In Memoriam, Eric Sollee 1926-2008
For most of the last 40 years, Eric Sollee was an important part of the success of The Carroll Center for the Blind. Eric taught Fencing to blind clients in rehabilitation training at The Carroll Center. Fencing? For blind persons? Yes. It’s one of many unique features at the Carroll Center, while Eric, himself, was another of those unique features.
Fencing was initiated as a training tool in the 1940’s by Fr. Tom Carroll and Larry Dargie in the rehabilitation of blinded veteran’s of WWII. It was designed as a corollary to orientation and mobility training and the use of the long cane for safe travel. Fr. Carroll and Larry then brought that successful concept to the Carroll Center (formerly known as the St Paul’s Rehabilitation Program) in 1954.
Eric first came to The Carroll Center staff in 1968 to help his good friend Larry Dargie. Eric, an all American collegiate fencer at Harvard, and later a renown Fencing coach at MIT and Harvard, was challenged by Larry to fence with his blind students. Eric, wearing a blindfold, lost all three bouts to the blind students and was greatly intrigued by their ability and the value of Fencing to the rehabilitation training of persons who are blind.
Eric succeeded Larry Dargie as Fencing Instructor in 1972 and also joined the Carroll Center staff as the Shop Instructor. Eric became the second and longest serving Fencing instructor and in many ways Eric rewrote the book on the impact and value of fencing to blind persons. He brought much more than fencing to those he taught. His commanding voice, dynamic personality, and expertise in modifying fencing for therapeutic purposes were wonderfully balanced with his genuine interest and help with each client at CCB to make the personal adjustment to blindness. Fencing was the tool and Eric was the conduit for success with each of the clients he reached over the many years.
Those who knew Eric will never forget him and never forget the very positive effect on the many clients and many staff members that he touched over the years.
Eric Sollee will be sadly missed by clients, staff and graduates and always remembered for his tremendous impact on the lives of persons who are blind at the Carroll Center.
Please feel free to leave messages for Eric’s family using our comment form below. If you are a former student of Eric, you are welcome to post a message, or tell a personal story.
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July 14th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Eric was a wonderful man, he will be greatly missed.
July 16th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I graduated from the Independent Living Program in spring 2007. This was a time when Eric was slowly easing out of the wood working and fencing programs. After somebody told me he was over 80, I was amazed. He seemed like a young 60, with more energy and life in him than most people half his age.
I admit that I was not his most stellar fencing student. I thoroughly enjoyed the fencing classes, but I will always remember his pleadings to move “more to the left! More to the left!” I could never exactly find my opponent.
Yet Eric taught me something much much more important than how to fence or improve My mobility skills by flicking around that skinny little sword. Fencing class was my very first exposure to the whole notion that blind people could derive joy from activities that sighted people assumed we had no business enjoying.
Since leaving the Carroll Center, I have taken up sailing in the great outdoor enrichment program in Boston Harbor. I have gone skiing, rock climbing and regularly visit the Museum of Fine Arts where I love “seeing” paintings as much as or more than I did when I could see in the conventional sense of the word. I will continue many of these activities for as long as my legs can carry me to them. I may never do fencing again. But I will always be grateful to the person who first introduced me to the strange and wonderful idea that you don’t need eyes to enjoy such supposedly “visual” activities. It’s been a critical factor in rebuilding my life and restoring my happiness.
I don’t know very many of the hundreds, or even thousands, of visually impaired people who Eric touched over the years. But I know enough of them to know that my experience with Eric is not an isolated one and that many people who had the good fortune to be taught by him possess fond memories and will miss him a great deal.
Thank you Eric and one last Touche!
July 16th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Eric was a fantastic human being.He taught us that we are always able to learn something. He loved life and enjoyed it.He was full of life and we will always remember him as the talented person that he was.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:30 am
I was a student on the MIT Team, during Eric’s last year as head coach. He was always optimistic and encouraging, and you could hear his bellowing voice from down the hall even before you got into the room. He was a pillar of the New England fencing community, and is missed.