SADI's Gudermuth 'larger than life' to those close to her

MaryAnn "Miki" Gudermuth, founder and original executive director of SEMO Alliance for Disability Independence (SADI), is being remembered by those who worked with her closely following her Sept. 6 death at age 74.

"She was larger than life and had a drive and a passion to make things better for people with disabilities because (Miki) lived that life," said Donna Thompson, who has headed SADI since Gudermuth's 2019 retirement.

Diagnosed with polio at 9 months, Gudermuth spent the majority of her early years in a Shriners Hospital where she had multiple surgeries on her hips, legs and feet.

"I didn't think about the hardships somebody in a wheelchair faces until I traveled with Miki. You have to find the curb cuts. A lot of times those cuts are at the other end of the sidewalk. You have to get through doorways, get into bathrooms and down aisles. In a store, doing that can be almost impossible," Thompson said.

Gudermuth, in an interview for the 2020 Difference Makers edition of B Magazine, said she had her eyes opened to the larger world of disability after starting a polio support group in Cape Girardeau.

"I had a lot of different people coming to me who had a variety of disabilities, some were spinal cord injuries, some had multiple sclerosis or cerebral palsy or encephalitis, which kind of mimics polio. So I evolved out of a polio support group into something disability-related. You need support. You need to know what you're feeling is OK. Later, people started to say, 'I'm having trouble getting into the store or trying to find transportation.' Transportation was a really big problem for us as was employment of people with disabilities. Accessibility of housing, too," Gudermuth said.

Gudermuth founded SADI in 1993 and the organization is planning a 30th anniversary celebration at noon Friday, Sept. 29.

Rachel Stone is SADI's quality assurance specialist and has worked for the not-for-profit for eight years.

"(Miki) was a firecracker and the world is a little dimmer without her. I always think of how much passion Miki had for helping people. She believed everyone had the right to live their life to the fullest," Stone said.

Walking the walk

Gudermuth put a policy in effect for SADI's board of directors and staff to ensure the organization was fully in touch with the people SADI served in Cape Girardeau and out of its branch office in Charleston, Missouri.

"An independent living center was created and it had to be run in the beginning by somebody who had a disability. Fifty-one percent of those on the (SADI) board had to have a disability as well as the staff (and) that's how we could mentor people and so people could relate to us. Over the years, I guess we've seen over 12,000 people," Gudermuth told B Magazine.

Arts

According to her formal obituary, Gudermuth began drawing and painting as a young child, teaching herself to paint as a way to pass long days spent in the hospital. By the time she was an adult, Miki excelled in the art world and won numerous awards for her paintings and drawings. She taught art classes at a community college in Tennessee, where she lived at the time. She also opened a business, Pawtraits by Miki. These pet portraits were in high demand, keeping her busy shipping paintings all over the world.

Personal

Gudermuth was married for 41 years to Chuck Gudermuth, who preceded her in death in 2021. A celebration of Gudermuth's life will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, in the Community Room at SADI. Memorial contributions may be given to SADI and gifts may be made online at www.fordandlileyfuneralhome.com.

About SADI

SADI is grant funded through Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Vocational Rehabilitation) to provide independent living services in the five counties of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Perry, Scott and Mississippi.

Miki's last word

"When I first started our polio support group, I would never have dreamed how much we would impact our community and the people we serve. One of my favorite movies is 'Wizard of Oz', and to coin a phrase from the movie on the services (SADI) provides, 'There's no place like home'".