... don't take life too seriously.
Ethel Madison
Ethel Madison knows how to have a good time.
The retired director for the Evert Connor Center for Independent Living spent years trying to make life easier for those with disabilities. It taught her to enjoy what she has.
"My motto is that people should not take things too seriously," Madison said. "Considering with people with disabilities, people that seem to have so many barriers, you look at the things that you have and compare it with people that don't have those things.
"You've got so much, but there are so many people still struggling for the basics . housing, transportation, goods and services. All the things you whine and complain about are not that big."
Madison was born and raised in the South and grew up with great music and great food. Her and her husband, retired University of Iowa math professor Eugene Madison, moved to Iowa City in the mid-1960s. They ran a local nightclub, the Boulevard Room, from 1973 to 1983 before Ethel joined the Evert Connor center.
When the director left, she moved in to secure funding to expand the program to involve community outreach and education, and to serve as an advocate for the rights of the disabled.
"I thought that was the coolest thing that I'd ever heard of, to start a program like that," Madison said. "In 1994, we got federal funds and I worked with the board to become an independent living center. It allowed many more programs."
"When you live as long as I have, you find there are a lot of things more serious and need a lot more attention than to be self absorbed," she said. "You need to broaden your experiences."
Since retiring in 2002, Madison has done a lot of traveling.
— Jon Klinkowitz
