ľ«¶«´«Ă˝ Proud: Meet Dottie McGovern ’56 and daughter Kathy McGovern Lawson ’99
“We were cleaning out my parents’ house, and lo and behold, there was this jacket in the attic,” says Kathy Lawson ’99, daughter of Dottie McGovern ’56. “For her entire life, my mother was extremely involved in ľ«¶«´«Ă˝, and she said, ‘I want to keep that.’ So, the jacket went to assisted living with my parents, and then when they moved out of assisted living and into an apartment with 24/7 care, the jacket went with them again.
Since then, Mom’s had to move to a nursing home, and it just didn’t make sense to bring the jacket. I talked to my brothers and sisters and suggested we donate it to ľ«¶«´«Ă˝, and they said, ‘absolutely.’
So, I actually took a picture of it and showed it to my mom, and I said, ‘I donated this to ľ«¶«´«Ă˝. Is that OK with you?’ Huge smile, of course. On some level, she knew what we were doing.”
After graduating from ľ«¶«´«Ă˝, Dottie McGovern raised four children and enjoyed a long career as a secretary before retiring from the Enfield school district. She is a grandmother of 11, a great-grandmother of four and has one great-great grandchild. A fervent, consistent supporter of ľ«¶«´«Ă˝, McGovern regularly attended alumni events and ľ«¶«´«Ă˝ plays and served on the Board of Trustees. McGovern still resides in Enfield, Connecticut. Lawson graduated from ľ«¶«´«Ă˝ in 1999 as valedictorian of the first class of ľ«¶«´«Ă˝’s One Day program.