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• 1 2020-08-19T22:39:35+00:00 Audrey Mae Hayden Gradle 3 plain 2020-08-25T20:35:50+00:00 Audrey Mae Hayden Gradle (1891-1977, OC 1915) was a leader in the prevention of blindness. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1915 with a B.A. in English. From 1915 to 1919, she worked for the Student Government Office of the State Reform School for Girls at Sleighton Farm in Pennsylvania. She later worked as a field agent for the Tax Payers Association of California, as the executive secretary for the Conestoga Community Center, and as the executive secretary for the New York Road Public Health Center. In 1925, she became the executive secretary for the Missouri Commission for the Blind, which led to her career-long fight for the prevention of blindness. She held that position until 1927, when she became the director of the Illinois Society for Prevention of Blindness. Gradle fought for legislation to create special classes for pupils with poor vision, to set up clinics for treating eye diseases, and to establish eye testing programs. She wrote several articles about the effects of blindness on American society and the work of blindness prevention societies. Gradle was recognized for her work in 1945, when she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Oberlin College. In 1954, she received The Leslie Dana Medal. After her retirement in 1945, Gradle continued to work as a consultant for the Pan American Association of Ophthalmologists and helped found the Southern California Society for the Prevention of Blindness.
  
  Sources:
  Student File (Audrey Mae Hayden Gradle), Alumni & Development Records, O.C.A.