Louise Tracy

Louise Treadwell Tracy (1896–1983) was born Louise Treadwell in New Castle, Pennsylvania on July 31st, 1896.

Young Adulthood

In 1915, she attended Lake Erie College and graduated with honors. During the next several years she went back and forth between New York City and her hometown where she participated in several theatrical plays. After her mother died, she played with a stock company in Chicago, and toured as the lead in "Nothing but the Truth." Louise made it to Broadway in "The Pigeon." In early March 1923, Louise joined the Leonard Wood Players in White Plains, New York, which engaged her as the leading lady. She arrived on the same day as Spencer Tracy, who was also joining the company. They met on the station platform. Six weeks later, on September 12, they were married in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Marriage and Family

On June 26, 1924, John Tracy, Louise and Spencer's first son, was born. Ten months later Mrs. Tracy discovered her son was deaf. Early in 1926 Mrs. Tracy met a deaf woman at a bridge party, who could lipread so well that Mrs. Tracy was encouraged that John might be able to have a normal life, in spite of this deafness. She took her son to a well-known specialist who confirmed a diagnosis of nerve deafness and told her that even though there was nothing medical intervention could do, John could learn how to talk and lipread and do anything a hearing person can do. It was in her job to make sure he did it. With new hope, Mrs. Tracy began working with John, using material from different schools. In 1927, John spoke aloud "Mama" for the first time. Meanwhile Spencer Tracy was making his Broadway debut in "Yellow".

Then Louise and Spencer went back to Lima, Ohio. She was still torn between the theater and teaching John to talk. They had a nurse with them, and Louise tried to keep up with the daily lipreading lessons. Then on the train from Lima to New York, Louise decided that her job was teaching John. By June of 1927, John was enrolled in the Wright Oral School. At three years of age, he was the youngest child they had ever accepted.

Speaking tours

In the summer of 1930, John and Mrs. Tracy went to Hollywood while Spencer was filming. On the train back to New York, John was struck with infantile paralysis. Two years later, Susie Tracy was born and by March 1936 the family moved to the home in Encino, California where they lived 19 years. In July 1946, Mrs. Tracy spoke for the first time on her experience as the mother of a deaf child at the University of Southern California at the banquet for the National Workshop of Social Workers and teachers and Parents of the Hard of Hearing. Mrs. Tracy spoke frequently and with increasing skill to numerous clubs and groups. She would speak to any group who would pay her way, and considered her lecturing to be one of her major contributions to the Clinic. She was a woman of great warmth and charm, who spoke simply and directly. She touched people. She didn't say "we need this or that," she simply explained what the Clinic was trying to do, and by the time she was done, people wanted to help. John Tracy Clinic was named in honor of John and opened its door in September 1942.

The Clinic

During the first years of the Clinic, and particularly the first few months, Mrs. Tracy established many of the aspects of the Clinic's philosophy, showing herself to be a woman of remarkable foresight and awareness. She stressed the importance of parents being involved in the education of their children, and set up a program for the parents. Mrs. Tracy firmly believed that the Clinic should offer not only information but also support. And she insisted that the services be offered free of charge. Her husband, Spencer Tracy, supported her work with the Clinic and in fact was its sole financial support in the beginning. In April 1951, he turned the world premiere of his new film, "Father's Little Dividend", at the Egyptian Theater into a building fund-raiser for the Clinic's new site. Spencer's support was always strong, and over the years he personally donated more than a half a million dollars to the Clinic's work. His admiration for his wife was another constant. At the dedication of the new Clinic building, which was completed in 1952, he said to the visiting dignitaries, staff and press: "You honor me because I am a movie actor, a star in Hollywood terms. Well, there's nothing I've ever done that can match what Louise has done for deaf children and their parents."

Recognition

She was honored with many awards during the 1950's, including the 1951 Hearing Advancement Award from the Hearing Foundation, the Testimonial of Merit/Woman of the Year award from La Sertoma International in 1953, and the Sixth Annual Award of the Save the Children Foundation for 1955. Mrs. Tracy was also being lauded in academic circles. In quick succession, she was granted honorary degrees from Northwestern University, University of Southern California, Lake Eire College and MacMurray College. And on the national level, in 1956 she was appointed to a four-year term as a member of the National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation.

Mrs. Tracy's influence in governmental circles continued in the 1960's. She was appointed a member of the Neurological and Sensory Disease Advisory Committee of HEW in 1963; member of the National Advisory Board of the National technical Institute for the Deaf in 1965; and a member of the President's Task Force on the Physically Handicapped in 1969. Gallaudet College, the only college for the deaf in the United States, honored her with a Doctor of Letters degree in 1966. The Clinic continued to expand in the 1970's, but Mrs. Tracy resigned as Director of John Tracy Clinic in October of 1974. But the honors continued to roll in for this dedicated woman, whose "mother's group" had become the largest single service provider to parents of deaf children around the world. She was presented with the 1974 Award of Honor Otolaryngology the same month she resigned from the Clinic, and that same year was granted a Doctor of Humane Letters from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. In 1975, she received the Father Flanagan Award for Service to Youth from Boys Town. The next year she was granted yet another honorary degree, this time a Doctor of Humane Letters from Ripon College in Wisconsin. And in 1977, she was given the Humanitarian Award by the National Auxiliary of AMVETS.

Death

Mrs. Tracy died at 87 after a lengthy illness. One of her former fund-raising associates said at her funeral: "No one who knew her will forget her. Strength and love like hers goes on. It can never die".