William A. Hadley

When you think of the other fellow only and not yourself, your own problem fades into insignificance; in unselfishness lies the real thrill of being alive. - William A. Hadley

Timeline

• 1860 - William Allen Hadley is born in Mooresville, Indiana. He has a brother and two sisters. He loses his vision in one eye.
• 1881 - Graduates from Earlham College with a Bachelor of Arts degree before going on to earn his Master's Degree from the University of Minnesota.
• Date Unknown - Marries Jessie Henderson, a schoolteacher from Fox Lake, Illinois.
• Prior to 1900 - Taught at Marietta College in Ohio and in public schools in Peoria, Illinois
• Date Unknown - Margaret and Emily Hadley are born to William and Jessie Hadley.
• 1900 - Begins teaching at Chicago’s Lake View High School.
• 1905 - The Hadleys move to Winnetka, Illinois.
• 1915 - During the holiday break William Hadley catches influenza and two days later has permanently lost his sight from a detached retina.
• 1920 - Hadley and Dr. E.V.L. Brown, an ophthalmologist and friend, found the Hadley School for the Blind.
• November 1920 - A farmer's wife in Kansas becomes the first Hadley student to enroll to learn "braille by mail."
• By 1938 - More than 1,000 home-study courses have been sent to blind students throughout the U.S.
• 1941 - William Hadley dies and is buried in Mooresville, Indiana