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Juliette
Gordon Low (her friends called her Daisy), was born on October 31,1860 in Savannah,
Georgia. When she was a young child she was very sick and lost part of her hearing in one
ear. She loved animals and often took in strays and abused animals and was considered a
tomboy. Daisy was sent to boarding schools in Virginia and New York. She loved art and
dramatics of all types.
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Daisy married William Low when she was 26 partly because that's
what women did then. On her wedding day, a grain of rice was lodged in her ear and Daisy
lost the hearing in that ear. At this point she was almost totally deaf. It was not a
happy marriage and would probably have ended in divorce, but William died before things
were finalized.
In 1911 Juliette met Lord Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes in England. Lord Powell had
started an organization for boys and Lady Powell was working on an organization for the
boy's sisters to participate in. Juliette thought the organization was a great idea for
the girls of America.
When Juliette arrived back in Savannah, she told her sister "I have something for the
girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world" and we must get started right
away. So on March 12, 1912 the first Girl Scout troop in the USA was started.
Starting a world-wide organization for girls was a difficult task at best in 1912. When
she was told "no" she would pretend that because of her deafness she didn't
understand what she had been told. She would just say "Well good, that's
settled...." and people never argued with her again after that! Juliette even sold
her own jewelry to help finance the huge undertaking because it was so difficult to find
support.
Juliette watched Girl Scouting grow for the next 15 years. At the time of her death from
cancer in January 1927, there were almost 168,00 Girl Scouts.
Juliette Gordon Low is a wonderful role model for the girls of the world. Imagine a woman,
a deaf woman, in 1912 trying to start an organization for girls, with very little money of
her own....If Juliette could create an organization like Girl Scouts during that time, the
girls of the world can do anything they set their mind to.
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