Vol. 9 No. 4 - Fall 2008

Employee Spotlight - Quincy Daniels

Quincy Daniels, Lighthouse Machine Shop – 1970s.

“I came to the Lighthouse when I was 17 years old,” says Lighthouse Machinist Quincy Daniels, who received a special service award this summer for thirty-five years of quality work for The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. “It’s really changed here over the years. Change is good.”

Quincy was born and raised in Fairfield, Texas. Born blind, Quincy attended a school for the blind in Austin before relocating with his mother to Seattle. While visiting the Seattle vocational center, he heard about the Lighthouse and applied for a job. He started work in the mop shop but soon transferred to the machine shop making parts for Boeing airplanes. “Its interesting work,” Quincy says. “You get to learn new things about machining day by day.”

“Quincy is very highly regarded in the machine shop. He’s sought after by all of the machine set-up people and even in areas outside the shop,” says Machine Shop Supervisor Mike Scheschy. “He’s easy to get along with. He has high productivity, high quality, and he cares about the process he is working on. He’s been here so long, he knows everything.”

When Quincy first started work at the Lighthouse, there was little assistive technology available. As screen-reading and braille technology has advanced, he has witnessed ground-breaking technologies which have made sophisticated machining jobs accessible to blind and visually impaired people. “You have assistive technology on computers you can work with now,” he says. “We have talking computers and calipers.”

In addition to working with assistive technology in the machine shop, Quincy is taking classes in the Lighthouse Computer Training Program (CTP). “I’m learning keyboarding right now. I’m learning slowly, but surely,” he says. In the many years he has been here, Quincy has made lasting friendships through the Lighthouse and the Northwest blind community. “I love my friends. I’ve met so many good people here. I get along with people so well because I’ve really grown over the years. The people here really keep me going,” he says. “I also belong to the South King County Chapter of United Blind of Washington. That keeps me going too. They put me on plenty of committees.”

Quincy Daniels in the Lighthouse’s Fragrant Garden - today

Quincy is known for his beautiful singing voice. He has been singing since age 6. Today he is part of a gospel quartet that has toured throughout the United States. “I always wanted to be in the choir. I didn’t get that chance until I moved to Seattle,” he remembers. “Someone heard me singing in the hall and asked me to join the choir. I learned my first song at the first practice.” Quincy’s quartet, “Brothers in Christ,” is currently planning a reunion. “I want to go on tour again,” he says. “I’ve been to Ohio, Chicago, and California. I did a lot of touring here and there.”

One of Quincy’s favorite trips was to Atlanta, Georgia where he visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. museum. “I saw the house he grew up in,” he says. “I want to take my goddaughters there when they get older.”

After seeing many changes at the Lighthouse through the years, Quincy is optimistic about our future. “With [President] Kirk Adams, we have someone who can take us to a new level in this new century.” For young blind people starting out, Quincy encourages them to “get all the experience you can. Keep focused and things will come your way. Things will happen for you, you just have to let them come to you.”

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