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 Bridges4Kids
Celebrates the Life of Advisory Council Member, Dorothy
Beardmore
bridges4kids,
May 4, 3004
Bridges4Kids, along with Michigan’s education and religious
communities, mourns the passing of Dorothy Beardmore,
Bridges4Kids Advisory Council member, former Michigan State
Board of Education Member, and newly-elected President of the
Board of Neighborhood House in Rochester, Michigan.
“Dorothy was a model of caring, commitment and involvement,”
said Deborah Canja, Bridges4Kids CEO. “She was instrumental in
helping us chart a new course to bring about partnerships
between schools, families, and communities. Her words are in our
founding principles.”
After her retirement from the Michigan State Board of Education,
on which she served for sixteen years, Dorothy was invited by
Canja and the then-Board of the Citizens Alliance to Uphold
Special Education (CAUSE) to join as a Board Member to work on a
new vision of partnership between families of special education
students and schools. She agreed, but in June of 2002, she –
along with other CAUSE Board Members, as well as Canja and
several staff – left CAUSE to pursue an even broader vision in
the new organization, Bridges4Kids.
“Dorothy believed, along with the rest of us, that we can no
longer separate the issues in special education from those in
general education,” said Bridges4Kids Board President Bernard
Travnikar. “We feel strongly that there are many at-risk
children who are not receiving the help that they need under our
current system. We wanted to create an organization dedicated to
supporting ALL children who struggle by supporting a larger
group of parents with information and services. We also wanted
to dedicate ourselves to helping schools learn to communicate
and reach parents in more effective ways and to helping parents
learn to work with schools in a more cooperative and positive
fashion.”
“Dorothy was our unofficial guiding light,” he added. “If we
passed the ‘Dorothy-test’ we knew we were on the right track.”
Lee Porter, Director of Alternative Education for Livingston
County’s LESA and Bridges4Kids Board Member remembered Dorothy’s
commitment to life-long learning. “I knew her for many years
when I worked at the Michigan Department of Education in adult
ed. In my 20 years there, she and Kathleen Strauss are the only
State Board of Education members who ever attended our adult ed
conferences, which shows her dedication to comprehensive
education, not just K-12. I was very impressed with that.”
Dorothy’s commitment to life-long learning was personal as well
as professional. She loved embarking on intellectual adventures,
helping to draft by-laws for Bridges4Kids while at the same time
planning and embarking on trips overseas to new destinations
with husband, Bill. “We would be sitting in planning meetings
ready to tackle a new and difficult topic and she would say
something to me like ‘use it or lose it,’ meaning that the
challenge was good for us,” said Canja.
“She was incredibly generous in her sharing of her time, her
experiences, her advice, and expertise,” she continued. “Even
though she did not particularly enjoy driving in the evening,
her commitment to us and to our vision brought her out time and
again to our informal meetings. We looked to her for wisdom and
guidance and she shared both.”
“She wanted to bridge differences and stress what we all have in
common rather than what divides us. She believed it was most
important to keep the needs of children first in mind and to
keep from sinking into such divisive issues as partisan
politics, conflict between special education and general
education, or finger-pointing between educators and parents over
serving at-risk children and those with special needs. That was
distasteful to her and counter-productive. She wanted us to just
roll up our sleeves and find solutions.”
That commitment to solutions led her to Neighborhood House,
located in St. Andrews Church in Rochester. Neighborhood House
is a non-denominational organization that provides food,
clothing, cancer support, and transportation for families in
need. “She believed very strongly in the Neighborhood House
mission,” said Canja, “and they were so fortunate to have her.”
“We will miss her, but she will never be forgotten.”
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2003 at
2:00 pm at the University Presbyterian Church. The church is
located at 1385 S. Adams Road, Rochester Hills, Michigan48309 -
- 248-375-0400. It is located North of M59 - - East side of
Adams - - South of Avon Road.
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