Terry Hayes Sales, who recorded more than 900 books for blind, dies at 94 By Paula Burba . [email protected] . November 29, 2010
a.. Comments (2) a.. Recommend (1) a.. Print this page a.. E-mail this article a.. Share a.. Del.icio.us a.. Facebook a.. Digg a.. Reddit a.. Newsvine a.. a.. Twitter a.. FarkIt a.. a.. Type Size A A A Next Pagea.. 1 b.. | 2Previous PageTerry Hayes Sales, a singer and actress who had recorded more than 900 books for the American Printing House for the Blind, died on Monday at a nursing home in Rowley, Mass. She was 94. Sales moved to Massachusetts from Louisville in August 2009 to be near her son, Michael Sales, who said she died of Alzheimer's disease. In December 1988, Sales was inducted into the American Foundation for the Blind's Talking Book Hall of Fame, one of two living charter members cited for significant achievement in the narration of talking books. Sales had "this remarkable ability to tell a story," according to Steve Mullins, studio director for the American Printing House for the Blind, where Sales did her recordings. "She was very charming." With thousands of books recorded, all of them staying in circulation for many years, narrators developed followers, Mullins said. "People, in some ways, grew up with her," he said. Among her work are three narrations of "Little Women," as well as most of the Nancy Drew books. The recordings were produced for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, a division of the Library of Congress, which honored Sales in 1998 for her dedicated service of more than 60 years as a narrator. Sales likely was the narrator longest affiliated with the American Printing House for the Blind, Mullins said. She began narrating in 1938, just one year after the printing house released its first talking book, "Gulliver's Travels." In 2006, though she was no longer a regularly scheduled narrator at the printing house, Sales participated in the 75th anniversary celebration and marathon recording session of that book with 44 other narrators. Mullins said he was almost certain Sales was the only person to have made the transition from the earliest recordings made on wax through the era of tape and into the current digital age, recording on all mediums. Sales was a high school sophomore when she landed her first professional gig as a staff singer on WBBM radio in her hometown of Chicago. She met Louisville native Stuart Sales while he was a student at the University of Illinois, their son said, and they married in Chicago when she was 19. (2 of 2) While her husband later served in the Navy, she did a talk show on WGN in Chicago as well as commercials and serial acting before the couple returned to Louisville. In Louisville, she continued to sing on radio for both WAVE and WHAS. According to her son, she inherited the show Dale Evans did at WHAS after Evans left. She also appeared in some ensemble television casts, and was involved in numerous local theater projects. When she heard about the talking books at the American Printing House for the Blind, her son said she considered it an acting opportunity. Sales also funded the launch of Audio Description at The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in 1991 in memory of her husband, who died in 1987. The program provides narrators who broadcast live descriptions of the action onstage to audience members during performances. She also was the voice on the center's 10th anniversary "Tour on Tape," and co-wrote that script. A graveside service is planned for 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday at The Temple cemetery. A memorial service will be held sometime next year, her son said. Herman Meyer & Son funeral home is handling arrangements. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BETTER PERSONALITY GROUP" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/better_personality?hl=en.
