I just finished a sort of scrapbook/biography/tribute to Anne Sullivan Macy. I have wanted to do some books like this for awhile -- books that honor people who have meant a lot to me in my life. In some cases, such as this one, the person who is the subject of the book is a 'famous' person. In other cases, the people would be realitively unknown, such as the book I did to honor my grandmother. But in all of these cases, the books are my way of passing their stories on to others, along with specific ways that they have inspired and helped me, so that other people will know who these people were and why their lives were important and meaningful. At least, that is my hope. After all, when I die, the stories I have in my heart will die with me unless I record them somehow. I know that the 'traditional' way of doing this is in a journal. But I happen to like to have pictures and embellishments along with my stories, so they are more like scrapbooks.
At any rate, I have finished the book on Anne Sullivan Macy who was, for those who might not know, Helen Keller's teacher. When I was in the third grade, I found a book about Helen Keller in my school library. To this day, I have no idea what made me want to check it out, but I did and once I started reading it, I was hooked. I clearly remember trying to walk home from school and read the book without falling or bumping into anything because I simply could not wait until I got home to continue with the story. After that, I checked out every book about Helen Keller that the school library, and also the public library in Highland Park, had to offer. I was so captivated by the story of this blind and deaf girl and all that she was able to accomplish. But I knew that, without her teacher, she never would have been able to do it. I began to wonder about this Anne Sullivan who'd come to Helen's rescue and changed her life. I looked for books about Anne and began reading about her. As much as I'd admired Helen Keller, I was even more moved by the story of Anne Sullivan's life.
Anne grew up very poor in Massachussets. Her parents were Irish and had come to America during the Potato famines. Her father was a drunk and wasted what little money they had on alcohol. Her mother had tuberculosis and died when Anne was only 9 years old. Anne had a little brother, named Jimmie, and a baby sister, named Mary. After the death of their mother, Mary was taken in by an Aunt. Anne never saw her again. Anne and Jimmie were left to live with their father, but he was not able to take care of them. Anne had a very bad temper and was very badly behaved. On top of this, she had developed trachoma, a disease of the eye. This was a disease borne of poverty and uncleanliness. Granules developed inside her eyelids and they itched. Every time she scratched, the granules rubbed against her eyeballs and literally scratched her eyes blind. Jimmie had a tuberculin hip and had to walk with a crutch. Nobody in the family wanted to take care of these two, so they were sent to Tewsbury Almshouse, a place filled with the dredges of society: the insane, the criminal, the ill. Anne and Jimmie were the only children in the place and, although inmates were usually separated into the men's and women's sections, Anne would not hear of them being separated from one another. She threw quite the tantrum and they were allowed to stay together. Three months later, Jimmie died of complications from Tuberculosis. Anne lived in Tewsbury for 4 long years; alone and blind in the rat-infested, filthy place. Anne later said, "I doubt if life, or for that matter eternity, is long enough to erase the errors and ugly blots scored upon my mind by those dismal years from 8 to 14."
When Anne was 14, she heard people talking about a group of government officials that were coming to Tewsbury to investigate various allegations against the place. She followed the group around all day as they toured and talked and took notes. Finally, when they were about to leave, Anne threw herself into the middle of the group and cried out, "Please! I want to go to school!" A few months later, arrangements were made for Anne to attend the Perkins Institute for the blind. Anne was completely illiterate and could not even write her own name. She had to start at Perkins in the kindergarten class. The other students and even the teachers made fun of her. But she was determined and worked hard and learned. When she graduated from Perkins, she was named Valedictorian of her class.
Shortly after her graduation she was asked by the head of the Perkins Institute to go to Alabama to be the teacher of a blind and deaf girl named Helen Keller. Helen's parents had written to the institute, desperate for help with their daughter, asking for someone to try to teach her. Anne accepted the job and the rest, as they say, is history.
There are several quotes by Anne that I have included in my book because I think they are particularly meaningful in light of her life and experiences:
"Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fair, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose. Not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember."
"We do not, I think, choose our destiny, it chooses us."
"People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved."
It is partly because of Anne Sullivan Macy, and partly because of my Grandmother, that I became a teacher. Their examples encourage me every day, especially when things are hard, to do my best to make a difference.
