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

Sat Jul 11 02:54:42 BST 2020

Like Vicki, I have read and appreciated the tributes that colleagues in the RHOF have posted in response to Norm's earlier message. Although I never met Dolores Durkin, I can certainly attest to the influence that her research has had on our field. Losing her, Ken, and Dorothy this year is a reminder to keep their legacies alive in the courses we teach and in the students we mentor.

Donna Alvermann, Ph.D,
The Omer Clyde & Elizabeth Parr Aderhold Professor in Education
UGA Appointed Distinguished Research Professor of  Language & LiteracyEducation Fellow, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
Affiliate Faculty, Institute for African American Studies
Affiliate Faculty, Institute for Women's Studies
Advisory Board, Center for Latinx Achievement & Success in Education

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From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk <reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> on behalf of Risko, Victoria J <victoria.j.risko at Vanderbilt.Edu>
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2020 10:33 AM
To: P Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu>; Brian Cambourne <bcambrn at uow.edu.au>
Cc: reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk <reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>; Colin.Harrison at nottingham.ac.uk <Colin.Harrison at nottingham.ac.uk>
Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Dolores Durkin

[EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]

I thank each of you for your tributes and memories. Dolores, Ken, and Dorothy had a tremendous influence on my thinking about literacy and learning, and the respect for students and teachers that we must  honor in their memory.

Vicki

Professor Emerita, Language, Literacy, Culture
Vanderbilt University
2011-2012 President, International Literacy Association
http://www.readinghalloffame.org/victoria-risko-inducted-2011<https://email.vanderbilt.edu/owa/14.2.318.4/scripts/premium/redir.aspx?C=v1LFb_tu902S-HYcxHZy5Su0bKybKtAIsrsrFI4t64thetD4xnlOYdIU8WermC5CgadveDz_Awg.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.readinghalloffame.org%2fvictoria-risko-inducted-2011>
Co-author, Professional Learning in Action: An inquiry approach for teachers of literacy. (Risko & Vogt), 2016.  NY:Teachers College Press.

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From: reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk <reading-hall-of-fame-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk> on behalf of P Pearson <ppearson at berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2020 3:15 PM
To: Brian Cambourne <bcambrn at uow.edu.au>
Cc: reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk <reading-hall-of-fame at lists.nottingham.ac.uk>; Colin.Harrison at nottingham.ac.uk <Colin.Harrison at nottingham.ac.uk>
Subject: [Reading-hall-of-fame] Re: Dolores Durkin

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<mailto: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<mailto: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<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.readinghalloffame.org%2Fjames-f-baumann-2014-inductee&data=02%7C01%7Cvictoria.j.risko%40vanderbilt.edu%7C7d07facc836548169eb008d8250e0975%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C637300089509059104&sdata=TYjjm9auYSOwWNUxWk2OL2Y3xD9Juj3GJgrsTluE5gU%3D&reserved=0>

On Jul 10, 2020, at 10:46 AM, Norman Stahl <flowercjs at AOL.COM<mailto:flowercjs at AOL.COM>> wrote:

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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 Quarterlyamong 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<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.legacy.com%2Fobituaries%2Fchicagotribune%2Fobituary.aspx%3Fn%3Dmary-dolores-durkin%26pid%3D196469249&data=02%7C01%7Cvictoria.j.risko%40vanderbilt.edu%7C7d07facc836548169eb008d8250e0975%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C637300089509059104&sdata=ZMHq8aCiZm9rFR6N8iS3kmaA9JnMG5xnETuBUbzzyLA%3D&reserved=0>].

Dr. Durkin’s homepage as a member of the Reading Hall of Fame is [https://www.readinghalloffame.org/dolores_durkin<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.readinghalloffame.org%2Fdolores_durkin&data=02%7C01%7Cvictoria.j.risko%40vanderbilt.edu%7C7d07facc836548169eb008d8250e0975%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C637300089509069101&sdata=utqkEzMKCTObJUTX2GFbe177zZV%2F98tnQJsP9IW1R9k%3D&reserved=0>}.

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<mailto:flowercjs at aol.com>
https://www.readinghalloffame.org/node/658<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.readinghalloffame.org%2Fnode%2F658&data=02%7C01%7Cvictoria.j.risko%40vanderbilt.edu%7C7d07facc836548169eb008d8250e0975%7Cba5a7f39e3be4ab3b45067fa80faecad%7C0%7C0%7C637300089509069101&sdata=U88QGaVpZjEV7BgbCz95Zuk2di%2BbkUve8Ud7lP98e%2BY%3D&reserved=0>

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