by Lisa Stephens

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: July 25, 2009

William C. Stokoe, Jr. (July 21, 1919 - April 4, 2000), is known throughout the United States and Europe as the founder of sign language linguistics. He was both a leading advocate and educator of the deaf.

William Stokoe was born on July 21, 1919 in Lancaster, New Hampshire. He spent most of his childhood growing up on the family farm in the rural areas outside of Rochester, New York. Stokoe was a good academic student during his high school years, however he obtained the nickname of "Stubborn Stokoe" due to his willful persistence and he would argue with his teachers over test answers. He later went on to attend Cornell University for his undergraduate degree. Academically he excelled and was awarded several scholarships, including the Boldt Scholarship, which assisted him greatly with his tuition costs. He was active in extra curricular activities including the ROTC program and fencing.

In 1940, while attending Cornell University, Stokoe suffered a nervous breakdown, and was later diagnosed with a manic-depressive disorder. After spending a year to recoup, he returned to Cornell in 1941, and shortly thereafter he met his future wife, Ruth Palmeter, also a Cornell student. They married in November of 1942.

Over the course of the next year, Stokoe endured some difficult times. His brother Jim, who he was very close with, died in December of 1942. For a brief time, William and Ruth stayed on and assisted with tending the family farm, but in 1943 Stokoe returned to Cornell to complete his graduate studies. William and Ruth had two children, a daughter Helen Marie born in 1947, and a son James Stafford, born in 1951.

After graduating Cornell, Stokoe went on to teach English at Wells College. In 1955, a close and dear friend invited him to teach at Gallaudet College (now University). When he arrived at Gallaudet to begin teaching, he had little experience with deaf people, let alone any training in communication with sign language. His lack of knowledge did not stop him, but in fact encouraged him to pursue further study of sign language. Learning the art of signing did not come easy for him, and even though he learned to sign and practiced regularly, he never really did become a great signer. What Stokoe did realize was that deaf people communicated with sign in an actual language, which at the time was contradicted by many, who believed the sign language was a corrupt imitation of spoken English. As an English professor, he noticed that even thought the

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