Welcome to Daily TWiP, your daily dose of all the holidays and history we couldn’t cram into The Week in Preview.

If a student is particularly successful, it is sometimes because her teacher is equally remarkable. Anne Sullivan Macy, for example, overcame poverty and blindness to obtain an education, which in turn enabled her to teach Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf. Macy was born Johanna Mansfield Sullivan today (April 14th) in 1866 in Feeding Hills, Mass.

Macy lost most of her sight at the age of seven, the result of an untreated bacterial infection known as trachoma. Her mother died the following year. At the age of ten, she was abandoned by her alcoholic father and became a ward of the state almshouse in Tewksbury, Mass. She remained at the almshouse for four years until a chance encounter with a state official performing an inspection tour made it possible for her to attend the Perkins School for the Blind in Boston.

Forthright and fiery-tempered with a voracious appetite for learning, Macy threw herself into her studies at Perkins, learning the manual alphabet and graduating as valedictorian of her class. When the Keller family contacted the school looking for an instructor for their blind, deaf, and extremely challenging daughter Helen, Macy’s unique combination of knowledge, personal experience and tenacity made her the ideal candidate.

Under Macy’s tutelage, Keller learned to read, write, sign and speak. Keller even went on earn a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College, an accomplishment facilitated by Macy, who attended lectures with Keller and spelled what the professors were saying into the palm of Keller’s hand.

At Radcliffe, Macy met John Albert Macy, a professor who became a close friend of hers and Keller’s and assisted with the editing of Keller’s autobiography. He and Anne were married in 1905 and enjoyed a few years of wedded bliss before the relationship began to fall apart. They separated in 1914 but did not divorce, remaining married until John’s death in 1932.

Macy’s failed marriage remained a source of grief and disappointment to her for the rest of her life, adding to the wounds she still nursed from her traumatic childhood. Keller, however, held Macy in the highest regard and was consistently frustrated that Macy did not receive more credit for her role in Keller’s accomplishments.

In spite of Macy’s personal struggles, she and Keller gave lectures, produced writings, appeared in a movie, and otherwise advocated on behalf of the blind. Their activities began to slow around 1930 due to Macy’s health problems, which had plagued her for more than a decade, as well as her failing sight. She died in 1936 at the age of 70.

However doubtful Macy may have been regarding her own abilities, her influence on her contemporaries was significant. Her cremated remains were interred in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., making her the first woman to be accorded such an honor on her own merits. To this day, she remains a source of inspiration to many.

Daily TWiP appears Monday through Saturday courtesy of The Week in Preview. Read more of both at www.nashuatelegraph.com/columnists/weekinpreview.

Keep track of Daily TWiP, The Week in Preview, Tete-a-tete, and Teresa’s general ramblings at http://twitter.com/TeresaInPreview.

– Teresa Santoski