Fulfilling a dream: ETSU alumnus, storyteller holds book signing

ETSU alumnus Kenny Tedford Jr., almost completely deaf in both ears, legally blind in one eye and born with brain damage, began telling stories at the age of 7 – and it all started with a magic crayon.

As a special education student, Tedford’s mother took him to a psychiatrist where he was asked to bring in drawings. His first story formed from a specific drawing of a butterfly he drew using a box of 24 colored crayons his teacher gave him. This story brought his psychiatrist to tears.

The now author and master storyteller said if his teacher had not given him the crayons, he would not have told his first story.

“The power of one – one person – can make a change in everybody’s life,” Tedford said.

For Tedford, that one person was his teacher, and his love for storytelling changed the course of his life.

Despite being told by many people he would never finish the third grade, Tedford has proved them wrong through accomplishments including earning his master’s degree in storytelling from ETSU, being appointed as a Red Cross Ambassador for the U.S. and now being a published author.

Tedford said having his own book has been a dream of his for 30 years. At 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Johnson City, Tedford held a book signing for his book “Four Days with Kenny Tedford,” which was published in November 2019, allowing him to see his dream come to life.

The book is co-authored by business storyteller, motivational speaker and author of the #1 Amazon bestseller “Lead with a Story,” Paul Smith. Smith met Tedford in 2012 at the National Storytelling Conference in Covington, Kentucky. After hearing Tedford tell a story about his battle with cancer during the conference, Smith was surprised to find out Tedford did not have a book.

Smith reached out to Tedford through a Skype call within a year after the conference. After hearing more of Tedford’s stories, Smith decided he wanted to help him write his book.

In 2013, Tedford traveled to Smith’s home in Ohio to start working on the book. Over the course of four days, Tedford told Smith many of his stories, resulting in the book’s title “Four Days with Kenny Tedford”.

“I went, and sure enough, [told stories] from 8 [a.m.] to almost 6 at night,” Tedford said. “I was just in the backyard. It was in the summertime. It was unbelievable how much I thought I had in me, but one [story] connected to the next.”

The book consists of stories from Tedford’s life, with a recurring theme throughout – adversity. In his lifetime, Tedford has fallen off a cliff twice, broke his neck, was paralyzed, had open-heart surgery, suffered a stroke and survived cancer. The main idea Tedford wants readers to take away from his book is inspiration and to know it is possible to face adversity just as he has in his life.

“To feel, no matter what they’re going through – struggles, adversity – whatever they’re struggling with, I want them to know it isn’t the end,” Tedford said. “Focus and hopefully they’ll walk away inspired – feel loved – knowing they are unique no matter what anybody says.”

Tedford called having a book signing in Johnson City – in his own hometown – a blessing. Some of his friends, including other storytellers, as well as some of Tedford’s former students came to support him.

“It’s really a blessing to be here,” Tedford said. “They’re like family. All my students are coming today.”

In fall of 2019, Tedford taught an Intro to Deaf Culture class at ETSU. To support their former professor, several of his students came to the signing. These students were in class with Tedford when the book was published in November, and ETSU senior Ryan Toth said they saw how excited Tedford got about it toward the end of the semester.

“I feel like every student in the class just grew to love him like a friend more than a teacher,” Toth said. “So now, getting to celebrate this with him; something that which we learned he was told he would never be able to do, and now he’s doing it. And so, it’s just really good to be able to celebrate that with him.”

Although he wanted to, Tedford is not teaching at ETSU this semester because he could not work full-time. Him not being a professor anymore, however, did not stop his former students from attending the signing. One of his students, ETSU senior Kristen Bennett, said she saw at least eight of her fellow classmates at the signing within the first hour.

“I think it’s a testament to just how wonderful of a person he is, and just how wonderful of a professor he is,” Bennett said. “Even though he doesn’t teach at ETSU anymore, we still want to follow and support him because he just made that much of an impact on all of us.”

Just as his teacher impacted him by giving him those magic crayons, Tedford has impacted his students, and he hopes, through his book, his stories can impact people as well.

To learn more about Tedford and his story, visit www.kennytedford.com/ , or to order his book, visit https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/four-days-with-kenny-tedford-paul-smith/1130973934?ean=9781941887028#/