No matter what was going on around her, Dorothy Kirkpatrick was not to be rushed. She was known by fellow teachers and people she mentored as one who could command attention, with out calling attention to herself.
“She had a glide to her step that said she wasn’t in a hurry,” said Jormell Cofield, a science teacher in the Atlanta Public School system. “She didn’t seem to get all worked up about things like some of us did.”
Mrs. Kirkpatrick retired in 2006, after teaching in elementary, middle and high school for more than 35 years in Atlanta. She continued to substitute teach after she retired and her health began to deteriorate. She had been on a renal transplant list for four years, but her health took a turn for the worst last Spring.
Dorothy Redding Kirkpatrick, of Atlanta, died Wednesday at Piedmont Hospital after complications from an extended illness. She was 78.
A funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Atlanta. Entombment will follow the service at Lincoln Cemetery. Gus Thornhill's Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick was the second of five children, raised in College Park. She and three other siblings enjoyed long careers in education. She graduated from Spelman College, married and began her teaching career, said Dr. Gina Kirkpatrick-Reese, a daughter who lives in Cherry Hill, N.J.
Her first marriage produced a son, but they later divorced. In 1966 she married Leroy Kirkpatrick and the couple had a daughter. Mr. Kirkpatrick died suddenly in 1974, their daughter said.
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Kirkpatrick did everything she could to provide for her two children. She was a licensed real estate agent and a life-long learner. In addition to her undergraduate degree, Mrs. Kirkpatrick earned a law degree while teaching and selling real estate.
“She had a significant interest in learning,” her daughter said. “I think she did that more for the acquisition of knowledge than the desire to practice,” she said of the law degree.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick remarried in the 90s, but divorced after a few years. After the divorce however, she gained two children, Dr. Kirkpatrick-Reese said.
“They decided she would raise them and become their legal guardian,” she said. “That was their mother too, and they are my little sister and little brother.”
Mrs. Kirkpatrick is described by family and friends as a teacher’s teacher.
“She was insightful, but she never gave unsolicited advice or a bunch of clichés,” Mrs. Cofield said. “She let me know I just had to fight through, and I couldn’t quit.”
Mrs. Kirkpatrick knew children couldn’t succeed with out a good teacher, said Dr. Geraldine R. Williams, a sister and retired APS principal.
“She knew in order to make a generation of successful students, you’ve got to be prepared as a teacher,” said Dr. Williams, who lives in Atlanta. “She always wanted to help children think and act differently.”
In addition to her daughter and sister, Mrs. Kirkpatrick is survived by another daughter, Whitnie L. Wheeler of Louisiana; sons, James C. Worthy II, and Charles H. Wheeler II both of Atlanta; two additional sisters, Barbara R. Gaines and Jimmie L. Redding and one granddaughter, all of Atlanta.
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