Jean spent her first few years in Hooper and her family moved to Otsego early in her life. She was only ten when her father died unexpectedly, leaving her mother to raise and support their family alone. Her mother soon went to work outside the home to provide for the family, and Jean, being one of the oldest, had to help care for her younger siblings. Although she had much responsibility at home, Jean thoroughly enjoyed school and was an excellent student. She went on to graduate 10th in her class at Otsego High School in 1953 | Can you imagine a deaf woman writing stories about a war? Well, Laura Redden Searing did this. Moreover, she went to foreign countries to write stories. She wrote stories in Europe. She wrote poems, too. Her poems were published in many magazines. She wrote enough poems to fill three (43) _ . Laura was born in Maryland. Her family moved to Missouri when she was very young. She was very (44) _ when she was 11 years old. Because of this, she lost her hearing. She went to the Missouri School for the Deaf. Laura was 19 years old when she went to work for a newspaper. She wrote about people, places, and art. In 1859, most women were wives and mothers. They did not work outside the (45) _; otherwise, their husbands would be angry. Due to this feeling, Laura used a man’s name when she wrote her stories. She called herself Howard Glyndon. She thought that (46) _ she used a man’s name, people would be hostile since they did not think that women should write for newspapers. However, she would have no trouble provided that people did not (47) _ she was a woman. Over 100 years ago, some Southern states decided to secede from the United States. They (48) _ to leave the Union. This caused a war called the Civil War. When the Civil War (49) _, Missouri remained in the Union. Laura began to write about the Union. One of her poems, “Belle Missouri”, became a (50) _ for the Union soldiers in Missouri. Finally, Laura went to Washington, to write about the war.
