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I'm Juliette Gordon Low, and I founded Girl Scouts in 1912. Before I tell you about Girl Scouts, let me tell you about my earlier life. I was born on October 31, 1860. I was nicknamed Daisy. My mother's name was Elanor Lytle Kinzie Gordon. I had five siblings, two brothers and three sisters. My sister's were Nellie, Alice, and Mabel, and my brothers were Bill and Arthur. In 1861 when I was one year old my father went to joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. When I was nine, Yellow fever broke out in my hometown, Savannah, Georgia. My parents sent my brothers, sisters, and me to live with our Aunt Eliza at Etowah Cliffs. They continued to send us every summer because of the weather and yellow fever. During our summers at Etowah Cliffs we published a magazine, and I was the illustrator. I was thirteen when my sister and I went to boarding school in Virginia where I eventually graduated. The school was called Stuart Hall Academy. My father let me take a trip to England to see my friend Willy Low when I was twenty. I had always thought that Willy was a real Prince Charming. In 1886 Willy and I got married at Christ Church in Savannah. After our reception Willy and I were showered with rice. A grain of rice fell in my ear and damaged my eardrum so much that I became deaf in that ear. Three years later Willy bought an estate for us. The estate had stables for the horses that we owned. In 1905 we were in process of divorce when Willy died. In 1911 I met Lord Robert Baden-Powell who was the founder of Boy Scouts. Lord Robert had inspired me. When I went back to America I immediately called my cousin and said, "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the World, and we're going to start tonight!" I invited some girls over to help me form my first Girl Guides Company. That is what Girl scouts were first called. Young Page Anderson, my Cousin Randy's daughter, was one of the first to be interested in my group. On March 12, 1912 the first two patrols were formed. Not much later there were six patrols in Savannah. The patrols met with me every week during the summer. Sir Robert and his sister helped me organize a company for Scottish girls. I always tried to spend as much as possible with the Girl Guides. In 1923 after an operation I learned that I had cancer. One year later in 1924 the cottage at my estate in England was named The Link because I was considered a real link between girls in America and girls in England. In 1925 I bought the first campsite in England. The campsite construction was completed and named Camp Edith Macy after the secretary of Girl Guides. In 1927 at the age of 66 I died. I was buried in the Uniform representing the organization that I founded which to this day continues to change the world. |