"Every day I wished and dreamed of having more -- more books, more classrooms, more teachers, and more time to dream and imagine what life would be like if only I could fly away from the strenuous and seemingly never-ending work on our family farm."
"I made a commitment to be the best I could be and absorb as much knowledge that a little farm girl could handle."
"I would say minimal,"
"I prefer maps."
Gladys Mae Brown West was born in 1930 and grew up on a small farm in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, during the Jim Crow era. She attended a one-room schoolhouse and developed aspirations for education and books, later committing to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Teachers urged her to study mathematics, and she cultivated a love of geometry. West played pivotal roles in charting orbital trajectories and creating accurate mathematical models of the Earth's shape that became essential to the GPS satellite system. She was later recognized as a hidden figure of GPS and died at age 95, passing peacefully alongside family and friends.
Read at www.npr.org
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