Vivian Stancil of Sun City doesn’t let her blindness hold her back. Valley News/Courtesy photo
At the age of 10, Vivian Stancil said she knew there was something wrong with her vision but it took years for her to be properly diagnosed. By the time she was a teenager, she was deemed legally blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease. Yet at 19 years old, she traveled to South Africa to do missionary work, and she has continued to reach for and accomplish goals she has set for herself ever since.After receiving her missionary training at Zoe Christian Fellowship of Whittier, she spent six years abroad. Upon her return, she went to college and in 1981 became California’s first blind teacher, working at Long Beach and Riverside area schools.About 20 years ago, Stancil said she needed help when she reached 320 pounds after retirement and was told by her
