McCandless, John Wesley

Native of Londonderry, Ireland; while a student at Gallaudet College, rescued a hearing woman from the rapids of the Potomac River near Washington in 1905. Dropped out of Gallaudet the following year, but did not return home because Britain did not allow deaf teachers in its schools at that time. He remained in the U.S., becoming a teacher at the Alabama School for the Negro Deaf and the Alabama School for the Deaf, 1909-1921, then the Mississippi School for the Deaf 1921 until 1957 retirement.