Happy Birthday Juliette Gordon Low!

For Girl Scouts, Halloween means so much more than collecting candy and wearing scary masks, Halloween also represents the birthday of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. This October 31 marks the 149^th anniversary of Low's birth, and girls across the United States and in the Nation's Capital region will celebrate by holding events and providing community service in her honor.

The Girl Scout movement as it is known today was organized on March 12, 1912, when Juliette Low gathered 18 girls to register as the first troop of American Girl Guides. The name was changed to Girl Scouts the following year.

Low, or "Daisy" as she was more affectionately known, is infamous among girls everywhere for having sold her heirloom pearls to finance the Girl Scout program and she continued to serve Girl Scouts all over the world until her death, from breast cancer, in 1927.

Today, there are 3.7 million Girl Scouts-including more than 90,000 in the Nation's Capital region. More than 50 million American women enjoyed Girl Scouting during their childhood.

Juliette Gordon Low sold her heirloom pearls so she could finance the first Girl Scout programs. Donate to SHARE in honor of the commitment of Juliette Gordon Low and volunteers everywhere to the Girl Scout movement.

Facts About Juliette Gordon Low

• Juliette Gordon Low was legally deaf-due to chronic ear infections as a child she lost hearing in one ear, and later, on her wedding day, lost hearing in her second ear when a grain of rice punctured her eardrum.
• Legend has it that Daisy once stood on her head to show off the new, official Girl Scout shoes at a Girl Scout Board Meeting.
• Juliette Gordon Low sold her heirloom pearls to finance the Girl Scout program.
• On July 3, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed a bill authorizing a stamp in honor of Juliette Gordon Low.
• On October 28, 1979, Juliette Low was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.
• On December 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill naming a new federal building in Savannah in honor of Juliette Low. It was only the second federal building in history to be named after a woman.
• On October 14, 2005, Juliette Low's life work was immortalized in a commemorative, bronze-and-granite medallion as part of the Extra Mile Points of Light Volunteer Pathway national monument in Washington, D.C.
• A portrait of Juliette Gordon Low hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.

For more information about Juliette Gordon Low, including a complete history and anecdotal stories, visit the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, http://www.juliettegordonlowbirthplace.org/

Posted: Oct 28, 2009