Dorothy Stowe

My mother, Dorothy Stowe, passed away on Wednesday night. She was a remarkable woman throughout her 88 years. As a young woman, she sang on the radio in northern Iowa and Minnesota with two friends. They were urged to go to Nashville where they were assured they would make it big. But mom decided that what she really wanted to do was teach kids.

She became a kindergarten teacher with much of her career being spent at Wakonda Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska. She was helped in her classroom by two puppets, Angel and Tutu. Angel was very shy and would only come out when the children were very quiet. And so, she created a magical, mystical kindergarten experience for many hundreds of children in her kindergarten career. I was always mystified that she could know all the names of up to 30 children in her first day of school, and that she then often remembered their names years later when she saw them grown. I was with her a number of times when large grown up black men came running across parking lots crying "Mrs. Stowe!" to give her a hug. The day of her retirement was celebrated throughout the rather large city of Omaha, Nebraska as "Dorothy Stowe Day," so named by the Mayor of Omaha, and proclaimed above the title of of the Omaha World Herald.

Her inspirational kindergarten teaching techniques were celebrated and admired by other many other teachers and one small example is shown in the photo above captured on the front page of the Omaha World Herald.

My mother was an avid story teller, and my sisters and I heard many, hundreds of stories about her school children as we were growing up. She set a wonderful example for each of us, both in our experiences of her as a young mother, and throughout her teaching career.

At the age of 79, she decided to follow one of her earlier ambitions. In school she had devoted a great deal of creative energy in the design of bulletin boards for her classroom. She also had stories circling in her head, a few lines of which she had written as text. Not wanting to be subjected to possible refusal and editorial control by a major publisher, she set up her own company, Versatale Press. Taking torn paper and words about "Little Bear," she wrote, illustrated and self-published her first book and then 6 more over the next 9 years. Her most recent book was finished and published in the last month and she wondered what she would write about next.

Being a published author led her back into classrooms and school assemblies where she encouraged children to read and write. Whereever she went she carried a bag of books to give to the children she met. Her most recent books were not published to sell, but to give away and encourage children to read...

As I said at the start, Dorothy Stowe was a remarkable woman. My own creativity comes from being her son, and I can hardly begin to describe how much she will be missed.