In my family, Juliette Gordon Low is known as “Aunt Daisy.” My mother, Margaret Gordon Seiler (“Peggy”), is now 88 years old and the last surviving niece of Daisy Low. She’s also the last little girl to grow up in the beautiful house in Savannah that locals call “The Birthplace.” “It’s my birthplace, too!” my mother would say. Mom was born at 10 E. Oglethorpe in an upstairs bedroom, just like her aunt. She was born in 1923—Daisy died just four years later. Mom’s only memory of her aunt is when she was “riding” on one of the stone lions in front of the home Daisy lived in after her marriage, the Andrew Low House. She says she called out, “Look at me, Aunt Daisy! Look at me!” but Daisy did not turn to look at her. Mom remembers someone leaning down to say, “She can’t hear you. She’s deaf.”
Mom’s father, Arthur Gordon, was one of Daisy’s younger brothers. He was the youngest of six Gordon children and was a close confidante of Daisy’s—many of the stories we all know about her today were originally told by my grandfather. I’m sorry that I never got to meet him—he died when my mother was only 18. One of my favorite stories about Aunt Daisy is the one about the party she gave for my Aunt Mary Stuart (Mom’s older sister) when she made her debut. The party was in March and it was to be held in her garden. It was unseasonably cold in Savannah that year and the camellias did not bloom in time. So Daisy sent friends and servants out all over town to “borrow” camellias from other people’s trees and have them tied on her own! Another time she borrowed a piano from my grandparents without telling them—my grandmother came home to find men carrying it down the steps. It turns out Daisy was having a party and she just sent for it—she said she knew if she asked, the answer might be no. Her strong will and determination were sometimes a trial for her family, but of course they served her very well.
Another well-known story about Daisy is that she once stood on her head in a Girl Scout meeting to show off her new Girl Scout shoes. It was a Gordon family tradition to stand on one’s head on birthdays to show how young and virile you still were. I have one of my grandfather on his 55th birthday standing on his head on the beach outside Savannah.
My mother was a Girl Scout for a few years–her mother did not push her to stay with it very long but she does remember being trotted out in her uniform for Girl Scout events in Savannah. I was a Brownie when we lived in Manila, the Philippines, in the 1960s, where my father was working. I have a picture of Mom with Imelda Marcos, the well-known wife of the dictator, at a national Girl Scout conference! I was also a Girl Scout for a couple of years after we moved back to the States and lived in New Jersey. My mother led the troop one year and I remember meeting a couple of times with a sister troop, all African American, from neighboring Newark. I also remember Mom speaking to local troops about her Aunt Daisy.
I now live in Brooklyn, New York, and have two daughters. Both my girls joined troops here in New York City and enjoyed being Scouts for a few years. My older daughter got a real thrill when she and I flew down to Savannah to witness my mother christen the Juliette Gordon Low ferry boat. Mom fell down some stairs while staying with my cousins and did not want to walk down the plank so she asked Livia, then 9, to christen the boat for her!
I am so looking forward to reading all the new books coming out about my Great-Aunt Daisy. We are all so proud of her. I like to think my daughters have some of her grit and character, as well as her eccentricity. On March 12, I hope to be in Savannah with some of my family to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts where it all began.
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Photo of the ferryboat from Wikimedia. The other photos belong to Margaret Seiler and are used with her kind permission.
Thanks for having me, Stacy. I forgot to say that perhaps the most inspiring thing for me about Daisy was that she managed to overcome so much. As a 50-something woman myself, I find it so inspiring that she found her calling in the Girl Scouts in her fifties! Although she had been bitterly disappointed by a bad marriage to an unfaithful man, had never been able to have any children, and suffered from significant hearing loss, she started this movement for girls at a time when women could not even vote. What a great role model for my daughters and for all girls.
I couldn’t agree more!
And I am honored to have you as a guest blogger, Margaret!
Oh, Margaret-I love this! Especially the handstand picture and putting that story in family context. What a cool family you have. Thanks Stacy for sharing!
Such a nice, nice blog, Margaret! I come from a family of head-standers too. My father could do it until he died, and I get up on my head now and again just to make sure I can…but not in skirts like Daisy!I love the picture of GAG!
Katherine!!! Please send a photo of you standing on your head!
:-)
MS SEILER,
MY MOM AND I VISITED SAVANNAH IN 1999
WHEN I WAS RESERCHING LIFE OF JULIET GORDON LOW’SFATHER,GENERAL GORDON.ARTHUR GORDON,JR AUTOGRAPHED TWO OF HIS BOKKS FOR MY MOM.
ALL THE BEST,MAURICE F SHAW
There is a “business block” building built in Monmouth, IL in 1892 which has contained many businesses over the years, including a shoe store. The third floor was a silent movie theatre, and in the small projection room — which also contains the decrepit upright piano that accompanied the films — there is a small wooden sign that proclaims “Girl Scout Shoes” which was probably once in the shoe store window.
As this website shows, http://vintagegirlscout.com/unishoe.html , GS shoes were once a very big deal indeed. No wonder Daisy was standing on her head!
Cathy–This is awesome! Shoe sales with the specific endorsement began after Daisy Low died, but she had a firm–very firm–grip on the uniforms. She negotiated directly with the merchandisers who could sell them, and had to wrestle with the question of who could purchase them. She ok’d the cloth, the cut, the stores that sold Girl Scout uniforms. It sounds like the shoes are just in keeping with her initial belief that Girl Scouts had to maintain a control over their brand.
And I hope someday to see that sign right here in my own town of Monmouth, Illinois! I am learning more about Girl Scouting on the local level–including the volunteers and leaders like yourself, who make everything possible.
Thanks for your comment!
Thank you for adding this wonderful family viewpoint to this blog. I have already preordered Stacy’s book!
I met so many young Girl Scouts who have a hard time connecting to ‘historical’ figures.
Most history classes and museums go over things in such a dry, cursory fashion that they are bored and tune out.
It is the stories like this, the pictures, exhibits and artifacts that help wake them up to these wonderful people from our past.
Thank you all for your efforts.
Merana–Thank you so much for your kind words! I know that Margaret will be glad to hear that you enjoyed her post and her perspective. And thank you from the bottom of my heart for pre-ordering my biography of Juliette Gordon Low. I hope you like it!
My paternal grandmother was Daisy Low (a Mississippian, not yours). Congrats on the new book I read about today. Anyway, my question is how the apparent rascal Low pronounced his name. My family has, for 5 generations, pounced it to rhyme with cow. I have never been able to locate anyone else who did the same. We’re Scotch-Irish, so we might have some distant relationship to your Daisy’s husband. Thanks for any info can provide.
Margaret–have you ever heard of any of your relatives pronouncing Low to rhyme with “cow”? You would be the expert!
I loved reading your guest blog, Margaret. I am so pleased to learn more about your mother and her remarkable aunt, and wish that some of our branch of descendants of one member of Daisy Gordon’s first group of girl scouts (my grandmother 1899-1984!) could also be in Savannah for the centennial celebrations this March. As it happens…we will all be gathered in Philadelphia for the *90th* birthday of her oldest son…my father! :-)
Thank you also Stacy Cordery for your beautiful web page, I look forward to seeing your book when it comes out!
I never heard anyone pronounce Low like “cow.” Interesting…