A woodworker’s journey

John Furniss and his wife, Anni Becker Furniss, live with their rescue dog, Pickle, in Washougal. John spends much of his time creating woodwork in their shed, and Anni is an artist with skills from photography to fiber art.

The couple’s shed is full of woodworking tools such as a table saw, band saw and lathe that John, 36, uses with proficiency, despite the fact that he is completely blind.

When John was 16, he attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head. The bullet did not end his life, but in a way allowed him to create a new one.

“I’m so different now that I may have been born when I became blind,” John says. “Really, I’m just a completely different person, and that’s a good thing.”

As a child, John did most of his growing up in Craig, Colorado.

“It’s just kind of a wide spot in the road,” he said. “There’s nothing much to it but ranching, coal and oil.”

John discovered his passion for woodwork in 2006 when he attended The Division of Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Utah, a school where people who are blind learn to live on their own and are given the option to take a woodshop class.

“I thought they were insane for the woodshop at first,” John says. “But I’ve always been interested in that kind of stuff, and it just flows naturally out of me. I just found my niche.”

John became close with Chris Hathaway, a retired woodshop teacher at the school, who invited John to work in his personal shop with him.

“We became really good friends and we’d just woodwork, hang out and have a good time about five days a week,” John said.

Hathaway quickly became a mentor to John, and in his shop is where John refined his skills by learning how to put trim on pieces and use contrast and exotic woods.

“He made sure I did it right and I finally, after a few years, came to terms with the whole sanding and finish work and just turned it into a meditation time,” John said. “Because if you keep your eyes on the end of the road, it just seems like forever.”

John is able to move around his own shop smoothly because of his keen spacial awareness.

“I always visualize everything,” he said. “That’s how I come up with my ideas for designs and everything. I’ve basically got a computer design program in my head. I can use whatever colors I want, whatever shape, anything.”

John made his way to the Pacific Northwest in February 2011 to attend the Emil Fries School of Piano Technology for the Blind, in Vancouver.

“The first time I came here it was for a three-day trial period to see if I got accepted to the school, and the moment I stepped off the plane it felt like my soul was home,” he said.

John says that he feels like he was made to live in this area.

Although the piano school closed last year, John and his wife Anni share their first memories with each other there.

It was at the school where the two first met. Anni was painting a piano in a workroom where John was also rebuilding a piano.

“I came in and immediately put my hand on the wet piano,” John says.

The two spent time getting to know each other at the school before Anni asked him on their first date.

Anni and John spent their first date at the Marshall Center in Vancouver, picking peas from a garden that John had grown.

“It was the most perfect first date ever,” Anni says. “We picked peas while the sun was setting, and I was sitting in the dirt barefoot and it was like my happy place.”

Three years later, Anni and John were married in the same place where they spent time picking peas.

Anni says John is always surprising her with his abilities, such as how he can mow the lawn, repair cars, brew beer and bake cookies and bread.

“He breaks the mold on pretty much everything.” Anni says. “John is the strongest person I’ve ever met, for all the stuff that he’s overcome and he’s just this gentle, sweet, kind person. From his background, it’s not something you’d imagine. If someone just heard his story they would probably picture someone pretty rough around the edges now, but he’s the kindest person.”

The couple celebrates John’s life day on April 10, the day he attempted suicide, by taking time to do a life affirming activity.

“(His attempt) gave him more challenges, but he was able to overcome those,” Anni said.