Juliette Gordon Low
Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon Low (born October 31, 1860 in Savannah , Georgia , † January 17, 1927 ) was the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA).
Juliette "Daisy" Gordon grew up in a wealthy southern family as the granddaughter of the founder of the Georgia Railroad, William Washington Gordon I, and daughter of General William Washington Gordon II . She attended private schools in Virginia and New York and then went on extensive world trips. In England she met William Mackay Low , the only son of a wealthy merchant, whom she married in 1886. In 1887 she went with her husband to England, where the couple lived in a country house in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. The childless couple grew apart, and Juliette Low returned to the United States during the Spanish-American War , where she helped her mother found and organize a hospital for wounded American soldiers.
After the war she returned to England. In 1902, her husband requested a divorce, but died in 1905 before the divorce proceedings were finalized. In 1911 she met Robert Baden-Powell , the founder of the Boy Scouts , and was very interested in the new youth movement. In the following year she founded the Girl Scouts with 18 members in the USA, which by 1925 had 90,000 active members in the USA. She was president of GSUSA until 1920, after which she was named founder of the Girl Scouts. She was also actively involved in founding the World Association of Gilt Guides and Girl Scouts .
In 1924 she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she kept secret for as long as she could, but to which she succumbed in 1927 at the age of sixty-six. At her request, she was buried in her Girl Scout uniform. Her birth house, restored by the Girl Scouts in 1953, has become the Juliette Gordon Low Girl Scout National Center . In 1992, Juliette Low was inducted into the Georgia Woman of Achievement . Her life became the subject of an opera by Julia Frances Smith . In 2012 she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts by President Barack Obama .
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- Georgia Encyclopedia - Juliette Gordon Low
- Biography.com - Juliette Gordon Low
- Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace - Juliette Gordon Low
- Find A Grave - Juliette Gordon Low
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Low, Juliette Gordon |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Low, Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon (full name); Gordon, Juliette Magill Kinzie (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Founder of the Girl Scouts in the USA |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 31, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Savannah , Georgia |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 17, 1927 |