Graynella Packer

Graynella Packer (also known as "A. Graynella Packer") was born around 1888 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In her teens, her family moved to Jacksonville, Florida. While attending Sutherland College there, she took technical courses and learned Morse code as a way to communicate with classmates. == Career ==

Early career After Packer finished college studies, she decided to go into landline telegraphy, in part due to her poor eyesight, because, in her words, "handling a key is no strain on the sight". She was employed for two years as the manager of the Sanford, Florida office of the Postal Telegraph Company. She also took regular trips on the Clyde Line steamship Comanche to New York City for vocal lessons. During these trips she became interested in the ship's radiotelegraph equipment, then commonly known as "wireless", and experimented with sending test transmissions. This interest was increased by the recent celebrated actions of operator Jack Binns aboard the Republic, who she came to see as a model for how she would respond in a crisis. in Seattle. In 1918 she published an instruction manual titled "Rhythmic Telegraphy". In May 1921 she received a Bachelor of Laws degree from Cumberland University. After relocating to Tulsa, she began practicing in Oklahoma that year, and in 1933 was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme court. By 1935 she was qualified to practice law in four states, had been elected the first woman secretary of the Bar Association of Oklahoma, and made multiple international trips, including a world tour in 1934. She was reported to be holding teaching assignments in Pokomoke, Maryland in 1953, and Nogales, Arizona in 1954. == Legacy ==

One of the most contentious topics in the United States in the early 1910s was women's suffrage, promoting voting rights for women. Packer was reported to be opposed to the idea, and was quoted as saying "Am I a suffragette? Well, not exactly. To be very frank I have been too busy with my work to pay attention to such things as suffrage." Packer's activities as a pioneering shipboard radio operator were widely reported in the newspapers and magazines of the time, with one early article stating that "As a result of the daily service of the Clyde line and the need of additional operators it is expected that several other women will be employed in the near future." ==See also==