Courtesy of Dr Dave Fabry, PhD.

Audiology pioneer and newborn hearing screening champion Marion Downs is born in New Ulm, Minnesota.  If your child had their hearing evaluated before leaving the hospital, it is because of her.

She devoted her professional life to the promotion of early identification of hearing loss in newborns, infants, and young children and to helping deaf and hard of hearing individuals lead fulfilling lives. She also skied until she was 94, played tennis regularly, and won five gold medals for tennis in the National Senior Games.

This photo was taken in celebration of her 100th birthday when Joscelyn Komer Martin and Dave Fabry visited her in Minneapolis; Marion passed away later that year, on November 13th, 2014.