Tom Walz may be the tireless force behind Iowa City's alternative cultural experience, Uptown Bill's Small Mall, but the work of the mall is the legacy of an amazing mentally retarded man, Bill Sachter. Because of his experience with Bill, Tom found his life's work, helping people with disabilities own and run their own businesses.
Tom's life has been fruitful and full of service, inspired by the Catholic teachings of his childhood. He was a Peace Corps director in Central America, taught social work at the university, and is a Gandhi scholar. But it is no exaggeration to say that his friendship with Bill Sachter changed the lives of Tom and many others. Bill entered the "Faribault Institution for Epileptics and Idiots" at the age of seven and spent 45 years there, being released in the mid-1960's. He so inspired the admiration of those around him that his life became the subject of two award winning movies - both Golden Globe and Emmy's - as well as a book by Tom, "The Unlikely Celebrity".
Tom's "retirement" at age 74 includes weeks of 70+ hours of his labor of love with the Extend A Dream foundation.
You can visit the Small Mall at 401 S. Gilbert Street in Iowa City, Iowa, and you can also email Tom Walz.
Music featured on this program includes:
You Have Lived - Don McLean
A Simple Man - Lobo
What You Do With What You've Got - Taggart & Wright
Bigger, Bigger, Bigger - Carol Johnson
No Mas! - John McCutcheon
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