Daisy and the Girl Scouts by Fern G. Brown

6 4 She wanted girls to have the same opportunity to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness, so she created a similar organization for girls. In 1911, Gordon Low met Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the British Boy Scouts. I pretended that my deafness prevented me from hearing her refusals… I never heard a word of argument from her again!” 12 A Life-Changing Meeting 'The first woman I approached tried to tell me she wasn't interested. 6 4 5ĭeaf in one ear and with only partial hearing in the other, Gordon Low would use her deafness to her advantage by refusing to hear “No.” She knew she needed help to start the Girl Scouts.

No one was going to get away with that! Against the advice of my friends, I decided to contest the will and eventually I won a $500,000 settlement.” 12 In addition to an annual income, she received their Savannah Lafayette Ward estate, which included the Andrew Low House and where she would later house the first Girl Scouts headquarters (in the carriage house). 6 4 Gordon Low contested the will, “When my husband died, I found that he had willed his entire estate to another woman. They had been married for 19 years, however, in his will, he left most of his money to his mistress. She planned on getting a divorce, but her husband died from a seizure in 1905 before it was finalized. Her husband drank heavily and cheated on her. Married life wasn’t the happily ever after she had hoped for. The infection damaged nerves, which made her permanently deaf in that ear. When a doctor worked to remove it, he punctured her ear drum and it became infected. She ignored the issue until the pain became so great she had to leave her honeymoon to seek treatment. On her wedding day on Decem(she picked the same day that her parents got married for good luck), a grain of rice thrown in celebration landed in Gordon Low’s left ear and got stuck. The doctor used silver nitrate in her ear, which caused more damage, and she lost part of her hearing in that ear.

5 Antibiotics had not been discovered yet and Daisy persuaded the doctor to try silver nitrate, a new cure she had heard about. 7 In January 1885, when she was 24 years old, she got a terrible ear infection in her right ear. She was accident-prone as a child and had many injuries and illnesses, including a case of brain fever, frequent ear infections, earaches, and recurring bouts of malaria. She was born hearing, but started to lose her hearing when she was seventeen 10 and had severe hearing loss by her mid-twenties. Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born on Octoin Savannah, Georgia and nicknamed “Daisy.” 4 She was from a wealthy family and was well educated, attending some of the best boarding schools. (Photo Credit: Edward Hughes, via Wikimedia Commons) Background This painting is on display in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Oil painting of Juliette Gordon Low completed in 1887 by Edward Hughes.

Daisy and the Girl Scouts by Fern G. Brown