Gene Grabeel
Gene Grabeel (June 5, 1920 – January 30, 2015) was an American mathematician and cryptanalyst who founded the Venona project.

Career 
Grabeel graduated from Mars Hill College and Farmville State Teachers College and initially worked as a high school home economics teacher.

In his book Code Warriors: NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union, Stephen Budiansky describes how she came into the opportunity to work as a U.S. government cryptanalyst:

In 1936, Grabeel began her 36-year career with the Signal Intelligence Service.
On February 1, 1943, she founded the Venona project, a counterintelligence program aimed at decrypting Soviet communications.

She and others spent months sifting through stored and incoming Soviet telegrams.

Personal life 
Grabeel was born in Rose Hill, Virginia on June 5, 1920.
She attended Blackstone Baptist Church.
She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the 17th Century Colonial Dames.

Death and legacy 
After the 1995 declassification of the Venona project, Grabeel was recognized by the Central Intelligence Agency as an "American Hero".
Grabeel died at age 94 on January 30, 2015 in Blackstone, Virginia.