Page 66 - Coffee County

was mainstreamed in the Coffee County School System.

Potential treatments for Dudley’s hearing loss continued. If the Vickers family found out about another kind of treatment, they explored it. For example, Dudley spent two weeks in Washington, D.C., undergoing acupuncture treatments. “We did everything we could think of to help him,” says his mother. In the end, none of the procedures worked. Dudley was born deaf, and he would remain deaf for his entire life. Not being able to hear has never slowed him down, though. Dudley has excelled at everything he has done. He graduated on time and then enrolled in the drafting program at East Central Tech in Fitzgerald (now Wiregrass Georgia Technical College). He worked at Fleetwood in Douglas, and drove to Fitzgerald at night to take classes. Back then, the mobile home industry was booming. Dudley eventually stopped going to Fitzgerald – his schedule at Fleetwood was too demanding – and

concentrated on his job. He built a solid career at Fleetwood, working there for 22 years before the industry went sour, forcing him to fnd another job. These days, Dudley is a foreman at SSI in Willacoochee. “He never misses a day of work. He’s never late. He expects the same out of his co-workers,” says Jessie Mae.

Dudley is married to Mary Vickers, principal at Ambrose Elementary School. He has four children: Bridgette Vickers Mercer, a second grade teacher at Indian Creek Elementary; Bryan Vickers; and twins Austin and Andrew Vickers, who are 2011 graduates of Coffee High School. Dudley’s life is a testament to hard work and perseverance. He has never used his disability as an excuse for a handout and he cannot stand it when others do. One thing that angers him more than anything else is when he sees an able-bodied deaf person begging or panhandling. If you mention that to him, he scowls and holds up his fnger,

shaking it back and forth in front of his face. He holds out his arms and points to his hands. Then he gestures with a thumbs up and motions as though he is driving a hammer. The message is clear – if a person is able, they should work. It’s what he has done all his life, and he expects the same from others. Jessie Mae makes it clear that Dudley’s hearing loss has not affected him negatively in any way. He has lived a normal life, experiencing the same diffculties as the rest of us – with one exception. For over 40 years, he couldn’t use a telephone. Until text messaging became a standard feature on cell phones. Since the advent of texting, Dudley can now have his own phone and use it with no help from anyone else. Once, the budget got a little tight around the Vickers house, and someone mentioned that they might have to cut out their cell phones. “Dudley told us everybody could get rid of theirs, but he was keeping his. He waited 40 years to be able to use a phone and nobody was taking it from him,” laughs Jessie Mae. It is Saturday, June 11, 2011. I am standing on feld one at the Walter Huckaby Softball Complex. Nineteen years after my softball career began; I’m still playing, still trying to fnd a little athletic glory on the bush league softball circuit. I hear a commotion on feld two, located about 30 yards to my left. I see some players jogging the bases, a sign that someone has hit a home run. Then I notice Dudley Vickers jogging toward home plate from third base, his face covered with that enormous smile of his. There is nobody behind him. He is the player who left the yard. I shake my head and laugh. He is 52 years old and he has just hit a ball over 300 feet on a sweltering June afternoon. Dudley Vickers is still competing, still smiling, and still defying the odds – just as he has done his entire life.  CCM