Exner, Theresa

Born to German immigrant parents at Louisville, KY; her parents returned to Wurzberg, Germany, taking her along, when she was four years old. At age 5 she started having vision problems, joined beginning age 6 with increasing hearing problems. Completely deaf-blind by age 8. Then orphaned and put into a Catholic asylum that didn't know what to do with her. Brought to the attention of Dr. Otto Wolf, director of the Bavarian State Institution for the Deaf at Wurzberg, she was admitted into that institution at age 14, still uneducated. After years of a slow start, she became a successful student.