Doris Jean Walker

Doris Jean is author Lou Ann's mother. She becomes deaf as an infant after a bout with spinal meningitis. Unable or unwilling to cope with a deaf daughter, Doris Jean's parents send her away to the Indiana School for the Deaf, which Doris Jean misinterprets as abandonment. However, after several years Doris Jean flourishes in school, learning excellent sign language despite the school's "oralist" tradition, which favors lipreading and vocalization over signs.

Doris Jean meets Gale on a blind date and instantly falls in love. They marry and have Lou Ann just a couple of years later, and settle in Montpelier.

Doris Jean does not feel that deafness is a handicap, and does not feel the deaf deserve any handouts or special treatment from the government. She is active in many deaf-oriented clubs and organizations, such as Miss Deaf Indiana. She has a fierce spirit of...