October 31

She was partially deaf, suffered from depression, and had no children of her own, yet she founded the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Juliette Gordon Low was born into wealth in Savannah in 1860. Two accidents in her 20s left her partially deaf and led to bouts of depression.

At 26, Gordon married William Low, a wealthy British merchant, and they lived in London. But Low abandoned Juliette for another woman. He asked for a divorce, which was underway when he died suddenly in 1905.

Six years later, Juliette met Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the British founder of the Boy Scouts, and the meeting changed her life.

She became active in the Girl Guides in Britain. In 1912, she returned to Georgia and started the Girl Scouts of the USA. It would become the largest voluntary association for women and girls in the United States. By 1925, there were 90,000 Girl Scouts in America.

Juliette Gordon Low was buried in her Girl Scout uniform when she died in 1927, a remarkable life that began on October 31, 1860, Today in Georgia History.