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While preparing for the wonderful memorial Carol Gilles organized to honor Dorothy Watson (Figure 4), I revisited a number of Dorothy's publications, looking for quotes that might be included in the event. I began with Making a Difference: Selected Writings of Dorothy Watson (1996).1 reread the personal inscription Dorothy had written on the title page; it was like a warm hug. Next, I turned to the Dedication and it took my breath away:
I've heard that by our fortieth year we have the faces we deserve. Not only has my fortieth birthday come and gone, but my fortieth year of teaching has also passed. I hope I deserve what I see in the mirror, for it is a face surrounded by dozens of other faces. This book is dedicated to all those friends, colleagues, and family who are reflected in the mirror, those who never fail to encourage, inform, and make me smile.
I dont remember ever having read this. I was struck by how beautifully it captures Dorothy's collaborative nature and her generous spirit. Dorothy situates herself in the center, encircled by her people; she can only see herself surrounded by those who have influenced her. Dorothy's lived a life free of artifice and ego, and her humility comes honestly. Without question, Dorothy, you deserve your place at the center of that mirror, as well as a place of honor in the countless mirrors of those you never failed to encourage, inform, and make smile.
Dorothy was a master at envisioning, building, and sustaining community. At the start of a conference presentation, she would often ask the participants to raise their hands if this was their first time attending this conference. She would then invite experienced attendees to reach out and chat with a newcomer about how they had each found themselves there. When visiting a fifth-grade classroom in the second week of the school year, she observed that the American-born students not only knew the given names of the recently arrived Cambodian refugee students, but could pronounce them as well as any native English speaker could. When a student slipped and said you or pointed, the teacher stopped everything and asked them to use their classmate's name. Dorothy saw that the teacher understood...