Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-01-04
Mrs. Bell Widow
Of Inventor Dead
Was His Inspiration

washington, Jan. S.-MrS. Alex.
ander Graham Bell, widow of the
famous inventor. died here tonight
at the home of her daughter, Mr..
David Fairchild, after a long illness
She was SO years of age. She had
been failing since the death of her
husband, last August.
Mrs. Bell was Mabel Hubbard, the
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Gardner
Greene Hubbard, of Cambridge, Mass.
where she was born in 1859.
The Hubbard family traced its an.
cestry far back through line of Am.
erican pioneers to the early kings OF
England. Although throughout her
life she was q leader in her own
small social set and acted as her dis
tlnguished husbands business mana.
ger and aided him in his work, She
lives under an affection of total deaf
ness that followed a severe attack OF
scarlet fever in her hcildhood
Through the devotion OF her mother
however, she learned to speak and TO
read the lips of others and her
teachers in private school in
Cambridge, where she was the young
est pupil, declared her mentality was
higher than that of the other children
despite her disadvantage. In 1895 She
wrote an article on lip-reading that
was published in many foreign coun.
tries.
Mrs. Bells father was deeply in.
terested in DR.. Bells telephone in.
ventiOns, backed his scheme and be.
came the first president of the Bell
Telephone Company.
She married Alexander Graham
Bel in Boston in 1874, after she
studied at his school for voice cul.
tue. 1t was said that she was his
irsp:r alton for the invention of the
telephone for which he is best
known, because his hope that he
might find means of enabling her to
hear led him into his study and ex.
Leriments in phonetics.
Few persons realize the benefits
that deaf children have derived as
the result of the long illness .tat
lobied little Mabel Hubbard of her
hearing for it was her father who
in 1867. disproved through her that
the sign language was the only
means of educating deaf children.
After teaching the afflicted child to
read lips. her parents arranged q
dcInCr stration of her ability before
Massachusetts legislators. They were
50 Impressed that they granted a
charter for the first school of in
strIction in this method, and now
every deaf child can be taught to
81 eak and read the lips.
Mrs. Bell contributed articles to
many magazines and wrote several
plays. She travelled around the world
with her husband and dwelt in many
strange lands with him. AS hos
tess she entertained at her Wash
ington and Nova Scotia homes many
of the most eminent scientists of the
world. Her faith in her husbands
genius was boundless; she encourag-
ed all his efforts and contributed
large sums to derfand that evento
large sums to defray the costs of his
experiments in many fields.
She encouraged the inventor also
in his work in behalf of deaf child.
rem and in promoting the study Of
lip-re aiding among deaf adults. She
aided in all the benefits to humanity
to which his work had contributed in
many ways. Nor did she confine her
aid for education solely among the
deaf, for she did much to promote
the education of normal children as
well.
Mrs. Bell is survived by two daugh.
ters. Elsie May Grosvenor, wife of Dr..
Gilbert Grosvenor. president of the
National Geographic Society. and Ma
rian Hubbard Fairchild, wife of Dr.
David Fairchild of the United States
department of agriculture and by
Grace Hubbard Bell. her sister, wife
of Charles I. Bell president Of the
American Security & Trust Co. Of this
CITY