Dorothy Brown

Dorothy Brown believed in the capabilities of children and all the potential opportunities they could create. As an educator, Dorothy touched the lives of countless young people. Sharon Arfstrom, a former colleague shared that Brown was “incredibly kind to everyone, never raised her voice in the classroom, knew her students’ strengths and worked hard to create plans that helped them improve their weaker spots, which is a hallmark of an excellent teacher.”

Dorothy grew up in the Grove City area, graduating from Litchfield High School. After receiving teacher’s training in Litchfield, she went on to receive her Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in education from St. Cloud State University. Dorothy taught elementary school in various communities in Meeker County prior to her marriage to Stanley Roy Brown in 1944. In 1958, the Browns made Willmar their hometown.

Dorothy taught in the Willmar Public Schools for 25 years. She not only left a powerful legacy with her colleagues and students but is now leaving a legacy for future educators. Dorothy passed away in May of 2017 at the age of 95, but her passion for teaching led her to take significant steps to help create the next generation of classroom teachers. As a part of her legacy, Dorothy left an $800,000 estate gift to one of her favourite charities, the Willmar Civic Scholarship Association（WCSA）to help local students become elementary teachers. “Dorothy’s gift will not only touch the lives of these students, but as future teachers, they will have the opportunity to give back to their community and leave their own legacy, ” states Deb Zinda Hanson, Board Chair of WCSA.

Dorothy illustrates that teaching is more than educating others. It’s a profession of the heart. While Dorothy wanted to share the passion of education, she also created a ripple of opportunity for future educators for generations. Dorothy Brown’s final lesson in generosity and commitment will speak for a lifetime, while changing countless lives.

Bella was only five and it was her first camping trip with Mum and Dad. She was excited but was a little nervous too. “What if the tent falls over and squashes us? What if the wind blows it away? What if a wolf comes into the tent and eats us? …” she kept asking Mum.

This made Mum laugh. Bella had read too many fairy stories with big bad wolves in them. Mum comforted Bella that there aren’t any wolves in the city or even in the whole country, except in zoos. “Well, what if one escaped from a zoo?” asked Bella. Mum laughed, “Zoos were careful enough not to let their animals escape.” Then Bella soon forgot about wolves as they started planning for the camping trip.

Bella helped Dad load up the car. They put in the tent, a big one for the whole family. Then the sleeping bags, blankets and more. "It’s cold at night when you’re sleeping in a tent," added Dad. When everything was packed, the car was full to bursting. Dad started the car, and soon they were leaving the city behind them.

“Look at the hills!” shouted Mum excitedly, “Look at the cows on the grass!” They drove up a winding road until they reached the campsite, which belonged to a farm and was in a big field. Once the tent was up, Bella went to explore. There were trees to climb and a stream for paddling. Bella sat there watching the cows eating the grass. The day flew by and it was getting dark.

As they were ready for sleep, strange rustling (沙沙声) noises came from the fence next to their tent in the darkness. “What’s that noise? Is it a wolf approaching?” Bella worried and moved closer to Mum. “Maybe it’s just the wind,” Mum gently patted Bella. Bella didn’t say anything more. They were all tired after a day outdoors, and crawled into their sleeping bags. Soon Mum and Dad were asleep.

Bella was too nervous to fall asleep when she heard that noise again.

Ryan picked up a snowball and began to polish it so that soon it was hard as a cricket ball. He smiled to himself. Now, all that he needed was a target. He walked down the High Street.

Paul was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a skinny boy whose legs were so thin that they looked as if you could break them. He was so skinny that the other kids used to joke about him getting blown away when it was windy. He was helping old Mrs McTell by sweeping the snow off the path and putting salt down to melt the ice. He liked Mrs McTell.

Paul had his head down and was sweeping a piece of ice when the snowball struck him full in the face. He staggered(踉跄) back, put his hand to his lip and wiped off the dirt. He heard Ryan laughing and shouting names. But Paul ignored it. He had had problems with Ryan at school and did not want to stir up more trouble. He ducked down and made his way round to the back of Mrs McTell’s to see if she wanted any shopping.

