For some people, it is difficult to summarize their life’s work. They’ve had such a diverse life that there are several elements that combine to a full picture.
Juliette Low (1860 – 1927) is not one of those people. She made one lasting contribution to society. However, it was a doozy.
Juliette Low founded the Girl Scouts of America. She was the first Girl Scout ever. Needless to say, she deserves to be on a quarter.
So, let’s look a bit deeper at a woman whose singular achievement has changed thousands of lives for the better.
Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon was born on October 31, 1860 in Savannah, Georgia. She was the second child of six born to William and Nellie Gordon. Her parents and relatives nicknamed her “Daisy,” a common nickname at that time.
Though Daisy’s early years coincided with the American Civil War – her father served as a captain with the Confederacy – she emerged as a respectful, adventurous, open, and confident young lady. She spent much of her time outdoors, playing and swimming, and developed her love of the outdoors from her summertimes spent in northern Georgia.
Because her parents were fairly well off, Daisy was sent to several boarding and finishing schools as a means of educating her and expanding her horizons. Her parents did not discriminate or fall in line with post-Civil War sentiments about the north, either – Juliette attended institutions in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York.
During her time in New York, she joined a secret club with her fellow students, where they could perform tasks and receive badges. After she graduated, she also spent time learning to paint with several prominent New York artists to hone her love of painting.
Marriage years
In 1880, Gordon’s sister, Alice, passed away. Her mother fell apart due to her grief, and Gordon moved back to Savannah to help the family.
While she was back home, Daisy met the son of a wealthy British businessman, William Mackay Low. Smitten, the two married in 1886.
The couple’s marriage, however, was not a happy one. They rented or owned properties both in the US and in the UK (England and Scotland), and settled in London, but spent much of their time apart. William Low was also content to live off of his father’s money, and drank and gambled heavily.
The union began to deteriorate significantly in the 1890s. Then, in 1901, Daisy Low discovered evidence that William was having an affair with a family friend, Anna Bateman. Initially, she only separated from him, but she soon initiated divorce proceedings.
The process dragged on for four years and was never completed. William experienced some sort of health crisis during the period, and did not fully recover. He passed away in 1905.
Though his will attempted to leave his assets to his affair partner, Daisy and her siblings successfully contested it in court. Thus, she was left a widow, but a widow with enough assets to live the rest of her life without working an actual job.
She remained in London for some time, but retained several different properties and financial instruments in the States. However, her time in England proved impactful on the course of the rest of her life.
Founding the Girl Scouts
In 1911, Juliette Gordon Low met Robert Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell was a British army officer who had created the Boy Scouts a few years prior.
Low was inspired by both the values and the mission of Baden-Powell’s Scouts. While the Boy Scouts of America was already in its infancy, no counterpart organization for girls existed in the US.
However, England was home to the Girl Guides, a sister organization run by Robert Baden-Powell’s sister, Agnes. Juliette Low jumped into this organization with both feet, and founded two Girl Guide patrols in England and one in Scotland – all of which were near her various homes in the countries.
Finally, Low felt confident enough to bring the Girl Guide concept back across the pond. She returned to Savannah, enlisted the help of one of her cousins, and held the first US Girl Guides meeting in March 1912. She began awarding her girls badges for various accomplishments in survival, aid, and community service.
The organization blossomed almost immediately. Other patrols of Girl Guides began to appear, and Low found herself forced to relocate the group’s headquarters to Washington, DC in order to manage what was now a multistate operation.
At roughly the same time, the group also changed its name to its now-more familiar moniker – the Girl Scouts of America. The change came at the behest of the charges in her patrols, who preferred to be called “scouts” to “guides.”
Through its early years, the Girl Scouts was funded almost entirely by Low herself. As the group’s prominence grew and Low succeeded in fundraising, however, it grew beyond her own purse’s capabilities.
Later years
The onset of World War I did not slow down Juliette Gordon Low’s efforts for either the Girl Scouts or humanitarian causes. She partnered with her UK counterpart, Girl Guides, but also directed her girls to aid the Red Cross by making bandages, tending war gardens, and selling war bonds.
After the Great War, the Girl Scouts expanded beyond the borders of either the United States or Great Britain. Low, who served as president of the US organization until 1920, worked to bring the Girl Scouts to as many countries as she could. Today, the Girl Scouts or their equivalents are available in more than 150 countries and, according to The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, serve more than 10.8 million girls.
However, Juliette Low’s involvement would come to a somewhat abrupt end after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1923. Though she underwent multiple surgeries in an effort to remove the tumors and cure her of the disease, her condition was deemed terminal in 1925.
Juliette Low passed away at her home in Savannah on January 17, 1927. She was 66 years old.
She’d never remarried, and did not have any children of her own. However, she was certainly a beloved mother figure to thousands of girls during her lifetime.
Needless to say, Low’s legacy is manifest across the globe to the present day. Each year, her birthday is celebrated by organizations worldwide as Founder’s Day.
The first major tribute to her occurred in 1948 when she and the Girl Scouts were commemorated on a postage stamp. The honor necessitated a change to the Post Office’s standing policy against saluting entire organizations, and was only granted by the direct intervention of President Harry Truman (whose wife, Bess, was an honorary president of the Girl Scouts).
Her various homes have also been converted into museums. In addition, several places in her native Savannah, Georgia have been renamed in her honor.
She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1979. Then, in 2012, she and the Girl Scouts received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The list of famous women who were Girl Scouts is a who’s who of the A-list. Prominent former Girl Scouts include:
Rest assured, this list is not exhaustive. The Girl Scouts have included so many big names in their ranks over the years.
Considering all of this started because a wealthy widow expatriate living in England loved nature and service to the community, it’s no wonder that Juliette Gordon Low is the subject of one of America’s quarters.
The quarter itself is one of the latest in the series of Washington quarters. All quarters since 1932 have featured the first president on their obverse. Despite the US Mint’s American Women Quarters Program’s mission, no significant changes have occurred on the front of the quarter.
The tribute on the coin’s reverse is simple and singular in its focus. Juliette Gordon Low is portrayed wearing her scoutmaster uniform and hat and standing at parade rest. Both the uniform and the hat bear the Girl Scouts’ trefoil, a symbol that Low designed and, in response to challenges from the Boy Scouts, patented herself.
The outer rim of the quarter clearly states the achievement that got Low onto the quarter. She is listed as the Founder of the Girl Scouts of America – which, of course, is exactly what she is.
Unlike many of the women commemorated by this coin series, Juliette Low never made any particular political statements or stirred the public discourse. For instance, there is no evidence that she or the Girl Scouts had any involvement in women’s suffrage.
Instead, Low focused her attention on the improvement of girls’ lives through service to their communities and the acquisition of confidence-building practical skills. Even 100 years after her death, she’s still the scoutmaster.