Special Olympics Champ Shares Memories

By Michelle Mann, The Southern Star

Jeanie McClendon’s met her “first-best-friend” on her first day attending the Vivian B. Adams School. On that August day, Amy Outlaw showed her around the campus, McClendon remembered with a smile. “It was Aug. 25, 1980,” she said.

McClendon is among those celebrating the school’s 40th anniversary Sept. 18. She’ll be singing in the alto section of the school choir during the open house which begins at 2 p.m. “We’re singing ‘Music From The Heart,” she said.

McClendon is a self-described “huge” Auburn fan. “All my family graduated from Auburn.” She is also an avid dominos player.
She also has the distinction of being one of two of the first from Adams School to compete in the National Special Olympics. Last year, McClendon and Juanita Santoes in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Both competed in the 50-meter run and softball throw part of the track and field event. McClendon earned a silver medal and two bronze medals. “I can tell you who my favorite coach is,” she said. “It’s Clarissia Bighems.”

Bighems smiles hearing that. “Jeanie is the sweetest person I know,” she said. “She always goes that extra mile, above and beyond anything that is asked of her.”

It’s that same “extra mile” that the staff at the Easter Seals Camp ASCCA appreciates. The camp is Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, a nationally recognized leader in therapeutic recreation for children and adults with both physical and mental disabilities.

Located on Lake Martin, Camp ASCCA offers a wide variety of recreational and educational activities to include horseback riding, fishing, tubing, swimming, environmental education, arts and crafts, canoeing, a “splash pad” and outdoor adventure elements like the zip-line.

An entry on the Camp ASCCA’s Internet Facebook Page describes McClendon as “always smiling and always ready to have a good time.”

“Everyone who has worked at Camp ASCCA in the past was looking forward to seeing Jeanie McClendon again this year,” the counselor wrote. “Jeanie is so well known amongst the Camp ASCCA staff because of her personality.”

“Jeanie is always smiling and always ready to have a good time wherever she is,” the counselor added. “She has made friendships with staff members and campers that have spanned decades.”