I first met Dolores at the May Butler Center on the first day of school sometime back in the early 80s I think. I could see she was new and she looked like a person I’d like to know. So in a rare outburst of extroversion I went up and introduced myself and welcomed her to the district. As it turned out, we were both assigned to Jim Darcy Elementary, and we went on to be part of the best and most fun special education team in the whole world, along with Jim Benish and Kathleen Hunthausen. Oh and our principal, Dave Pippin.

While the kids were young, the Slovarps had a Christmas Eve tradition of Midnight Mass, then dinner at their house which included me and Susan Dotter and her boys Brian and Rob. Susan and I had traditional foods we always brought and Tom and Dolores always had prime rib and shrimp for us. Yum!

Over the years I came to know “St. Thomas of Slovarp” as the good and kind man he is. Although he does have his limits. One time as I was about to return a boy I had for respite care for the weekend to his parents, I broke my finger. I called Dolores for help and of course she said she would take me to the ER and Tom could drive Greg home. Tom however drew the line at driving alone with an autistic kid. “No,” he said to Dolores, “YOU drive Greg home and I will take Margaret to the ER!”ReplyCancel