25 of 31| Jeanette Lorch| Atlanta, Georgia |Deaf Women Herstory Month 2020

Image Description : Fair skinned woman with silver white short hair smiling brightly at the camera. Woman is wearing white sweater with red printed shirt underneath. Photo is taken in an office.

Bio:

Jeanette  attended and graduated from the Alabama School of the Deaf in Tuscaloosa then attended Gallaudet University where she met the love of her life, Bob Lorch. After Bob graduated from Gallaudet, the newlyweds moved to Georgia where Bob got a job at the Atlanta Journal Constitution as a typesetter and Jeanette got a job with J C Penney. Once she moved to Georgia with her husband. Jeanette became heavily involved in the deaf community. During this time Jeanette realized that deaf community needed an advocate for the specialized needs of the Deaf community. She started her lifelong association with the Georgia Council for the Hearing Impaired (GACHI) later renamed Georgia Center for the deaf and Hard of hearing. She started several advocate groups for the deaf community including “Silent Fingers’ ‘ and the Deaf Seniors of Georgia (DSG) of which she was standing president. She was a lifelong member and past president of the Georgia Association of the Deaf (GAD). Georgia Center for the Deaf and hard of hearing  honored her lifetime work by naming one of their conference rooms the “Jeanette Lorch” room.  

Jeanette Lorch was widely loved and respected by the deaf community for her tireless work on their behalf. Anybody who met Jeanette Lorch remembers her, from both the deaf and hearing worlds. Her outgoing, positive, cheerful personality made her a person whom everybody loved. Jeanette loved spending time with her deaf friends traveling all over the world playing cards and traveling to interesting places rich with beauty and history and she loved spending time with her family.