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Page The Modern Language Association had published two parts of my three-part dissertation on Middle English romances translated from Old French. Even better, the University of Toronto Quarterly had published in 1952 my interpretation of a major part of The Canterbury Tales. Still betterif the decision was to goon in the mainstream of English teaching and making contributions to mainstream scholarshipI had been asked to present a paper at the MLA annual meeting on the work of Gavin Douglas, the fifteenth-century Chaucerian and main focus of my sabbatical studies. As the time for deciding shortened, I had a paper accepted for publication by Speculum, the journal of medieval studies. 23
Stokoe's strong admiration for George Detmold and their long-term friendship were important factors in his decision to accept the position at Gallaudet. The two men enjoyed each other's company and admired each other's intellect. Detmold was Bill
Stokoe's most trusted friend, particularly after the death of Jim Stokoe. These two humanistsone a Shakespearean scholar with a passion for theater, the other an expert on Chaucer and other Old and Middle English authors would share the same camaraderie at Gallaudet that they had shared at Cornell and Wells.
But while they had left Cornell and Wells pretty much the same as they had found them, they brought irrevocable change to
Gallaudet University, its deaf faculty and students, and deaf people around the world, including many who might never know of their existence. When George Detmold arrived at Gallaudet in 1952 and when Bill Stokoe arrived three years later, they believed that deaf people were no different from hearing people in their worth as individuals. Like everyone else, deaf people were entitled to justicethe kind of justice Walt Whitman described when he wrote "It is immutableit does not depend on majorities."24
It was William Stokoe's observations and discoveries that led to the recognition of American Sign Language as a complete and sophisticated language system, and it was Stokoe who encouraged both deaf and hearing researchers to develop the field of sign language linguistics. But it was George Detmold who

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