Untitled Document
 Anne
Sullivan was a great American educator. She is best known
as Helen Keller’s teacher. She taught the deaf and blind child with love and
changed her life forever. Anne had a difficult
childhood. Her family was
very poor and she lost most of her sight when she was a little girl.
When she was 9, her mother died. After her mother’s death, Sullivan
was sent to live at a place for the poor. However, she studied very
hard and became a teacher. Anne taught Helen Keller until her death,
serving as Helen’s eyes and ears. Anne Sullivan received an honorary
degree from Temple University in 1932.
Anne Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866 in Massachusetts. Her parents
were very poor. When she was 5, she got a serious eye disease and became almost blind. Two years later,
her mother died and her father sent Anne to an orphanage. But she was a
smart girl and studied very hard at the Perkins School for the Blind.
While attending the school, she
had two surgeries and restored some of her vision. In 1886, she graduated
at the top of her class.
 After
graduating from school, she began to teach Helen Keller at the age
of 21. Helen was a willful 7-year-old girl.
She was both deaf and blind. At first, Anne had a very
hard time teaching the little girl, but soon they built up a strong
bond. Anne taught Helen with love and passion.
Thanks to Anne’s efforts, Helen learned many
things including how to write and
how to communicate with other people.
In 1900, Helen Keller entered Radcliffe College. Anne attended classes
with her, spelling the instructors’ lectures into Helen’s hand
and reading textbooks to her for hours,
despite her own poor eyesight. Eventually, Helen could finish
her study there after listening to lectures through Anne’s hands.
 Anne Sullivan
was not only a teacher for Helen Keller. She was Helen’s lifelong friend and helper. The two continued
working together for the rest of Anne’s life. In fact, the two were the
closest of friends until Anne’s death. Helen Keller said that Anne
Sullivan was God’s gift to her.
Even after Anne married John A. Macy in 1905, she continued to be
Helen’s companion. The three lived
together in a farmhouse in Massachusetts
for a time. The marriage didn’t last very long and the couple
separated in 1913. However,
the bond between Anne and Helen remained strong.
In her later years, Anne Sullivan fell ill and by 1935, she was completely blind. She even
had to have one of her eyes removed. She died on October
20, 1936 in New York. Later, Helen Keller wrote a book about her teacher
entitled “Teacher: Anne Sullivan
Macy.” It was published in 1955. |
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