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William Willard
Lot 246, Section 25, Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana. Photo taken by Amy Johnson Crow, 27 September 2004.
"William Willard"
[Note: no other inscription is visible on the stone. Other members of the Willard family are also
buried on this plot.]
According to the James Arthur Iliff papers (Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis), William Willard was born 11 November 1809 in Rockingham, Vermont and died 15 February 1888.
William Willard was the first Deaf person to found a permanent school for the Deaf in the United States. He founded the Indiana School for the Deaf, which opened in 1843. Prior to that, he had a day school in Indianapolis. Earlier in his career, he was a teacher at the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus.