Robert Panara postmark quest

This is not about a place, really. It's not even about a story from Hawaii. It's about a man who happened to be deaf, became a pioneer and an educator in an era when most folks didn't know much about the hearing impaired. I got my Robert Panara stamp during a trip to California in the summer. No clue when I would really use it since it's not a regular stamp. It's a 2-ounce, and until today I didn't know precisely how much that really is.

Well, I came across a "Celebrating Robert Panara" postmark being done in Rochester, NY, where Mr. Panera was an instructor for decades. So, on deadline, I sent off for the postmark, using envelopes and a paper with Panera stamps. Hopefully, it goes smoothly. I'm going to learn about his life, and what little I know is fascinating. USPS knows how to to pick icons. Quiet people who have made major impact on our country.

Why does this seem important to me? My mom was deaf. A proud deaf woman whose friends from her days of youth at the Territorial Deaf and Blind School were basically family to her once she began riding the ferry from Maui to Oahu from age 8 on, staying there in the dorms for 9 months straight every year. It was her life, painful uprooting at first, but in hindsight, a wise decision by her parents. I can't even imagine the pain of letting go.

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