Hypatia Boyd Reed

Hypatia Boyd was the daughter of George and Jean Boyd, immigrants from Scotland. Born in Milwaukee in 1874, she had scarlet fever at the age of six, and as a result, lost her hearing. She attended the Day School for the Deaf in Milwaukee and learned speech reading rather than sign language.
 

Both Hypatia and her husband were much involved in service to the deaf. Hypatia went on to regular high school and graduated. She then was accepted into the University of Wisconsin (the first deaf person to go to a college). She taught for a time at the School for the Deaf in Delavan, Wisconsin where she met Charles Reed, who later was the postmaster for Menasha. Charles was Curtis Reed's son and was born deaf and only did sign language. She married Reed on October 7, 1903. They lost a son, Charles Boyd Reed as an infant child in 1906, and they had one daughter, Lydia Jean Reed. Mr. Reed passed away in 1911 when their daughter was only two years old. But she continued her cause-writing many articles for the local newspaper, and the Milwaukee Sentinel, as well as the Silent Worker Magazine in keeping with her advocacy for deaf issues.