kidney cancer two years
ago allowed him to reflect on his life and his future.
“I decided there were still a lot of things
I wanted to do, so I wanted to retire and get to
work on those things,” Pierce says.
One of his retirement projects may have something
to do with the work he left when he was hired at
the University—the ministry.
Pierce, who grew up in Osceola, Iowa, holds undergraduate
degrees in English and religion and a master’s
degree in counseling. He also became an ordained
minister July 1, 1975 (yet another reason for Pierce
to mark that date on his calendar).
Although he does not plan to officially return to
the pulpit, he says he hopes to become more involved
with mission work to Mexico and to the Appalachian
Mountains.
A book deal may be in his future, too, as he works
on Reflections on Frog Holler, containing stories
from his time as a minister in Kentucky. He isn’t
even that interested in publishing it; he simply
wants a way to pass on the tales to his daughter,
who recently got married and moved to Austin, Texas.
“I want to let her know about the time I spent
long ago and about the people I met who lead a simpler
way of life,” he says.
Pierce admits he will miss the faculty and staff
he worked with at the University, many of whom he
never actually met in person. They often conversed
only via phone about retirement accounts, investments,
and their plans to finally relax.
He may take some time to kick back, read a few books,
play a round or two of golf, do a bit of traveling.
But he still gets up every day at 5:30 a.m. and packs
as much as he can into each day. “I’m not really retiring,” he
says. “I’m just switching gears.”
by Amy Schoon
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