On behalf of the entire staff of GW Micro, it is with deep
sadness that we must announce the passing away of Clarence
Whaley on Saturday morning, June 14. To read his obituary
please go to
http://www.crawfordservices.com/index.cfm
choose the Obituaries link and search for Whaley.
Clarence worked with us at GW Micro for almost 10 years,
serving as Sales Manager and also Director of Training. He
worked at many trade shows, gave many presentations both in
the US and abroad, trained many people in the use of
Window-Eyes, the Braille Sense and Voice Sense notetakers
plus other products. Clarence was always ready to explain
how to do a certain task in an easy-going manner that no one
else could match. Clarence always made people feel
comfortable and at-ease and they had confidence in his
abilities.
Clarence loved his Seeing Eye dogs and they assisted him
wherever he traveled. He was active in the music business
and enjoyed many types of songs although I am certain his
favorite was the music from his hometown - Nashville,
Tennessee.
For those of you who wish to express your feelings, thoughts
and memories of Clarence, we encourage you to
write something here about Clarence to help others remember him
and know him a little better. This could be anything from a
phone conversation to an in-depth training session.
Clarence was very active and he touched a lot of lives with
his service.
Clarence is survived by his wife Dranda as well as other
family members. Please keep them in your thoughts and
prayers as they work through this time of grief and
mourning. He was a well-loved member of the GW Micro family
and we will truly miss him.
Sincerely,
Dan, Doug and the entire GW Micro staff
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Jun
15
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We both graduated from the Tennessee School for the blind, many years apart though.Eleven years ago, I got my first guide dog. I somehow got his phone number, but can't remember how. I called him and we talked about living and working with guide dogs.
It didn't matter that he didn't know me, he talked to me as though we'd known each other for a long time. That meant a lot.I know he will be missed by all who knew him, and I will pray for his family and friends during this most difficult time. Clarence, you will be missed and thought of fondly for years and years to come.
He was a super nice man, and highly professional.
I'm sad to hear of his passing, and will pray for his friends and family.
In 2008 I had the plesure of working along side Clarence as I assisted in the GW Micro booth with the Braille Sense Plus.
I will never forget that. He talked to me as we had known eachother for years.
He will be missed.
Chris
Stephen
Bob and Sue Sweetman
http://lflegal.com/2008/06/clarence-whaley/
Clarence was one of the hundreds of blind individuals across the country who have actively helped enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act through the process of Structured Negotiations. Clarence and Paul Parravano were involved in the Structured Negotiations with American Express, along with my co-counse Linda Dardarian and myself. American Express' Braille statements now often arrive before the print ones. Thank you Clarence, and my condolences to his family and community.
Clarence and I always had the running joke of no matter when we worked together we would always find a way to have a bad meal some how and so every time we got together I always joked with him about which night would be our bad meal this time.
I had the honor to know this man has a friend and mentor for the last 10 years and I will miss our trips together in the AT World.
He was a fighter for anything that was a wrong for the Blindness Community and would make sure that it was corrected if it could be.
This is such a huge loss for the Blindness Community and GW Micro but more importantly to his loving wife.
I my thoughts and prayers are with the GW Micro Family and his loving wife Dranda.
Clarence I know you will be having the best coffee and dinners from now on and I will be thinking of you every day.
I send my sincere condolence to Clarence’s family, friends and colleges.
Sigi Kipke, CEO Handy Tech
I first became aware of Clarence when I joined the buddy-l email listserv which he and Robert Carter formed for guide dog users in the late 90's. Being a long time user of jaws and only a new user of window eyes for a short period of time, in 2005, I had the pleasure of meeting Clarence while attending a training class in West Palm Beach. I brought along a word document that I was not able to read with jaws and mentioned this to Clarence. He told me that window eyes would read the document just fine and I doubted him, but guess what, he was right! I was then hooked on window eyes! I also attended the two workshops last year at the ACB convention in which Clarence was part of. He will be missed for sure. I'm glad I got the chance to learn from him.
Larry
The Wilkinsons
-Roland
Window-Eyes workshop at the CNIB in Toronto, Canada, many years ago but that's all it took for him to leave a lasting memory.
He impressed me as a person who was infinitely comfortable with what he was teaching, believed in his product, proud to represent his company and
presented to the participants in a
non-threatening and comfortable manner.
He was easy to approach and speak to.
It is sad that he is no longer with us but he will be remembered as the warm and helpful person he was.
My condolences to his wife, his family and the GW Micro staff.
He also taught me to quit using the mouse. It was during a Window-Eyes training in Boston, and I was getting frustrated with using the keyboard.
The rapid shouts of "graphic graphic graphic" from Window-Eyes told Clarence what I was up to.
"Erik, quit using the mouse!" he hollered. I let it go from that day on, and rarely use it these days, even though I no longer use Window-Eyes.
So, thanks to Clarence, I'm now a real computer user.
Dranda, I will never forget Clarence from our Arnet days through to QNX and our fun time at Disney World one special evening.
The world will miss the calm he brought.