Think of every day you live as your last day. - Helen Keller Helen Keller was born in 1880 in a town called Tuscumbia in northern Alabama. When she was one and a half years old, a serious illness took away her vision and hearing, and then she lost her ability to express language. However, in this dark and lonely world, she learned to read and speak, and graduated with honors from Radcliffe College in the United States, becoming a learned woman with mastery of English, French, German, Latin, and Greek. A well-known writer and educator. She traveled around the United States and around the world to raise funds for schools for the blind, and dedicated her life to the welfare and education of the blind. She has won praise from people around the world and received awards from many governments.