Coats, George Dewey (G. Dewey Coats))

Born at Coal Hill, AR; deaf at 5 from measles. Graduated the Arkansas School for the Deaf in 1917; spent one year at Gallaudet College, but left to do war work during World War I and never returned. Became a teacher of woodworking at the Washington and Missouri Schools for the deaf. Inventor of the phrase "Manual English"; very active in the National Association of the Deaf, establishing the Order of the Georges and the Knights of the Flying Fingers. Died of cancer.