25 Facts About Louise Tracy

Louise Ten Broeck Tracy was a former actress and the founder of the John Tracy Clinic, a private, non-profit education center for the deaf that began in 1942.

Louise Tracy was married to the Academy Award-winning actor Spencer Tracy.

Louise Tracy's parents were Alliene Wetmore and Bright Treadwell.

In early March 1923, Louise Tracy joined the Leonard Wood Players in White Plains, New York, which engaged her as the leading lady.

Nine months later, Louise Tracy discovered that John was hard of hearing.

Early in 1926 Louise Tracy met a deaf woman at a contract bridge party who could lip read very well, encouraging Louise Tracy that John might have a typical life in spite of his deafness.

Louise Tracy took John to a hearing specialist, who confirmed the deafness was sensorineural, cause unknown.

John and Louise Tracy traveled to Hollywood while Spencer was filming.

Spencer and Louise Tracy separated in 1933, though they reconciled in 1935.

Louise Tracy increasingly lived in hotels and by the 1940s, the two were effectively living separate lives.

In July 1942, Louise Tracy spoke for the first time on her experience as the mother of a deaf child at the University of Southern California at a banquet for the National Workshop of Social Workers and teachers and Parents of the Hard of Hearing.

Louise Tracy spoke frequently and with increasing skill to numerous clubs and groups.

The John Louise Tracy Clinic, named after her son, was the result.

Louise Tracy stressed the importance of parents being involved in the education of their children at a very young age and set up a program for them.

Louise Tracy firmly believed that the clinic should offer both information and support at no charge to make them more accessible to children and families in need; as such, many of the clinic's services were free, including hearing screenings and services for families to better help care for their deaf children.

The John Louise Tracy Clinic was the first preschool in the nation to offer free emotional support and information for families; aside from those services, it offered families affected by deafness a sense of community.

Well, there's nothing I've ever done that can match what Louise Tracy has done for deaf children and their parents.

Louise Tracy was honored with many awards during the 1950s.

In 1976, Louise Tracy was honored with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Ripon College, Spencer's alma mater, in Ripon, Wisconsin.

In 1963, Louise Tracy was appointed to the Neurological and Sensory Disease Advisory Committee of the federal Department of Housing, Education, and Welfare.

In 1969, Louise Tracy became a member of the President's Task Force on the Physically Handicapped.

The John Louise Tracy Clinic continued to expand in the 1970s.

In October 1974, Louise Tracy resigned as clinic director due to ill health.

In 1977, Louise Tracy was given the Humanitarian Award by the National Auxiliary of American Veterans AMVETS.

Louise Tracy died in Santa Monica, California, on November 13,1983, at the age of 87.