Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/97177
Charles Gofen Class of 1983 Dr. Dolezal was an extraordinary teacher who had a profound impact on the lives of so many students at Latin through the years. Some of those students credit him with having lifted them from mediocrity and set them on a lifelong trajectory of excellence. ���He turned my life around,��� a good friend of mine from the Class of 1983 once told me. Here are five of my favorite memories of Dr. Dolezal, whom I had the privilege of studying under as a high school student and then working with as a trustee: 1)Back when I was a student at Latin, I was in the library one afternoon with a reference book called Masterpieces of World Literature in Digest Form. Dr. Dolezal came up behind me and saw that I was reading a two-page plot summary of a novel he had assigned and said gently, ���You really should read the original ��� it���s so much richer.��� Subtle, but effective. No threat of a failing grade, no lecture about having disappointed him. Just a word of encouragement to do the work honestly because I would find it enriching. 2)Another memory from high school. Dr. Dolezal assigned two of us ��� my friend Jim Shapiro and me ��� to debate whether Scobie is subject to eternal damnation or can still attain salvation at the end of Graham Greene���s The Heart of the Matter. (For the record, I did read this book.) I always loved the idea of us two Jewish kids lamely debating Catholic theology in front of a priest. 3)As a young alum, I asked Dr. Dolezal to teach a one-time class for alumni, and he opted to lead a discussion (with his colleague Steve Sommers) on Flannery O���Connor���s Good Country People. Many of us in the room started out with an entirely negative take on the traveling Bible salesman (Manley Pointer, one of the great names in literature), but over the course of the discussion, Dr. Dolezal, who always maintained his optimistic outlook on the world, somehow managed to help us to recognize the potential for good in everyone, even Manley. ���Best teacher I ever had. Period.��� ��� Diane Jacobs Addis, Class of 1974 4)As a new trustee, I was part of the group with Dr. Dolezal that drafted the 1998 Long Range Plan. In one session, he took a lifeless sentence of mine about recruiting faculty and punched it up to read: ���Secure teachers whose excellence and zeal ignite in their students a lifelong passion for wisdom and knowledge.��� Only Dr. Dolezal would think to use nouns like ���zeal��� and verbs like ���ignite��� in a boring strategic planning document. (Years later, we were at a board retreat suggesting words that describe what goes on in the classrooms at Latin, and he offered ���enchantment.���) 5)Dr. Dolezal once offered a piece of advice that I think about all the time: ���Leave the world a better place than you found it ��� plant a tree. Opposite page: Dr. Dolezal and longtime friend Linda Hennelley; teaching notes for Dickens��� Bleak House. This page: a working lunch with Dr. D. LATI N SCHOOL OF CHI CA GO 37