Victoria’s Read

La Leche League International and the world lost an amazing woman when Edwina Froehlich, of Inverness, Illinois, passed away in early June 2008. Edwina was co-founder of La Leche League International and co-author of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, which has over 2 million copies in print.

In 1956, Edwina Froehlich and six other women met in Franklin Park, Illinois to share information on how to successfully breastfeed their babies. The group quickly attracted the attention of other women and became an organization called, “La Leche League.” “In those days you didn’t mention ‘breast’ in print,” Froehlich said. “We knew that if we were ever going to get anything in the paper we would have to find a name that wouldn’t actually tell people what our organization was about.” The breastfeeding support group had been fascinated by the importance placed on breastfeeding by early Spanish settlers in America who, in 1598 dedicated a shrine to “Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto” (”Our Lady of Happy Delivery and Plentiful Milk.”) They captured the Spanish word for milk, “leche,” and from these roots grew La Leche League International, a breastfeeding support not-for-profit organization. LLLI has groups in every U.S. state and in 64 different countries. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding has been translated into eight languages and Braille.

Edwina was a member of the Board of Directors of La Leche League. Edwina, according to her co-founders, had an indomitable spirit. When difficulties stood in the way of La Leche League she said, “We are not going to let this kind of thing get in the way. This is a problem that we are going to have to live through, work through and resolve, so that we can continue to do what we originally set out to do—help mothers successfully breastfeed their babies.”

Born Edwina Hearn on January 5, 1915 in Bronx, New York, she attended Mundelein College in Chicago, Illinois, later married John Francis Froehlich and had three children. Preceeded in death by her husband in 1997, she is survived by her three sons, three daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren.

www.llli.org