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Juliette Gordon Low: Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA)
Juliette Gordon Low was born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon on October 31, 1860, in Savannah, Georgia. She became known as "Daisy" when an uncle declared, "I'll bet she'll be a daisy"! Daisy was the second child of six born to William Washington Gordon and Eleanor Kinzie Gordon.
Daisy loved the arts; she wrote poems, painted, and wrote and acted in plays. She also loved animals, especially dogs and birds. She once took care of a cow by covering it with her mother's bedspread.
At age 25, Daisy lost a great deal of hearing in one ear due to improper treatment of an ear infection. A year later, at her wedding to William Mackay Low, a grain of rice thrown became lodged in her good ear, puncturing the ear drum, resulting in total loss of hearing in that ear.
During the Spanish-American War, Daisy helped her mother organize a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. In 1911, She met Sir (later Lord) Robert Baden-Powell. He told her about an organization he started for boys. Daisy decided to start a similar organization for girls. On March 12, 1912, Juliette Low gathered 18 girls to form the first Girl Scout troop!
Daisy's program was unique for her day for several reasons. First, she brought together girls of all backgrouns. Second, she included girls of all abilities at a time when people with handicaps were excluded from many activities. And third, she helped girls prepare not just for traditional homemaking, but also for possible future roles as professional women and active citizenship outside the home.
Juliette Gordon Low died in 1927 at the age of 67 from breast cancer.
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