Dorothy Leib Harrison Wood Eustis
Personal Information
Born: 1886
Died: 1946
Country of Birth: USA
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Agnes Irwin School 1901-1903; Rathgowrie School in England
""Instead of leading an up-and-down existence of work and play, carried on at high pressure with resultant periods of complete exhaustion, I have been supported through the spiritual facts of being as revealed in Christian Science in an extremely active and busy undertaking which for nine years has involved work and travel, practically without cessation. A false sense of responsibility is yielding to divine guidance; and each year brings greater freedom." (marybakereddylibrary.org); "As the qualities of courage and intelligence are characteristics of the German shepherd dog wherever he is found unspoiled by intensive show breeding, it is not so hard to collect groups of these leaders for the blind as it would seem, and after a few simple tests to prove he is fit for the service, the new recruit can go to work, and all his work is founded on obedience." (saturdayeveningpost.com); "
— Dorothy Leib Harrison Wood Eustis
Professional Life
Field of Study: Dog Breeder; Philanthropist
Institution/Corporation: The Seeing Eye
Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: University of Pennsylvania (1933); Member: Board of Directors The Seeing Eye (1940)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2011 National Women's Hall of Fame; 1936 Gold Medal, National Institute of Social Sciences
Achievements: co- founded The Seeing Eye, with Morris Frank, the first dog guide school for the blind in the United States in Nashville TN in 1929; credited with helping to change public attitudes toward the disabled and contributing to the disability rights movement that began in the 1970s; she & 1st husband Walter Wood established an experimental farm for breeding dairy cattle to improve milk production in Hoosick Falls NY with the help of the US Dept of Agriculture in 1906 & continued to run it for 2 years after his death in 1915; 1929-33 was President of L'Oeil Qui Voit a Swiss training school for dogs & instructors
1927 was living in Switzerland breeding German Shepherds at the Fortunate Fields Kennel she began in 1921 working with horse breeder & trainer Elliot S. (Jack) Humphrey & wrote an article for the Saturday Evening Post about a German dog training school for blind veterans of WWI
Morris Frank a 20-year-old American in Nashville, TN was read the article by his father & wrote to her promising to open a dog guide school in the US if she would give him a dog & train him
she invited Morris to Switzerland & spent 5 weeks training him to work with a dog originally named Kiss but he changed her name to Buddy (a name he subsequently gave to all his other dogs in her honor)
was the 6th & youngest child of a wealthy & prominent Philadelphia family
1914 during a trip to Europe acquired her 1st German Shepherd she named Hans
for the 1st 3 years of The Seeing Eye's operation it had no permanent location, with instructors traveling around to the students
Seeing Eye's 1st home was a 10-bedroom home she purchased in Whipany NJ in 1931, later moving to a 56-acre location with a brand new building/dormitory in Morristown NJ in 1966 where it remains today
became a Christian Scientist in approximately 1926 & began a healing practice she continued until 1945
resigned a President of Seeing Eye in 1940 to concentrate on her healing practice & was named Honorary President of Seeing Eye & sat on the Board of Directors
paid for The Seeing Eye with her own money until 1958 when they began fund-raising
by the time of her death The Seeing Eye had supplied over 1,300guide dogs
married her 2nd husband George Eustis in 1923 & divorced 1929