Bored by the silence, Ryan soon gave up and walked down to the park. It was a short-cut to home and by now his fingers were aching with the cold. The park pond was frozen over and Ryan laughed at a couple of ducks, waddling(摇摆着走) on the ice. They were finding it hard to keep balance. Quickly, Ryan picked up a stick and without thinking made his way onto the ice. In his mind’s eye, he could see the feathers flying as he hit one of the ducks.

Ryan was a few yards out when the ice cracked. It sounded like gun shot across the frozen park. The ice broke into pieces before his eyes. Screaming, he fell straight down into the icy water. The ducks flew off.

Paul heard Ryan’s voice as he entered the park.

Jeremy was with his father in South Africa, which was far from his hometown Wales. He rarely spent time with his father, a famous wildlife photographer. So far, he wasn’t sure he liked following his dad around. The work seemed mostly hot and boring.

“Ready?” Dad asked. Jeremy nodded and they climbed into the old truck. As the truck moved noisily across the rough dirt, Dad chatted with the local guide Ben. And Jeremy watched for animals.

Suddenly, there came a big crash from the car. Jeremy was shocked to find that the door had fallen off! “It might be a blessing (幸事) in disguise! Now we can see better,” Dad said. Ben threw the door into the back of the truck.

They stopped near a river. Ben said he was friends with the elephants that sometimes gathered here. Maybe they’d see some. Before long, Jeremy saw a small group of elephants in the distance, moving slowly through the grassland towards the water. Dad leaped out of the truck and focused his camera on the largest elephant, whose two long teeth shone in the sun. Jeremy spotted a very young baby elephant walking between two adults. It was tiny, by elephant standards. The two adult elephants kept stopping to wait for their baby.

Jeremy watched as the group neared the river. They trumpeted loudly and flapped their large ears to cool themselves down. Then several larger elephants jumped in the water up to their ears. However, Jeremy lost sight of the baby. Where was it? Then he saw. It was in water up to its eyes, holding its trunk (象鼻) up above the water. Jeremy hoped it could breathe through its trunk, because its mouth was underwater.

Other elephants were using their trunks to spray (喷洒) themselves with the cool water, splashing and playing in the water. It was an elephant party. But the baby elephant was in trouble. “Look!” screamed Jeremy. The bank was too steep (陡峭的) for the baby. It couldn’t climb out of the water. Other elephants tried pushing it, without success. The mother was anxious.

Suddenly, Jeremy got an idea and rushed to the back of the truck.

Summer was approaching, and Sarah and David had been eagerly looking forward to their visit to their grandpa’s countryside home. They had always enjoyed their time with their grandpa, who had a kind and generous heart. His wooden house was surrounded by beautiful greenery, and the fields of flowers that spread beyond the house were breathtaking. As they packed their bags for the trip, Sarah and David could hardly control their excitement. They talked about all the activities they could do with grandpa, like playing board games and taking long walks in the countryside.

Finally, the day arrived, and the family set out on their journey to grandpa’s house. The journey was a long and tiring one, but Sarah and David were too excited to feel tired. As they drew closer to their destination, they chatted even more excitedly about all the fun things they wanted to do with grandpa.

As they approached grandpa’s house, he came out to greet them with a huge smile on his face. Sarah and David were overjoyed to see him and hugged him tightly. It was great to be back in grandpa’s arms, and they felt the warmth and love from him.

However, shortly after they entered the house, they noticed that grandpa was not his usual self, looking pale and tired. Sarah and David felt a pang of sadness and worry in their hearts. Grandpa was not well, and they didn’t know how to make him feel better.

As they sat with grandpa, trying to make him feel comfortable, Sarah remembered that grandpa loved gardening. She suggested that they could create a garden for him, which would be a lovely surprise. David was excited with the idea and immediately set to work gathering the necessary tools. They wanted to do something special for their grandpa and hoped that this would cheer him up.

Sarah and David got to work in the backyard.