Adm. Jerome Smith was never able to bring his wife, who uses a wheelchair, to events at the Naval Academy's alumni house. Jill Smith couldn't get up the stairs at the historic mansion, known as Ogle Hall. Even if she could, her chair wouldn't fit through doorways.
But with $2 million in improvements unveiled yesterday at the headquarters of the Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation, she will be able to be at his side at reunions there.
It was "impossible for her to get around in the old place," said Smith, who lives just outside Annapolis. "We're really pleased that she now has access to the facility and she can join events there."
The addition to the 269-year-old building includes an elevator and handicapped-accessible bathrooms in the basement and first and second floors, putting the structure that played host to George Washington in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It hosts about 100 events each year, the most popular being wedding receptions.
"It's been a labor of love a long time coming," said Tim Kobosko, vice president of information services for the 50,000-member association and chief executive of the project. "It just became obvious to us as our alumni who are older were having trouble getting access to the building. Of course, guys coming back from the war who were handicapped in some way were also having trouble. ... That really galvanized our president."
The building predates the federal act, so the improvements weren't required, but George P. Watt Jr., president and CEO of the association, said four defining moments spurred the association to action.
First, an alumnus had to carry his disabled adult daughter into her sister's wedding reception because all entrances had stairs. She was also unable to enter the bathroom, which forced her back to her house to use one. Second, an elderly graduate's wife fell on the steps leading out of the building because there were no handrails. Third, during a celebration of 30 years of women in the Navy, a woman who brought her children in strollers couldn't get them into the house without help. Finally, an employee at the association had a stroke, and once she returned to work, she had no way of getting up the stairs to her office.
"To heck to the fact that we were exempt from the law," Watt said.
In addition, the association had seen great surpluses in the past few years. The foundation brought in $34 million last fiscal year.
