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Rutha Luella Curtiss (b. 1881) was the younger sister of Glenn Hammond Curtiss. When she was 6 years old, she fell victim to meningitis, and although she recovered, she lost her hearing in the process. Glenn helped her with finger-spelling and lip-reading and in 1889 the family moved to Rochester so that she could attend the Western New York Institute for Deaf Mutes. In 1897, Rutha became a boarding student there when her family moved again. When she graduated, she continued at the school as a teacher until 1915 when she married Augustus Hesley. In 1918 the couple moved, with Rutha's mother Lua Curtiss, to California. When Lua later decided to move to Miami, she again persuaded Rutha to join her, this time leaving her husband to do so, although the two were never actually divorced.