A rebirth of services for the blind: Conklin Davis Center celebrates ribbon-cutting

The Conklin Davis Center is the result of a merger between the Center for the Visually Impaired and the Conklin Center.

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In 1988, Kathy Davis was losing her vision. 

A single mother of two and professor at Daytona State College at the time, she had been visually impaired all of her life, but at that moment, she knew one day she would lose all of her sight. She asked her ophthalmologist for help, and he didn't know what her next steps should be.

"I had to do something about that," said Davis before a crowd of about 80 people outside the Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired on Friday, April 1. "We had to not have ophthalmologists not know where [people] could turn to shift the skills they need as they lose their vision." 

So she started the Center for the Visually Impaired in a small home on Osceola Avenue in Ormond Beach, initially serving older blind individuals. Now she serves as vice chair of the Conklin Davis Center for the Visually Impaired, a result of the 2021 merger between CVI and the Conklin Center, which closed in 2020 after its contract with the Florida Division of Blind Services was terminated. 

The ribbon cutting ceremony celebrated the merger between the two entities, an event held about eight months since the center relaunched its residential program. The Conklin Davis Center, located at 405 White St., has 16 dormitories, three one-bedroom apartments, and serves over 500 people in Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and Brevard counties via its several programs such as its vocational rehabilitation and blind babies programs. 

"It's wonderful to know that 34 years of serving blind and visionally-impaired people has occurred," Davis said. "And this merger with Conklin is just immense." 

'It really does take a village'

The merger between CVI and the Conklin Center came naturally, said Ronee David, president and CEO of the Conklin Davis Center. Both centers have served the community for decades, and as the largest blind service campus in the U.S. and one who serves visually-impaired individuals with multiple disabilities, it is something the center is proud of. 

"It really does take a village, and there were so many people that were involved in bringing this center back," David said. 

From clearing the nature trail, cleaning out the pond, taking down trees — one volunteer, an ophthalmologist surgeon even came in with his own personal backhoe one day, still dressed in his scrubs, David shared — much work was completed in the center prior to reopening to students. 

Nancy Epps, secretary of the Conklin Davis Center's board, said the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the rebirth of the center. She and David knew that it was essential to the community to continue their services. 

"We felt that when this whole center had difficulties, it was essential to our community to continue those services," Epps said. 

In attendance at the ceremony was also Don Wedewer Jr., son of one of the co-founders of the Conklin Center. Wedewer Jr.'s father, Donald Wedewer, lost his vision and both of his legs during World War II. It was a point in time where many blind people were marginalized for their disability. 

His father eventually became the director of the Florida Division of Blind Services in 1974, and when approached by Millard Conklin to build the center, helped Lions Clubs throughout the state to raise the money needed for Conklin's idea. The Conklin Center opened in 1979, and Wedewer Jr. said it was one of his father's greatest accomplishments.

"One of the last conversations I had with my father before he passed was about Conklin — how it all began," Wedewer Jr. said. "And it was very inspiring to hear that, and after taking a tour I became more inspired about what these people actually accomplished here."

Against all odds

Robert Doyle, director of the Florida Division of Blind Services, said it was a privilege to be among "legends." 

"These are really foundations and roots that have made a difference in a lot of people's lives over a whole lot of years, and will continue to make a difference with many, many more years to come," Doyle said. 

Preston Root, president of the Root Family Board of Directors, said his involvement stems from caring for the community, and the need to care for the visually-impaired. He shared that his family will sponsor one of the apartments at the center. 

"I'm just so proud of what's happened here and what everybody — I won't name one person because it's all of you have made it possible," Root said.

Tomoka Eye Associates CEO Bill Watson, chairman of the center's board, echoed similar sentiments, and paid tribute to the people who died at the beginning of the merger: 21-year-long CVI board member Allen Bornstein and David's son, Jason Krakowiak, an Ormond Beach pilot who died in a helicopter crash in December 2020. His portrait will hang up in the lobby in his memory. 

"The odds against this were just unbelievable, " Watson said. "Ronee put it in her head and just went straight into it, and it has got us to this point." 

He added that when the merger went through, he thought it was imperative to add Davis' name to the center. 

"I think Mr. Conklin would be extremely proud to see what this group has been able to do come in here and do," Watson said. "... And I think he would be more than proud to share the sign and share the name with Kathy Davis. Both of them are pillars in our community." 

 

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