A few good quotes from Dorie's life history to make you want to read some more...
Sometimes I would walk along while he [my grandfather] worked, and he would tell me some stories, sometimes when he would be out in the fields plowing. He raised alfalfa and hay and worked the bales of that hay. When my grandmother was alive and I was a girl, I remember that I had a little bucket, and I would bring him a drink with that little bucket with some ice water in it or whatever. I would sit with him while he would rest, and then I would go on back to the house. So I had a very happy, very secluded childhood.
***
I decided to raise my children to be accepting of all people
when I heard how mistreated my grandfather and his family was.
There was a little black girl that I played with.
Her name was Grace. We had a
lot of fun together. Like I said,
to me there was no color. At times
I would tell my grandmother, and of course I was young then and I hated to take
baths. I would tell my grandmother,
“I wish my skin was like Grace’s then I wouldn’t have to take a bath.”
Silly me, you know. I just didn’t
want to have to wash all the time. [Laughs]. But that is just the innocence of
the time. I just didn’t want to
have a bath.
***
You know, there was one girl in particular [a student at Hollins]. She was just always in some kind of trouble, always. One day she came over from her apartment, and she had a coat on over her bra and panties. She hadn’t even combed her hair to come over. I said “Why are you like this?” Then she said, “Well, I was drunk last night.” And I said jokingly, “Well, if you were my daughter, I would kill you.” And she stood there and said, “Yeah, but you love me anyway, don’t you?” I said, “Yes.” She changed a lot since then. Now she is a very successful businesswoman. You know, you see them a lot. You see them change. You think, now this was the girl who wore black fingernail polish and black lipstick, and skirts up to here when nobody wore them that short. So then you see her a few years later with her two little children, breastfeeding another one, teaching Sunday school. When I saw her I said jokingly, “I thought you would be in jail or something.” She said “Well, you’re the only one who accepted me for what I was.” I said, “Well, I am just glad you weren’t my daughter.” [Laughs.] I said, “Poor thing, I just felt sorry for your parents.” It has been a wonderful, wonderful experience.
***
I don’t know what the future holds. I am just going to put it in God’s hands. I feel like everything that happens, it happens for a reason. I have learned a lot here. The students especially have taught me lessons, many, many life lessons. You have to judge the person. You don’t go by their looks, or by their race, or by their actions at the time. You look for the person that they are deep down. I’ve learned that certain persons are not always what they seem to be. We’ve got some wonderful people here, we really do.