She still lives in Mexico, New York, a very unassuming older woman. To look at her, one would not suspect her story, let alone the movement she propelled into the headlines.

Homeschooling has become common in the US. The Institute of Education Science (IES) for the National Center for Educational Statistics found that 1.7 million children were home-schooled in 2007, a 2.9% increase from 2003. What many have forgotten, the one person responsible for propelling the homeschooling movement forward is H. Cecile Gracey.

Cecile Gracey lived a very normal life in Mexico, New York. She and her husband Gerald had children, ran an apple orchard, and enjoyed the usual family activities. She led the Little Women 4-H club and directed both the junior and the senior church Choir. Gerald took a term as Commander of the local VFW and was active in the Lion’s Club. By all accounts, they were quite the normal family.

In the summer of 1968, Cecile learned of families in Quebec who had removed their children from the public school system in protest of certain curriculum. She met those families in the summer of 1969, and felt inspired. Back in Mexico, New York, she and Gerald sought out the advice of a former school superintendent, Dr. Stanton. He told them that New York State law did allow them to teach their children at home, and that during his time as superintendent, the Tollerton family had successfully removed their children from the Mexico public school and taught them at home. Cecile felt encouraged. She contacted the Tollerton family and talked to Grace. Grace encouraged Cecile, gave her instructions on what she needed to do to meet state requirements, offering both books and desks. Cecile thought she was set.

In October 19th of 1970, two social workers appeared at Cecile’s front door with a court order to remove her 6 school aged children. Her crime? Attempting to teach her children at home. The Mexico Academy and Central School district had filed a case against her in Family Court. The charge? Neglect. The petition, signed by Kathleen M. Gibbs, is dated September 25, 1970.

Cecile wept, but did not crumble as police and social workers removed six of her children from under her eyes and shoved them into police cruisers. “I did not sleep at all that night,” she admits. “I cleaned the house all night long, trying to think.” She knew NY State law gave her the right to teach her children, but needed professional help to combat the court order. She turned to William Marra, Ph.D., professor of philosophy at Fordham University, Charles Rice, Ph.D., professor of law at Notre Dame, and James Likoudis of Buffalo, who worked with the State Education Department. They all asked her one question: are you willing to go public. She said yes.

A news media frenzy ensued, quick to pick up the removal of children from a mother who simply wanted to teach them at home. From The Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Spokesman Review, The Palladium Times, and the Mexico Independent, reporters rushed to the Gracey household to ask questions, take pictures, and get the story. Local TV stations sent their cameramen. Day after day, the story unfolded on the front pages of these newspaper, and night after night the evening news highlighted the case. The reporters scrutinized the Mexico Public School tactics, the conduct of the social workers, who threatened the children if they contacted their parents and were in a frenzy because the kids refused to eat, the Family Court Judge Donald Comstock for his harsh judgment and Gracey herself. Not only did the local papers report, AP picked up the story and sent it across the country. The focus targeted one point: did parents have any rights over the education of their child?

Attorney James McKenna, the president of the Interstate Committee for Parental Rights, believed they did. He offered to represent the Graceys, arguing that their constitutional rights were being violated.

On Friday, Robert Hurlbutt, lawyer for the public school, handed Judge Comstock a petition that, in part, stated “That your deponent has, since the hearing of October 14th, had an opportunity to examine the law of the State of New York governing compulsory attendance at school; that Section 3204(2) of the New York State Education Law provides ‘instruction given to a minor elsewhere than at a public school shall be at least substantially equivalent to the instruction given to minor of like age and attainment at the public schools of the three periods district where the minor resides.’” The petition goes on to say “That your deponent believes that the best interests of the children would be served in this case by allowing them to return to the home of their parents, pending a formal court hearing in the matter…”

The petition highlights the gross injustice done to Cecile and her children. That very law had been brought to the attention of both the school lawyers and judge well before the removal of the children.

The children were then returned to Cecile and Gerald on October 23, and a court hearing set for Nov. 13, 1970.

November 13th, 1970 found reporters and TV news men swarming the Family Court House in Oswego, New York. When Gracey took the stand, Hurlbutt grilled her for over 5 hours, asking her the same questions over and over again. A bystander overheard Robert Carr, administrative assistant to the district principal, whisper to someone, “We have to break her, so that the judge realizes she is not competent to teach her children.”  They failed. Cecile, though shaken from the brutal tactics, remained honest, straightforward and focused.

In February, Cecile learned that she had finally won her case. After public humiliation, multiple court appearances, losing her children, being exposed to the wrath of some Mexico residents who harassed her with multiple crank calls and vandalism of the property, Cecile had prevailed. She told Michael Lawrence, Triumph magazine reporter sent to get her story, “I wanted to go forward with this case, not just for the right to teach my children at home, but for the principle of the thing.” She did win that right, and set a precedence that many parents followed: deciding where, what, and how their child or children are taught, including the option of teaching them at home.

Few remember the Gracey Case, as the news media dubbed the story back in 1970. Several books have alluded to it, including Parental Rights: The Contemporary Assault on Traditional Liberties (page 109 mentions the Gracey Case story). A new book is being written using first time seen unsealed court documents, newspaper clippings, diaries from the children removed from the home, and recollections from the Gracey family. But most of all, the book hopes to highlight the moral courage and character of one person, Cecile Gracey. Without her willingness to stand up to the court and the public school system, to undergo the pain and anguish of losing her children, of being scrutinized by public opinion, and standing on the witness stand for 5 agonizing hours under intense interrogation, homeschooling may never have taken the strides it did.

She deserves to be remembered.