To David T. Turner, a walk down the street is an exciting adventure of discovery. Every street sign, every advertisement suddenly has meaning. Like a small child just learning how to read, he is amazed to find recognizable words in what seemed before just a bewildering arrangement of letters. But unlike a child, David is 72-years-old and a father of five children.

David was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana. He did not attend school as a young child. His first regular school attendance was at age 12 when he was put in the sixth grade because of his age. He left school for good a year later in the seventh grade when he could no longer tolerate the other children making fun and teasing him because he could not read or write. After his parents died, he moved in with one of his sisters.

"I was just a kid living with my sister, and my sister had her own family to take care of. I didn't want to be a burden to anyone. So I got a job to support myself and to help out my sister as well," said David.

From then on, it seemed as though there were other priorities that interrupted his attempt to learn how to read and write.

"I got married at 21 and started a family right away. I spent a good deal of time with them on my off days rather than spending the whole day at home relaxing and trying to read," said David.

As one part of four sets of twins in a family with 22 children, David knew the value of spending time with his family. He embraced his role as a father with energy - not only as a father to his own children, but to other children in his neighborhood as well.

"I wanted to show them that I was there for them at all times," said David. "So many parents don't spend enough time with their kids and the kids ended up raising themselves. So I had all the kids in the neighborhood with me and I would load them up on the back of my pickup truck and we would take off and go to the park. The kids need someone to do things with them, show them love, and to explain things to them. That's what I tried to do with my kids. Just give them a focus in the right direction."

David said that he didn't learn to read and write as an adult because it seemed as if he was always working two to three jobs to support his family.

"The jobs that I did didn't require a lot of reading. Half the people that I worked with didn't know that I had that difficulty." He added that his ability to express himself very well verbally helped him hide his lack of reading skills.

But David was still determined to improve his literacy skills, and when he was not busy spending time with his kids, he would ask his wife to teach him how to read.

David said, "I told her I wanted to learn this so that I would be able to do simple things, like write a check. And I was doing really good at one time but all of a sudden I started getting involved in work and when I got back to trying to read and write again, I lost it all. I needed to take the time to constantly work on it so that it would come back to me."

It was not until he turned 71 that David realized he finally had the time to learn how to read and write. With his children grown and out of the house, he needed a way to keep in touch with them other than by telephone.

"I wanted to be able to read and write, and write my kids a letter, or my friends, or my brother... just communicate with them," said David. "I started calling the library and they told me about a program over at Santa Ana and they found a tutor for me."

That tutor is 95-year-old Antonio (Tone) Correa, an energetic man who has volunteered more than 1,400 hours as a tutor for READ/Orange County, the adult literacy services provided by the Orange County Public Library.

Tone has more volunteer hours than any of the other 289 tutors who currently are matched volunteers in the literacy program. He currently tutors two learners and he has requested a couple more because he really loves to tutor and finds it so rewarding.

"Tutoring has been my life," says Tone.

It is apparent that David and Tone regard each other as friends, and Tone would often proudly brag about David's accomplishments.

"He [David] came in to class one time and said to me, 'I was going along and I was reading the street signs'," says Tone. If he has difficulty reading them, he breaks them down into syllables and sounds them out phonetically. David is happy and proud that he can now drive along and actually read the signs he passes by.

While most people would be amazed that Tone at 95 drives himself around town, lives on his own, and still has the energy to help others, Tone credits it to his attitude towards life.

"I'm crazy," says Tone, "I tell people when they ask why are you this way when other people who are younger than you look older? I tell them, I never worry about anything. When you start worrying, then you get stressed."

Tone and David have been meeting twice a week to work on David's lessons for the past year and a half and intend to continue doing so.

Tone said, "He can read pretty well now because he's into it," and wants to get David started reading his first book.

David says he would be more than happy to try to read a book because he remembers a time in his life when he told himself, "I'm going to do it even if it takes me to 100 years old! I'm going to learn to read and write. Now I'm beginning to write my name, read a lot of things... and I feel good inside."

Volunteer tutors give motivated adults and families the special gift of literacy when they teach them to read. READ/Orange County is the free literacy services of the Orange County Public Library. They train volunteer tutors to teach adults and families to read, write, and speak English in small groups or one-to-one throughout Orange County.

Marcia Tungate, READ/OC Literacy Programs Administrator said, "It is the commitment of our wonderful tutors, like Tone, that makes our literacy program great."

READ/Orange County offers a comprehensive training program to adults who want to be a volunteer literacy tutor. No prior teaching experience is necessary and the only degree required is a degree of caring.

There are currently many potential learners who have made the life changing decision to improve their reading skills and are now patiently waiting for a volunteer tutor to teach them. You can make a difference in your community by becoming a volunteer tutor. Improving literacy skills causes ripples that change the lives of the entire family, the community, the world.

Get more information at the READ/Orange County website at www.readoc.org.

Please contact Marcia Tungate, Literacy Program Administrator, at 714-566-3070 if you want additional information about the READ/Orange County literacy program.

Ms. Kathrine Dela wrote the article with editing assistance by Bob West, the Outreach Coordinator for READ/OC. Ms. Dela is majoring in Communications at Cal State - Fullerton and is serving as a public relations intern at READ/Orange County.

READ/OC has signed photo and publishing releases on file.