Paul Flynn, eldest of nine children of a South Baltimore rowhouse family, had tapped a white cane through a remarkable obstacle course of a life. Playground accidents in childhood had impaired his vision; he missed two years of education because of it, but caught up on his studies at the Maryland School for the Blind and at City College. He became fully blind in his early 20s but managed to obtain an undergraduate degree from Loyola and a master's from Johns Hopkins. For a time he worked as a door-to-door salesman.
He was determined to be self-supporting, but Flynn's desire to be a teacher was met with prejudice and repeated rejection. The public schools wouldn't even interview him. "I spent a lot of time vegetating and reading books during that period," he once told a Sun interviewer.
In the early 1960s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore gave Paul Flynn a chance, hiring him to teach English and literature at a new high school called Archbishop Curley.
With the help of his wife, who typed exams that Flynn composed in Braille, classroom monitors, and students who served as timers, blackboard writers and "hand recognizers," Paul Flynn managed to hold the job for 21 years, teaching students he could not see the epics of Homer and the plays of Shakespeare.
He lost the job in a 1983 staff reduction, but blamed his layoff on discrimination and based his case on a series of disparaging remarks about his blindness by the school's new principal. Among comments Flynn attributed to the principal, a Catholic priest, was his observation that Flynn could not make "eye contact" with students.
Paul Flynn moved on, and he found an open door that two decades earlier had been locked - at a public high school. He taught at the city's Mergenthaler Vocational for the next 10 years.
Beloved husband of Joan Flynn (nee Davis); brother of John, Thomas, Michael Flynn, Sr. Sheila Marie Flynn and Robert Flynn and the late Daniel and Patrick Flynn and Joann Whelan. He is also survived by nieces and nephews
He was determined to be self-supporting, but Flynn's desire to be a teacher was met with prejudice and repeated rejection. The public schools wouldn't even interview him. "I spent a lot of time vegetating and reading books during that period," he once told a Sun interviewer.
In the early 1960s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore gave Paul Flynn a chance, hiring him to teach English and literature at a new high school called Archbishop Curley.
With the help of his wife, who typed exams that Flynn composed in Braille, classroom monitors, and students who served as timers, blackboard writers and "hand recognizers," Paul Flynn managed to hold the job for 21 years, teaching students he could not see the epics of Homer and the plays of Shakespeare.
He lost the job in a 1983 staff reduction, but blamed his layoff on discrimination and based his case on a series of disparaging remarks about his blindness by the school's new principal. Among comments Flynn attributed to the principal, a Catholic priest, was his observation that Flynn could not make "eye contact" with students.
Paul Flynn moved on, and he found an open door that two decades earlier had been locked - at a public high school. He taught at the city's Mergenthaler Vocational for the next 10 years.
Beloved husband of Joan Flynn (nee Davis); brother of John, Thomas, Michael Flynn, Sr. Sheila Marie Flynn and Robert Flynn and the late Daniel and Patrick Flynn and Joann Whelan. He is also survived by nieces and nephews
Paul Flynn, eldest of nine children of a South Baltimore rowhouse family, had tapped a white cane through a remarkable obstacle course of a life. Playground accidents in childhood had impaired his vision; he missed two years of education because of it, but caught up on his studies at the Maryland School for the Blind and at City College. He became fully blind in his early 20s but managed to obtain an undergraduate degree from Loyola and a master's from Johns Hopkins. For a time he worked as a door-to-door salesman.
He was determined to be self-supporting, but Flynn's desire to be a teacher was met with prejudice and repeated rejection. The public schools wouldn't even interview him. "I spent a lot of time vegetating and reading books during that period," he once told a Sun interviewer.
In the early 1960s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore gave Paul Flynn a chance, hiring him to teach English and literature at a new high school called Archbishop Curley.
With the help of his wife, who typed exams that Flynn composed in Braille, classroom monitors, and students who served as timers, blackboard writers and "hand recognizers," Paul Flynn managed to hold the job for 21 years, teaching students he could not see the epics of Homer and the plays of Shakespeare.
He lost the job in a 1983 staff reduction, but blamed his layoff on discrimination and based his case on a series of disparaging remarks about his blindness by the school's new principal. Among comments Flynn attributed to the principal, a Catholic priest, was his observation that Flynn could not make "eye contact" with students.
Paul Flynn moved on, and he found an open door that two decades earlier had been locked - at a public high school. He taught at the city's Mergenthaler Vocational for the next 10 years.
Beloved husband of Joan Flynn (nee Davis); brother of John, Thomas, Michael Flynn, Sr. Sheila Marie Flynn and Robert Flynn and the late Daniel and Patrick Flynn and Joann Whelan. He is also survived by nieces and nephews
He was determined to be self-supporting, but Flynn's desire to be a teacher was met with prejudice and repeated rejection. The public schools wouldn't even interview him. "I spent a lot of time vegetating and reading books during that period," he once told a Sun interviewer.
In the early 1960s, the Archdiocese of Baltimore gave Paul Flynn a chance, hiring him to teach English and literature at a new high school called Archbishop Curley.
With the help of his wife, who typed exams that Flynn composed in Braille, classroom monitors, and students who served as timers, blackboard writers and "hand recognizers," Paul Flynn managed to hold the job for 21 years, teaching students he could not see the epics of Homer and the plays of Shakespeare.
He lost the job in a 1983 staff reduction, but blamed his layoff on discrimination and based his case on a series of disparaging remarks about his blindness by the school's new principal. Among comments Flynn attributed to the principal, a Catholic priest, was his observation that Flynn could not make "eye contact" with students.
Paul Flynn moved on, and he found an open door that two decades earlier had been locked - at a public high school. He taught at the city's Mergenthaler Vocational for the next 10 years.
Beloved husband of Joan Flynn (nee Davis); brother of John, Thomas, Michael Flynn, Sr. Sheila Marie Flynn and Robert Flynn and the late Daniel and Patrick Flynn and Joann Whelan. He is also survived by nieces and nephews
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
