Moran was a skilled interpreter

Deaf and hard-of-hearing Minnesotans remember Kathy Moran for her work as an advocate as well as a skilled interpreter. Moran was honored in January at a Minneapolis memorial service. She died weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. “She wanted to make sure that deaf folks could participate in life as fully and as equally as possible,” Mark Alan English, partowner of Middle English Interpreting in Minneapolis, told the Star Tribune. “The deaf community adored her. … She danced to her own drum, and everyone knew her. She was part of their community.”

Moran had worked for the Ebenezer Society for 32 years, and developed the Minneapolis social services agency’s deaf services program. A New Rochelle, N.Y. native, Moran came to Minnesota to attend Carleton College, where she played field hockey, softball and basketball.

Family members said she loved language, words and puzzles. She spoke Spanish, some Russian and a bit of French.

For those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, Moran was someone highly regarded. She was a “master facilitator of communication,” said Liz Brown, a longtime friend and a specialist in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services division in the Minnesota Department of Human Services. “She wanted the people she served to have equal access to everything that was available to everybody else,” Brown said. “She was a force to be reckoned with.”

Moran is survived by her mother, brothers and many other relatives.

 

Glommen led ARC, Foster Grandparents

Harvey Hamilton Glommen did many things to help society’s most vulnerable members. His long career included a stint in the late 1960s as executive director of ARC and work to deinstitutionalize people with developmental disabilities and move them into community-based programs.

Glommen, 88, of Blaine, died in January at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis.

Glommen began his career in the 1960s as a social worker. He developed innovative and lifesaving programs for seniors, including a meal delivery plan that in part prompted the federal government to invest in Meals on Wheels. He advocated for orphans in promoting interracial adoptions. He spoke for people with developmental disabilities in an era when their dignity was not always respected.

His influence stretched from Minnesota to Washington, D.C., where he worked in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare during President Lyndon Johnson’s administration in the 1960s. He led Johnson’s Foster Grandparents program. The program paid seniors to work with needy children with developmental disabilities and long-term health issues.

Glommen was born in Michigan. He served in the U.S. Army and then graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead with the help of the G.I. Bill. He later earned a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

For 20 years, Glommen and his wife Ina were foster parents for adults with mental health issues. His life’s work was influenced by his strong faith. He is survived by his wife, a son, three daughters, six grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Services have been held.