Utah Deaf Model

Eleanor Kay Kinner Curtis,
a Utah Deaf Model

Written & Compiled by Jodi Becker Kinner

Published in 2019
Updated in 2021

Eleanor Kay Kinner

Eleanor Kay Kinner, also known as "Kay," is thought to be the first Deaf model in Utah and the United States. She stood at 5'10" and was slim. She had a keen sense of fashion and design, as seen by the way she dressed in the sideshow. She also likes coming up with her own ideas. Kay's CODA daughter, Rebecca Curtis Larsen, believes that if she had been hearing, she would have had more modeling and fashion opportunities.

Kay enjoyed posing for photographs because of her beauty. Kay posed for Auerbach's department store during her senior year at the Utah School for the Deaf. This is one of Ogden, Utah's greatest design clothing stores. She had also posed for many photos in Collins/Morris Photography while showcasing various outfits.

Kay was featured on the front cover of the Utah Eagle magazine, a printing publication for the Utah School for the Deaf, in April 1953.

According to Rebecca, discrimination from pushing the Deaf to choose "unlikely" employment was far more prevalent throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Being a woman in Utah at the time would have been an additional stumbling block. If Kay had been a graduating senior today, Rebecca believes she would have had more opportunities to pursue a modeling career.

Take a peek at the images of Kay dressed in 1940s and 1950s clothes!