Feature Spotlight: Dorris Calhoun
Each day this week we will be spotlighting one of the first six "Lawndale: A Living History" featured elders and mentors on the blog. Today's spotlight: Dorris Calhoun, whose photo can be found on the garden side of the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot. Please visit her profile page on the Living History virtual exhibit for much more on Dorris!
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| (c) 2020, Jay Simon |
Dorris Calhoun is a delightful person bursting with wonderful stories -- we were so fortunate to have Pastor Reshorna Fitzpatrick of the Stone Temple Baptist Church refer her to us for "Lawndale: A Living History." Dorris has worshiped there since the church's opening in 1954. There she has served in numerous leadership capacities, most notably as director of several choirs.
Born in Mississippi, Dorris and her parents moved to Chicago when she was 3 years old. She was educated on the West Side at Lawson, Hess, and Marshall schools. Through Job Corps, she then got training as a medical transcriptionist, a career at which she worked for 55 years until her retirement - including 22 years at Rush Hospital.
Here's Dorris being interviewed by Jonathan Kelley prior to her Living History photo shoot, talking about Dinah Washington and her mother, along with deep dish pizza and hearing Martin Luther King, Jr. (With a special cameo from Reshorna Fitzpatrick!)
Here was Dorris inside Stone Temple during her photo shoot with Jay Simon.
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| Jay Simon photographing Dorris Calhoun, summer 2020. (c) Jonathan Kelley |
And here was Dorris performing at the ribbon cutting ceremony for Stone Temple Baptist Church's new garden and stage earlier this month! Enjoy her wonderful voice!
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