Thomas Linn ~ Blind But Now He Sees: Housing Brings Stability, Surgery Brings Back Sight

Thomas Linn wasn’t down in the mouth this summer just because he was recovering from surgery.

“With Fraz’s teasing me and bringing me up, I couldn’t feel sorry for myself,” he says, referring to Fraz Betts, the owner of Quality Adult Care Facility, where he lives. “She was so nice to me. Fraz is so special.”

Blind in his right eye for decades, Mr. Linn had a cornea transplant to the left eye in April of this year. The same surgery in 2005 had failed, leaving him with ongoing pressure problems in that eye.

“It was total blindness,” said Mr. Linn, 63. “I could see, then I couldn’t. Then I could. Then I couldn’t.”

Getting rid of glaucoma took time, but he handled it with patience and grace, Ms. Betts said.

“Through the blindness, he was always funny. I’d go up and give him his eye drops, and we’d end up laughing.”

He has lived at the Quality home since it opened 11 years ago and loves it.

“I haven’t felt this well at home since I left Berdan and Douglas—my mom’s house where I grew up. It’s my home away from home.”

Mr. Linn, who lives with schizophrenia, has reduced the dosage on his medication by half since moving there, Ms. Betts said.

He enjoys eating out at the Spaghetti Warehouse and Bob Evans, and he loves watching the Price is Right and following sports on TV.

“I’ve been a fan of Detroit for years. Go Tigers, yeah!”

Before his tenure with Quality, he was at Groth Project before it closed. Prior to that, he was in the Cherry Street Mission for about a year in the 1980’s. That was after a divorce and job loss left him without money or shelter. With 10 years in he lost his job with the City of Toledo Water Treatment Plant after breaking an ankle and needing extended time off.

“I was Art Carney,” he says with a smile, referring to TV character Ed Norton of The Honeymooners, who held a similar job. Norton was played by Carney in the 1950’s. Today, Mr. Linn receives a pension through PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) because of his work at the plant, and he supports the Mission with his money.

“He’s just a kind person, and he believes in God,” Ms. Betts said.

Mr. Linn thanks God for Fraz Betts and his current home.

“I believe the Lord brought me here to this group home,” he said. “Fraz has a calling, and she’s followed it really wisely.”