User:SarahKHill/sandbox

Dorothy "Lottie" Riekehof moved from Germany to New Jersey, when she was three years old, and her younger sister was a year and a half. At home, her family spoke only German, but her parents wanted their children to be bilingual. When Lottie started kindergarten, the teacher taught in English, which, of course, Lottie had yet to learn. The solution to this dilemma came in the form of a fellow student, also just starting kindergarten, who was the daughter of a German pastor. Knowing both German and English, the girl provided Lottie's first introduction to the concept of an interpreter.

After graduating from high school, Lottie was invited to travel with a young woman evangelist. After about a year, the woman got married, and Lottie was forced to decided what to do next with her life. At the last church at which she and the evangelist ministered, she met a deaf woman. Lottie would often sit next to this woman during church and write notes to her. Then one day, in 1945, the deaf woman asked her, "Why don't you learn sign language?" At this point, however, Lottie had never heard of sign language. The deaf woman taught her and then suggested Lottie attend classes at Gallaudet. The President of the University referred them to the teacher, Dr. Pete, who turned her down flat. But Lottie approached her a second time. Dr. Pete explained that the program was for graduate students, so why would Lottie want to take the classes? Lottie stated simply that she wanted to interpret in her church, at which point Dr. Pete said, "All right, join the class."

Lottie began interpreting in her church as well as attending a service for a group of deaf people pastored by the very woman who had encouraged her to learn in the first place. It was there she learned about deafness, deaf people, sign language, etc.

After a year or two, she was invited to teach a sign language class at Central Bible Institute.

In 1961, Wayne Shaneyfelt independently published about 1000 copies of Lottie's book, American Sign Language. In 1963, Gospel Publishing House published her second sign language book, Talk To The Deaf, a book of signs which included illustrations. In 1978, Lottie created an updated edition of Talk To The Deaf, and suggested calling it "Talk To The Deaf, Part 2". However, encouraged to give the new book an original title, she decided to call it Joy of Signing. As of July 2001, Joy of Signing was the best-selling book in Gospel Publishing House history.

Lottie Retired on April 30, 1990, and now lives in Arlington, VA.