Elizabeth Janet Gray
| Elizabeth Gray Vining | |
|---|---|
Crown Prince Akihito and Elizabeth Gray Vining
|
|
| Born |
Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining October 6, 1902 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S |
| Died | November 27, 1999 (aged 97) Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, U.S |
| Alma mater |
Bryn Mawr College Drexel University |
| Occupation | Writer, librarian |
| Known for | Teacher of Emperor Akihito |
| Spouse(s) | Morgan Fisher Vining |
| Awards |
Order of the Sacred Treasure Newbery Award |
Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining (October 6, 1902 – November 27, 1999) was an American professional librarian and author who tutored Emperor Akihito of Japan in English while he was crown prince. She was also a noted author, whose children's book Adam of the Road received the Newbery Medal in 1943.
Elizabeth Janet Gray, also known as Elizabeth Gray Vining, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 6, 1902. She was a graduate of Germantown Friends School and received an AB from Bryn Mawr College in 1923. In 1926, she earned an MS in library science from the Drexel Institute, and became a librarian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She married Morgan Fisher Vining, associate director of the Extension Division of UNC, in 1929. The marriage ended in 1933 when her husband was killed in a New York City automobile accident, in which Vining was severely injured. During her convalescence, she converted to the Quaker faith.
Vining soon became known as an author, primarily of children's books, and was awarded the 1943 Newbery Medal for Adam of the Road. She had published eleven books by the end of World War II.
From 1946 to 1950 during the Allied occupation of Japan after the war, Vining was selected by Emperor Hirohito himself (and not the United States government, as is erroneously claimed) to become a private tutor to Crown Prince Akihito, the heir apparent to the Chrysanthemum Throne. As part of her teaching program, she arranged for closely supervised occasions when four Western teenaged boys in Tokyo would get together to help the crown prince practice English conversation.
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