Last Name Index
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	Dorothy Booth Lewis Logan, Utah Brick Section F - Row 6
She was born, a middle child, 1910, in Youngstown, Ohio. She grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and attended Wells College a couple years until the Depression hit. With a library science certificate from Western Reserve, she worked as a librarian in the 1930s. She married Sherman Leland Lewis Jr. and had a son Sherman Leland III in 1940 and a daughter Carolyn Booth in 1943. She divorced in 1947 and felt bitter about it for the rest of her life, but it propelled her into a serious commitment to educate herself and get a good job. She had fallen in love with the mountains on a trip to Colorado with a college friend years before. In 1948 she came, a divorcee with two children, to the Univ. of New Mexico in Albuquerque, to make a new life. She stunned herself by making straight A's; she had not previously realized she was intelligent. With strong support from Florence Shroeder and other faculty, she earned a B.S. in two years and came to Ames for the M.A. also in two years. She and her two children had two wonderful years in Pammel Court near the golf course. I remember a hot, humid summer day when the air would not move, with my mom working at a table in the living room on her masters essay. The pages would cling to her forearm when she lifted it up; and I can also hear a portable typewriter clicking away. Carolyn became best friends with Alison Shepherd, and so Dorothy met Eleanor Shepherd, and we had several happy visits over several years with the Shepherds on Oakland St., since Eleanor had a way of making every visitor feel personally welcome. In 1953 Dorothy was hired by Utah State University in Logan Utah and taught there until her retirement in 1975. From 1948 to about 1957 the family would take long summer treks by car to the east so the kids could visit with their dad and Dorothy could see her mom and sister Nancy, before the Interstates, when US 66, the Lincoln Highway, and motels had real meaning. Dorothy from time to time would try to advance toward the Ph.D. or to write an article, but statistics at UC Berkeley was an unforgettable experience. Her real energy went into her teaching, her kids, and a wide and rich circle of friends. Allen Stokes (naturalist, Audubon, civic leader) wrote in her obituary "Dorothy was known for her great concern for the proper upbringing of children. She felt every child should be born into a caring loving family. She worked to win stricter standards for child care to ensure a healthy, loving environment in child care centers. She devoted countless hours helping others, having been a volunteer at Logan Library, Logan Regional Hospital, and in registering hundreds of voters through the League of Women Voters. She was a member of the Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and People for Wise Water Planning. She had a great love for mountains, especially those of Logan Canyon. In 1990 she received the Women over 65 Achievement Award from USU's Women's Center for Furthering the cause of women. She was a member of the Society of Friends in Logan. . ." She also fervently supported Planned Parenthood. Yes, she was a liberal, and a good one. She wanted her students to think deeply about their own lives, so she required an autobiography related to stages of development. For one student, it seemed to much. Gathering her courage and going with a friend, she dropped by the house, Dorothy invited them in for a cup a coffee. No way, said the student. You have to, said Dorothy, and I'll bet you a nickel you can't do it. As it turned out, the young woman had been abused, and came to terms with it in the paper. Once again with friend, she dropped by. The nickel was waiting on the mantelpiece. Lori Roggman: "I thought a child develop- ment class might fill in some of the gaps. Boy, did Dorothy Lewis ever fill in the gaps! She surprised me, inspired me, made me laugh and think and work hard. She didn't seem to mind when I came in late to class. . ., but she noticed and fussed over me when I left class early not feeling (or looking) well. During those years when they were still new and radical ideas she told us that it was important to pick up crying babies, that breast feeding was better than bottle feeding, and that all those drugs used for childbirth were not such a good thing. She fed my hippie-girl soul! She made feel like it was OK to think, OK to question, and, best of all, OK to be a little different. "One day she asked, "What is the world like for a 2-year old?" Then she plopped down on the floor and said, 'This is what it's like--you see a lot of feet and legs and its kind of dusty down here and I don't think I can reach that doorknob!' . . . I am doing research and teaching now, in large part because of Dorothy. After I had taken every classes she taught, I had a good number of the required courses for a major in Child Development. [Years later] I ended up ... in a Ph.D. program at the University of Texas. I still thought about Dorothy from time to time and one day I realized that she really should know that she had inspired my career. So I wrote her a note and told her so. I also told her it was an awful lot of work, and I had a baby, and wasn't sure it was all worth it. She wrote back right away with wonderful wishes for me, happy to have heard from me, and said, 'Hang in there, you'll be my first Ph,D.’ In retirement, Dorothy took a few trips to see the world, once with her best friends Mickey and Rex Robinson. She dined Fridays with a special group of women friends. She played endless games of solitaire and smoked a cigarette. She put on and went to bridge games and dinners. Dr. Lori Roggman, professor of Child Development, USU: "I saw Dorothy at the grocery store and surprised her. When she received the Women Over 65 Achievement Award, I was delighted to be able to be there and very very proud to have known her. She called me soon afterwards and asked me over for coffee. That is such a wonderful invitation when you live in Utah! We had a long and wonderful visit and she gave me a book about child development. "I had put off calling her until after I got back from my vacation. The day I got back there was an envelope from Dorothy on top of the huge stack of mail that awaited me. Inside was a copy of an article I had written that she had sent to me and my dean and across the top was written in her sweet script: "Good stuff!" I don't know how I could explain what that meant to me. It brought tears to my eyes and I was deeply touched. Right then, my secretary came in and told me she had died. Later that day as I worked deeper into my stack of mail, I found a message from the college secretary that Dorothy had called to tell me that the article was "Excellent!" She had called just the day before she died. One of her last loving acts was to support and encourage a former student who eventually grew up and became her first Ph.D.. I am so grateful. "After work that same day, a student of mine said to me in the grocery store, “I'm so glad I took your class. I have a baby now and everyone gives me all kinds of advice. I just remember everything I learned from you and tell them to go to Hell!” I do believe that is the kind of teacher that Dorothy was and wanted me to be, one who gets students thinking and then teaches them to think for themselves." Lori and her husband and their 2.0 children had had a hard time finding a good house at a price they could afford. In late 1992 the Roggman family, responding to a slight discount offered by Sherman and Carolyn, moved into Dorothy's house, 846 North Fourth East, Logan Utah. Joni Forsgren-White, one of her many friends: "We will miss her feisty spirit, her many contributions to Logan City in the way of community service which continued into her 82nd year. We will always miss her hearty laughter, her way of always listening to you, and her brilliant mind, which never slowed down.... We hold you in the fight, Dorothy." An easterner, she found her soul in the beauty of the mountains. On her own with two kids, she showed true grit. Librarian, advocate of children, educator of parents, reformer of everything, because she cared--a true friend to anyone with time to knock on the back door and come in for a cup of coffee. In 1992 the time came for her to go, as she wished, quickly, and with minimum expense. But not time for us to let her go. Her ashes were scattered in the canyon not far from a favorite picnic spot by the river under the trees. A short biography may be found in the U SU library. This note by Sherman III and others. 5/17/95
Narrative Updated: 7/26/1995
Honored By:	Sherman Leland Lewis