Fred was a really great man. I've had the oportunity to work with him, and spend a little time outside of work with him as well and he was absolutely a gentleman and great to be around.

He wasn't doing any hamming, recently, as far as I know, but he did contact me when he motheed to the residential facility he was in, for my input on monitoring aviation in his area, so, I got to share aviation frequencies with him. A small thing, but it was flattering that he'd call me for this.

73 & 99 Fred!


Ron Miller
N6MSA

> On Sep 26, 2014, at 5:29 PM, "Mike Duke, K5XU" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Fred Gissoni, K4JLX, died on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. He was 84 years-old.
> 
> The following is from an article that was written earlier by Deborah 
> Kendrick, for Access World, a publication of the American Foundation 
> for the Blind.
> 
> Since this is a third or fourth pasting of the information, the links 
> at the bottom may not work without some doctoring.
> 
> Mike Duke, K5XU
> 
> Fred retired from the American Printing House for the Blind in 2011 
> after 23 years of service.
> 
>        Fred L. Gissoni was 84 years old and lived in the Crescent Hill 
> area of Louisville, Kentucky. Fred contributed 60 years of service to 
> people who are blind and visually impaired. Fred was known across the 
> United States and around the world for his brilliant intellect, 
> inventiveness, and impish sense of humor. He was born in New Jersey. 
> Blind since birth, he did not, as he told it, go to one of the five 
> widely renowned schools for the blind in that area, but rather, to a 
> resource room in a public school, first in Garfield, NJ, and later in 
> Hackensack. He was interested in amateur radio at age six or seven, and 
> that marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for all things 
> technical. He passed away Sunday, September 21, 2014.
> 
> 
> 
>        In 1956, Fred took a job with a subsection of Kentucky's 
> Department of Education. His boss was the legendary Tim Cranmer. 
> Gissoni and Cranmer learned the abacus together, and Gissoni wrote 
> detailed instructions for its use. That book, Using the Cranmer Abacus, 
> is still available from the American Printing House, as is the abacus 
> itself. Fred also wrote and taught a course on use of the abacus for 
> the Hadley School for the Blind.
> 
> 
> 
>        In terms of the technology blind people are using today, what 
> stands out most notably in the work of Fred Gissoni would probably be 
> the development of the Pocketbraille and Portabraille, collaborations 
> of Fred Gissoni and Wayne Thompson, while the two were colleagues at 
> the Kentucky Department for the Blind.
> 
> 
> 
>        The Pocketbraille was built to be housed in a videocassette box 
> (one for a VHS cassette, which was state-of-the-art in the mid 1980s.) 
> One could enter data from a Perkins-style keyboard and hear it spoken 
> through speech. When Fred learned of a braille display manufacturer in 
> Italy, the project grew into a refreshable braille device called 
> Portabraille. The Kentucky Department made only 12 Portabraille units 
> -- two of which enabled blind people to retain their jobs. Rather than 
> making a profit from the machines themselves, Gissoni and Thompson sold 
> the detailed instructions for building the device for $5. Deane 
> Blazie's interest in those plans, led to the birth of the Braille 'n Speak.
> 
> 
> 
>        Fred was particularly proud of the Janus Slate, the 
> double-sided interline braille slate that holds a three-by-five index 
> card for brailling on both sides. When asked about the name of this 
> product, he said, Well, Janus was the Roman God of portals. But I like 
> to tell people that he was the Roman God of braille, and since we 
> didn't actually have braille for several hundred more years, he didn't 
> have much to do. That is vintage Fred Gissoni banter.
> 
> 
> 
>        Other inventions he developed for APH were also small items 
> including a pocket braille calendar and a gadget he called FoldRite, 
> which simplified folding an 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of paper into thirds. 
> When asked about his accomplishments, one of the things he mentioned 
> his introducing Larry Skutchan to APH.
> 
> 
> 
>        Fred always used an abacus and was never without a slate and 
> stylus. Batteries die and chips fail, he said simply. On the Fred's 
> Head web site, APH refers to him as a legend. He shared his tips, 
> techniques, knowledge, genius, and generous spirit with blind people 
> everywhere for more than 80 years. Fred's world of knowledge eventually 
> became what is now the Fred's Head from APH <http://www.fredshead.info>  blog.
> 
> 
> 
>        A memorial service is being planned for the near future. In 
> lieu of flowers, contributions are requested to American Printing House 
> for the Blind, UCHM for food, or the Crescent Hill United Methodist 
> Church. See more and sign his guest book at: 
> http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/louisville/obituary.aspx?n=fred-l-gissoni&pid=172536773&fhid=10680#sthash.DC1xF6rC.dpuf 
> <http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/louisville/obituary.aspx?n=fred-l-gissoni&pid=172536773&fhid=10680#sthash.DC1xF6rC.dpuf> 
> .