THE VEDITZ GENIUS

On October 31, 1975, the Veditz Vocational Building was dedicated on the Frederick campus of the Maryland School for the Deaf, in memory of one of the school’s most successful alumni. Who was George W. Veditz? What did he do? What was so remarkable about him? He was many things to many people, and was probably among the most versatile deaf or hearing men our country has known.

Born in 1861 to German immigrants, Vedtiz had normal hearing as a young child. When he was five, his parents enrolled him in a private German-English school so he became fluent in both languages before completely losing his hearing at the age of eight from scarlet fever. Later on he learned French and a number of other languages, including American Sign Language (ASL). The Gallaudet College Library has a 1913 silent film showing Vedtiz giving a talk in ASL on the beauty and importance of sign language for deaf persons.

After becoming deaf at eight, Veditz continued his studies in public school and under a private tutor. He entered the Maryland School for the Deaf at the age of 14, and was soon recognized by everyone as an extremely brilliant and talented young student. Since he was so advanced in his school work, the following year he was given a part-time job as private secretary to the principal. When he was 17, he passed the Gallaudet College entrance examinations but because of financial problems in his family, he remained at the Maryland School as a part-time student, private secretary, and foreman of the print shop.

Veditz entered Gallaudet College in 1880, the same year that the National Association of the Deaf was established. He graduated four years later as class valedictorian with a cumulative average of 98.8 It was natural that he should be offered a teaching job by his alma mater, so he began his teaching career at the Maryland School for the deaf in Frederick. Four years later he moved to Colorado Springs where for 17 years he taught at the state school for the deaf, transferring to the business office as bookkeeper until his retirement. His wife, Bessie, was also a teacher at the Colorado School, and continued to teach after his death in 1937.

A powerful writer with strong opinions about deafness and other matters, George W. Veditz was active in state and national affairs. For 15 years he served as chairman of the annual alumni reunion at the Maryland School, and provided the leadership that led to the establishment of the Maryland Association of the Deaf. In 1904 at the St. Louis convention of the National Association of the Deaf Veditz was elected president, and re-elected to a second term in Norfolk in 1907. He also served as president of the World Congress of the Deaf which was a forerunner of the present World Federation of the Deaf, While Veditz was president of the NAD, he went all the way from Colorado to the White House for a personal encounter with President of the United States about job discrimination against deaf people in the Civil Service Commission. It has been said that Veditz also helped to establish the Colorado Association of the Deaf and the Gallaudet College Alumni Association.

This gifted deaf genius was forever getting involved in a wide array of different activities, and it seemed that whenever he tried anything he went all the way to the top. For example, Vedtiz enjoyed playing chess, but he was not satisfied just to be an average player. To be happy he had to be among the best. In 1915 when U.S. champion and grandmaster Frank J. Marshall made a triumphal tour of the United States he played 51 chessplayers in Colorado Springs, beating all of them except Veditz. In 1917 Vedtiz played the world chess champion, Jose Capablanca of Cuba, one of the greatest chessplayers ever known. Our deaf expert nearly got a draw but after six hours of play was down to two pawns to Capablanca’s three, and lost in a moment of miscalculation.

When Vedtiz and his wife decided to raise chickens in their backyard, it was typical of him that he soon became bored with just feeding chicken and collecting eggs. He started reading and studying about this new interest area, and was soon conducting breeding experiments with both poultry and pigeons. The Vedtiz couple began winning blue ribbons at state fairs and soon had the largest combine poultry and pigeon plant in Colorado. The completely deaf teacher-bookkeeper-NAD leader-chessplayer-writer was elected secretary-treasurer of the Pikes Peak Poultry Association. During his term of office the treasury of the organization went from red to black, and he also increased the number of trophies and silver cups of that association in national tournaments. Veditz was appointed editor of the Western Pigeon Journal, moved on to become associate editor of the American Pigeon Journal, bringing the national convention of the American Poultry Association to Denver for their first time in Colorado’s history. In 1913 he was elected official delegate from the state of Colorado to the national convention in Atlantic City. In one of his feature articles in the prestigious Country Gentleman he was referred to as one of the best known poultry experts in western United States. Upon his retirement he was made an honorary officer of every poultry club and association in the state of Colorado.

This type of story was repeated when Vedtiz and his wife began growing flowers. They experimented with squab culture, develop lovely specimens to dahlias and gladioli, and again were carrying away blue ribbons from state fairs. In no time George W. Vedtiz became a recognized authority in floriculture in Colorado circles, and once again was the only deaf person holding a sequence of offices in local, state, and national organizations interested in flower-growing.

All during this time Veditz continued to write scholarly articles, do translations, and create poetry. He was foreign editor of the National Exponent, published out of Chicago, and carried on a voluminous correspondence with such people as Thomas A. Edison, William Jennings Bryant, President William Howard Taft, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Woodrow Wilson, Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel, and various senators, congressmen, and others.

Throughout his adult life George W. Veditz continued to support the right of the deaf person to his own mode of communication, which he felt was the language of signs. Frequently his strong, forceful opinions upset educators who were riding on the fence in the oral-manual controversy, and as a result of his heated word slinging, this fighting firebrand made a number of enemies both among the hearing and the deaf. Even today among oldtimers we will find some who do not have exactly warm feelings toward this former NAD leader.

The death of George W. Vedtiz on March 12, 1937, brought double-column notices in Colorado newspapers and in the New York Times and Herald Tribune. As it was, he died hated by many and feared by all. The years have mellowed this feeling and highlighted the firm, unflinching principle held by this man and his passionate desire to do what was best for the deaf. In some ways Vedtiz died a martyr to sign language, which was under heavy attack during the 1930’s, but his genius and astounding success certainly was living proof of what this system had helped to develop. For him it was perfectly practical communication mode and he made the most of it. He had absolutely no patience with deaf leaders who would not speak out or fight for the “combined system” of instruction as it was called in those days or oral ascendency.

He exemplifies the poem by John Bannister Tabb: “Their noonday never knows / what names immortal are: / ‘tis night alone that shows / how star surpasseth star,”
--Mervin D. Garretson

Dr. Mervin D. Garretson (President of the NAD, 1976-1978) made this presentation at the Gaithersburg (Maryland) Public Library on December 6, 1977 during the fourth annual Deaf Action Week of the District of Columbia area.