Helen Heckman Explained

Helen Heckman
Birth Name:Helen Elizabeth Heckman
Birth Date:December 10, 1898
Birth Place:Manito, Illinois
Death Date:April 1975
Occupation:Dancer

Helen Elizabeth Heckman (December 10, 1898 – April 17, 1975) was a deaf American dancer from Oklahoma.

Early life and education

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" 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]

Career

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. 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]

Personal life

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]

Notes and References

  1. News: March 6, 1931. Eight State Women in Who's Who in America. 2. Durant Weekly News and Bryan County Democrat. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  2. News: October 6, 1923. Two Heckman Sisters Have Had Notable Careers as Artists. 14. The Ithaca Journal. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  3. News: 1932-01-28. Philip Heckman. 2. The Pantagraph. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  4. News: 1908-06-26. Mrs. Foster Heckman. 3. Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  5. News: Haskin. Frederic J.. April 12, 1928. She Tells of her Life Transformed. Asbury Park Press. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  6. News: December 20, 1922. Mute Girl Taught to Sing and Talk. 20. Herald and Review. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  7. News: Philip E. Heckman. 3. The Ithaca Journal. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=0Znzn0FJObwC&dq=Marion%20Viets%20Rainey&pg=PA49 "Dancing to Music Which She Hears Not"
  9. Burch, Susan. "Double Jeopardy: Women, Deafness and Deaf Education", in Brenda Jo Brueggemann, ed., Literacy and Deaf People: Cultural and Contextual Perspectives (Gallaudet University Press 2004): 65-66.
  10. News: 1922-12-24. Oklahoma Wonder Girl, Can't Hear, Yet Sings, Plays Piano, and Dances. 3. The Star Press. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1923-04-09. Expert Student in Statement. 8. Battle Creek Enquirer. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  12. News: Helen Heckman to Dance Here. 2. Cornell Daily Sun. July 8, 2021. Cornell University Library.
  13. News: October 11, 1923. Good Seats Available for Heckman Recital. 2. The Ithaca Journal. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  14. Book: Heckman, Helen. My Life Transformed. Macmillan. 1928.
  15. 1928-06-02. My Life Transformed.. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. en. 90. 22. 1818. 10.1001/jama.1928.02690490060039. 0098-7484.
  16. Web site: Heckman, Helen Elizabeth. 2021-07-08. Gallaudet University Library Guide to Deaf Biographies and Index to Deaf Periodicals.
  17. News: 1919-08-31. Helen Heckman, Deaf and Dumb at 12 years, Who Now 'Hears' Talks, Sings and Dances. 13. Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  18. News: 1922-11-16. True Fairy Story in Helen Heckman. 4. Muskogee Daily Phoenix and Times-Democrat. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  19. Web site: Naturale. Joan. Deaf Women: Overview. 2021-07-08. InfoGuides. en.
  20. Thomas. Lloyd Swift. December 1919. Overcoming the Handicap of Deafness. The Silent Worker. 32. 59–60. Internet Archive.
  21. November 1922. Our Beautiful Deaf Women. The Silent Worker. 35. cover. Internet Archive.
  22. Burch, Susan. "'Beautiful, Though Deaf': The Deaf American Beauty Pageant" in Brenda Jo Brueggeman and Susan Burch, eds., Women and Deafness: Double Visions (Gallaudet University Press 2015): 242-247.
  23. Book: Burch, Susan. Signs of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 to World War II. 2004. NYU Press. 978-0-8147-9894-2. 146–148. en.
  24. News: Wilson. Marjorie. 1922-08-20. The Awkward Deaf Girl Who Became a Prize Beauty. 55. Dayton Daily News. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  25. News: 1929-01-24. Obituary for MARY E. FRENCH (Aged 80). 21. Star-Gazette. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  26. News: June 1956. Miss Heckman Wed in Waban. 27. The Newton Graphic. July 8, 2021. Internet Archive.
  27. News: February 25, 1969. Erwin D. French. 14. Star-Gazette. July 8, 2021. Newspapers.com.
  28. News: 1929-07-17. Divorce is Granted. 3. Star-Gazette. 2021-07-08. Newspapers.com.
  29. http://rihistoriccemeteries.org/newgravedetails.aspx?ID=371358 Helen Heckman French, River Bend Cemetery

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