This is Sophia Fowler Gallaudet. She was the wife of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. She was proud to be Deaf. She helped to found Gallaudet College. She was born Deaf in Connecticut, on March 20, 1798. Sophia was nineteen years old when a school for the deaf was founded in Hartford, Connecticut. She entered the school in 1817 and stayed until 1821. She met the principal of the school, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and fell in love and got married in 1821. She was a very charming person and loved to meet people. After her husband, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet died in 1851. Her eight children stayed with her.

In 1857, Mrs. Gallaudet's youngest son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, became principal of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. His ambition was to establish a college for the Deaf. And Sophia shared his dream and met with the Congressmen. She got their support for her goals. She received funds to found and maintain Gallaudet College.

Sophia served as matron of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf (Kendall Demonstration School and Gallaudet College) for nine years.

She died on May 13, 1877. Gallaudet University has preserved her memory by naming Fowler Hall, that was a women's dormitory and now the building is part of the graduate school, in her honour.