In March, friends, family, faculty and staff members from Teachers College gathered at Michael's in midtown Manhattan to celebrate the opening of The Doris Dillon Center. The Center, named after an extraordinary teacher in San Jose, California, was created to distribute professional development programs for educators, particularly teachers.

An inspiring 30-year veteran of public schools, Dillon continues to devote her life to teaching despite being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Although she lost her voice to the disease, she continues to teach.

Dillon runs the Graystone and Williams elementary school libraries in San Jose. However, she had to give up the greatest joy of her job-reading aloud to children.

Through writing, e-mail and lifelong friend Elaine Gould, Dillon is still able to communicate. Through Gould's voice, she encourages new and veteran teachers to be the best they can be.

At the gathering, Dillon thanked her guests, with Gould's help, for witnessing the "birth" of the Center. She also challenged them to "become the oveseers of the Center and its mission toward quality and excellence in education."

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001