Connie Head grabs life by the wheels!
Donation protected
Connie is a standout among all the outstanding Beaver Lake folks. When I arrived at the lake circa 1995 I was enthralled by this tiny woman with the long flowing blonde hair and the massive biceps who would come floating up to the dock for a beer, little Miss B perched on the bow of the boat. These days, Connie’s Ocean Kayak has become a mainstay on the lake, she has trimmed her locks and let the silver shine as she does, and her arms still reveal the splendor of the athlete she is. Miss B is still 13 years old, having stopped giving out her age as most of us stop at 39.
The details of Connie’s life would be impressive for any woman, but this woman puts the ABLE in disabled. Stricken with polio the week of her second birthday, Connie was left with the loss of use of her left leg and only partial use of her right. Growing up, she had braces on her legs and used crutches to get around. She was once the March of Dimes cover girl (she says poster child, but I like cover girl better) and can still recite the line she was given for the commercial.
After graduating from Maine-Endwell High School in 1970, Connie attended Rochester Institute of Technology studying photography. Her photographs reveal a great talent at capturing the art in things you see every day. At RIT she was encouraged by a friend to start swimming and playing basketball and track which led to the discovery of wheelchair competition. By the mid-1970s she was making a name for herself and crushing records. In 1976 she was sponsored by a local American Legion to attend the Paralympics. In 1981, as Diana was crowned a princess, Connie broke two world records at the 30th annual World Wheelchair Games in Aylesbury, England, and took several gold medals home to her sailboat on Seattle’s Lake Union. In 1982 she raced in the Boston Marathon, setting another record, but she humbly reminds me she did Boston a couple of times. Around 1982, having attended more regional, national, Pan-American, and World competitions than she can count, she retired from class 5 track, setting at least nine national records, nine Pan-American records, and nine world records. Having lived in Denver, Oklahoma City, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Seattle, this self-described gypsy queen of wheelchair sports returned to Broome County in 1983 over concerns for her father’s health.
As younger racers joined the ranks, Connie felt it was time to put her experience to work in other ways, joining the newly formed Southern Tier Independence Center in 1984 as their Life Skills & Peer Counseling Coordinator, and later with Allegheny Medical in durable medical goods. She joined up with the “Barrier Busters,” working to identify and take down architectural barriers around downtown Binghamton that prohibited wheelchair access. Never one to sit on the sidelines for long, however, she then took up distance races.
Even though she worried “I was never good enough,” she applied for and was inducted into the Wheelchair USA Hall of Fame in 1997.
After the passing of her husband, Phil, last October, Connie spent the winter in Florida as usual, and happily returned to her friends at Beaver Lake this summer. Her cottage is in need of some work to make it more accessible to her solo life, plus some general repair and improvements. Please contribute what you can! Work will begin as soon as we start raising some funds.
Planned work includes: accessible kitchen countertops and finish work, an accessible cooktop, insulation and closing in of kitchen walls and some ceiling finish work, accessible kitchen storage/pantry cabinet (and we are hoping for an extra special display space for all of her gold medals), accessible light switches and electrical outlets, kitchen and overhead lighting fixtures (much of the electrical rough-in has already been completed) and improved access to her lakefront. We have some extra wishlist items as well, including a washer/dryer combo with controls she can actually reach! Connie is also anticipating the arrival of her new wheelchair which will greatly improve her mobility and ability to travel around the lake with ease. It comes with a hefty price tag, so any extra funds we have will go toward that. Check out the campaign updates for photos of areas of her cottage we are focusing on and a cool video about her new Omeo wheelchair. Please reach out to Sue or John Morrow with any specific concerns or questions.
We, along with Connie, thank our friends at Beaver Lake and beyond in advance for your generosity and support.
Sue
The details of Connie’s life would be impressive for any woman, but this woman puts the ABLE in disabled. Stricken with polio the week of her second birthday, Connie was left with the loss of use of her left leg and only partial use of her right. Growing up, she had braces on her legs and used crutches to get around. She was once the March of Dimes cover girl (she says poster child, but I like cover girl better) and can still recite the line she was given for the commercial.
After graduating from Maine-Endwell High School in 1970, Connie attended Rochester Institute of Technology studying photography. Her photographs reveal a great talent at capturing the art in things you see every day. At RIT she was encouraged by a friend to start swimming and playing basketball and track which led to the discovery of wheelchair competition. By the mid-1970s she was making a name for herself and crushing records. In 1976 she was sponsored by a local American Legion to attend the Paralympics. In 1981, as Diana was crowned a princess, Connie broke two world records at the 30th annual World Wheelchair Games in Aylesbury, England, and took several gold medals home to her sailboat on Seattle’s Lake Union. In 1982 she raced in the Boston Marathon, setting another record, but she humbly reminds me she did Boston a couple of times. Around 1982, having attended more regional, national, Pan-American, and World competitions than she can count, she retired from class 5 track, setting at least nine national records, nine Pan-American records, and nine world records. Having lived in Denver, Oklahoma City, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Seattle, this self-described gypsy queen of wheelchair sports returned to Broome County in 1983 over concerns for her father’s health.
As younger racers joined the ranks, Connie felt it was time to put her experience to work in other ways, joining the newly formed Southern Tier Independence Center in 1984 as their Life Skills & Peer Counseling Coordinator, and later with Allegheny Medical in durable medical goods. She joined up with the “Barrier Busters,” working to identify and take down architectural barriers around downtown Binghamton that prohibited wheelchair access. Never one to sit on the sidelines for long, however, she then took up distance races.
Even though she worried “I was never good enough,” she applied for and was inducted into the Wheelchair USA Hall of Fame in 1997.
After the passing of her husband, Phil, last October, Connie spent the winter in Florida as usual, and happily returned to her friends at Beaver Lake this summer. Her cottage is in need of some work to make it more accessible to her solo life, plus some general repair and improvements. Please contribute what you can! Work will begin as soon as we start raising some funds.
Planned work includes: accessible kitchen countertops and finish work, an accessible cooktop, insulation and closing in of kitchen walls and some ceiling finish work, accessible kitchen storage/pantry cabinet (and we are hoping for an extra special display space for all of her gold medals), accessible light switches and electrical outlets, kitchen and overhead lighting fixtures (much of the electrical rough-in has already been completed) and improved access to her lakefront. We have some extra wishlist items as well, including a washer/dryer combo with controls she can actually reach! Connie is also anticipating the arrival of her new wheelchair which will greatly improve her mobility and ability to travel around the lake with ease. It comes with a hefty price tag, so any extra funds we have will go toward that. Check out the campaign updates for photos of areas of her cottage we are focusing on and a cool video about her new Omeo wheelchair. Please reach out to Sue or John Morrow with any specific concerns or questions.
We, along with Connie, thank our friends at Beaver Lake and beyond in advance for your generosity and support.
Sue
Organizer
Sue Morrow
Organizer
Binghamton, NY