Girl Scouts Celebrate Founder's Birthday on Halloween

October 25, 2004

By Ellen Christie, staff writer

	Juliette Gordon Low, circa 1887.
	Juliette Gordon Low, circa 1888.
	Juliette Gordon Low with some of the country's first Girl Scouts in 1922.

Halloween was a special day for Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts of the USA, because she was born October 31, 1860 in Savannah, Georgia. A wonderfully eccentric woman with vision, she believed in service to community, self-reliance for girls, and the importance of having fun.

She had a lifelong love of animals, a flare for the dramatic, and a great sense of humor. On her birthday each year, she was famous for standing on her head to show her family just how young she still was.

At the age of 51, she founded Girl Scouts with 18 girls. By the time she died in 1927 there were already some 168,000 Girl Scout members.

Low believed in teaching girls to be responsible and take their place in the world. In notes for an early recruitment speech, when she was asked why a parent should have her daughter join, her answer was simple: "the most valuable asset a girl will gain is a sense of individual responsibility."

Vision in Action

In 1912, while back at home in Savannah, Georgia, one year after meeting with Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in England, Low made an historic phone call to her cousin. "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight," she said. They began making plans immediately and on March 12, 1912, Juliette Low gathered 18 girls together to organize the first two American Girl Guide troops. She changed the name of the organization one year later to Girl Scouts of the USA.

Juliette Gordon Low envisioned a woman's place not only in the home, but in society—as a strong leader. Her implementation of a program that developed self-reliance and resourcefulness in girls was truly ahead of its time. She pioneered a movement by bringing girls of all backgrounds into the outdoors to learn about nature, become physically fit, prepare for future roles as professionals in the arts, sciences, business, and perhaps most importantly, to be active citizens outside the home.

A well-traveled individual and skilled artist herself, she believed that with a little perseverance, anything was possible. Her own lifelong challenges—including deafness, an unsuccessful marriage, and cancer—did not diminish her spirit or drive for encouraging girls of this nation to dream their biggest dreams and persevere through all obstacles to make a difference in the world.