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Dr. E. G. Gill was a tireless humanitarian who put Roanoke at the epicenter of sight preservation.
Courtesy of The Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries
The Gill Memorial Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat Hospital, shown here, opened in 1928. Ewald Pharmacy was near the front entrance.
When the Virginia State Lions Club decided to hold its annual convention in Roanoke in May of 1939, Dr. Elbyrne Gill swung into action. Gill was Roanoke’s preeminent physician on matters of sight, having established the Gill Memorial Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat Hospital on South Jefferson Street in 1926.
As honorary chairman of the convention, Gill sought to bring the world’s most celebrated advocate for the blind to Roanoke. In February, Gill penned a letter to Helen Keller inviting her to speak at the convention. “If you come, the public will be invited to hear you, and we can assure you of a very large and enthusiastic audience. Your presence will add much to the work we are doing for the unfortunate people of our State, and as a Director of Lions International and chairman of the Committee on Arrangements, I wish to extend to you a most cordial invitation.”
Courtesy of Collection of the Historical Society of Western Virginia
Dr. E.G. Gill
Keller arrived in Roanoke by train on the morning of May 26, where she was greeted by Gill and a throng of Roanoke schoolchildren, who presented her a bouquet of flowers. Gill’s promise of an enthusiastic audience was not an overstatement when Keller addressed the Lions convention banquet at Hotel Roanoke that evening. “A thunderous applause greeted Miss Keller and her companion of 25 years, Miss Polly Thompson, as they were escorted into the packed Hotel Roanoke ballroom,” reported the Roanoke Times. “Then, with deep respect, the convention became silent as the party took places at the speakers’ table.”
When it came time for Keller to speak, the audience was first given a demonstration by Thompson on how Keller had been taught by her first instructor, Anne Sullivan. (That phase of Keller’s life would be later dramatized in the Academy Award winning 1962 film The Miracle Worker that starred Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft.) Thompson asked Keller a series of questions about her life, which was followed by remarks from Keller herself. “This world’s famous woman held the vast audience spellbound from the moment she entered the ballroom until she finished her talk,” stated the Times.
Keller, who was both blind and deaf, followed the convention’s program by keeping her left hand against Thompson’s lips and jaw. As an experiment, Gill posed a question to Keller with Keller using the same touch technique as a means to comprehend. On other occasions Keller would follow a movie or speaker by Thompson using sign language in Keller’s hands, with Thompson able to spell out 85 words per minute. Keller’s reception in Roanoke ended with a standing ovation from the Lions and their guests which numbered over 1,000.
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The story above is a preview from our May/June 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!