C. Warren Bledsoe ’34

Warren, who was born and raised on the campus of Maryland School for the Blind, where his father was superintendent, and who spent his life working for the blind, notably as co-inventor of the long-cane technique that gave the blind increased mobility and independence, died Feb. 27, 2005, at his Columbia [Md.] home. He was 92.

After World War II, when he was assigned to a unit at Valley Forge Army Hospital to work with men and women who had lost their vision, Warren helped develop the cane technique, which is still in use around the world and helps the blind detect obstacles as well as stairs and changes in ground level. In 1958 he joined the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, where he established and directed orientation and mobility training programs for the blind.

"The best reward I have had for my public action," he once wrote, "was the establishment of an award by the American Association of Workers for the Blind, called the Warren Bledsoe Award for 'tracing the movement of human thought with respect to blindness.'"

Warren's wife of 53 years, Anne, died Feb. 6, 2005. He is survived by two daughters, Hester Butterfield and Virginia Bledsoe, and three grandchildren.

The Class of 1934