by Lynn Mandaville
It happens all too often to me lately due to my CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) that I have a day when I overexert myself, then wind up sleeping away the better part of the next 36 hours.
On those “sometimeses,” as happened today, I feel like Rip Van Winkle, waking from an exceedingly long nap to startling news.
Today I did wake after nearly a day and a half of mostly sleep to read a friend’s post online reproaching the news media for presenting their annual year-end montage of “dearly departeds” too soon to include a person or persons of great significance in their fields.
He was speaking specifically of Barbara Walters, the famed news journalist, whose death was actually this past Wednesday, the 28th, but wasn’t publicly announced until this evening, Dec. 30.
One of the first news networks to present their annual montage of “in memoriam” pieces this morning was more complete than I remember many past years being, so much that it included the very recent passings of Franco Harris on the 29th and Pele’ on the 30th, each man noted for his achievements in football and futbol, respectively.
Had CBS waited a mere 12 hours, more or less, it would have been able to include Walters in the piece. By the time CBS’s Sunday Morning airs, that omission will surely have been corrected.
Similarly, when I woke this evening, I opened Townbroadcast to catch up on things, and was stunned to see that Dorothy DeWeerd, a woman of great significance to the Wayland community, had also left us on the same day as Walters.
Had the editor of Townbroadcast held off publishing his year in review just three more hours, he could have included the passing of DeWeerd.
Of course, it’s unfair to expect any news outlet to hold off until the ball drops on Times Square in NY to report passings of note.
And perhaps for individuals like Barbara Walters and Dottie DeWeerd it’s best they have their own stories told and be extolled separately for their import in their particular spheres of influence.
In the next few days, I expect, there will be many opportunities for the colleagues of Walters, present and past, to speak of her as the pioneer she was as a woman in the man’s world of broadcast journalism, and as the woman who could persuade anyone to sit down for an in-depth interview. (Fidel Castro comes to mind immediately.)
But aside from those who choose to speak at Dottie’s funeral, and aside from the editor of Townbroadcast who may do a more detailed piece about her, I’m not sure how many will tell their stories publicly about her grace, patience, kindness and loveliness as a human being.
I’d like to say, briefly, a few things about Dottie as I knew her.
I knew Dorothy first as one of my regular patrons at the Henika Library. I can’t say that she was a voracious reader, usually, a couple of books each month from the books on our shelves. (Who knows how much other reading filled her time?) I knew that she was busy with many other things that posed demands on her time — church, board of education, any number of other civic activities.
Before serving on the WUS board of education was even on my horizon, Dorothy DeWeerd existed in my mind as an imposing and intimidating figure. Then, beginning in 1990, when I was a newbie on the board of ed., I got to know Dottie as a woman of great character.
Though I was given a very detailed orientation by the superintendent and board president, she was very patient teaching me how to navigate the politics of serving on the board while also being a part-owner of a local business.
Dottie had been president of the school board for many years prior to my election, and changes were in the wind due to a particular disciplinary event. I was stuck in the position of casting the vote that moved Dottie out of that seat. She was gracious and never expressed any hard feelings toward me.
Dottie and I sometimes butted heads on issues, but she and I shared a philosophy about differing opinions. We listened to each other for understanding. We expressed our points of view in board settings without rancor, and we accepted the majority opinions of the board whichever side was taken. And though that was my nature as well as hers, I have often in life tried to model her strength and conviction in a way that would honor her.
I knew Dottie was devoted to her family, that she took pride in their achievements. She wasn’t, however, one to crow about them. She was reserved at a time when social media was making folk more outspoken, more braggadocious.
After our time on the board together, she and I reverted to knowing each other at the library. But we were still familiar with one another. She was still too busy to read more than a couple of books a month from the library’s collection. We would exchange pleasantries, and we were curious about one another’s doings and families.
As people do, we lost touch.
Yet I still regard Dottie DeWeerd to have been a person of integrity, intelligence and compassion, a woman to be admired and imitated. And I still considered her to be a friend.
Others will have known Dottie longer or in different circumstances, and their own stories about her deserve to be known.
But this is how I knew Dottie. Formally as Dorothy, or familiarly as Dottie, she was a mighty personality and a fountain of kindness. Not at all intimidating, but accessible and kind.
I think her passing is a significant milestone in the annals of Wayland’s history, on a par with that of Barbara Walters in her sphere.
My deepest sympathy is extended to her family and close friends, with my deep affection for her memory.