Across the last nine decades countless individuals have shared the responsibility of managing every aspect of our organization. We often think of co-founders Dorothy Harrison Eustis and Morris Frank, chief instructor Jack Humphrey, or perhaps even Willi Ebeling, the first executive vice president.
One person we haven’t heard about in recent memory is John L. Weagley, Sr. Weagley first became involved with The Seeing Eye in 1946, not long after being discharged from military service in the aftermath of World War II. He and his wife, Marion, had the unique opportunity of living and raising their three sons and one daughter alongside the Seeing Eye puppies. Weagley was the geneticist and manager, and later director, at The Seeing Eye’s breeding station until his retirement in 1975.
At the time, The Seeing Eye headquarters was located in Whippany, with a breeding station and home for the Weagley family located on a 100-acre farm that was 15 miles away in Mendham. The Seeing Eye breeding program originally focused on German shepherds and Weagley’s responsibilities were centered around selecting breeding stock and managing the breeding and raising of dogs that would later be trained by Seeing Eye instructors. Weagley was charged with using his background in genetics to increase the ultimate success rate of the dogs born under his supervision.
His son, James, has fond memories of what it was like to grow up at The Seeing Eye and was happy to share them with us, “My brothers, sister and I had a fantastic childhood. Each child in our family has a name that begins with a “J”, starting with John, then Jeff, Jim and Joanne. At the Puppy Farm, it was customary for tracking purposes to use the same first letter for the name of each puppy in a litter. So, we became my mom and dad’s “J” litter!
As kids, we knew that some very important service was being provided at the place where we lived, but mostly we knew we had an ample supply of soft, furry, wagging-tail puppies waiting for us anytime we wanted to visit the kennels. Over the years several of our pets were selected from there. I am sure there are not many children who had a better childhood than we did. My parents and all of us children will always have fantastic memories of our time at the farm and a special place in our hearts for The Seeing Eye.”
James also recalls how Weagley and his family attended the 1964 World’s Fair that was held in Flushing Meadows in Queens, traveling back and forth on a daily basis with Seeing Eye puppies in tow for The Seeing Eye display. They were present for the filming of “Atta Girl, Kelly!” which was filmed by Walt Disney with help from The Seeing Eye staff.
