Become Dorrie with Me

Dean of Academics & Faculty Sara Yeager addressed the Suffield Academy community during chapel on April 30. She commended the year’s senior speakers, read from her favorite book, and invited the community to revisit the peace and calm of joyful childhood memories.

She began, “When you are a senior or anyone standing at this podium you realize that your words are real, this is your truth, time has flown by at an amazing rate, and there is no more important exercise than reflecting on your own life. Throughout the year we’ve heard heartfelt tributes to brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends and it is in that spirit that I speak to you today.”

She continued, “My father passed away this winter. I don’t tell you that to make you sad because he had a long and glorious life, but it makes me think about my childhood and childhood memories and what made them special in my life. From both he and my mother I developed a love for reading.”

Dean Yeager then recounted her nightly childhood bath and bedtime routine, which always ended in storytime before sleep. She more often than not chose the book Dorrie and the Blue Witch published by author and illustrator Patricia Coombs in 1964 and gifted to Sara by a globetrotting aunt. “The Dorrie books are simplistic yet beautifully written with a poetic repetition of sentences,” she noted.

Before presenting Dorrie and the Blue Witch and reading it aloud, Dean Yeager asked her guests to power down, breathe deeply, relax, and become Dorrie with her for just a few minutes. When finished she asked the community to recall a favorite childhood book and revisit the joy it gave them. “Find peace and calm in the best memories of your childhood and be Dorrie,” she concluded. “Push through, do what you need to do, and figure it out, even if your hat is always on crooked and your stalkings never match.”

You may view all chapel talks here.