Etoile DuBard Biography

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Dr. Etoile DuBard was born May 1, 1921, in DuBard, Grenada County, Mississippi.

Dr. DuBard received her B.S. degree from Mary Hardin-Baylor College in 1942 and her M.A. from George Peabody College. She did postgraduate studies at the then Mississippi Southern College, the University of Utah, and Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) in St. Louis, Missouri, and Washington University, where she studied under the late Mildred McGinnis. She received her Ph.D. from The University of Southern Mississippi. In 1997, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree by her undergraduate alma mater, Mary-Hardin Baylor College.

In 1942, Etoile DuBard entered the United States Naval Reserve - Women's Reserve. Following six months of training to be a naval aviation machinist mate, she was assigned to the naval air station in Kingsville, Texas. After additional preparation, she held a post in the Navy comparable to a college registrar. She taught in elementary schools in Texas, Florida, Natchez, and Jackson prior to her work in the field of communication disorders. She was a nationally certified speech-language pathologist, audiologist, and a teacher of students who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

She was one of Mississippi's first "speech correctionists" and was a pioneer, nationally and internationally, in the development of services for children who have language and speech disorders and later for students with learning disabilities/dyslexia.

In 1962, Dr. DuBard founded the Preschool Deaf and Aphasic Program, later known as the School for Children with Language Disorders.

In 1996, the school was renamed DuBard School for Language Disorders in her honor. Dr. DuBard was a founding member of the faculty of the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, and contributed to the development of its curriculum. She was named Professor Emerita upon her retirement in 1989 and remained very active in her chosen profession until early 2001. She lectured throughout the United States, in Canada, Mexico, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and at other sites.

In 1974, 1976, and 1983, she authored three editions of "Teaching Aphasics and Other Language Deficient Children." She co-authored updated and revised versions of the text, under the title of "Teaching Language-Deficient Children," with Maureen K. Martin in 1994, 1997, and 2000. She also co-authored materials for use with the DuBard Association Method®. 

Etoile was a Life Member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a Life Member of the USM Alumni Association, a founding member of the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council and the International Association Method Task Force, a member of DMA, the Hattiesburg Lions Club, and Omicron Delta Kappa. She was a member of the USM Foundation's President's Circle and served on the Foundation's Board. She was a member of Sacred Heart Parish and the parish Altar Society.

Among her many awards for outstanding service were Distinguished Professor of The University of Southern Mississippi, Honors of the Mississippi Speech-Language-Hearing Association, USM Alumni Hall of Fame, and Hattiesburg Junior Auxiliary's Humanitarian of the Year. The Melvin Jones Fellow Award for dedicated humanitarian service was recently presented from Lions Clubs International Foundation.

During her life, Etoile DuBard touched the lives of hundreds of children who were challenged with severe language/speech and/or hearing disorders, as well as thousands of university students. Her high standards, vision, and dreams for success for those she taught inspired and enhanced many lives. She left the world a better place and will be deeply missed by her family, friends, colleagues, and students.

Dr. Etoile DuBard died on November 4, 2003.