Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/97177
Mary O���Keeffe Class of 1992 This page: Dr. D���s teaching certificate earned in 1959. Opposite page: Dr. Dolezal from the 1976 yearbook. Dr. D is a saint. I���m sure of it! My favorite Dr. D moment was senior year...about a week before graduation when some of my craftier classmates decided to continue the tradition and deface the senior lounge. This was one of the less honored traditions, but still a tradition nonetheless. Our class being quite the overachievers...used oil paints instead of the traditional markers used by previous classes. Our class also jumped the gun, and we still had some finals, senior Cubs game, prom and then finally graduation. I remember being in the theater with some teachers who were calling for graduation to be canceled, prom canceled, etc. Dr. D stood up and and turned to the students and said, ���You know educators are often compared to parents, and although we try to categorize ourselves as something completely different...in reality we are very much like parents. For the past two, four, eight, 14 years we have watched you grow and learn, celebrated your accomplishments and comforted you in your pain. On graduation day we will stand up and clap and cheer... because we love you and nothing will change that.��� And everyone knew...it would all be okay. Linda Goodman Class of 1968 ���Dr. Dolezal said to me, ���You use too many words...just say what it is you have to say.��� This is a lesson that has stayed with me all my life. Inspiring, loving, gentle, kind soul. It was an honor to have had him grace my life.��� ��� John Lassiter, Class of 1980 38 L AT I N M AGAZINE I still remember how strange it was to pick up the phone early one June morning at home and hear Dr. Dolezal���s voice. Shame on me, but I listened on the other phone. He was calling to make sure my parents were going to Latin���s Class Day because I was winning an award and he wanted them to know it so they would be there. How nice of him to call! I couldn���t believe it. Thanks to his phone call, they did go to Class Day and were so proud. I have thought of Dr. Dolezal so many, many times over the years. When I got to college, I was the only one in English class who could write a sentence or look for a ���theme.��� I hope he is looking down and smiling, reading all the wonderful comments. Please know how many lives you touched. Sometimes I forget and still think I need to lay out my navy blue skirt and sweater and get to school early. But then I come to my senses and realize that was 45 years ago. My days at Latin were the best, and Dr. Dolezal was such a huge part of it.