Helen Heckman

Helen Elizabeth Heckman was born in Manito, Illinois, and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma,[1] with summers on Cayuga Lake in New York.[2] She was the daughter of Philip E. Heckman (1860–1932)[3] and Anna Foster Heckman (1868–1908).[4]

Heckman was deaf after surviving meningitis in infancy, and did not speak but used some gestural language until age 12.[5][6] Her stepmother, Vina Janet French Heckman (1874–1972),[7] "vetoed the sign language at the outset"[5] and oversaw Heckman's training to speak, sing, play piano, and dance.[8][9] "I got little encouragement from the institutions, even those here in the East," Mrs. Heckman noted later. "I had to devise for myself."[10] V. Janet Heckman later spoke as an expert on parenting and child development.[11]

Heckman performed as a dancer in the 1920s, often in elaborate costumes, including on a tour of Europe, with her sister Mildred, a violinist.[12][13] Her stepmother continued to supervise her daily life and associations, into her twenties.[10] In 1928, Heckman wrote a memoir, My Life Transformed,[14] about her education.[15][16]

Photographs and details of Heckman's life were featured in publications for the general public and for deaf readers.[17][18][19] She was often presented as an inspirational example of "overcoming",[20] highlighting her youthful beauty[21] and physical fitness and celebrating her fluent speech.[22][23] "Ten years ago you would have pitied Helen Heckman," began one newspaper profile in 1922, after she won second prize in a national beauty contest, explaining that "Helen has been metamorphosed by her brilliant step-mother into a charming, cultured girl of keen mentality."[24]

Heckman married Vina Janet Heckman's younger brother,[25] Erwin Dingley French (1890–1969) in 1956,[26] as his second wife.[27][28] She died in 1975, aged 76 years. Her grave is with her husband's, at River Bend Cemetery in Rhode Island.[29]