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Audio Pics Franz Stevens is blind. When he met his wife Maggie they decided to keep tapes - a sort of audio photograph album of their life together. As he told Adam Fowler, when Maggie died earlier this year, his tape recordings took on an added poignancy...  Franz Stevens with his wife Maggie at their piano |
Franz Steven’s wife Maggie was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and took a whole cupboard full of photographs of their life together. But because Franz is blind he could never enjoy them.
Instead Maggie encouraged Franz to keep an audio photograph album - brief snapshots of sound recorded on a tape recorder and collected to remind him of incidents, people and places in much the same way that others might stick photos in an album.
But his mementoes of Maggie stretch to other forms of memories in sound. Franz is a pianist and piano-teacher and has composed a piece of music for himself and Maggie.
Maggie was a Christian and Franz didn’t know that she was the right person for him even though he respected his beliefs. The romance blossomed when he invited her round to water his plants and it developed into a game of scrabble in Braille and then a date at a restaurant.
By Christmas 1990 they decided to get married. But by Easter, he noticed that Maggie was beginning to do strange things. She would stare at a pattern in the wallpaper and be fascinated by it. This is a recognised state of psychotic epilepsy.
Soon after this, Maggie was rushed to hospital and ended up in a coma. Miraculously, Maggie came out of a coma before their wedding day. His audio photographs include their wedding ceremony and other intimate moments together.
Franz and Maggie found that they complemented each other. Franz is agoraphobic and Maggie would walk down to the shops behind him. She would say, 'If you need me, put your hand up in the air and I'll come and get you immediately.' It was as a result of Maggie's love and support that Franz no longer experiences panic attacks.
Maggie's seizures stopped and they had a period in their marriage which recalls as 'a beautiful, peaceful gift from God'. But just before Christmas last year, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and told she had four months to live.
Now Maggie is dead, Franz finds it very difficult to listen to the tapes, but he says, he is so glad he has them because they have helped him through the loss of his wife.
MORE INFORMATION:
If you would like to find out more about epilepsy, the following organisations offer advice and support:
National Epilepsy Society
Epilepsy Action
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