[Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Dolores Durkin

[P Pearson]

Let me echo Brian's thanks to Jim Baumann for sharing his thoughts about
Dolores' work.  Dolores had a real knack for doing important studies of
questions that most of us never asked because we assumed we already knew
the answer.  It was a kind of "the emperor has no clothes" sensitivity.
And they were always memorable, with a lasting impact on the field.

Besides her classic studies of children who learn to read early and the
nature of comprehension studies, two other CSR classics were a detailed
analysis of basal instruction of reading comprehension.  and a set of case
studies of young Black children who learn to read early.  Her short book on
Phonics and the Teaching of Reading was a classic mix of scholarship and
eminently good common sense.

She was a private person. She was faithful to the Center for the Study of
Reading.  Attended all of our professional but few of our social events.
So I never got to know her beyond her work.

Emblematic of her private self, when she left the U of I in the early 90s,
I asked her how it felt to be retired. She replied, "I did not RETIRE!  I
RESIGNED".

A classic in our field. A legacy that is still alive and well. And clearly
one of a kind.  If ever the Shakesperian saying, "We shall not see the like
of her again," ever fit a colleague, it surely fits Dolores.

pdp


On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 12:30 PM Brian Cambourne <bcambrn at uow.edu.au> wrote:

> Thanks for this message Norm. Thanks for your memories James.
> I never met Dr Durkin but was an ardent admirer of her research.
> Brian Cambourne
>
> On 11 Jul 2020, at 1:53 am, Baumann, James F. <baumannj at missouri.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Dear Norm,
>
> Thanks for sharing this sad news. We have lost another leader in our
> field. I remember discussing her RRQ 1977-78 observational study of
> comprehension instruction (or the paucity of it) as a doctoral student at
> UW-Madison at our monthly meeting of our informal “Psychology and Pedagogy
> of Reading” doctoral study group. This study influenced me greatly then and
> as the years passed in grounding the importance of teaching students how to
> better understand texts, and the essential nature of instructing teachers
> how to teach comprehension processes effectively. I also recall reading as
> a doc student her 1960s book-form research,  “Children Who Read Early,”
> which ended up being one of several empirical efforts that provided a
> foundation for our subsequent theories of emergent literacy (other
> influences were, of course, Clay, Ferreiro/Teberosky, Strickland/Taylor, Y
> Goodman, Holdaway, and others). Her works on word identification also
> affected my own teaching and research. I remember hosting a panel of
> leaders in our field at the IRA meeting in 1989 with Dolores, Jeanne Chall,
> Ken Goodman, Dorothy Strickland, and Ira Aaron. Regrettably, we have lost
> not only Dolores but also Ken and Dorothy this past year. 😔
>
> James F Baumann
> Chancellor’s Chair for Excellence in Literacy Education, Emeritus
> University of Missouri
> RHOF webpage
> <http://www.readinghalloffame.org/james-f-baumann-2014-inductee>
>
>
>
>
> On Jul 10, 2020, at 10:46 AM, Norman Stahl <flowercjs at AOL.COM> wrote:
>
> WARNING: This message has originated from an External Source. This may be
> a phishing expedition that can result in unauthorized access to our IT
> System. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening attachments,
> clicking links, or responding to this email.
> Dolores Durkin, Professor Emerita of Education from the Department of
> Elementary and Early Childhood Education of the University of Illinois,
> Champaign-Urbana, passed away on Monday, July 6, 2020.  She was known for
> her books including *Children Who Read Early*, *Teaching Young Children
> to Read, Teaching Them to Read, *and her landmark research “What
> classroom observations reveal about comprehension instruction” in volume 14
> of *Reading Research Quarterly*among many other articles, chapters,
> tests, technical reports, and books.
>
> Her obituary can be found at [
> https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?n=mary-dolores-durkin&pid=196469249
> ].
>
> Dr. Durkin’s homepage as a member of the Reading Hall of Fame is [
> https://www.readinghalloffame.org/dolores_durkin}.
>
> Condolences can be sent to her niece.
> Mary Ann Savage
> 4815 Creek Drive
> Western Springs, IL 60558
>
> Dolores expressed wishes that any donations or contributions in her honor
> be made to Catholic Charities of Chicago.
>
>
> Norman Stahl
> flowercjs at aol.com
> https://www.readinghalloffame.org/node/658
>
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Evelyn Lois Corey *Emeritus* Professor of Instructional Science
Graduate School of Education
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